Using articles is a proven way to boost the web traffic to any website. For the maximum effect articles must be well written and keyword focused.

This article shows nine ways in which you can use articles to boost your web traffic.

One. Improved search engine positioning. The precise ways in which search engines rank pages are closely guarded secrets. What is known is that the number and quality of links coming in to each page increases your search position in all of the major search engines. By posting your articles on article directories for others to use you gain a one-way link back to your site in return.

Two. Keyword density. While less important for pretty much all search engines it is, nevertheless, important to maintain an appropriate keyword density. on your web pages. Using well written keyword rich articles on your web site is a tried and tested method of building effective sites quickly. Keyword density does not mean stuffing your page with masses of related keywords. It is more to do with the location and frequency of key words on your page. It is still possible to rank well based on purely on-page factors in niches where there are relatively unlinked pages. Getting your on page search engine optimisation right is still an important part of getting your share of the available web traffic.

Three. Increased relevant content on your site. When people surf the web, they are looking for content that is relevant to their purpose. They typically are not looking for marketing ploys. If internet searchers see relevant content on your site, they are more likely to read what you have to say. Using keyword rich articles is a great way to build relevant content.

Four. Article titles. Research suggests that the majority of people choose whether or not to read an article based solely on the title. Short titles may be used as page names. Longer titles may well be used as the page synopsis (the bit that the search engines serve up in their results snippets. Articles often have strong titles that are designed to appeal to readers and attract that valuable web traffic.

Five. Get your web site listed on the search engines. Posting your articles to article directories multiplies the number of links for the search engines to follow back to your site. You must be listed on the search engines to stand any chance of getting search engine traffic.

Six. Regular, consistent action delivers results. The maximum effects from using articles to generate traffic relies on regular and consistent action. Few of us are lucky enough to hit a home run with a single article that delivers masses of traffic. Most of us need to build a critical mass of articles that each produce a few visitors each day.

Seven. Enthrall your visitors. Your visitors are looking for quality content. If you sprinkly your site with lots of high quality, themed articles you will provide the sort of content they are looking for. This may not increase your web traffic but it does enable you to get the most you can from each visitor.

Eight. Get more repeat visitors. Getting more repeat visitors is the holy grail of web traffic. High quality content from articles encourages repeat visitors.

Nine. Establish yourself as the recognised expert. Articles are a great way of increasing your own reputation. Writing and publishing articles is a brilliant for this. It's amazing just how much traffic you can get when people start using your name as a search term because they see you as the expert.

This article has only touched on the ways in which you can use articles on-line. Writing and publishing articles off-line can be just as effective. But that's a story for another article.