We should all know the importance of articles to internet based companies as a method of website promotion. They contribute in driving traffic to your website and ultimately determine the success of the site. A good website owner needs to understand the benefits and undertake a constant article promotion strategy. The results can be very beneficial in relation to the amount of work involved. Link popularity, an increase in search engine results, and surge in traffic are the more well-known benefits. Becoming an authority in your niche is another major benefit that can be obtained if article marketing is carried out correctly. Articles can have a great effect in giving a site high rankings in search engine results. The likelihood then is greater website exposure resulting in greater traffic and sales/profit. However, there are important factors to remember when writing articles to obtain the maximum benefits that an article can provide for your site. So what are the main criteria that all articles should include? We will go through a few of them here. Good Quality Content: The most obvious requirement is for well-written, informative articles that will benefit the reader in some way, and help them further understand the topic that you are discussing. There is little point in just filling your article with keywords, but instead must provide good reading material. Whilst being informative, try and make your article entertaining, and one which will stick in the readers mind, rather than something that a reader may read a paragraph or two of and then disregard. If possible, provide figures, facts and statistics on your topic. People like to see accurate stats, and will begin to trust you more as an expert in your niche should your content and stats be helpful to them. It is important to read through your article once it is finished and also to check through for good grammar and any spelling errors. Relevant Keywords and Phrases: Throughout your articles, remember to center the information around the keywords and keyword phrases related to your topic. When people search the internet, they are usually searching for something specific rather than just browsing. It is highly likely that the majority of traffic being driven to your article will be from a search on google, yahoo, or any other major search engine, so ensure that you keep this is mind when writing. Do not try to include keywords that are irrelevant to your article, merely to drive traffic to your article from search engines. If your site is about automobiles, then use keywords that are related, such as cars, car parts, truck accessories, and any other relevant terms. There are many tools on the internet that provide keyword analysis to determine what keywords and keyword phrases are mostly sought out. Use these tools to create a list of terms that you wish to target in your article. Keyword Density: Now that you have identified your keyword phrases and specific keywords to use, you must use them fully. It is very unlikely that a search engine will "get to grips" with what your article is about if you only use a keyword once throughout the entire article. You must have good keyword density in the article content in order for the search engines to rank your article high in the search results. Aim for between ten to fifteen percent of keyword density within the content. For those that are unsure what keyword density is, it is the number of times that a keyword or a keyword phrase appears in an article. Although it is important to have good keyword density, it is equally important not to go too high or too low with keyword density, as it results in either the essence of the article being lost, or being too low for the search engines to pick up the terms. Article Links: Do not forget to include a link to your website. There is no use in writing an informative article, if the reader can not then click on a link to your site to find out more. Your website will not benefit without one!