Article submissions are often used by webmasters in order to gain one-way links back to their sites.  The exchange is quite simple.  The webmaster who wrote the article submits his/ her article for free for anybody to use on the condition that the user links back to his or her site.  Most of the time that is done through a short biography at the end of the article in which the author describes his/ her areas of specialization and credentials.

It would be very time consuming to submit articles one by one.  Luckily, there are services out there that take care of disseminating articles to various sources, so that your primary function is only to write the article.  Once you're done, they take over and send the article to thousands of sources on the Web. 

Following is a list of websites providing article submission services:

• iSnare (According to their representations, articles submitted are sent to over 40,000 publishers.)
• GoArticles (One of the oldest and most established article directories on the Web.)
• eZine Articles (Same as above.  A very established site.)

Submitting articles is a good way to gain back links.  In order to optimize the number of back links and the quality of those back links, keep in mind the following guidelines:

• Try to write quality articles that relate to the topic of the site you are trying to promote.  Reputable sites or credible sites won't display your article unless they feel it will enhance their site and provide value to their readers.  In simple terms, it doesn't mean that an article is free that people will use it.
• Add something new to the literature as opposed to only repeating what's already out there.  You want to "contribute" and hope that in exchange for your contribution, the webmaster that posts your article on his/ her site will link back to you. 
• Most sites that act as intermediary for article submissions impose a maximum number of links that the article can contain.  Most links are contained in the biography section at the end of the article where the author describes himself or herself and his/ her qualifications.  Make sure to do your research beforehand and target the right keywords.
• Although you can rely on those submission services, you should also try to contact a few additional sites that are established and offer your articles.  Some sites may not use those submission services, so you should use both direct solicitation and submission services to maximize the reach of your articles.  Since you already spent the time to write those articles, it's worth it to go the extra mile to give them as much exposure as possible.