Please picture this, it's September 2005, I have 2 web sites in
the top 5 in different focused areas. They represent months and
in some cases, years of effort. Sales come in daily and life is
good so I get comfortable ready for Xmas rush.

Then as of 18 Oct both sites drop in ranking. Now not a small
drop but not in the top 9000 results! Google has updated and my
sites are no longer looked at in the same way.

My first thought was, what did I do wrong? After composing my
thoughts I looked closer to at the results…Then something really
interesting happens…One of my sites rebounds back and better
than it was before. (was number 3 came back up to number 1 and
is still there as I write this)

This makes me to take a close look at what was *different*
between the sites. Both started out with a similar promotion,
but the one that came back had a different promotion applied to
it.

Both sites had exchanged many links and had got top ranking
because of it. The site that rebounded had used "one way links"
in the form of articles. This is telling me that these one way
links are now more important than reciprocal and could be the
way of the future.

For those unfamiliar with articles, writing a 400-600 word
article, with a small resource box telling about the authors
website. Then submitting to article directory's, email
newsletters and sites that accept outside articles.

Here is a step by step way of how to use Google to find places
to submit articles on any specific market. Say you produce
products for "weight loss" or "diet plan"

1. Search in Google but think of the big picture. Instead of
using "weight" search for "health"

2. Scroll to the bottom of the result page and click the
"search in results" links

3. Enter in the text box "submit article" with the quote marks,
which will look for exact matches to the search term.

This should allow you to find at least 500 sites that would
accept your articles. Once you have covered those, you could
start again for different key words.

Reciprocal Linking should still be part of your website
marketing strategy and should be uses together with one way
links. Articles are only one form of gettin one way links but
they are a proven method.

Other methods such as Affiliate links,press releases and
directory submissions also form a way of increasing links and
credibility.

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About the Author
Paul Easton in the owner of http://www.JustDogClothes.com/ A
niche dog clothing site and an advocate of small business using
online promotion to increase business.
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RESOURCES:

Robert Middleton's ACTION PLAN MARKETING is the best resource on the Internet for freelancers wanting to promote their services.