I've been submitting articles to online article directories for almost a year now, and as a result, I've seen a tremendous increase in my website traffic. Increasingly, what I'm seeing is visitors coming to my site because of searches for keywords that also happen to be the same as topics of articles that I've written. Additionally, my articles have been published in several high profile ezines that have very large subscriber lists, which have driven even more traffic to my website.

How can you write article that increase traffic to your website? Here are 10 strategies I am successfully using:

1. Short but valuable content. Based on all of my research of various article directories, articles should be between 450 -1000 words, with an optimal length of 700-800 words. Most of my articles are 1000-1200 words, so even though I'm a great violator of this rule, article marketing has still been a successful strategy for me.

2. Curb your submissions. Many article submission services as well as article directories permit you to submit an unlimited number of articles on a weekly basis. Consequently, I've heard that some of these services have been blacklisted by the more reputable directories (not the service I'm using, however). In my opinion, article directories permitting unlimited article submissions are great wastelands of poorly written articles, unless they have some type of article approval process attached to the submission. The reputable article banks (those that have great credibility with ezine publishers for having content-rich articles) usually limit article submissions to no more than 2 per week.

3. Captivating title. Creating a compelling title to an article is key in attracting a great readership. Most of my articles are "How to" articles, or they are some type of tips article that solves a problem. For example, "Top 10 Strategies to...", "5 Secrets to Creating..", "The 3 Key Ingredients to...", or "7 Mistakes to Avoid". The general formula that I use is a number and a problem that most of my target market has or a number and a solution to a problem that they have.

4. Include your keywords. In order to drive traffic to your site, you'll need to include the keywords by which you want to be found in the title of the article. To maximize the effectiveness of the article, you'll want to use that same keyword 3-7 times in the content of the article.

5. Short paragraphs are best. You junior high English teach might cringe, but when you're writing online content, your paragraphs need to be no more than about 3 sentences each, and your sentences need to be rather simply constructed. Keep in mind that people are looking at light, not paper, when they're reading online. That means that stress on the eyes is different in this medium than reading a hard copy of something. Because many readers tend to scan online content rather than thoroughly read it, divide your article content into numbered bullet points for easier reading and comprehension.

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