By Jinger Jarrett
Expert Author

If you've read my work for any length of time then you know that I recommend articles because you can use them to brand yourself as an expert, brand your products and services, and the search engines love them because they are content.

However, once you've written your article, where do you promote it?

Although there are many ways online to promote your business, articles offer you several options. Below are five easy ideas for promoting your articles.

1. Article Directories First and foremost, you should submit your articles to as many article directories as possible. You can easily find article directories simply by searching for article directories in the search engines. You'll find plenty of high ranking sites out there where you can submit your articles.

Here are several you can try:

http://www.ezinearticles.com http://www.goarticles.com http://www.articlecity.com http://www.isnare.com

2. Lists Unless you've been marketing articles for some time, you probably haven't thought of submitting your articles to lists. There are thousands of lists out there where you can promote your articles, but you'll find the best ones on Yahoo Groups because these are the most active.

You can find article lists on Yahoo Groups by searching for article submissions or articles. Here are a few I recommend.

http://groups. yahoo.com/group/aabusiness/ http://finance. groups. yahoo.com/group/articles_archives/ http://groups. yahoo.com/group/article_announce/ http://groups. yahoo.com/group/Free-Content/ http://groups. yahoo.com/group/freeezinearticles/

3. Individual Sites There are plenty of website owners who offer article directories on their websites. Before submitting to individual sites, I recommend you read the article guidelines. It's a waste of time to submit an article to a site that's not targeted to your market.

Business - http://www.boazepublishing. biz Marketing - http://www.killermarketingarsenal.com Marketing and Webmasters - http://www.ezau.com/ Technology - http://www.oracle.com/technology/contact/otn_submit.html Multiple Topics - http://www.rlrouse.com/submit-article.html

4. Submission Services If you're in a hurry to get your article distributed, there are plenty of sites that will do the grunt work for you. Prices vary. It's usually a good idea to compare prices and services so that you get the most bang for your buck. You'll also want to consider how much of the distribution work you want to do.

These two services are both reasonable, as well as being industry leaders in article distribution.

http://www.articlemarketer.com - One click submission of your article. Offers free option. http://www.thephantomwriters.com - Article distribution to thousands of publishers for a fee.

5. Software It's hard to find good software to submit your articles. Until recently, the only software available to do is is Ezine Announcer, http://www.ezineannouncer.com. Although this can be a little time consuming and cumbersome, it's still a good deal if you're on a budget. Once you learn how to use the software, you'll find it speeds up your submissions.

Regardless of how you decide to market your articles, you need a plan. Keep a bookmark file of sites that you market to and make it regular habit to submit. Not only will this spread your marketing message quickly, by providing valuable information to your potential customers, but it will increase your search engine rankings too.

About the Author:
Jinger Jarrett is a writer and internet marketer living in Alpharetta, Georgia. You can submit your articles, press releases, blog and ezine announcements, and book and product reviews to her article directory for free. Get your account today. http://www.101articles.com