Articles are by far my number one traffic generator for my sites at this point. I still work other methods, obviously, but writing articles is what I concentrate on.

Why articles?

Because they work so well, but so many are afraid of them.

That's right, afraid. Afraid to write an article because they don't feel they know enough on their chosen topics, or that their grammar won't be perfect, or that their English teacher will pick apart their spelling.

If you feel you don't know enough about a topic you have most powerful research tool at your disposal...the Internet!

Spend time searching Net and finding information to put into your article. You're not looking to plagiarize anyone's work but rather to learn more about subject.

This research can reward you in many ways:

The knowledge you gain will enable you to write your article, or several articles.

The more you learn about your topic more you become a trusted resource to your visitors and subscribers.

Keep a file with links that you visit and find valuable and you can write another article with just links to great places to visit related to that topic. You can also use these to create a links page on your site.

If you are worried about grammar and spelling just paste your article into Microsoft Word and use suggestions that it provides. Better yet, have someone you know read through it for you and make corrections.

2) IT'S FREE Exchanging links is free (the only cost being that you have to put a reciprocal link on your website). This means that you will be getting targeted traffic for no cost at all, whereas you could be paying for targeted visitors from pay-per-click search engines, ezine ads etc.

3) LINK POPULARITY Each time you exchange links with a website it means that there is one more site linking to you. Now that link popularity is becoming more important with search engine rankings, it is essential to build your link popularity. And what better way to do it than by exchanging links? You increase your link popularity and get free targeted advertising at same time.

4) BUILDS YOUR SITES RESOURCES If your website offers resources to its visitors, then websites that your exchange links with can be added to those resources. In this way you can build up your resource directory with reciprocal links, thus offering an extra service/feature for your visitors as well as advertising your website at same time.

5) QUICK RESPONSE Once you have exchanged links with a website, then you can start receiving visitors from that link straight away. In contrast, if you submit your website to search engines, then it might take weeks or months to even get listed. This is a good way for new websites to quickly build a flow of traffic to their sites.

6) GUARANTEED LINK Once you have exchanged links with a website, that link is guaranteed. You know that your link will always be displayed on that site, as long as you continue to display their link. If webmaster that you exchanged with decides to delete your link, then you can delete theirs, and vice versa.