What trends do you see in article writing and promotion, and what do you think the future holds for article writing and promotion?

We're seeing a shift in the marketplace. While at one time only "polished authors" would submit their articles, it's become much more common to get really good articles from average business owners.

People who have never written an article before are discovering that it isn't that hard. Our editors help them put out a good quality article the first time through. I can't tell you the number of emails we get thanking us for the detailed assistance provided by our review team. Anyone can write an article about a topic they're passionate about (and isn't that why they started a business in the first place?) and they can create interesting content just based on their own experiences.

I believe that the surge of "Private Label" articles will go away as people discover that only original content actually delivers the results of marketing with articles. While re-writing those articles can be effective, just replacing certain words with synonyms is not enough. You can't expect a dog newsletter owner to put "Combing Your Mutt" in the newsletter after publishing "Grooming Your Dog" in last week's newsletter.

I think people are getting more excited about bringing their own expertise to the fore. Different dog groomers can write about combing dogs and have each of them published in the dog newsletter, because each tells a specific story or anecdote, provides original tips and tricks learned "in the trenches," and brings a fresh perspective to the subject.

Will article writing and submission ever go the way of banner ads, pop ups, and FFA sites? No, because content is the foundation of the web. Other forms of marketing have come and gone — even email marketing is difficult these days — but anyone who provides good content to the content-hungry audience will see their work published all around the net, will get links from relevant sites, will see their pagerank increase, and will get more targeted traffic to their websites.