I have only been article marketing for a day or two over two months now, but I am a complete and total convert.

I was looking for a way to bring traffic to my website other than relying on the fast but expensive route of pay per click, or the free but slow method of search engine optimization. I use both of those, but when I read about article marketing it seemed to suit me perfectly.

Here's why:

• I love writing. I have always wanted to write, ever since I used to get good grades for my work in English. Like many people in younger life, I have started many novels, but never finished one. Now, with the web, I can write to my heart's content and actually find an audience at no cost to me.

  I typically average about one to two articles per day and each one only takes me about twenty minutes. Once I have decided my topic, chosen the structure and format; putting the words and ideas together is a quick process. A few minutes more to upload the piece to an article directory and Hey Presto, I'm a published author.

• There is always an audience on the web. If I had actually finished one of those novels I started, it is highly unlikely that I would have ever had it published. They do say that for every book published, a thousand manuscripts are rejected, maybe more.

  On the internet, I don't have to deal with publishers, editors or chain-store book buyers; I simply create a free account at an article directory and publish away to my heart's content. And my readers find me. My work appears in e-zines, search results and on relevant websites. Readers like what they read, click my links and come to my website.

• It costs me nothing. In return for a small amount of effort and a lot of personal pleasure, my articles sail off across the vast seas of the web all on their own, telling tales of me and my interests all over the world.

  They sail into foreign ports and encourage distant people to share my experiences, knowledge and fascinations and all for free. I love every minute of it.