When you write an article it should be tightly focused and wrapped around one single topic. It should consist of no less than 500 words and it must be interesting reading. At the very end of the article you will find what is known as the resource box. The authors bio and quick info on the item you are promoting goes in this box.

Writing an article is not difficult. You must do your research first and then write the article. It can be defined as a summary of your research in your own words. After you complete your article, put it in a folder on your computer with information on where and when you submitted it. Now your next task is to get it publicized.

This is achieved by submitting your article to article directories. These directories introduce the many publishers to the article writer. If a publisher sees your article and wants to include it on their website or in their newsletter, this is allowed on the condition that the resource box is also included.

This way the publisher gains valuable content and the writer gains publicity. If you have submitted your article to more than one article directory, how will you know which directory your website visitors have come from?

How will you know if you are wasting your time submitting to hundreds of article directories, when the results may only be coming from a chosen few? You must be able to track the results of each and every article submission that you make in order to find the answers to these questions.

Web hits and keyword ranking are useful stats to have. However, you also need to track the number of pages indexed and the number of back links each article has obtained. These stats are available to you. It does take up a lot of time to go five levels deep into some search engine software.

With time being the valuable commodity that it is these days, we all need to spend as little of it as possible carrying out mundane tasks. You tell me, which is more likely to be the most profitable for you, time spent checking stats, or time spent writing another article? Exactly!

As I said earlier, article marketing is free. The results of article marketing can cost you though. For instance, if you write mediocre to bad articles, they will always bring in mediocre to bad results. How would you know which articles are mediocre or which ones are bad? Tracking!

Tracking each and every article through the search engines allows you to know which ones are dragging their heels and which ones are just not cutting it. You really need to know if your articles are doing badly. Primarily because when people see your name they will click and go somewhere else.