Every time you see someone posting a screen shot showing high traffic levels or high revenue, it's almost always due to great rankings in the search engines. While it is true that there are other ways to drive traffic, it is also true that the search engines offer a major source of traffic.

In fact, entire businesses have been built depending solely on search engine traffic. Many have argued that organic traffic is risky business because search engines change their algorithm all the time. This means that it is normal for rankings to move up and down. If the search engines ban a site, that could be the end of the site because no traffic means no revenues.

So should you consider pursuing search engine traffic? The answer is yes, but don't make search engine traffic the sole source of traffic.

How?

By working smart and concentrating on link building methods that will continue to bring you traffic, even if your rankings are hurt due to some penalty.

When it comes to SEO, there are lots of ways to do it. The most important thing you have to remember, is to build back links. The more sites link to you, the higher your rankings will be.

Now there are many link building methods. So which do you adopt? For instance, there are directory submissions, article marketing, social bookmarking, etc. Which method is the most ideal?

From personal experiences, I've found article marketing to be most effective. When you engage in article writing and submission, your articles get published across a wide spectrum of sites. It is unlikely that the search engines ban every single article directory. So your articles remain out there indefinitely and continue to bring you traffic. Note that this happens even if your domain is penalized by the search engines.

Another benefit of using article marketing is that you don't have to spend all your time watching your search rankings. Just leave the search engines alone. They do their stuff, and you do stuff. You find that even if you take your eyes off the rankings, you still receive traffic from the articles that you have written and distributed.

Many of the article directories have been online for years. That means that a single back link may be worth much more than a bunch of links on newer websites that have just been online for a few months.

If you want higher rankings, simply focus on article marketing. Marketers who have been doing it for years find that their sites rank really well, and they have continued to receive traffic (for free) month after month.

Make sure that when you add links to your author resource box, you have your target keywords as anchor texts. Proper anchor texts with dozens of back links across a wide spectrum of authority sites will be what matters most.