However, to generate traffic and get better search engine placements, you have to do more than just submit articles to popular article directories. The days of simply submitting your articles to content farms in order to get backlinks are pretty much over (owing it to the fact that major online search engines have started to “disqualify” backlinks coming from article directories). What does this mean for you and your site? It means, you have to explore new ways of distributing your SEO content on the web to get backlinks and higher search rankings.

When you finish writing an article, your first goal is to post it online and be credited by the search engines as the original creator of it. This is important because no matter how many copies of your article gets reposted on various webpages later, search engines will always give you the credit for it, and you will receive priority rankings for that piece of content. How do you do this? Well, the easiest way is to simply post the article as a separate page on your site. This way, your article can have its own tags for page title, page description, and meta keywords. Instead of being at the mercy of article submission sites, you can have total control over the SEO of your own piece of content, because you posted it in your own site and did the on-page SEO yourself.

The next thing you need to do is to get instantly noticed or “indexed” by the search engines. You do this by socially bookmarking your article in sites such as Stumbleupon or Digg. You don’t have to repost your article. Just submit your link on these sites, and because search engines visit these social bookmarking sites often, they will easily “find” your link there and include it in search engine results as soon as possible.

After you get indexed on search engines, you need to generate backlinks (a backlink is generated when the link for your website is posted on another site, more preferably a high authority site in your niche). To get backlinks for your main website, your goal is to get your article published on other blogs similar to yourself (which includes your website link at the bottom of the article). It is highly recommended that you find these blogs and find a way to contact the blog owner and offer to make a guest post. Some will be more than willing to repost your article and website link on their website if your content is good. And the more guest posts you make, the more backlinks you can generate.

How do you turn your “pretty good” articles into really great articles? It’s much easier, and much faster, than you might think.

First, start with the title. If you’re writing an article on, say, time management, an okay title might be “Learn Time Management Skills for Better Productivity.” Nothing wrong with that, but it could be turned into an eye-catching headline that would draw people into your article. “5 Time Management Tips for Doing More in Less Time” is much more interesting.

Next, take a look at your lead sentence. This needs to be something that really grabs your reader. Let’s say you currently have, “Time management helps you get your work done more quickly. Try changing that to, “If you manage your time well, you could save up to ten hours a week—hours that you can spend doing things you need to do, not things you have to do.” See how much more effectively that draws the reader in?

In journalism, there’s a saying that if you can get someone to read your headline, they’ll read the first sentence. If they read the first sentence, they’ll read the first paragraph, and if they read the first paragraph, they’ll read the whole article.

So your goal with your first paragraph is to keep the readers who liked your headline and your first sentence. You need to convince them to read the rest of your article. You can do that by telling them, clearly, what they’re going to get from your article. For instance, after your great first sentence on time management, you could continue with, “By making a few very simple changes to your routine, you can create over an hour of free time each week.” Then in the next paragraph, you can start explaining what those simple routine changes are, and how to make them.

One of the biggest errors people make in writing articles to market their business, is in style. Many people try to write in a very journalistic style, like they’re writing for a newspaper. But the people who find your article online are more interested in reading articles that are clear and interesting. A relaxed, personal style is more appealing in this type of article. Fortunately, it’s also easier to write.

Many business owners are uneasy about writing their own articles, because they feel they “can’t write.” Chances are that you can write well about your own business, because you know it better than anyone. If you want to write your own articles, you can, and you can do it well.

Pretend you’re writing your best friend a letter about your business. Start out with a great first line (your headline) with the benefits of what you’re going to say. Follow up with a sentence that explains clearly what’s coming and builds it up, and then start telling your reader what they need to know.

Finish up with a final paragraph pointing out the most important parts of your “letter,” and you’re done.

It is well worth your time to write articles that really grab your readers’ attention and keep them reading. If you do that, they will visit your web site and buy your products. And that’s your main goal, after all.