Designing a great website is only the first step towards creating a successful web presence. In order to succeed, you must develop a steady stream of traffic to your site. The first and most important step is getting your website listed in the search engines. Keeping your website ranked in the top 30 positions is a never ending battle and shouldn't be solely relied upon for developing traffic.

If you've been on the Internet for a while you've probably subscribed to a few ezines (newsletters). Most ezines will include a feature article written by the editor or a guest author. If you've ever read an article written by a guest author then you've probably noticed, at the end of the article, a few lines of text about the author, referred to as "bylines" or "resource box."

The writer gives the publisher permission to publish their article free of charge in exchange for the publisher including the author's bylines. The bylines are basically just an advertisement for the writer. They usually contain a couple of lines about the author and a web address.

By writing articles and allowing them to be published free of charge, your articles will have the potential to be viewed by millions of Internet users. They may be published by several ezines with subscriber bases of a few hundred to several thousand. In addition, they may be displayed in ezine archives or on high traffic websites.

Most ezine publishers prefer short articles between 500 and 750 words. Short "tip" articles of just a couple of paragraphs are also very popular. Articles should be formatted to 65 characters per line or less including spaces and written in short paragraph sections.

When you begin writing your article, avoid using your standard word processing programs, as they do not allow for proper formatting. Instead, use a text editor such as NotePad. It should already be installed on your desktop.

When you begin typing your article, use a hard carriage return (hit enter) when your text reaches 65 characters, including spaces, and leave a space between your paragraphs. This will enable the publisher to easily copy and paste your article into their publication and significantly increase your chances of being published.

Most publishers receive many article submissions each week and only select a few to be published. Here are some basic guidelines to help you increase your chances of being published:

• Your article must be properly formatted. Publishers won't take the time to format your article, they'll simply use another article that is properly formatted.

• Keep your bylines down to 6 lines or less

• Select a descriptive title to intrigue your readers

• Use proper grammar and spelling

• Avoid articles that are nothing more than a sales pitch, as your chances of being published will be minimal

• Avoid referring readers to an affiliate URL as this will make your article appear to be biased and untrustworthy

• Write your articles with a sincere desire to teach and inform. Talk to your readers and share your expertise

Once you've written your article, you'll need to develop a list of publishers that may be interested in publishing it. Visit the following site to help you locate ezine publishers:

http://www.meer.net/~johnl/e-zine-list/

Search through the database for publications that may be interested in the type of article you've written. Contact the publisher and ask them if they accept article submissions.

Here are some additional promotional resources to help you get published:

http://www.web-source.net/article-announce

http://www.web-source.net/links

http://www.ideamarketers.com/

http://www.e-zinez.com/writers.htm

Writing and distributing free articles on the Internet will be one of the best promotional decisions you'll ever make. Not only will it provide you with free publicity, but if your articles are good, you'll become a trusted professional in your area of expertise.

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Shelley Lowery is the publisher of Article Announce: A Writer & Publisher Exchange & Marketing Adzine: Marketing, Advertising & Promotional Solutions for the Netrepreneur. Visit her site to subscribe. Web-source.net - A Webmasters Resource Directory. http://www.web-source.net
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