Now that you have made your very own free website, you need to drive traffic to it. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an effective tool for getting your site noticed by search engines, which feed your site to people who are searching for your product or services.

Another tool to use is article directories. Article directories are sites that let you post informative articles with links back to your west. Some of the most highly rated article directories include Ezine Articles, Go Articles, Article Links Directory, Article Base, etc. All of these sites are free to join and easy to use. Each one has their own submission guidelines so it is advisable to become familiar with them before you submit an article.

Find Your Subject Your articles should be related to your website. If for example you are a photographer, you could cover any recent trends in photography or any recent events related to photography. Instructional articles or articles that give your reader information about a related subject to your website are also excellent choices for subject matter. Top ten lists are very popular.

You could cover a local event that you have attended and give your opinions and post some photos. People like to know what is going on in the world around them and you can use this angle to get your free website noticed. You can use articles posted to directories to set yourself up as an expert in your field. Do not be afraid to give away information about your free website. Any information you give will come back to you in the form of visitors and clients.

Gain Backlinks

By including links back to your free website in your articles you will be pointing your readers to look for further information. You can place links in the body of your text if the article directory permits it and your article relates directly to your website’s content, or use your author signature box, popularly known as the resource box, to include links.

The main thing to remember is that your backlinks should be related to what they link to. This is to say that if your article is about gardening, it should not have links in the body pointing back to a page devoted to plumbing. Some article directories are very strict about the use of backlinks and where they lead to. This policy is actually to your benefit. The major search engines follow backlinks and read the pages to see if they are related. If they are related, then the article and the site are rewarded in their databases.

If you have links that lead to unrelated pages, the search engines recognize this and either flag your article as spam or give it a very low rating in their databases.

Use Media Elements Videos add interest to your articles. If you use services such as Squidoo or Blog Spot to publish your articles you can have some additional features that can make your content richer. Squidoo for example, has a wonderful feature that allows you to set up search criteria and it will automatically pull videos off of YouTube for you and post them in your article. Some article directories also allow you to upload your own videos. Pictures and graphics also help to enrich creativity and interest. You can download pictures from free picture sites or use your own. Pictures and videos are both very effective tools for How-To articles.

Tips for Using Article Directories Article directories prefer informative articles that offer the reader a benefit. This benefit can be information, how to articles or call to action articles that advise the reader to consider the points made and how they can become involved. You can offer your readers an incentive such as a discount if you sell products or services on your site or a free e-book when they use your backlinks to visit your site.

Don't Overdo Keywords Avoid stuffing your articles with keywords. This practice is no longer valid as it was a few years ago and will actually work against you. Good article directories only allow you to have a 2-3% keyword density or your article will be rejected. If your article is 500 words in length, your keywords can only appear up to 15 times. Even this is a large number. Other article directories are not as strict with their keyword counts, but keyword stuffing makes your articles awkward and hard to read. Your articles should flow naturally.

If you cover your topic fully and use the correct structure, keyword phrases will occur naturally without being forced. Article directories can be very useful tools to increase traffic to your site. Well written, articulate articles with working and related backlinks will help people find your website and drive traffic to it.