Increase Website Traffic for Free

Many people spend a great amount of money trying to launch their website through strong advertising campaigns; however, a lack of funds shouldn't be a setback as there are many ways to get traffic without spending a dime.

Steps

  1. Optimize your website to be search-engine friendly. Submit it to various search engines and directories. In addition to major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Ask, Bing and MSN, it's worth submitting to lesser known web directories. If your website is listed in as many places as possible, it can boost your rankings in major search engines as well.
  2. Make sure your title, description head, and header html tags accurately convey the subject of your site; search engine algorithms use these as keywords to categorize your site and direct relevant traffic.
  3. Spread the word about your affiliate program by submitting it to affiliate program directories and contacting the owners of related websites.
  4. Create a links page that will contain the links to other non-competing websites in the same industry. Contact the owners of other websites with your proposal to exchange links. You will add their link to your links page, and they will link to your website in return.
  5. Post in forums. Visit the online discussion forums where people in your target market like to gather. Post useful responses to people's questions, and include a link to your website at the end of your post next to your name. Although you ultimately want to get your sig file with the link to your site seen as often as possible, don't overdo it with your posts, otherwise other forumites won't respect you, and therefore won't visit your site.
  6. Comment on blogs. Visit other people's blogs on the topic related to your website. Most blogs allow you to add comments about the issues being discussed. Add insightful comments about the blog topics, and leave your website link. Your comment and your link will permanently remain on the blog website.
  7. Create an e-mail "signature" - your name, your website address and a short tag-line describing the main benefit of your site. Set your e-mail program to automatically add your signature to every e-mail that you send.
  8. Look into traffic exchanges. There are many types of traffic exchanges but the idea is the same - you team up with other webmasters, and they send you traffic in exchange for you sending them traffic. Search the web for "traffic exchange" to find those services.
  9. Create something of value that people will pass around. It can be a report with useful information that you allow people to give away. It can also be some kind of cool and unusual web-page that people will want to e-mail to all their friends. Of course, the pass-around item will include your advertisement and your link, spreading the word about your website. This is a "viral" strategy.
  10. Write articles on the topic related to your website, and include a link to your site in your author bio. Submit your articles to article directories, and allow people to publish your article in their newsletters and websites. Your articles will spread around the web like wildfire. People will read them and visit your website. The best part is that people who read your articles will regard you as an expert, and they will be much more likely to buy from you when they go to your website. How's that for a free publicity?
  11. Use accurate keywords for your content. The point of keywords is that they are the terms most people looking for your article by topic will search by. Check those with free Google terms and use the most popular relevant one in your title - a descriptive title to let them know right away what it is if it's a word with multiple meanings. Drawing blood for a phlebotomist is not the same thing as a comics artist drawing blood in a fight scene. Be very literal and then use the exact keywords several times in the article where they are relevant, as well as synonyms. Don't overdo it, or you look like you're trying to spam Google. Just use the keywords naturally when describing the topic.
    • If it is a confusing keyword phrase like Drawing Blood, link to the other meaning and mention that in the first paragraph. "This article is about drawing blood in graphic novels. Phlebotomy is drawing blood for medical tests or donations - here's the other page on "Drawing Blood." Then link to the phlebotomy page in that. By redirecting confused people you leave them a good impression and they might stop to read your article if they also like doing comics art!
  12. Start an e-zine for your web site. When people read each issue they'll be reminded to revisit your web site. Submit it to all the free e-zine directories on the internet.A newsletter!
  13. Start your own online discussion community. It could be an online message board, e-mail discussion list or chat room. When people get involved in your community, they will regularly return to communicate with others.
  14. Advertise your site at free classified ad sites. There are many of these on the net. Some of the more popular ones are craigslist, inetgiant, freeadvertisingforum, and gumtree.
  15. Join free safe-lists. These are lists of subscribers who have opted-in to send and receive emails to each other. You can instantly reach potentially thousands of people by sending out emails, and you don't have to worry about receiving spam complaints either because everyone on the list has opted-in to receive emails.
  16. Getting a Myspace page could also increase your site traffic because hundreds of people will see it.
  17. Constantly update content on your web-page, so having a news section is a great deal for search engines especially.
  18. Update your Facebook status to let your friends know every time you update your blog and create a Facebook fan page. Your friend's friends will see when they join the fan page or comment on your status.
  19. Submit your website to top social bookmarking sites to create a backlink to your website, which will increase you page rank as well.
  20. Sign up to yahoo answers and leave great helpful comments to questions people are asking for, leaving a link back to your site with more helpful tips on it.
  21. Stay on topic. All this socializing, forum commenting and question answering ought to be on your website's main topic. The more your activity and site content match in topic, the more likely the right people find it. The more targeted your affiliate links are to the topic, the better you'll do with them too. People don't mind advertising that's on topic, it starts to look like a convenience directory rather than irritating commercials.

Tips

  • Use word of mouth. Tell everyone you know about your website.
  • Create Business Cards that have something like "This card is worth $400,000. Let me show you how" then have your url at the bottom of the card. There are websites out there that allow you to create and receive business cards for free.
  • Whatever types of free advertising you decide to pursue, make sure that you use ad tracking software. This will allow you to track where your visitors are coming from, and what types of advertising are the most effective.
  • Start right here on wikiHow. Read up on Publicize Yourself the Right Way on wikiHow. If you can provide quality content, you can create a win-win relationship where you share knowledge and get publicity in return.
  • Choose your email settings wisely no matter which free advertising outlet or method you decide on.

Warnings

  • Be careful who you choose to exchange sites with. Be picky. It is your reputation on the line. The bottom line is to keep it all business when using free advertising and other site promotion options.
  • Steer clear of any advertising tactics that could be construed as spam.
  • Don't try to use meta data with the keywords that has nothing to do with your content because Google will bring your rank down.
  • Beware of free advertising and traffic swapping. Choose who you advertise with carefully. Check out the site and do a Whois search on anyone that wants to site swap with you prior to agreeing to swap sites.
  • Keep all free ads directed to your business information while setting up an account on Craigslist or other free advertising site. If you decide to advertise for free on Craigslist, make sure your email settings are safe. Use your web site's email at all times. Set your advertising to target only the country(s) with whom you want to do business with when initially setting up your free account. Otherwise there is a high chance that you will be bombarded with mass amounts of spam of the worst kind. If you make the mistake of using your own personal contact information, including email address during set up of your account, you'll likely receive all the usual spam from a Nigerian Prime Minister needing to transfer money (in order to try to extract your bank account information). You may even receive a fake check in the mail for money. This can happen to anyone when listing a personal item for sale. The moral is: Do not post personal information for all to see on Craigslist and other free advertising venues. These same issues happen with traffic exchanges as well (see next).

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