Early in my career, I wrote an article about how to publish articles as a marketing strategy for small businesses. I published the article in two small business magazines, and enjoyed good results. Several people contacted me about my services, and a few became clients.

Shortly thereafter, I decided to republish the article on web sites that reached my target market. I freely offered the article to dozens of web sites, with the condition that they provide my bio and a link back to my own web site. A few weeks later, my article was published on dozens of web sites.

Almost instantly, I felt the impact. My inbox filled with prospect inquiries. Subscribers for my mailing list jumped substantially. I sold more books, and I landed several clients.

Moreover, my online article gave my reputation a major boost! Prospects who read my article contacted me, ready to do business, with little or no selling involved. They already trusted my credentials and assumed that I was an expert in my field.

Years later, the benefits continue to roll in as prospects read my article on the Internet, recommend it to associates, hire my firm, and buy my books and products.

In one instance, an online reader who later became a client, called me for an on-the-spot meeting. She requested a proposal from my company, even though her company had almost finalized a decision to hire a competitor. "We came across your article, and it made all the difference," they said. "We knew from your article that you could help us."

Because of that one article, written and published on a web site four years earlier, I landed a major client worth several thousand dollars in new business!

Online Articles Bring Bottom- Line Benefits

Publishing articles on web sites and in e-zines has become one of my primary business-development tools. Online articles have helped me to reach more people, land more clients, and grow my mailing list by thousands of names. Online article publishing is a strategy you can put to work for your own business too.

Writing articles that carry a byline describing yourself and your business - including a link to your web site -- is a great way to gain traffic and new customers. This is a win-win situation, as the writer gains exposure for his or her business, while publishers gain free content for their web sites or publications.

You may ask, "Why would an e-zine publisher or web site owner publish my articles for their subscribers or visitors?"

The answer: Content!

There are over 100,000 e-zines and newsletters, and millions of web sites, on the Internet covering everything from dating and careers to investments and business advice. Many need tightly focused content, and they simply can't produce all of it themselves.

Special-interest web sites and online newsletters are eager to receive quality content of interest to their readers. This means there are hundreds of thousands of potential customers out there who could be reading your byline right now.

Here are only a few of the enormous benefits of writing and distributing simple articles online:

Attract prospects, clients, and customers. Online articles can become a major source of new business and web traffic. The exposure from publishing online articles about your business can help you reach new clients, team up with great joint venture partners, and become a mini-celebrity in your niche when people read one of your articles on a trusted web site or e-zine.

It's also possible to publish your articles in really big e-zines, some with readerships of over half a million subscribers!

People interested in topics as diverse as Java programming, retirement planning, or landscape architecture will seek out content on web sites devoted to these subjects. The trick is to provide useful content that ultimately drives readers back to your web site to see what you have to offer.

Establish your expertise and credibility. Online articles draw upon your expertise by providing useful information that web site visitors are actively seeking out. Online articles position you as an expert in your field and convey a level of authority that establishes trust and sets the stage for sales.

This effect grows when your articles appear on web sites and newsletters with a loyal readership. When high-traffic, high-credibility web sites and newsletters publish your articles, you ride on the coattails of their existing relationships with visitors and readers. Your articles are seen as referrals from trusted friends.

Create a buzz about your business. Online articles provide the valuable “word of mouth” that gets people in your target market talking about your business. If your articles deliver solid, useful content, readers will recommend you and your web site to their friends and associates. This viral marketing effect will spread your message among your target market.

My book developed a following from this kind of exposure. People learned about the book from my online articles, and told others. My articles created a buzz around my business and my web site.

Now, my online articles ensure that my marketing runs on autopilot.

Free, permanent exposure. If you buy an ad, it will last a day, a week, or a month. If you want to keep it longer, you’ll have to pay more. But on the web, good content never seems to go away. Your online articles can stay up indefinitely, sometimes working for years as effective client-attracting tools.

Increase search engine rankings. Some of the most prime “real estate” in the world these days is not in a ritzy part of New York or Tokyo, but at the top of the search engine listings. The most widely used search engines rank web sites by the quantity of other web sites that link to them. This means that every article you publish that links to your Web site can improve your search engine rankings.

In a recent search, I found just a dozen of my articles posted on over 813 different websites! Not only do those postings bring me traffic, but they also help my search engine positioning because of my increased "Link Popularity."

The Resource Box

The key to promoting your business with online articles is to include a well -written *punchy* resource box at the bottom of your piece. It should always be written in the third-person and provide a 4- or 5- line background and contact information on the author.

If Only I Had the Time

Finding the right web sites, and submitting your articles over and over again requires work. If your goal is to have your articles regularly appearing on 50- to- 100 web sites, it will take time and effort to make this happen.

The solution is to work with a professional.

Our Online Article Placement Program helps you enjoy the benefits of having your articles up on the web without the hard work and hassles of getting them there yourself. It's affordable, and delivers value well beyond your investment.

Here's what one client has to say:

Here's the process we go through with each client:

Step 1: Assess articles you've already written to ensure proper structure, length, format and quality. We provide models and advice you can use to make any necessary changes to ensure that your articles are suitable for online publication.

Articles need to be written and edited according to instructions we provide to ensure acceptance. Many of our clients simply recycle old content from their newsletters and previous published articles. Web sites and publications happily accept articles that have already been published.

Step 2: Find web sites, e-zines, and newsletters that reach your target market. This is a customized service. Unlike some online article placement services, we don't merely submit your articles to static "free content distribution web sites."

Instead, we manually search for Web sites that meet exact search criteria that you provide. This ensures that your best prospective clients and customers read your articles. We only place articles on web sites that you approve and that reach your target market.

Step 3: Submit your articles. Once they are approved, we submit articles to likely web sites and to email newsletters on your behalf. Within a few weeks, you will begin seeing your articles appear on the Internet.

Step 4: Make sure your articles work for you. We’ll negotiate your resource box, byline, and ensure that web sites provide a live link back to your web site. Our goal is to make sure that you get maximum mileage from your articles.

Our service includes the following:

• Create a list of between up to 100 web sites and e-zines that reach your target market based on keywords that you provide.
• Submit up to (2) 750-1000- word articles of publishable quality with live links back to your web site
• Provide you with a customized Excel spreadsheet of web sites where your articles appear
• Provide you with instructions you or an assistant can use for submitting articles to your list in the future

Fees for the Online Article Placement Program begin at $699.