If you pay attention to only one traffic generating idea, this is it!

Articles are by far my number one traffic generator for my sites at this point. I still work the other methods, obviously, but writing articles is what I concentrate on.

Why articles?

Because they work so well, but so many are afraid of them.

That's right, afraid. Afraid to write an article because they don't feel they know enough on their chosen topics, or that their grammar won't be perfect, or that their English teacher will pick apart their spelling.

If you feel you don't know enough about a topic you have the most powerful research tool at your disposal...the Internet!

Spend time searching the Net and finding information to put into your article. You're not looking to plagiarize anyone's work but rather to learn more about the subject.

This research can reward you in many ways:

The knowledge you gain will enable you to write your article, or several articles.

The more you learn about your topic the more you become a trusted resource to your visitors and subscribers.

Keep a file with the links that you visit and find valuable and you can write another article with just links to great places to visit related to that topic. You can also use these to create a links page on your site.

If you are worried about grammar and spelling just paste your article into Microsoft Word and use the suggestions that it provides. Better yet, have someone you know read through it for you and make corrections.

Take your time with your article. There is no deadline for getting your article ready so don't feel pressured. Work on it a little bit at a time. The more effort you put into it the more reward you will get from it.

Then again maybe you have no problems writing articles but instead don't feel they are worth the time and effort required.

Writing articles is VERY MUCH worth the effort! Here are just a few ways:

More content for your website

Keyword rich content to feed the search engines

When someone else publishes your article on their site or in their newsletter you get more traffic, more exposure for you and your site, and more links to your website

And once you put together an article you can benefit from it for many months to come. I get email asking permission to reprint articles that I wrote over a year ago!

The information is still just as relevant now as it was back then, but the point is that the minimal effort I put into it is rewarding me over a year later.

How many banner ad campaigns can promise that?

Also, many people don't realize that you can even benefit from posting other author's articles on your site.

I'm not saying pretend they are yours, that will get you in trouble. What I mean is that you can pick up additional search engine traffic because their articles will have keywords in them. Add some good meta tags to the pages and submit away.

I have a couple of articles on my site written by various authors that happen to rank very well for certain keywords.

Since the articles are related to my site content, this is free targeted traffic, and I didn't even have to go through the effort of writing the articles.

So get over your fears, get prepared for writer's cramp, and dive into one of the greatest traffic generators for 2001!

About the author: Chuck McCullough is the owner of http://AffiliateMatch.com offering FREE articles, tips, hints, and real-world advice on how to make money with your website. Visit his site or join his FREE newsletter, The AffiliateMatch Informer by sending a blank email to mailto:[email protected]