Many newcomers to the internet, and in particular owners of websites, often have the misconception that site traffic comes at a financial cost. Well think again! Why not use article marketing to drive traffic to your website and increase link popularity in the process?

One of the major benefits of article marketing is the ability for a particular article to spread throughout the internet onto several websites, often referred to as "viral marketing". The effectiveness of this is highly dependant upon the popularity of the article niche and the quality of information contained in that article. However, it is important not to underestimate the power of this possibility. It is highly likely that your article will be picked up from article directories by tens, hundreds, and possibly thousands of website owners eager for fresh, informative content for their sites and ezines.

It is impossible to predict which sites will pick your article up, but it can be very exciting to find that an article that you wrote has been published by a site with PR (Page Rank) 5, 6, 7 or maybe higher.

The consequence is a link back to your site from a number of sites running your article, and an increase in targeted website traffic, for free!

Furthermore, once your article has been written and submitted to article directories, depending on the quality of the article directory, you can benefit from the same article for years down the line.

Article writing provides you with an opportunity to display your knowledge to others. Should you provide valuable information that readers find interesting, then you can benefit from two essential ways. Firstly the reader can directly visit your site to view the service or product that you have to offer, and secondly, the reader may wish to publish the article on their website as they'll feel it may provide good information for their own website visitors. This ultimately benefits all parties:

- Your article, with resource box containing your website link, is located on many websites. You are rewarded with website traffic and link popularity.

- The reader (publisher) that finds your article informative has free content to place on their website for visitors to read.

- The visitors to websites using your article, locate an interesting and informative article, which can lead them to more information (your website).

The power of article marketing is obvious, and if you are a website owner, you should certainly be using it to drive free targeted traffic to your website.