Writing articles for your site and for the use of others, is a\rsimple proven way low cost way to get more traffic.

Articles can be used for all subjects and just like newspapers\rand magazines, is a recognised way of sharing information.

Articles a low cost way of promotion but they do take time\rwhich can pay you back year after year for your efforts.

Most people tend to think that they can't write well. It's\rnothing more than sharing helpful information that you have\rlearned. For example the idea of this article is to help format\ryou thoughts and then the best way to format it best for users.\rSo lets get started.

1. Firstly you need to choose who is your target market. Who is\ryour article for and why would they find it helpful?

Example: "Home business websites who are looking for low cost\rtraffic"

2. Choose the purpose of you article. Why are you writing it?\rHow will you use it? This will help guide the content of it.

Example: "Provide an article for distribution, which other\rwebmasters/ezine owners can use creating links back to my site,\rand subscribers to my ezine"

Always keep the purpose of the article in mind, which will help\ryou keep on track with your content.

3. Article Subject -What are you going to write about? What\rsubject? Use other articles you have seen or experiences you\rhave had for ideas.

Example: Using articles for low cost online promotion

From the subject you have chosen you need to create a headline\rof sorts- some thing that makes people want to read it. Create\rcuriosity and use emotion.

Example: How to turn words into free traffic for your site

4. Format Outline -This is when you decide the format of your\rarticle, just like you were taught at school.

a. Introduction - An outline of what you are going to discuss\rand why.

b. Main body - Points you are going to cover including any\rreferences to helpful sites or site involved in what you learnt

c. Conclusion - What resulted and how it worked or it didn't.\rWhat could you do differently next time.

d. Resource box - Normally a link to your site, information\rabout your site, about you. Here is good article on resource\rboxes:

http://digitalawol.com/box

5. Checking - At this stage you should have the outline of an\rarticle. You need to get someone else to read it over, spell\rchecking it, making sure the information flows well.

I also recommend leaving it overnight before using it. It gives\ryou a chance to re think it.

6. Online formatting - If you intend to make your article\ravailable to ezine owners, then you need to make sure it is\rformatted correctly and easy for them to use. The standard\raccepted format is 65 Characters wide- in plain text.

Most people us Microsoft word for word processing so you will\rneed to re-format by using a program such as Note Tab light\rhttp://www.notetab.com/ (no cost) which will format your\rarticle correctly.

One thing you will also need to do is ensure you only have\rparagraphs of 4-5 lines otherwise it creates a "mental block"\rfor the reader, and becomes too hard to read online.

So now you have a formatted, helpful article ready for your\ruse. The last thing you need to keep in mind is that you need to\rprovide helpful, well-researched information. A full-page ad for\ryour site will not do you any good and will get deleted quickly.

Try to write from your own experiences and it will come across\ras real and very readable.

My next article will cover getting the information out there\rand working for you.

You can get the next article by subscribing to our ezine. It\rwill surprize you find out that there are places you should NOT\rpost your article, as they may not help your business.

Need more visitors to your web site and no more BS? \rPaul Easton is the editor of Power Promotion Plus. Learn how to\rincrease traffic on a budget. Signup now and get your 3 gifts:

1.Free Meta Tag Software -2.Unofficial Pop Up Windows Crash\rCourse -3.Affiliate Marketing Plan Builder - A step by step\rguide to a successful affiliate marketing program.

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(This article is available for reprint simply by adding the\rabove Bio and no changes are made to the article or its content)