You might have seen them online: vast databases that hold thousands of different articles written by experts and not-so-expert individuals on every imaginable topic from lion droppings to screws on nuclear submarines. And what seems like the best deal of all: they are free of cost for the getting in. All you have to do is run a small blurb (called a resource box) at the bottom identifying the writer, with perhaps a short bio, and a link back to the writers web page .

You may even have decided to download an article that particularly took your interest, faithfully complying with the wishes of the article directory as you pointed back to the writers internet page . And you might have noticed no real difference in your own web address traffic, or maybe even have reaped some compliments on your discernment at having downloaded and shared with your customers such a fine article.

But do not pat yourself on the back yet. Though you didnt notice a difference in your web visitors , theres a fair chance that at least some of the readers of this article noticed that anchor and clicked on it, and if the author is selling a item similar to yours, another fair to middling chance that they chose to purchase items from him instead of you simply because thats the last place where they landed.

One or two customers from your web site – that might not seem like too much. But if you look at the math, that could pay for two or three great articles on your web site by other talented writers.

For the lucky author of the article you put on your page, that means that they got at least a sale or two out of the article they wrote. If several other humans did the identical thing you did, they may have gotten more sales, generating that article they wrote and posted for costless very lucrative indeed.

Before acquiring annoyed at this human for poaching your customers, unbeknownst to you, think about this: you might do the identical thing.

Posting Articles to Article Directories

Whether you write your own articles or purchase them from writers and article brokers, you may get articles up with your own resource box, with your hyperlink to your website and your bio. Its simple. You put together an article you think other webmasters that sell something similar or identical to what you sell would be interested in placing on their websites. You might write it, commission it, or just purchase pre-composed articles from an article broker.

Then you go out to the article directory you like. Register as an article contributor, and post your article online.

Thats it. Or almost it.

Making Sure You Get Yours

Although article directories are supposed to ensure that anyone using your article also gives you credit for the work youve done, when youre working with thousands of articles its impossible to do this perfectly. Your best bet is to do a periodic Google search for your articles to ensure you understand where theyre posted, and also that they are properly credited to you.

To do this, select a unique phrase of about five or six words from the middle of your article. Copy the phrase into the Google search bar, putting quotes around it, and then search. Any site that comes up from this search should be one that is hosting your article. Double check each one and ensure that they are properly crediting you. If theyre not, report them to the article directory webmaster, and politely electronic mail the transgressors yourself to inquire of them to credit you or remove the article from their page.

If they do not comply, you can also try reporting them to Google.

The most that will most definately happen is that theyll be blacklisted from the Google search engine, and the article directory will yank their privilege of using articles from the page. Its notoriously hard to catch criminals online, and for the crime of plagiarism youre not likely to get much satisfaction. But at least you will understand who to watch for in the future.

Youll also have surveyed the sites that are legitimately using your articles, which is important to understand . Even if someones copying your information and using it without your data , chances are nice that youre grasping some nice visitors directed to your page from every one else. The quality of the visitors , not the fact that some humans will steal your understanding, should determine whether you continue using article directories.

Cody Moya writes about Article Marketing in his costless 50 parts course on Internet Marketing. You can sign up for his Free Internet Marketing Course and get additional understanding at his internet address : http://www.selling .us