Long before the internet rose to its position of importance in marketing, the use of article marketing was considered a useful promotion tool in print media.  Today, the availability of online venues such as websites, ezines and newsletters via email have created an even greater need for well-written articles on a variety of topics.  As a result, article marketing has become a more powerful tool than ever before.

Article marketing is the practice of providing well-written content for distribution to websites and epublishers in exchange for a blurb about the author’s business and contact information.  These “bios” usually include a link to the business owner’s website.  

When a business owner offers content for publication, it is equivalent to getting free ad space on countless websites worldwide.  The opportunity for exposure to the right market is significant, while the cost is virtually nil, making it a highly efficient means of business communication.

Unlike using email campaigns for lead generation, which net about a one percent response rate, article marketing targets a willing audience.  Readers either voluntarily visited the website on which the article is published, or have opted in to receive the newsletter or ezine.  This audience is inherently more open to the information contained in the article, and therefore more likely to follow the link to the author’s website to learn more.

Publishers who pick up the articles already have an audience of potential buyers in place.  Readers are interested in the content of the articles, suggesting they may be in the market to purchase products or services related to that content.  By comparison, the cost to purchase a list of such well-qualified leads would be formidable.  Providing an article costs no more than the investment of the time required to write it.

Christmas is coming and every kid loves sending letters to Santa telling them how good they've been and what they want to find under the tree. Just imagine how delighted they’d be to actually RECEIVE a letter from Santa. Of course, we all know that Santa is a very busy guy, so he needs his elves and helpers to get his letters out, therefore, there is a growing opportunity for you to become one of Santa's helpers and start a Santa Letter Business from home to meet all those children's needs.

The newly released “Just Add Sweat Guide to Start a Santa Letter Business” offers a very good overview with handy tools to break into the Santa Letter Business. The guide itself covers a decent amount of detail in getting started with the business, but the extra tools like the sample letters and spreadsheets should make it easy for anyone to get started.

The package includes an instantly downloadable and printable e-guide, 10 sample letters that you can use for your business., spreadsheets to help you track sales, costs and profits and free printable sheets that you can add to the letters you sell. It comes in the form of an instant download with PDF (Adobe Acrobat Reader), .doc (Microsoft Word), .xls (Microsoft Excel) files. If you don’t have Microsoft Office, you can easily use Google Docs to open the files and it’s free. You can also use the free open source program OpenOffice to open and edit the files.