1. Get a main idea, or focus for your article.

This is what your whole article is going to be about. The main idea for your article needs to have some relevance to the web site that you link to in the resource box, because this is how you are going to get the benefit when your article is published.

This is why articles are so effective at directing targeted traffic to your site - the reader will be searching for information on a topic, find your helpful and informative article, and follow the link to your site for even more relevant information. Writing free reprint articles fits right into how Internet users surf the web, and benefits you with targeted traffic.

2. Jot down five or more key points that provide information on your article topic.

For example, if your article's a how-to type of article, you can have say five steps towards accomplishing a specific goal. If your article explains different ways to do something, think of five or more different ways. Each of these points will form a paragraph in your article. Often as you write your article proper, you will find that you can expand each point into two or three paragraphs, which will give you an ideal length for your article.

3. Write an introduction.

Just introduce your topic. Give a little bit of background to the article's topic, and then summarize what you will cover in your article.

Again, you want to keep the reader interested, keep them reading, and push them along to the link in your resource box that you want them to click. So try to spike their curiosity a little, and they won't be able to help but read on to find out more.

4. Write a conclusion.

Your conclusion really just quickly summarizes the main points in your article, similar to how your introduction works, except now you are drawing your article to a natural close.

It's good practice to take a look at some articles in an article directory, and see how authors have concluded their article. Don't copy word for word, but you can base the format of your own conclusion on one that you like the look of.

5. Add a tantalizing title.

You may want to write this at the very beginning, but it's often helpful to write at the end once you are really clear what your article is about.

Your title is also one of the most important elements. It has to draw the reader in, encourage him to read further, make your article stand out from the crowd, and if at all possible contain an element that plays to the reader's curiosity (i.e. literally force them to read just to satisfy their curiosity).

6. Check the length.

The ideal article length is 600-800 words, this is what most publishers are looking for, and will ensure that your article gets published in the maximum number of places. If you're short, see if you can expand on certain points, or add a couple of new points in.

7. Write your resource box. The last and arguably most important bit is to write your resource box. Again, it's a good idea to have a look around some article directories and note how other authors have structured theirs.

In my experience, the most effective way to structure a resource box is to first write a sentence about yourself that also gives you some authority on your topic. Then write a sentence about your web site, with a link to it. And that's all it needs. Keep it simple, keep clear of promotional language, and just include a single link.

Once you've practised these techniques a couple of times, you'll find it as easy as pie and will be churning out quality articles in half the time. There are a few common mistakes that you will also need to avoid, but this is covered in a previous article I wrote at www.submityourarticle.com, there isn't room to go over them again here.

All you need to do now is get your article out there and published as widely as possible.

Copyright 2005 Steve Shaw

Steve Shaw provides systems and software for effective e-marketing. Find out more about how to publish articles for profit online with his popular free ecourse, available at: www.takanomi.com/publish-articles.php