OK, so you're plugging along in your new online venture. You have a website but not much of an advertising budget. So how do you get people to your website without spending money? Believe me, I've been there. And it ain't easy!
But rest assured, there ARE some great ways to get targeted website traffic online, without spending a dime. Truth be told, I relied heavily on free web marketing strategies during my own start-up years. And many of the strategies and resources I used back then are STILL bringing me traffic today, some six years later.
So if you're on a tight budget, take the time to try every one of the strategies mentioned today. You just can't beat the price...
Start Page Networks
Start page networks are fairly new online. The way they work is fairly simple. You join for free and then click a link to set your browser's home page to a "network page". In other words, every time you start your browser (or click home) you will get a page from the start page network you joined. The pages promote sites from members in the system. And you earn traffic every time you either open your page or refer a new member.
If it sounds confusing, it really isn't. It utilizes a basic viral marketing strategy to grow your traffic. And while it may not be the answer to all your traffic needs, it can certainly help.
There are a number of these systems available online now and I've tried a few. Recently I recommended StartBlaze and now there is a new one in town called TrafficSwarm. "TS" is from an ol' web friend Sam Robbins and it is pretty slick. TrafficSwarm works as both a start and exit system, so you can earn traffic from it even faster.
I set up a TrafficSwarm account (for free of course) and it was directly responsible for $750 in sales the first week. That's pretty impressive. I believe the quality of traffic from TS is higher than most start page networks for one simple reason... the client chooses what they want to click on, rather than forcing them to see one specific page they may not be interested in. That means better CONVERSION since you have a much more targeted visitor when they click.
Try TrafficSwarm today. It takes just a few seconds to set up and can bring you quite a bit of decent quality traffic.
Articles
If you can put together a website, you can write an article or two every month. Yet it still surprises me how many people don't use articles to grow their website traffic.
All it takes is a few hours each week or month to write about what you know and then have it looked over by someone with editing skills. Then, you tack on a small footer with your URL and fire it off to a list of ezine and magazine editors who publish material related to what you're marketing. That's it!
You can also post the articles at your own site with re-publishing permission for other webmasters. See http://www.bizweb2000.com/articles.htm for an example of how I do this.
Anyone who reads my stuff regularly knows how much I like this promotion method. The fact is, it was responsible for a large part of my traffic early in my web marketing campaign.
So if you're on a limited marketing budget, you should start committing time to writing at least one article each month. Then grab a good email merge program like the one I use called WorldMerge, it will let you keep a list of editors and contact them personally via email. It's a great tool for establishing relationships with key people in your industry and getting visibility for your website.
Links
You've probably read about how important it is to have lots of links on the web pointing to your website. Not only does it grow your traffic, it helps your search engine ranking as well.
There are lots of ways to grow the number of links into your site. Some webmasters simply search the web and then email related sites asking for a link swap. In my opinion that is too time-consuming and tedious.
And while there are lots of automated solutions available, such as link farms and the like, many of these are not search engine friendly. So you have to be careful when selecting a link strategy.
Your link strategy has to include a way for people to get a link from your site to theirs, as well as create a link from their site to your site. And if you can automate the entire process you'll save lots of time.
With all this in mind, I set up a link strategy using a type of directory. You can see the directory (as well as grab a high-profile link swap!) here.
What you'll find there is my "Internet Marketer's Resource Directory." Basically, it's my link swap strategy. And it works quite well. It generated more than 250 links for me over the last 12 months, which would have taken me quite a bit of time and energy. The links have brought fresh traffic to my site as well as improved search engine ranking. I wish I had set it up when I was first getting started online! Unfortunately, I did not give linking a high enough priority back then.
So learn from my mistake. Set up a link strategy at your site early on in your campaign. It will help you more than you realize as time goes on.
Search Engines
Every month my sites receive thousands of visitors from search engines. Most of the traffic I don't pay a single penny for. And you can do the same thing. But you have to submit your URL's to the right places -- the top search engines and directories on the web.
And yes, there ARE still search engines that will accept your site submissions for free. There are actually six extremely busy search engines that have not (not yet anyway) migrated to requiring payment for listings.
While there are also a few "paid submissions" that are worth the somewhat steep price, you should first submit your site to the still-free search engines. Here are direct links to the submission areas of all six...
1. Google - The new leader among the search engines. Add URL
2. HotBot - Still going strong. Add URL
3. AltaVista - Been around forever. Add URL
4. DMOZ - The Open Directory Project: Add URL
5. Fast - (Formerly "All the Web"): :Add URL
6. Lycos - That dog is still kicking! Add URL (Follow the InSite Select Link. The free submission option is on the far right.)
As I mentioned, those six search engines above have been responsible for sending literally thousands of visitors to my websites and they will send thousands more.. all for free.
So take the time and get your site registered at these engines today, while they are still a no-cost strategy!
