So you're looking at some slow business days? Instead of mindless clicking or blowing all your hard-earned cash at the mall, write web articles to promote your company website.

Did you know? Articles are one of the most enjoyable Search Engine Optimization tricks around. In fact; if you're really into the article marketing thing, you can easily get into an article writing frenzy where you're writing as many as seven articles a day. Yes, much like that old childhood favorite, your one article can quickly become two little, three little, four little articles... five little... you get the idea.

Become known as the expert.

Sure, you know it's a great idea to post informative articles on your website. But don't stop there. Get in on the article marketing action and share your business savvy with intrepreneurs who will soon look to you as The Guy With All the Answers. And, the articles don't have to stop at "Your Website." Smart article marketers know that to reach your audience of article readers, you've got to hit all the hottest article distribution sites, plus contact specialized sites personally and convince them to run your articles in their blogs, on their article pages and in their monthly newsletters.

Join an article distribution site.

The easiest place to get on an article writing roll is by creating a membership with an article syndication or distribution site. Read a handful of articles from other authors to get the feel of what people are reading these days. Do some keyword searching to find the hottest search terms. Select topics that you're comfortable with, and that can just roll right out of you and onto the document page.

Think of articles as web copy.

Think short and sweet. In fact; don't think of your articles as articles at all! This is not magazine writing 101, this is web articles - and web articles are really web copy. I cannot say this enough times. So when you write your articles, train your mind to think "I am writing web copy" and then just do a simple How To, Reasons Why or "5 or 7 Tips" style article with a few paragraphs containing just a couple sentences each.

Create an author bio that will impress people.

When you get to the end of the article, write an author bio that will establish you as an authority in your field. You ARE an authority, yes? Well of course you are... or you wouldn't be able to write articles so easily and effortlessly. Include a live URL in your author bio. Tell people to click. Yes, you must tell them. People are silly, they forget to do the simplest things.

Go for "freestyle articles."

On a day when you have absolutely zero going on (okay, is there ever really a day like that?) just take some time to reflect upon your recent experiences for a bit. After you've reached your epiphany, start cranking out those articles. It doesn't really matter what the topic is or if you stick to one category or branch out to alternate niches. The idea here is to just free your mind and let the articles pour out.

Writing articles is good for your soul, and good for your business! But if you're just not a writer, there is another way. Call up someone who will ghostwrite your articles for you. Heck, I can do that. Maybe you should call me. ;)

Copyright 2005 Dina Giolitto. All rights reserved.

Dina Giolitto is the author of ARTICLE POWER: Create Dynamite Web Articles and Watch Your Sales Explode... a 49-page manual covering every aspect of article marketing on the web. Learn about article marketing, copywriting and more at http://www.wordfeeder.com