It takes months or even years to get a site naturally listed in the main search engines like Yahoo and Google. This is generally because a new website is not very "Popular". Each search engine has different ranking algorithms, but they all have a similar ranking model. If you write an article and submit it to a popular website such as "ezinearticles.com", your article will live on this domain and inherit the popularity of that entire site. This will give your article a head start by being listed in the top rank site, thus getting spidered frequently by the search engines.

Search Engine Optimization is something that marketers have been experimenting with for over a decade, but it can take a long time to get your own website displayed at all under the keywords that you want. With article marketing, you leverage the power of these large sites to get top natural listings for your articles in a fraction of the time

One way to get a jump start on the competition is by writing articles that feature new affiliate programs or recent product releases.  This will get you listed fast within search engines because the competition is limited. When new products are available, Commission Junction and LinkShare send out notifications of new merchants.  As soon as you receive a notification, it is a great time to write an article or two about the new product or service available. You can also find information about new products through magazines, commercials, television, focus groups and news websites are all great places to find out about current trends, new products, and release dates. Taking advantage of new products and services will allow you to get listed within the results before a lot of the competition catches up.

When you write your article, try to keep it between 300-500 words.  This is the optimum length to get listed.  It may be a little challenging to provide as much detail in that amount of space, but you also do not want to lose a reader's attention.

Insert a title, keywords, and description within the meta tags on the webpage. You may also want to include a headline (or <h1> tag) with your keyword phrases you are trying to obtain positioning on. The higher up on the page you have a relevant headline, the greater your chances of getting listed.

If writing a formal article inimidates you, pretend that you are writing an email, letter, or instructions to a friend. Make it easy to read, give step-by-step instructions, and add a personal touch. It is much easier to connect with a visitor on an emotional level if you show a personal side, rather than appearing as some automated webpage.

Here's a quick checklist of guidelines to use when writing an article:

Use the keywords you want to be listed under in the title of your article Use the keywords in a heading tag at the top of your page <h1>Keywords</h1> Use the keywords in your opening paragraph Use the keywords in your closing paragraph Have between 300 and 500 words in your article Try to use your main keyword phrases 3-7 times per article.

Submitting Your Articles

Now it is time to submit your articles. Only submit the same article to one place, or Google and other search engines will remove your listings because there will be exact replicates of the same content (not good). If you want to submit the same article to several article directories, you should change the content around so that each article you submit is slightly different.

Here is a list of the top article submission directories:

EzineArticles.com
Squidoo.com
USFreeAds.com
Hubpages.com
GoArticles.com
Wetpaint.com
ArticleDashboard.com
ArticleCity.com
EasyArticles.com
Amazines.com
ValuableContent.com
ArticlesBase.com

Article marketing does take a lot of work, and in order to succeed at it you need to set goals. Set aside enough time during the day to write 1-2 articles and by the end of the month you will potentially have 20-40 articles bringing you in traffic (and hopefully sales). The advantages of article marketing are that you do not have to be a professional to write an article, and it is FREE!

If you are new to Internet marketing and have a limited budget, article marketing is one of the best ways to familiarize yourself with important marketing fundamentals such as research, copywriting, and building pages. It will allow you to generate income that you can use to fund your advertising campaigns (PPC or otherwise). We must point out that article marketing is not "guaranteed", especially with all the changes that Google and other search engines make to their ranking algorithms. Don't rely on just one article to bring you all your sales. Keep consistent with your article marketing and you will be much more likely to be successful with it.