If you are looking to get your site ranked higher for a keyword term, you will have to create backlinks regularly. There are a number of ways you can do so, but one of the fastest and cheapest way to get quality backlinks is through article marketing.

Article marketing is basically writing an informative article on a topic of your expertise and submitting it to top article directories. These article directories get millions of visitors every month looking for information on a specific subject. If they read your article and find it informative, they might start thinking of you as an 'expert' and be more willing to see what you have to offer to them.

Most article directories allow you to place a 'Author's Resource Box' - a small bio with a couple of links to a site of your choice. These links not only provide backlink juice, but also drive visitors to your site instantly. People who like your article can simply click on the link to your site, giving you instant traffic.

Many webmasters also rely on article directories to get their content. Thus, your article could end up on hundreds of sites, giving you dozens of more backlinks. This is called article syndication, and it is here that the real power of article marketing becomes evident. Imagine getting hundreds of backlinks from one single article. Half a dozen such articles alone could push your rankings through the stratosphere.

Now there are literally thousands of article directories online. It is not humanly possible to submit your article to all of them. Most of the article directories are nothing but spam sites filled with garbage content anyway. Only a handful of directories are worth submitting content to. Therefore, save yourself some time and effort and submit your article to just the top 5-10 directories. The backlink juice from the other directories will be negligible anyways.

Article marketing is a great SEO and marketing tool, one that can yield instant results, yet give long term benefits.