Writing articles, if properly written can provide you an extreme amount of exposure across the internet. The first thing you will need to realize is that writing for the internet is vastly different from writing for a newspaper, report, or magazine.

Before you begin creating the perfect article, know your targeted audience. Be aware of who they are, what they need, and how you can reach them. If you are writing an article about soap operas, it is obvious; you will need to attract, in general, middle-aged women who are homemakers. However, if you are writing about the latest trends in electronics, your target audience will be men from 16 to 40 years of age. Knowing who your target audience is will give you tremendous insight to the type of article you are to write.

The first thing noticeable about your article will be its title. You need to grasp their attention first thing by creating a title that is relatively short, catchy, and has the ability to make them want to read. As an example, the title of this article "The Creation of the Perfect Article" is far more interesting than "Writing an Article".

Additionally, your article must have content that can hold your readers attention. If you provide a visitor an article that is dull and boring they will likely skip it after the first paragraph and move on about their "surfing".

Take your writing very seriously and write about subjects of which you are familiar. Casual writing can be good, but you should not write as you speak. Be professional and interesting in your writing.

Another aspect to consider is your readers' time limit. Often online time is precious and they will want to read an article quickly. Keep your paragraphs short and to the point with focused information. Be brief and keep your articles between 500 to 1,500 words. You should also avoid using all capitalization in words and occasional exclamation point will suffice.

Humor is a great way to keep your readers attention. Using humor allows them a connection to the writer and makes for great reading when examining a serious subject. However, be careful and use humor tastefully.

An important issue, especially on the internet, is "borrowing" another words or written work. Avoid borrowing too much from anyone; write your articles from the heart and with meaning. If you should have the need to use another person's words or written work always, make an acknowledgement directly to them.

When listing items within an article, be sure to use bullets of some sort. The use of bullets allows for organization and helps the reader follow along easily without getting lost in the content of the article.

Finally, use a good layout, ensure proper grammar and spelling, and always read and re-read your article until it is "perfect". Include a summarization at the end of your article, essentially to remind your reader why they stopped to read in the first place.

Creating the perfect article is a combination of many things, your main goal is to reach your visitors and readers and keep them. Many companies have turned to articles as a marketing effect to promote themselves, their products, and other various aspects of their company. A proven technique is tried and true; use it to your advantage.

Matthew Glanfield is an Internet marketing veteran of 3 years. Receive his free email course on how to use articles to build your website traffic at http://www.internetbusinessformula.com/article/