Whether you're a professional writer, or just trying to promote your business, free online article sites can provide a real boost for your website. The basic premise is that you submit your articles on topics relevant to your business, and other webmasters can then republish your work for free on their sites, with the proviso that they include a resource box that features your name and a link to your page.

There are several benefits to using article sites in this way. Firstly, the article site does the promotion for you; it's easy for visitors to search and select articles, and the sites draw lots of traffic every day from people trying to find information and free content. Every time someone reads your article, there's a chance they'll visit your website.

Once your article starts getting republished, even more people will see your name and content, as it appears on others' websites. That means more clicks through to your page. What's more, if a prospective client or employer searches for your name online (assuming your name is reasonably unusual), all the sites where your articles have been republished will appear in the search engine rankings, which immediately boosts your credibility. Some webmasters also feature RSS feeds of articles from article sites, so there's a chance you'll appear in one of those.

Another search engine related benefit is the fact that search engines rank your page in part according to the number and quality of the links into your website. The more links from relevant websites you have, the better, and of course, people who are republishing your articles are likely to be running websites on themes similar to yours. That means that not only will you be receiving traffic from these other sites, but you'll also be boosting your page rank.

Before you start scribbling your article, bear in mind that the more unique and specific your article is, the better. There are probably hundreds of articles available on how to choose a domain name, or what the difference is between kinds of web hosting. Rather than focusing on your more general skills, try to think of things you can write about which will be unusual and interesting to your readers. You could include anecdotes about business experiences which make an important point, or perhaps you have a special way of using a certain tool in a certain piece of software. The more run-of-the-mill your article is, the less likely it is that it will be republished, and the less likely that anyone will want to click the link at the bottom!

When you're writing your article, make sure that you present yourself well. Don't put lots of links or offers in the middle of the article, as this will make it difficult for people to republish properly. If you're listing useful websites, include the full URL rather than a hyperlink, as webmasters might forget to activate the hyperlinks when they republish your work. Your name, a single link to your website, an email address, and maybe a short biography explaining what you do, should be quite enough for your resource box, which should appear once at the bottom or top of the article (not in the middle). Don't forget to add a note that says that republishing of the article is permitted, so long as the resource box and a working link to your website are retained intact.

Remember that you don't know what text size or column width to expect from the people republishing your article: use short, easy-to-scan paragraphs, avoid italicised, bold or underlined text, and don't do things like putting a row of hyphens or underscores above and below your resource box, as the row might be too short or too long when the article is republished.

Make sure that you spell and punctuate your article correctly, and that your grammar is immaculate. Badly written articles will make a poor impression. Try not to use too many exclamation marks or an excess of colloquial language. There's no need to be extremely formal, but you need to show that you are capable of good-quality writing, especially if you are selling yourself as a writer!

By Natalie Catchpole