When I learned about article writing as a way to generate web site traffic, I was intrigued. Unfortunately, it took me several hours to write that first article for my backpacking web site, and another two hours to submit it to several article directories. I still liked the idea, but it seemed like a lot of work for the results. There had to be a better way.

Today, I often write a new article in less than thirty minutes. Then I submit it to fourteen article directories in about twenty minutes. This means six times as much output in the same time, which means six times as much traffic generated, which means six times as much money made for the same effort. It seems very worthwhile now.

Article Writing Efficiency

First, I learned to write shorter articles. Attention spans online are short, and you want to keep the reader reading to the end - where the link to your site is. You also want the article to be used on other sites, and many webmasters won't use long articles. These are two good reasons to keep it short. Of course this means less time writing too.

I soon learned to identify the essential information quickly. In fact, articles like "Free Web Site Traffic - Seven Ways," get right to the point and are basically a list with a quick explanation of each item. They are easy to write quickly, and popular with readers.

The next important lesson I learned, was to keep a list of article directories on a file in the computer. I copy and paste an address into the browser for quick access to any of the twenty directories on my list. The addresses go straight to the submission page, or the login page. Links in your "favorites" list would work well too.

The most tedious part of the article writing process is the article submission forms. Some directories ask for descriptions, others don't. Some allow HTML, and others don't. To make this part go quickly, keep your articles organized in a Window's Notepad file or something similar. Write the title, then a two or three sentence description, and then a list of three to six keywords that the article might be found by. Then write the article.

You may find it faster to have two versions prepared, one with HTML tags for things like subtitles and italicizing. Have an author's resource box (like the one at the bottom of this page) prepared in two versions too - one with just the full URL of your web site, and the other with an active HTML link.

Now you can go quickly to the directories on your list, and copy and paste the proper elements in the proper parts of the form. If you have an auto-fill function on a Google or other toolbar, you can also enter name and e-mail address with a click.

Speed is the result, meaning more money for the time spent. To really make it efficient, you have to have a system. You can start with mine. Then look, and you'll find even more ways to systematize your article writing.