I’ve talked before about how search engines rank web sites. They look at the keywords you use on your web site, they look at how many other (quality) sites link to you and they look at how often you update your site. Getting links to your site is always the trickiest part because it’s one thing you can’t control.

One way to increase the links to your site is to write articles and get them published in various places online. Here are a few places that specialize in publishing articles. The first four are article clearinghouses. The last is a place where you can create a web page for your article. The first is probably the most stringent with their submission qualifications.

• http://ezinearticles.com/submit/
• http://www.ideamarketers.com/
• http://www.content-dir.com/
• http://www.articlesbase.com/
• http://www.squidoo.com/

I think the key is to write articles that people will find interesting. Provide information that is valuable and keep the sales pitch to a minimum.

This tip might also be helpful if you’re just looking to become an expert in some subject. For example if you are looking for a job in a specific industry, you might write articles on that industry and publish in the above places. It’s a nice perk to your résumé.