So you're at that stage where you're trying to get your website known. You look at all the obvious ways: paid-search listing from the search engines, paying for high page rank backlinks from established sites, paying to put ads on other websites, and paying to be included in Yahoo's directory (hefty price on this one). There are many more possibilities, but those are the main ones most webmasters look at first on the marketing side.

So it appears you need a big buget to get known, unless you have a viral type of website (spreads fast by word of mouth).

Well, today I'm going to tell you that's not true. There are many free ways that people overlook, and by far one of the most effective is writing articles.

Seems to easy, doesn't it? Well, sometimes it's the simple things that work the best. The thing is, articles, and especially well-written and informative articles, do spread viral-like. If you're lucky enough to have this happen, it's priceless.

So, the thing you're most likely wondering now is what exactly writing articles entails and how to do it.

TOPIC

This is an easy one. The topic should be the same topic as either your website or the part of your website that you are sending them to in the resource links (more on this later). I've seen this many times where the topic may be about cars, but the link is to the person's website that might be about soap or something dissimilar.

SIZE

The length of the article generally should be more than 500 words. When you get on a roll, this is actually a piece of cake. Many article directories, blogs, etc, set the lower limit of 500 words so staying above it generally will give you a wider area of exposure.

RESOURCE SECTION

You as the writer add on a paragraph at the end that has up to 3 links of your choosing. These are the links you'll see everywhere you article is propagated to. Most article directories prefer these restrictions of links to the resource as a courtesy for those who host your articles, so following this method will ensure your article gets the most exposure possible.

SPELLCHECKING

This should go without saying, but spellchecking is extremely easy in recent times, and avoid spelling errors will present your much better and more professionally to your readers, adding to your credibility.

Now, you need to find article directories to submit your articles to, or an article submission service that does this on your behalf. If you're saving money, going right to the article directories ensures the quickest and cheapest (free) method of getting your article out there. You are only spending your time, and you are establishing yourself on the internet as an expert and the place to go on the topic you choose. Write more articles, and it only gets better. You will see the results rival any advertising method and the effect of an article can last for months after you write it, creating a snowball-like effect.