There are lots of sites that advise that article publishing is one of the best ways to generate traffic to a website. Very well respected Internet marketers give seminars and lectures on the topic.

There are marketing courses that provide tons of information about how to make money marketing online including the enormous value of article marketing. All this is, of course, good advice. Article marketing is a solid and practical means of promoting a website or product economically.

There is however a problem with article marketing. It's not much of a secret that lots of people simply can't write. Article marketing takes some time to do well and many marketers simply don't have time to devote to it. More to the point, even if they did have time, being able to crank out a decent article is something many would find challenging.

For some the solution is to turn to Private Label Rights (PLR) Articles. Using this strategy is unfortunate for a number of reasons. First among these is the problem of duplicate content. Experts in Search Engine Optimization generally suggest that to achieve good search engine ranking it is best to create a website that has original content.

In point of fact if you're distributing articles which have been republished all over the web those articles would get flagged by search engines as being duplicate content. This would harm the search engine ranking rather than improving it.

The next problem with PLR articles is matching the topic to the promotion. As one silly example: If you are selling dog food it wouldn't do you any good to publish articles on improving your golf swing. That being said, even if you find articles on dog food they might not be as specific as you need them to be in order to be useful readers in your target market.

The most effect articles are those that offer the reader information of some real benefit. The best and most valuable articles from a marketing perspective are those that provide a solution to a problem. If you do sell dog food it would make sense then to write or find and rewrite or edit an article about the care and feeding of dogs.

Remembering the basic concept of publishing an article that solves a problem you might begin researching problems related to dog food or feeding dogs. Why you need special food for larger breeds, special food for short hair dogs vs. long hair dogs. Food for overweight dogs, old dogs, puppies etc.

Getting around the issue of duplicate content can be a challenge. It's possible of course to simply rewrite a PLR article and republish it to different article distribution sites. This can be a lot of work and well beyond the time some marketers can dedicate to the task.

There are a number of products which claim to allow writers to quickly create multiple articles from a single original. Some of these are good while others are not. Before selecting any software that allows you to rewrite articles automatically it is well advised that you take the time to find independent reviews of the software you are considering before making a purchase.

Publishing articles that have been mangled and made nonsensical would not do much for the credibility of the author help to sell products they wish to promote.

It is important to remember this one cardinal rule about article marketing in general. When it comes to article marketing "the problem is the solution". That is to say, if your article actually solves a problem for someone will provide a solution to the problem of how to generate traffic to a website.

Articles that solve problems will also be more likely to be read by a prospective customer and provide the author some authority in the eyes of the reader. Creating this sense of authority is one aspect of developing trust, the first step in making a sale.

If article marketing is part of your marketing strategy then one of the best investments you can make is learning how to write your own articles. For those that can't or simply don't have time it's important to remember to find articles that very closely match the readers in your target market.