The article marketing system is a very simple process which entails creating an article on your niche subject and submitting it to article directories. These are websites set up as a library of articles where webmasters or newsletter editors can browse for articles that may be of interest to their visitors or readers. These directories will accept original articles on a vast number of subjects and provide guidelines as to how the articles should be formatted. They usually allow one link in the author's box which must be included with the article when published and later duplicated for use elsewhere.

The aim is to generate traffic through the link within your resource box. For each published article there will be a back link to your website. The higher the page rank of the article directory that publishes your article the better impact it will have on your own website's page rank. There are thousands of article directories on the Internet and if you were to submit an article to just 20 of them on a weekly basis you would get 20 back links per week to your website. If you continued on the weekly basis this could grow to as many as 1000 back links over a period of one year.

Here are some guides on some of the most commonly asked questions regarding Article Marketing.

1. Submitting one article to several article directories - will the search engines consider this duplicate content?
It seems that the search engines consider the submitted articles as being the article directory's original work, therefore duplication is not applicable.

2. Could I submit articles which I have already posted in my own web pages?
Since in item 1 above the article is considered by the search engines as the directory's own work, your website copy would therefore be classed as the duplicate, possibly resulting in your website being de-indexed.

3. Is there a limit on the number of articles that I can submit?
The only restriction is that given by the article directory where they may restrict the number of articles submitted within a certain time frame, however, the majority have no such restrictions.

4. Will my article be kept intact by people that use it on their websites or in their newsletters?
You can never be certain about this. It would be wise to check every now and then by running a search in Google for one specific phrase from your article and checking out the results obtained. Check to see that your resource box is there and the link is sound. If it is missing then you need to contact the webmaster to correct the problem.

5. Does article marketing really work? Yes it does work, but you will need to ensure:
a. the article subject caters to a wide audience and is of interest to the audience.
b. The title is one that grabs the audience's attention.
c. The article is high quality, relevant, and informative.

If your article is not up to scratch your readers will not get far enough to see your resource box and really will not be very interested in what else you might have at the end of the link there. Article Marketing needs interesting content in order for it to succeed.