More web site traffic is something pretty much every webmaster wants. Making it happen is a science few people ever master. Discover how I use articles to drive qualified traffic to my website.

Research shows that while everyone won't make a purchase online, almost everyone who has an internet connection will use it to conduct research before they buy. Have a question about a topic? Where do you go to get your answers? A book? No. Chances are, you do a search on the internet. What do you look for most times? An article that deals with the topic you have a question about.

Writing articles gives you a piece of the search engine pie My primary business is focused on web hosting and web design. In order to drive qualified traffic to my website, I have focused most of my article writing towards topics of interest to people who are looking for both my main services. By writing articles focused on the thousands of topics found in these two main topics, I greatly increase the chance that search engines will reward my efforts with free, quality traffic.

Don't just write any article, write the right article.

There is a method to how I select which articles to write:

1. Brainstorm possible article topics.
2. Scan the list of topics you came up with to determine which ones you can write right away and which ones will need more research.
3. Do a search using the Overture keyword research tool to determine which keywords have the best potential for lost of traffic.
4. Focus your article on one main keyword that has the most potential for a future traffic flood.
5. Write a useful article focused on one main keyword.
6. Post it on your website.

Increase your pagerank and backlinks

Besides writing articles for my own website, I have also written articles that I have then posted on article directories like Ezinearticles.com. Doing this provides two important benefits. First, it has improved my pagerank with Google and secondly, it has greatly increased the number of backlinks to my website.

Why is pagerank important?

Pagerank is a formula that Google developed to determine the most important websites on the internet. At its most basic, pagerank represents votes from other websites for your website. The more important the website that links to you (higher pagerank), the higher the pagerank your website receives from Google. Why should you care? Pagerank does factor in to the search engine rankings a website receives. Will a high pagerank guarantee a high ranking for your article? No. It will help, but many other factors are involved in how Google ranks web sites.

Why are backlinks important?

Backlinks, like pagerank on Google, are used by most search engines as one of the items that help determine search engine ranking. Without any backlinks to your website, it can be difficult to get any of your web pages to appear in the search engines. Backlinks are also one of the primary methods that search engines use to find your site 'naturally'. Even though you can find many places that offer to submit your site to the search engines, most search engines prefer to find your site through a backlink from another website. Many search engines will actually penalize your site in its rankings if it is submitted versus found through a backlink.

Just write, don't worry about being perfect.

The internet allows anyone to publish their ideas for next to nothing. Take advantage of this by writing content that is targeted to your website. Get more web site traffic by writing quality articles focused on high traffic keywords and drive a flood of traffic to your web site.