Internet Marketing Business Strategies

If you are hoping to make money from your website you’ll need to increase online traffic to your website. If no one visits your site, you’ll never make a sale, let alone earn a living.

Here are five effective, low cost or free traffic generation tips that you can implement without breaking the bank. Even if you only manage to convert a small percentage of visitors into customers, these techniques are still worth pursuing as they will help raise the number of visitors to your site and therefore the odds on your getting conversions at all.

Exchange Links

Exchanging links with other website owners is a popular method of building a presence on the Internet. Remember, the Internet is exactly that, a huge INTER-related NETwork. Rarely would you see a site where there is no link to another site.

Many webmasters are willing to exchange links with one another in order to produce more public awareness about their sites. In many cases a commitment to link exchanging results in a marked upsurge in the traffic being directed to your site from other sites.

A major prerequisite in exchanging links with other sites is that your sites have something in common. Both sites should share a common subject without being direct competitors so that the traffic that arrives on your site will find information that is relevant and interesting.

Exchanging links also boosts your chances of getting a higher ranking in search engines. It is common knowledge that search engines ranks sites more highly when they have inbound and outbound theme-related links. With a good ranking position in the search engines, you will generate more traffic in your website without the high costs.

Traffic Exchanges

Using traffic exchanges is a bit like exchanging links but on a higher level. It may cost a bit more than exchanging or trading links but on the other hand, any costs you incur are offset by the credits you earn. You can earn those credits by viewing other people’s websites. The credits are used when someone visits your website

So on Traffic exchanges you view of other people’s websites and other people view your website in exchange. Each party benefits from the efforts of everybody else to generate traffic. In this way, public awareness of your site’s existence is boosted.

Publish Articles

There are many e-zines and online article directories on the internet where you can publish articles free of charge. If you want to save costs, you can write the articles yourself, but there are also many freelance writers who are willing to write copy for you for a small fee. If you are on a tight budget, however, it would be wise to get into the habit of writing articles yourself to save money.

Publish articles that are related to the content of your site. Write something that you have expertise on so that when people read it they will get a sense of your knowledge about the subject and will be eager to go to your site.

Write articles that offer tips and guidelines pertinent to the subject of your website such that a visit to your website will seem to be the next best move by the reader.

You can get the reader to move from your article to your website by including a resource box at the foot of your article. The resource box includes a link to your site. Write a little about yourself and your site, making it clear that the site provides resources or solutions related to the subject of the article.

If you provide a clear and concise article with relevant information written in an interesting way readers will go to your site for more.

Create a Newsletter

To make a newsletter sounds like hard work because of all the articles you’ll need to create, but actually, it need not be so difficult. There are many writers and websites that are willing to provide free articles as long as they can get their name in on your newsletter. This will also provide free advertising for them as well.

Build an Opt-In List

As your newsletter circulates public awareness of your site will increase and you will get more traffic. Set up an opt-in list and invite visitors to sign up to it so that you can send them news and updates on a regular basis. To do this you will need an auto-responder that can handle the process of automatically adding subscribers to mailing lists.

Building your list is something you should give a high priority to. Offer an incentive for people to sign up, such as a free e-book or some other freebie with a high perceived value. Remember, the real value of many an online business is in its list.

Participate In Online Forums

Becoming active in online forums only requires your time and nothing else. You can share your knowledge and expertise with many online communities as well as spreading awareness of your website. You can get free advertising when you go to forums that have the same subject or niche with your site.

Each time you post a message in the forum you can display your signature file with your link to your website and a short message attached.

Share your two cents worth of knowledge on a given subject. Give some value back to the forum with every post you make by offering useful information. That will also enhance your reputation as an expert and let the other forum participants see how knowledgeable you are with the subject. As you build your reputation, you also build the reputation of your site, making it a reputable and honest business that could be frequented and trusted by many people.

David Hurley

About the Author
David Hurley is a professional Internet marketer, copywriter, and editor. He has put together a free online business course to help beginners get off to a good start with Internet marketing. David also builds free WordPress websites for anybody looking to get started with online marketing. Click here for more details.