Content marketing has become a vital component of online marketing. Any marketer who wants his/her campaign to be successful has to rely to a certain extent on content creation. Writing keyword-rich and informative articles and posting them on article submission websites is one of the effective ways to get your content across to your target audience. You will only get the desired results if you publish your articles on the best article submission sites.

When it comes to online article directories, you can choose between free and paid websites. The purpose of publishing articles remains the same regardless of whether you are doing it for free or paying for them. The general guidelines for posting articles are also similar across the range of article submission sites. So, it comes down to selecting the top websites for submitting your article to optimize their potential and make the most of this method for online marketing.

Publishing to a free article submission website or even a paid one involves a few steps you have to follow:

Creating SEO-friendly and keyword-rich content for your articles
Finding the top 100 article submission websites
Submit article link to as many websites as possible
Use the resource box to provide a link to your website or landing page.
The ideal strategy to follow is restricting your list to the websites for article submission that have a high PageRank. That way, you are assured of having a large number of people reading the content you have posted. Of course, you have to make sure the content is of the highest quality possible and compelling enough to convince readers to give your website a try. Before you select an article submission website for posting, it is a great idea to go over the best options available to you, both paid and free.

Free Article Submission Websites
EzineArticles.com

Ezine Articles remains at the top of the pile by virtue of enjoying a PageRank of 6 from Google. The website has become a comprehensive source of articles available for your reading pleasure online. It is a great platform for marketers to post their content. The best thing about using Ezine Articles is that it is completely free to use. So, despite the high PageRank among article submission websites and the ability to add two text links per article, you don’t have to pay a dime for posting articles here.

SearchWarp.com

Search Warp is similar to Ezine Articles in the sense that it is also a free website for submitting articles. It also has a high PageRank, 5. The added advantage you gain by using Search Warp is adding 3 text links per page you upload to the directory. This makes it one of the top article submission websites you can use for free.

eHow.com

eHow has the highest PageRank among article submission sites, 8. When it comes to eHow, you need to provide content in the form of how-to articles which does restrict its use. The website already has over a million articles online. And on top of that, it’s completely free to use!

ArticlesBase.com

Articles Base is another popular article directory where you upload your articles for free and make them available to a large audience. With a PageRank of 6, Articles Base is as good, if not better than Ezine Articles. It is a great idea for you to publish your articles on both websites concurrently.

HubPages.com

Hub Pages uses a somewhat different approach to the common article submission websites you can use. While it is free to use and has a PageRank of 6, you can create ‘Hubs’ which are essentially themes or subjects based on which you upload content from time to time. This way you can create a hub for your niche and keep uploading articles for free.

Paid Article Submission Sites
A question which may come to mind after going over the list of free article submission websites is that why should you pay for submitting articles. The major benefit is that your article and content marketing strategy can get a boost. By using a paid article directory, you offload some of the responsibility you were previously handling regarding uploading your articles and optimizing them. Here are a couple of the top paid article submission sites:

ArticleRich.com

Article Rich is among the top websites for paying to submit articles. With a PageRank of 4, Article Rich provides you decent exposure for your articles along with a range of features related to article marketing. The amount you have to pay for posting an article ranges from just over a dollar to around $30.

IdeaMarketers.info

Idea Marketers doesn’t have a high PageRank like the other article submission sites listed here but it is one of the foremost paid article submission sites. Here, you actually have to bid for posting the articles so the amount is undeterminable until the bidding commences. The minimum amount you have to pay per article is $1.

You bolster your article marketing and content creation by discovering the best keywords to use in the content you publish on the article submission websites. Use SEMrush to help you find the most relevant keywords you can use in your articles to optimize them and increase the volume of traffic to your landing page. Use the right blend of paid and free article submission sites to make the most of article marketing for your campaign.