Not writing articles yet? You really should try it, if you want a lot of free traffic to your web site. A simple "Top Ten..." Or "Six Mistakes" type of article can be written by anyone. When you're ready to start writing, avoid the following common mistakes people make when writing and submitting articles.

1. Too short. If it won't fill a page, webmasters won't want it. Write articles of at least 200 words.

2. Too long. Articles that are too long won't be picked up by newsletters or most web sites. Keep it under 700 words.

3. Poor Title. "Air Safety Information," could be the best article on air-safety ever written, and "I Survived A Plane Crash" the worst, but the latter would still get more readers. Get their attention with the title, or they'll never know how good your article is.

4. No keywords in the title. If you call your story about Barrow, Alaska, "Ten Days In Hell," people looking for information on Alaska won't find it in the search engines, and won't know from the title that they may want to read it.

5. Too many links. If you have several links in the article, webmasters and newsletter publishers won't want to use it. Who wants a their website visiters to have more non-paying ways to leave? Two links may be okay at times, but I find it's best to have just one link to your website, and keep it in the author's resource box.

6. No "hook". The point of writing articles is to get traffic to your web site, so you have to invite the reader to visit. At least precede the link in your resource box with "To learn more, visit..." It's even better if you leave them hanging, like I do here by mentioning that there are more mistakes covered in my newsletter.

Steve Gillman writes on many money-related topics. To learn more, and to subscribe for FREE to "Web Site Optimization Secrets," go to: http://www.TheMoneyMakerSite.com