Pick a word any word. Now type it into the search box of whatever browser you use. The first thing you probably see are thousands if not millions of results listed in the search engines for whatever word you chose. Do a little exploring and you will find that many of your search results are articles. This is where you come in.

Content and keywords are the king and queen of the internet. That is why writing articles is so valuable to your internet marketing strategy. It combines the best of both worlds. People are looking for information first and foremost when they do a search online no matter the topic. By giving them exactly what they are looking for, you can drive massive amounts of targeted traffic to your webpage, affiliate site or anyplace else you desire.

Not sure about this? As a small business owner the reality is you will not have the advertising budget, media or publicity department to compete with the big boys and get your message out there. You need something to level the playing field or at least tip it to the point you can get in the game. Writing keyword related content rich articles will do just that.

Now you maybe asking, "Okay, article internet marketing sounds great but how can I really benefit?"

1. Cost effective
I mentioned how difficult it is to compete against the mega companies online. Article internet marketing is absolutely free. Just fire up your favorite word processor, start writing, send it out to the many online article directories (I recommend picking a top twenty) and watch the fun. Rinse and repeat. The only thing you are really paying for is the amount of time it takes you to write the articles and even that will decrease once you start writing on a regular basis.

2. Visibility
Got a website? Great. So do over 122 million other people. While you are not necessarily competing against them you are in the same boat meaning you need site traffic and attention from the search engines. Article marketing can provide both. Submitting your articles to the directories will bring you free web site traffic. Placing those articles on your site will get the search engines to come around and visit. The more content on your site, the more search engine love you will receive.

3. Backlinks
Simply stated backlinks are incoming links to your website. Once you submit your articles to the directories, webmasters will see if it matches their niche topic and then place it on their site. Since you will have a resource box with a link at the end of your article, this means more web site traffic for you. Search engines will also look at the amount of backlinks to determine the popularity and importance of your website.

4. Ask the expert
The goal of any business is to turn visitors into subscribers and/or customers. One of the best ways to do that is to show people you know what you are talking about. Article marketing can provide that much needed boost to your status and brand you as an expert. It also can get people to bookmark your site once they read your articles. That means a steady clientele of repeat visitors and (yup you guessed it) increased web site traffic.

As you can see writing articles offers great benefits. With more people joining the internet community everyday, there will be a need for more information. Take advantage of this opportunity and make article writing part of your internet marketing strategy.