Article Marketing: How Much Traffic Can You Really Expect to Drive?

If you want to have any kind of success as an Internet marketer then you need to understand that the one ingredient that is key to making money online is traffic. It doesn’t matter how great your website looks or how effective your product is, if no one knows that your site exists then you will not make a cent. Article marketing can be a powerful traffic generating technique if used in the right way.

If you are a member of any of the Internet Marketing forums then you’ll probably know that one of the most popular questions asked is ‘How much traffic can I get by submitting my article to an article directory?’

Unfortunately the answer to this question is the same as ‘How long is a piece of string?’ It depends.

The amount of traffic you can generate from your article marketing campaign depends on:
* How many articles you submit;
* How many directories your submit those articles to;
* The quality of your article;
* The quality of the directory;
* The usefulness of your article;
* The effectiveness of your resource box.

If you are looking for a short term traffic boost or a quick way to generate traffic then article marketing is probably not the best solution for you. If however, you wish to invest in the long term and spend time promoting your website, building traffic and building backlinks then article marketing is a great strategy to invest that time and effort in.

The one thing you need to keep in mind with every article that you write is that you want to solve a problem for your reader. Think about the reader not the search engines when you write and make sure that every article adds value.

If you just want to churn out hundreds of articles that are of no use to anyone then you are wasting your time. Just because you write an article and include a link to your website it doesn’t mean someone will click on it.

By focusing on writing quality content you are generating a number of benefits.

* Firstly, your reader is more likely to click on that link and visit your website;
* secondly, quality content is more likely to be picked up and published by other website editors, so your link ends up being seen by more people;
* thirdly, you are establishing yourself as an expert in your niche. And with credibility comes word of mouth referrals and more potential customers.

If you are willing to invest the time into writing quality content that meets the needs of your readers and to do this consistently over time then article marketing is a traffic generating strategy that will pay dividends in the long run.