With the popularity of weblogs, or blogs, these days, many webmasters are beginning to wonder if article writing has become a thing of the past. Used to be, for promotion purposes webmasters would deposit articles with links into web directories. This was done in the hope that the article would be displayed on many different websites with links leading back to their own. For the most part, this worked and it worked well for building backward links and higher ranking in search engines. Is it still the way to go for promoting a website$%: The answer is--it depends.
The main difference is the way people view articles and blogs. For most, an article is well written, encompassing a beginning, middle and end. All the needed information is included within the body of the article. The reader knows going in that by the time he finishes reading, he will be more informed on the subject than he was before he began reading. Links included in the article, or at the end, will lead him to further information or to the product being endorsed. This, in theory, leads to sales of services or products.