Article marketing has gained a great deal momentum over the last two years. This is due to the fact that many websites, not to mention website rankings, are driven by quality content. As web site owners have learned more about search engine optimization and the value of quality content, they have gravitated towards article marketing.

Even if you are late to the game, article marketing can work for you. For those who haven’t started, I suggest you jump in. Article marketing is still one of the best ways to promote your website. No one needs to be concerned that many are using article marketing as a way to promote their website or blog. In fact, article marketing works regardless of who uses it or how many people author new content.

Article marketing is effective because you search engines love quality content. Moreover, you are producing content that will be ranked by search engines and including a link back to your website. Content focused around specific keywords is identified by search engines to display when users search on a particular niche or topic of interest. When your article includes links back to your website, you pass value back to your site.

When you distribute your article to article websites or blogs your article content your content gets additional exposure. Over time, a Google PR is assigned to the page that your article is on, and if you have links to your website, the page rank is transferred resulting in a boost to your search engine rankings.

A common mistake that is made when website owners start their article marketing campaign, is they forget to link back to their own website. Sometimes new marketers remember to insert a link to their website but the link is designed in the wrong manner. The right way to develop in bound links is by using keyword rich link text.

For those who are not sure of how to produce a link in the right way, find a tutorial on creating an html link. There are dozens of websites that provide specific instructions on creating links that display your keywords in the link text. Linking in the right way is essential if you want full benefit from article marketing.

Once you have written your articles and included properly formatted links, you can submit them to article directories. Make sure that the sites you are submitting to have a high Google PR and are popular. I used to think that the benefit of article directories was the fact that many web site owners frequent these sites for content. But the real value is the Google PR that the site provides and passes your website through your links.

A lot of article websites do not distribute content to any great extent. The number of webmasters who copy content and paste it into their website or blog in the right way is limited. You can improve your article marketing success by focusing on top article directories.

Develop articles in your area of specialty and include links to your website. These links can be placed in the author box or included in the article. Your keywords must be placed in the text of the link. Test your links to make sure they work properly. After you have validated that links are working properly, distribute your articles at will.