Marketing on a budget is tough. This is a universal truth that all small business owners face. The most effective small business frugal marketing strategy available is writing and submitting articles to web sites, e-zines, magazines and newsletters. Listed below are some of the amazing benefits you can gain by using this technique.

1) Article creation and submission is a totally free marketing method! The only cost is a few hours of your time to write an article and offer it for publication.

2) Well written articles position the author as an expert while increasing credibility and educating readers about their business, services and products. Many internet gurus started their careers by writing and publishing articles on the internet.

3) Article authors are granted a by-line with each article that will allow readers to click through to a web site where they can be converted to e-zine subscribers for paying customers.

4) A good article can be used over and over again when customized for different audiences thereby reducing the need for you to write new articles as often.

5) Many publications will archive your article on their web site giving you a lasting method of promotion.

6) Writing and submitting articles will help you obtain incoming links to your web site. These are not "link farm" quality links - these are the highest quality links available and they affect your search engine rankings accordingly

7) Your article can be published on your web site, optimized for search engines and submitted accordingly in order to increase your search engine traffic.

8) The more articles you write and publish on your web site the longer your visitors will stay and explore your site.

9) You can use your published articles to reach potential affiliates or joint venture partners who will, in turn, promote your business for you.

10) In addition to promoting your business, services and products you can write articles to promote your favorite affiliate program to supplement your income.

Even if you have little writing talent you can hire a ghostwriter to create an effective, informative article using your byline and then you can use that article to bring in more visitors to your web site, more subscribers to your newsletter and more paying customers to your business. The key is understanding that a well-written, entertaining and informational article is worth more than a paid advertisement in any publication. As

your marketing budget grows you can add emphasis to your article by purchasing a small e-zine ad in the publication for the same date your article will be published.

Writing and submitting articles is a free promotion tool, but it does take time. It will take several hours to submit an article to every available submission site and it can take six to eight weeks for publication. However, once your article is published it will create a long lasting stream of targeted visitors to your site that no other promotion method can accomplish. With each subsequent submission the process will be faster and easier.

Bonnie Jo Davis is an experienced shoestring marketer who has handled article submission projects for herself and her clients for over eight years. For more information about article submission and a free excerpt of her new e-book "Articles That Sell" visit http://www.ArticlesThatSell.com

The author grants reprint permission to all venues so long as the copyright and by-line are included intact.

(c) Davis Virtual Assistance, 2003.