Writing content can be fast and easy. You may be judging yourself too harshly by forgetting that every writer can attract a loyal following. It's not about perfection, it's about personality.

Every successful marketer will tell you that it's better to have a small and loyal audience when it's a targeted audience. If you search for information on the Internet, you know this as well. You like to revisit certain sites because they deliver what appeals to you in their articles or content. Content is what satisfies your hunger for information and knowledge.

That said, articles provide quick financial benefits for the website owner or article marketer.

The benefits that articles provide are:

*** Getting your website or blog high in the ranking in search results for keywords and keyword phrases. These keywords and phrases should target or specifically relate to what is typed into the search box by the user. They will provide traffic to your site when they are recognized as having value and are linked to your site from another site or newsletter. These create backlinks and backlinks tell search engines that your site provides quality content that has the confidence and trust of other quality sites. This pushes you up the ladder of placement in search results.

*** Articles are beneficial to the website owner because they attract direct traffic. When readers like the content, they tell their friends, family and peers and recommend your site to them, providing even more of targeted traffic. This is where you make money. You get more sales volume if your visitors have trust and believes in your content. Your product or services are much easier to promote when visitors feel they know that you know what you are doing and talking about.

I think we have established that articles are very important to you and to your online income and that quality articles are crucial to keep ahead of the competition. However, there is one major hassle for many website owners: The hassle of actually writing articles.

Many website owners would rather spend their time on marketing but, unless you're a big time company you don't have the necessary resources to hire a pool of article writers. If this is you, a word of warning here. Plagiarism or copying of articles written by someone else is theft and could easily get you into legal trouble. You could end up with a hefty fine and even jail time! Don't do it. Smart writers keep tabs on their work and you will get caught.

So what are the legal options to using the writing of others?

If you detest writing articles and you think you can't afford to hire someone to write for you then find free articles that you can, at least, rewrite to give them your spin, that is, add your personality. This can be accomplished by simply changing a few words, adding a sentence or two, etc.

The first place to look for free articles is in the public domain, that is, the Internet. Just search on line for public domain articles in the niche you are targeting. You should not have problems with copyright infringement and be subject to the subsequent penalties and fines because public domain articles are articles freely given to the public for public use.

You can do whatever you want with public domain articles. You can place them on your site, name them as your own, put them in a newsletter. The decision is yours. Always remember though that you will have to choose articles that are very relevant to your site.

The downside to public domain articles is they are free for anyone to use. This means that many of your competitors will have access to them as well. Since your site needs to be original and unique, even though you have the same topic, this could be a big drawback. Why would a visitor stay on your site when the same content is all over the Internet? This is why editing is recommended. You must be different from your competitors by writing with your personality to each public domain article. Do that and you will be different.

Another way to get free content is to allow other sites or writers themselves to submit articles to your site that are in your niche. You should require that the articles be your work and not be posted on any other site. In exchange for exclusivity, guarantee them a link back to their site or product offer. This will enhance your existing content. However, such articles should not dominate your content else most of your content would be leading to other sites through the back links. This pushes your readers away from your site. Not the right idea at all.

The best approach is always to have your own articles dominate your content whether they are totally original or edited by you to reflect your opinion on the given subject.

One easy trick is to add a paragraph at the beginning of a public domain or submitted article, giving your opinion of its content, and again at the end, summarizing your opinion. This will change how search engines index the article and may make your version stand out. Make sure you use proper keywords and keyword phrases in the paragraphs you add that relate to the subject of the article.

There are many freelancers who do part time and freelance article writing jobs that charge minimal fees. You can get good articles that have all the keywords and keyword phrases that will provide what people are searching for through the search engines drawing them to your site. You can get a quality article written exclusively for you for as little as $5. You provide the subject of your website or product offer and the writer does the rest.

The investment you make for these articles could be financially worthwhile because they can drive traffic to your website or offer and people will buy. You hold copyrights to the articles and you will be able to use them any way you choose. You can even rewrite them a bit to add your personality.

There is no question that articles are a fast and cheap way to build your business, drive traffic to your site, and put money in your pocket rather quickly.