The concept of article marketing has been around for awhile and there’s a good reason for that. I’ve never found it to be the best method around but it will give you some decent backlinks and possibly a bit of exposure for a very small investment. The real beauty comes in the simplicity of it. You just have to write an article about your niche and click a few buttons.

There is one tip I have for you. I really wouldn’t bother hiring an article submitter to send it off to a bunch of directories. The duplicate content penalty removes a lot of the link juice and at the end of the day you’re not much better off than if you had just done the directory submission. The only way it would be worth it is if you use a service like Isnare to get thousands of submissions for $2. It’s still basically directory submission but at least it’s cheap. EzineArticles –

This is just one of many sites in the genre of top article directories. Google doesn’t tend to penalize their articles, it’s not too rare for them to rank favorably in a search, and they’ll usually hold a decent page rank. This makes for a decent long-term linkback with a good chance of relevant traffic.

How exactly do you use it? Well like I said its pretty simple overall. You just have to write an article in your niche. They usually just need to be about 450 words long. Sign up for an account with them and you’ll get 10 free article submissions. The form is pretty standard for the industry. You’ll pick the appropriate category, write a little summary, and then add the appropriate link to your resource box. You cannot use a direct affiliate link in the box. It needs to be a link to a personal website or blog. It’s okay if that page is full of affiliate links as long as you keep the actual box clean. They’ll “review” your first ten submissions and decide whether you’ll get pushed up to a platinum rank. The truth is that any readable article will get through, so don’t sweat it too much. Your articles will be reviewed and accepted within a few days. That’s it. Associated Content –

This is another good choice for article submissions. My tip is to write one article for EzineArticles and then take five minutes and quickly rewrite the article enough to pass copyscape. Then you can submit this one to Associated Content. If you want you can repeat for the process for submission to a few other top directories, but let’s get these two under our belt first. It works in a similar fashion to EzineArticles. You sign up for an account and then submit your pieces. Submission occurs through a four page form, but you can skip most of the parts about adding pictures and citing sources.

The important part here is to keep the entire article clean. They will not accept blatant advertising and they will ban accounts if you put affiliate links in the article. You need to follow the rules and link to your own site via the related links section. The really great part about their system is that they will pay you for the articles. You can usually get about $3 for a standard 500 word SEO article. If they don’t want to buy it you can submit it for free and still earn a few cents for the pageviews. It may not be a king’s ransom but I consider it incredibly cost effective advertising.

One special note is that Google seems to really like AC articles for specific topics. I once wrote a test article in a few minutes explaining why I liked Trident Splash gum. I stumbled it and dugg it and then left it alone. I’ve received about 950 pageviews over the last few months and it ranks in the top ten for Trident Splash. If you know what you’re doing you can get some great links while making money.

This is really basic information to get you started with article marketing. Learn the basics first with these websites and you’ll be on your way to capturing a nice chunk of your market.

Google expects to launch new products for its YouTube web video service in the next few months and sees reason for closer cooperation with Yahoo, Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said on Thursday.

Schmidt has said getting the video sharing site to make money is the web search company’s top priority for the year. He did not give details of the products, however, and they are not even in initial, or beta, testing.

At the company’s annual shareholder meeting, Google co- founder Sergey Brin said YouTube and DoubleClick, an online advertising company bought by Google earlier this year for $3.1bn (?1.55bn), are still small businesses compared with its core search and advertising business.

"They both have potential, but for it to be a sizable part of our revenue, you’re going to have to wait at least a couple of years," said Brin in response to a question about when those acquisitions would make a significant contribution to the company’s bottom line.

Google bought YouTube for $1.6bn in 2006.

The web search leader played a large role in the takeover battle between Microsoft and Yahoo. During a two-week test, it sold search advertisements on rival Yahoo last month as part of Yahoo’s attempt to find an alternative option to Microsoft’s offer.

Schmidt said the trial run provided good reason for the companies to discuss cooperation, but there was no deal yet.

"We view the test as successful," he told reporters before the web company’s annual meeting. "That’s a good basis to talk to Yahoo some more."

The Google CEO, speaking later at the shareholder meeting, said the company will continue to growth faster outside of its home market. Google generated 51% of its revenue outside the United States in the March quarter, but Schmidt said he expects that figure to grow over time.

Without giving a specific time frame, Schmidt said he expects 65% of Google’s revenue to come from abroad. Eventually, non-US revenue could be even higher.

Google co-founders Brin and Larry Page also fielded a request from one shareholder who asked the pair not to split the company’s stock, which closed at $583 on the Nasdaq.

"I think that’s the first time we’ve had that request," Page said with a chuckle.

Brin played the straight man: "We have had no problem honoring that thus far and I don’t expect that anything will change in that respect."