Document/file sharing sites are a quick and easy way for an artist to upload articles, announcements, press releases and images to the Internet. As a result of these uploads and the interest that they generate, they help the artist to create and attract new visitors to their art website. Just what is a document/file sharing site and how do they work?

A document/file sharing site allows a registered user to upload documents, portfolios, and presentations that then become available too and can be seen by regular Internet traffic. The most common file types that a user is allowed to upload are Word.doc, PDF, Xls and PowerPoint and then shared.

Document/file sharing sites allow the user to optimize their documents for SEO (Search Engine Optimization). What does this mean? It means that when a document is uploaded, as part of the process, the user can create keyword rich headlines and descriptions. In addition, part of the upload process allows for tags and keywords to be placed within the document file. This feature helps to generate interest in and to get the document discovered on the Internet.

Uploading to a document/file sharing site is as if the user were creating and producing a web page on a specific subject, for the whole world to see, immediately. The document /file sharing sites are rated very high by the major search engines and they are indexed almost on a daily basis. This means that besides the content being indexed quickly, all links back to the artist’s site receive a high grade which increases search page rank. In addition, your documents/files can contain as many backlinks to your website as possible (PR sites usually have a limit as to how many links are allowed).

Up until recently, article sites provided a great opportunity to get your work out on the internet. At one time, article sites were indexed and rated highly for the search engines. Right now, search engines rank document sites much higher and because of this, it helps your website to get ranked higher, due to the quality of the links between their site and yours.

As part of your free document/file sharing account, they will allow you to create a professional profile, for your free account. The best known and more popular document/file sharing sites are:

http://issuu.com 
http://www.slideshare.net
http://www.calameo.com
http://www.scribd.com
https://docs.google.com  
http://www.gazhoo.com

If you need an almost immediate boost in traffic to your art website, begin to upload your documents, files, and images to these document/file sharing sites. If the documents/files are submitted properly, it is a great way to be discovered on the Internet and as a bonus, producing additional qualified traffic to the artist’s website.