Some six weeks ago, I began writing and submitting articles to free content sites in order to promote the six commercial Websites I own. The results have been both swift and dramatic, and the number of links from external Websites to my own Websites has increased from nearly nothing to more than 10,000 in a little more than a month. These results have inspired me to write more articles, and as I own six different Websites, I have six different topics to choose from. Still, my ideas occasionally run dry and that certainly happens to others who write articles for their own Websites. Writing and submitting articles on a regular basis does a lot for promoting your Websites, but where can you find more ideas for articles when you run out?

I have several sources that work for me. I subscribe to several newspapers as well as several newsmagazines. Most of my Websites are devoted to “topical” subjects, so the sorts of things I write about tend to be in the news. Sometimes, when reading an article about one of my topics, I find some angle or aspect of the topic I hadn't previously considered. I read a lot of blogs devoted to my topics. All you need to do to find those is to type in “blog name-of-topic” into Google or any other search engine. You may find hundreds of blogs devoted to your topic of choice, and by reading them regularly, you may find some subject related to your topic that you hadn't previously considered. You might also try looking for forums related to your topic of choice. Again, just type in “forum name-of-topic” into a search engine. You'd be surprised how many forums are out there. Each one is a potential source of ideas for articles on your topic.

A new tool that really helps is the new Google Alert feature. If you go to Google.com and find their Alert link, you can sign up to have Google send you e-mail once a day, once a week or once a month when a news article turns up relating to any topic you choose. With Google Alerts, sometimes ideas for articles just show up on your inbox!

It goes without saying, but I should mention it just the same. Plagiarizing articles is a crime. Most articles that are published on the Web are subject to copyright. Copying, rewriting or quoting from copyrighted articles without permission is illegal. There is nothing, however, that prevents you from using such articles or the subjects of such articles as inspiration for your own, unique writing. If you are willing to do a lot of searching, there are many great sources of ideas for articles. Just make sure that the articles you write contain content that is your own. The rewards are great, and it's worth the effort.