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If you want to make money online, you will probably have tried your hand at article marketing. Whether or not you think of yourself as a writer, this is one of the simplest and most effective forms of internet marketing. The basic formula is very simple: just write an article on your subject area, add a hyperlink to your site, and submit to article directories.

But there are a few basic things that you must do if you want to actually bring in the dollars with your article. If you do not think about these points before you start, you could be wasting all of your precious time. And time is money, right?

First, you need to think about why you are writing the article. In fact, you should have two clear reasons why your article has come into existence. The first is the overt reason, the information that you are giving the reader. The second is your make-money motivation, which should not be too obvious.

Sure, from your point of view, your main reason for writing an article is to make money. But your readers don’t want an article that is written too obviously from that point of view. It is usually best to keep that motivation of yours so well hidden that it is almost invisible.

So keep in mind that the main reason for writing an article is always to inform or assist the reader. Nobody should have to guess what they are being helped with - this should not be hidden at all!

If you are selling information, you probably don’t want to give away too much. But it’s easy to pick out one point, perhaps something that you didn’t cover in your ebook, or something that is quite well known. It needs to give real value to the reader, so it should be both interesting and helpful in solving their problem or whatever need or wish they have that led them to read your article.

Remember that some people write articles and set up websites about subjects that they are interested in, without having any intention or means of making money from them. They have strong feelings about their subject, which may be anything from religion to a breed of dog. The best way to approach your article is to imagine that you were like those people and simply had a point that you wanted to get across because you felt strongly about it. Then just add a link to your site in the resource box.

Do not make the mistake of trying to put too much information into your article. Three points is plenty - and often, one is enough, if you develop it well. Over-stuffing your article with information confuses the reader. Instead, you should aim to leave them happy with the information that you gave, but wanting more.

Meanwhile, your hidden reason for writing the article will be in the back of your mind. This may be branding (building awareness of you as an authority on the subject, e.g. through a blog), lead generation (sending readers to a squeeze page), or, if the article is very closely related to your product, direct selling where your resource box links to a sales page.

So before you go ahead and submit your article, take a moment to think about whether it serves its dual purpose in the best possible way. Does it give readers what they want, but still leave them wanting more? And does it link to the most effective kind of page on your site - squeeze page, sales letter or a blog?