Writing good quality articles is an excellent way to promote your business and drive much needed traffic to your website without spending lots of money. But there is a tremendous difference in writing articles and writing quality articles. So if you plan to use the technique of article marketing as a means of increasing your website traffic, before you do, you should let the contents of this article sink in.

The very first article I wrote was an article about Hurricane Katrina that I posted on a website that I designed to help survivors of the terrible disaster. Hurricane Katrina had devastated my life as well, and had a sincere desire to help others through my article. Not only had I lived through the storm, but I also survived the deluge in New Orleans that followed in Katrina’s aftermath, and the story I told in my article was in fact—very real.

I knew that two of the main ingredients of good article were fact and experience, and having personal experience about the subject matter is always a plus for the writer. So I assumed that this particular article merited being labeled as a "quality" article because it contained these two essential ingredients. I thought that I was on my way to establishing a career as a great article writer, but things didn’t quite work out the way I planned.

Nearly six years and dozens of articles later, I have come to realize that during my early years of writing articles I made a few invaluable mistakes, and today, whenever the question of how to write good quality articles arises, there are several critical facts about article writing that immediately comes to mind.

Article Content I have learned that the substance of a good quality article is embodied in the content of that article. All too often writers throw together a group of formatted words and sentences and call it an article just for the sake of getting exposure and traffic. I suggest that you keep in mind the true purpose of your article content—that it is to provide value and information to your audience.

When you sit down to write an article you should try to write the best article that you are capable of. Don’t get into the habit of producing a certain quantity of articles but instead you should strive for good quality articles. It is better to write 5 quality articles a month than to produce 50 articles that have repetitive content and amount to nothing more than a collaboration of good sounding words.

One of the qualities of a good quality article is that its content is worthy of being read, and unless you give your readers useful information your article will never be considered worthy material. If your focus is on providing value and trustworthy information to your readers they will refer your site to others, and in turn the people they refer will refer even more people to your website.

Never purchase articles—you know the ones you purchase in bulk packages, make a few changes in the wording, and then slap your name beneath the title. The idea may sound like a good one, especially if you’re inexperienced, but how many other people might be displaying that same article on their site?

In my opinion original content is by far better than a generic article. Yes original content takes more effort to produce, but originality inspires creativity and if you are going to write articles you must be creative.

Article Motive Although article writing is an excellent way to promote your business and drive traffic to your website, if your principal motivation is for personal gain, then you have entirely missed the function of your article, and no matter how good your writing ability may be you will fail miserably at article writing.

One of the mistakes I made in writing my first article had to do with motive. Because I had lost everything in the hurricane, I needed money desperately and although I had a sincere desire to help others through my article my focus was on making money. You see, I thought if I wrote a good article that would in turn generate lots of traffic to my website I would make lots of money and quickly get my life back on track. Needless to say, I didn’t make a lot of money and my article and my website was a flop.

If the only motive behind your article is to make money, then stop right now and spare yourself the heartbreak. You could probably make more money marketing widgets on Amazon.com.

One of the greatest mistakes that writers make is to convince themselves to write for money. Never allow money to become your motivation for writing. You should develop the trend of writing for the joy and value that it brings to others. There is no greater joy than to have someone tell you how much they benefited from an article you wrote.

The Internet is timeless. Once the search spiders reference your material it will forever be available for people to read, especially if someone has copied and posted your article on their website. Therefore, when you write an article do so with the intention that people will possibly be reading your article long after you are dead. You never know the influence your work might have on future generations. In essence you should write in such a manner as to always produce good quality articles to the best of your ability.

Your motive should never be to out-do your competition either. Focus your mind on being yourself when you write. Don’t be intimidated by competition, because if you are your focus will be on competing rather than writing quality articles. If you write quality articles that are uniquely original no one will be able to compete with you.

Knowledge Base Write about things you know. One of the worst things a writer can do is to write about something he or she knows nothing about. Your audience can tell if you know what you’re writing about. Do yourself a favor and write about things that you have some level of experience in, or at best some degree of knowledge.

For example, if you have been breeding dogs for a few years, then write about dogs. I’m sure there are experiences that you have had with dogs that is unique and unlike the experience of another.

Never write to convince your readers, if you do you will only become frustrated with yourself. You cannot convince someone that you know what you are writing about; instead you should let your writing prove itself. People will research your work if it has value to them.

In one sense, your writing is like a doctor’s diagnosis to a patient; that diagnosis has value to that patient. Here’s what I mean: If your doctor were to give you an unfavorable diagnosis, chances are you would not be totally convinced that it was your only option. You would probably go out and research the diagnosis and get a second opinion. If your article has value to your readers, they will get a second opinion from another writer. In the end your article will prove that your knowledge base is correct.

Writing good articles is a learned process. The more articles you write the better you will be at writing them. When you learn the art of writing quality articles your articles will generate lots of traffic to your website.