Are you looking for new and inexpensive ways to advertise your business? Have you considered a blog?

Yes, I know you’ve seen a lot of hype out there on this subject, but it is possible to get highly targeted traffic for free. 

There are actually a lot of  free traffic generation methods that really work.  And since I am known to be a cheapskate, you know that these are my favorite methods.

Starting a business does require a lot of things, and of course you need a capital. To make money requires money as well. But in the internet environment,  you can go a long way for free.  All targeted traffic is good traffic, and in my opinion, free is better. 

There are many ways you could find that could help optimize the potential of your site or business by generating traffic.  All you need is the willingness, drive and perseverance to do the hard work and research to generate more traffic for your site.

While the methods we are discussing are free, they are not fast.  It takes time to build up the amount of traffic you need to become truly profitable.  If immediate traffic is your goal, then definitely pursue these methods, and buy traffic in the meantime.

Here are some of the free traffic generation methods we will discuss here this week:

            Article Writing

            Forum Postings

            Social Networks          

            Traffic Exchanges

            Viral Marketing           

            Free Advertising

            Safe lists (Don’t hold your breath for this one.)

I will give you my honest opinion method of each and instructions and resources to get you started.  Even more importantly, I will tell you my own experiences with these- just the facts, no hype!

 You must be able to find quality traffic for your site in order to survive on the web.  Without traffic, even the best sites would never get off the ground.  It is a rare site that can make it without a strategic traffic plan.  Here are some ideas to increase on-line traffic to your website.  Don’t stop with one however, you should use as many of these as possible to make your site a success.

1) Writing Articles can lead to increased on line traffic to your site.

Chances are that you found this blog through an article that I wrote.  This is a  big part of my traffic strategy for this blog as well as other sites that I own.  I admit that writing articles is very time consuming.  However, if you don’t have the time, or cannot write, you could hire a writer or rewrite PLR articles.  

Learn to use your resource box to drive traffic from your article to your site for best results.  The resource box is the most important part of the article.

Remember, that your article must be high quality.  If your article is not high quality, it will not get read.  If there are no readers, there will be no traffic.  Don’t waste your time or your readers with a low quality article.

2) Join forums and form online communities.

Participating in forums and online communities is another way to build credibility and market yourself as an expert. When you post to forums, you should use a well thought out signature line.  Your signature line provides a link to your site. If a reader finds your advice helpful, he will be inclined to click through to find out more about you.  This reader is now a well qualified prospect who likes what you have written and wants to know more, definitely the best kind of traffic.   Leave a comment here on this blog and include your link.  No adult content though please.  

 3) Work to get incoming links from other sites. There are many ways to get incoming links.  First you should submit your site to all of the directories in your subject area.  Then, look for similar, but non-competing sites that you can trade links with.   Before submitting your site, take some time to write a good description of your site for your link.  Another way to get good quality links is to write articles for article directories and for other sites.  Incoming links will help to raise your page ranking and increase your  online traffic through the link as well as through the search engine. 4) Use Viral Marketing.

Spread the word about your site or product using viral marketing.  Viral marketing tactics include those funny videos and games that get passed around by email, the free e-books that you give away, even methods like leaving your business cards and printed pens in neighborhood businesses that might refer readers to you.  Viral marketing can be an inexpensive, yet a very powerful marketing method for increased on line traffic   

5) Optimize your site and articles with keyword phrases.

This should probably have been number one, because it should happen before a new page is written.  Research what keyword phrases people are searching for to find your site.  Better yet, what keyword phrases are they searching for to find your competition?  Optimize your pages and your ads for these keywords for increased on-line traffic from the search engines.  

Notice that I use the keywords increase on line traffic and increased on line traffic in nearly every paragraph.  These are the keywords that this article is optimized for. 

6) Write a newsletter or e-zine to keep your readers coming back.

A newsletter or e-zine allows you to remind your readers about all the great content on your site and to update them whenever you add something new.   It allows you to build a relationship with your reader that will hopefully bring him back to your site time and time again. The best benefit of a newsletter or e-zine is that it turns a casual visitor to your site into a regular reader, thereby increasing your on-line traffic.

7) Invest in good advertising.

Good advertising comes in many forms.  While most people think of pay per click ads when they consider advertising, there are other very effective ad forms as well.  Many sites use advertising exclusively to increase on line traffic.  It is an easy method, and therefore popular.

 Consider advertising in newsletters or e-zines put out by your competitors if possible.  Turn their readers into your readers - increased on line traffic for you and a little advertising cash for them. 

USAdS is a free and effective classified advertising source.  You might want to invest in a paid level, however, to get the features you need.  

 Craigslist is another effective free classified advertising site.  Many businesses are making a living through advertising on Craigslist alone. 

Safe lists allow you to blast your email to people who have agreed to receive your email.  Your ad goes to people like you who want to get their message out.  While most of these emails will not get read, an occasional one will, increasing on line traffic slightly.  Some marketers recommend this, though I have not experimented with it yet.  I would not count on this method exclusively. 

8.) Create your own forum on your site. 

Creating a forum on your site can result in keeping readers interested.  Forums create a feel of community on your site.  People like the feel of community and this leads to increased on-line traffic. 

You should be aware that running a forum requires a lot of upkeep.  You must be diligent about keeping your comments appropriate and deleting the spam that you will inevitably get.  There are programs that can help with this, but some will always get through.

 9.)  Create a Squidoo Lens. 

Squidoo is a relatively new social networking site, with a difference.  Squidoo is created especially for businesses.  You create a page, called a lens, about your business.  Squidoo welcomes your advertising and in fact, encourages it. One big benefit of your squidoo lens is that Google loves this site.  Optimize your lens with your keywords and link through to your site. You will benefit with increased on line traffic and eventually increased page rank.   

10.)  Harness The Power Of A Blog.

Blogging is another way to gain attention on the web.  Blogs are favored in the search engines because they are updated frequently.  The search engines love fresh content.  Your blogging software automatically updates the search engines each time you post to your blog so your content is found by the search engine much faster than waiting for a spider to visit your site.    Another advantage of blogs is the RSS feed which automatically syndicates your post and allows it to be posted on other sites as well, increasing readership and traffic to your site. Blogs allow comments, which makes your site interactive.  Readers like interactive content.  Everyone likes to add their own comment and expertise to your post.   

 Increasing on-line traffic to your site requires hard work.  You can create the most beautiful and informative site, but you cannot expect anyone to find it automatically.    However, follow the steps above you will be on your way to increased on-line traffic.

Recommended Resources:

http://ez-marketer.com/recommends/ultimatetraffic.html

If you write articles that are related to your site and fill the needs of your customers, you will get plenty of highly targeted traffic.  However, there are some things you can do to increase your chances of success.

1. Research keyword  phrases before you write your article.  Only by researching can you be sure that your article will find its audience.  Be sure to include these keywords in the title, tags and in the body of your article.   You are looking for relevant keyword phrases that have a high search audience, but low competition.
2. Send your traffic from your resource box to a page on your site that is also optimized for the same keyword.  Use a text anchor link whenever possible to increase the value of the link to the search engines.
3. Spend time choosing a good headline.  Your headline will determine whether your article is read, so make it interesting; use it to create an interest in finding out more.
4. Good content is essential.  Do not try to write a teaser or an advertisement.  Your potential customer will go elsewhere for the information he needs.  You must give him good content to convince him that you know what he wants to know.  Write naturally.  You should include your keyword phrase.  However, if your article is blatantly keyword spamming your customer and the search engines will be turned off.
5. Use short paragraphs or bullet points.  Lets face it, most people will skim your article rather than reading it.  Make it easy for them to find useful information quickly.
6. I have not found an article submission service that is worth the bother.  Many people who do not succeed with article traffic are using outside submission services.  These services send your article out by email, rather than posting them on the high traffic sites.  You should submit your article to the best article sites.  My two favorite are http://ezinearticles.com/ and http://goarticles.com/  .  These two sites provide me with a lot of traffic to my sites.  There are other good ones, but I prefer to spend my time writing rather than submitting, so I only post to the others occasionally for a link boost.
7. Find sites in your niche that accept article submissions directly.  Many webmasters and bloggers are in constant need for well written content and will welcome your article.  Submit your best articles to the best of these first.  They will appreciate the unique content and give you good position on their site or in their ezine.  After the article has appeared in their ezine, submit it to the article sites.  Some sites will even give you a regular column if they like your content.  The value of this exposure is immense if the site has a broad readership. 
8. If you write in several niches, you should create a different pen name or variation of your name for each niche.  When a potential customer searches on your name (and they will), you don’t want them to find you in 20 different subjects.  They should find many well written articles in one subject area.  This way, they recognize you as an expert, rather than a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none.
9. To avoid being penalized for duplicate content, do not place your articles on your own site.  If you wish to use the content again, use it in emails or in an ezine, or rewrite a longer version for your site.