5 Free Ways to Increase Your Website Traffic

I don't know about you, but when I first entered the world of internet marketing I thought I could just submit my newly finished website to a few search engines, then sit back as the visitors flocked to my site.

I imagined that people would arrive on my website, as if by magic, purchase goods, and perhaps come back again for more.

A week or so later I came down to earth with a big bump.

I realised that it would take a bit of time and effort to see the results that I was dreaming about!

Since my reality check, I have learned all about the weird and wonderful ways of internet marketing.

In this article I will tell you about my top 5 free ways of increasing website traffic.

All these methods are completely free and if you spend some time on them you will find that they work consistently.

(1)Writing Articles

Writing an article on a subject related to your website and getting that article published has two major benefits:

- People who are interested in your article will read it and often click on the URL in your resource box find out more. This gets you another free targeted visitor. Targeted, because that reader wants to find out more on the subject of your article, which is hopefully related to the subject of your website.

- Every publisher of your article must also publish your "resource box". Adding a resource box with your URL to all of your articles will increase the number of links leading back to your website, which in turn helps to increase your search engine position

For a list of directories to submit your article to, see Article Submission Directories

(2)Forum Networking

There are many discussion forums on the internet, on every topic you could possibly imagine.

Most discussion boards allow posters to attach a "Signature" with their post containing additional information about themselves, such as their name, URL and sometimes even an advertisement.

By visiting a few forums regularly and participating in the discussions, asking and answering questions, you can build up trust with other forum members, whilst at the same time getting free exposure for your website.

Just try to make a useful contribution to the forum - be sure to read the forum rules and don't spam!

(3)Reciprocal Linking

Reciprocal linking has two main benefits for you.

Firstly, the more links that you exchange, the more chance there is that someone will follow a link from another site and land on your website.

Secondly, your website will be perceived more importantly by search engines.

The more links you have from other sites, the greater your chance of getter ranked more highly by all the search engines.

Here are some Dos and Don'ts to help you get more out of your link exchanges.

- Do link with sites that will be of interest to your visitors.

- Don't link with pages that have unorganised link directories with hundreds of links on each page. This won't benefit you with increased traffic or search engine rankings.

- Do link with sites that have a clearly labelled "Link Directory" from their main page. You aren't likely to get much traffic from a hidden or hard to find link directory.

- Don't use link farms or FFA pages. You are unlikely to get extra traffic using these methods and the search engines may penalise you.

- Do use link directories to help you find link partners. You can find some Link Exchange Resources here

- Do stay organised. Use link exchange software, or a spreadsheet to keep track of the link exchanges you have requested and the contact details of the webmasters.


(4) Email Signatures

This is a very simple, but often forgotten way of increasing your website visitors.

Most of us are sending lots of emails a day, but many of us just sign them with just our name, or perhaps nothing at all.

Instead, why not end your emails with a short signature containing your name, a bit about your website along with the URL?

Keep the signature short (4 lines), to the point and avoid hype or SHOUTING.

You may be surprised at the extra visitors you receive through doing this. It's amazing how curiosity will lead the recipients of your email to click on your link!


(5)Using Traffic Exchanges

Finally, this is one easy way to guarantee instant hits to your website. You can build up credits for free by surfing or building up a downline to surf for you.

The downside of this method is that the visitors you receive from traffic exchanges are not as targeted as the visitors that you will receive via the other methods that I have described.

The reason for this is that people surf traffic exchanges for one reason - to earn as many credits as possible in as short a space of time as possible!

This gives you a challenge - how do you attract the attention of someone who is looking at your web page for 20 seconds or less?

Here are two tips -

- Know your market - spend some time surfing on the exchange that you are advertising on and pay attention to the types of web pages being advertised. Make sure that the pages you advertise are going to interest your target market.

- Use a short, simple attention grabbing page that can be read in a few seconds - there is no point advertising a huge page of text that takes 5 minutes to read. The chances are, your visitor will get bored and click on the "next" button without giving your page a fair chance.

Regularly invest some time in each of these 5 traffic generating methods and you will see your web statistics moving in the upwards direction before you know it.


About the author:
Suzanne Morrison is the webmaster and owner of How to Start an Internet Business To learn more about how to promote your website download your free 30 Days to Success Ebook


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Developing a Profitable Web Business Concept

The first step to starting a profitable online business of your own is developing a topic for your website.

You want to select from a list of topics that interest you since you are going to have to write original content for your website.

Too many "green" webmasters make the mistake of choosing a website topic that they think will make them a lot of money instead of one that interests them.

They spend their time thinking about how to monetize their site before they actually have any visitors.

What is the end result?

A website that feels like a commercial. You have to remember that people are not using the internet to find your sales pitch they are using it to find information.

What does this tell you?

If you want to be a successful web business owner then your website should provide your users with valuable information resources related to your target keywords.

Ask yourself, am I more likely to buy a product from a trusted information source whose website I find useful and visit frequently or a website loaded up with banners and links to every way man has invented to make money?

Build your user's trust by providing valuable original content on your website. If you choose a topic that interest's you and that you are passionate about, the content will be much easier to develop.

When developing your site concept choose 4-5 broad topics at first until you identify which one has the most profit potential through keyword analysis techniques.

The top benefit of writing your own website content is that the search engines love it! If you want to get free targeted traffic to your website (of course you do, right?) having original, information filled website content makes the search engines very happy.

As you continue to add valuable original content to your website you will start to notice other websites linking back to you. This will bring both free targeted traffic and higher link popularity with the search engines depending on the quality of the sites that are linking to your site.

Search engine's see backlinks to a site as an indicator of how "popular" a site is. If you have a large number of websites linking back to your content you must be important, right? There is a lot to learn on this subject that goes beyond the scope of this article.

Visitors to your website will already be pre-sold since the backlinks you will receive should be from "related websites”, or from “internet searches” performed on keywords related to your website content.

Incorporate links to the products and services you are promoting within your website content and you have a powerful sales tool.

This strategy will not "explode" your income overnight but will provide you a steady stream of pre-sold, targeted visitors from the search engines within 3-6 months.


About the author:
Michael Lawrence is the webmaster for http://www.cobrasurf.comproviding free website traffic and free website promotion. He also publishes a web promotion related blog which can be found at http://cobrasurf.blogspot.com


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How to Find a Dependable Web Host

Your new website is ready to upload, and now you need a web host. Or perhaps you already have a web host, but uptime and support are lacking. Of the thousands of web hosts to choose from, how do you find one that you can depend on? Know what can go wrong and what to watch out for, and research prospective web hosts carefully.

What can go wrong with web hosting

Too much downtime
Problems happen, and even when they don’t, server maintenance results in a minimal amount of downtime. A dependable web host not only maintains servers well, but also monitors the servers and fixes problems immediately. With the type of web host you want to avoid, however, your site may be down for days.

Features that don’t work
When your email doesn’t work, your business shuts down. Problems with databases and other features can also slow down or stop your business. Most web hosts understand this, but some don’t place a high priority on keeping not only your site online but everything working as well.

Poor support
Dependable web hosts answer tech support questions within hours. Other web hosts, however, have been known to take days. And when those responses come, sometimes they’re canned responses that don’t address the issue.

Poor communication
Support people with good communication skills help keep problems from becoming bigger problems. Being told, “Everything looks fine here, so the problem is solved,” leads to frustration. So is having your site shut down because it used too many resources rather than the web host contacting you about the problem first.

Billing problems
Even after you cancel your account, problems may continue. Some less-than-dependable web hosts don’t honor their refund policy. Others don’t stop automatic billing after the account is cancelled.

What to watch out for

When you see the following at web host websites, consider them red flags to warn you of possible problems.

Unsustainable pricing
If the pricing looks too good to be true, it probably is. Is it enough to pay for server maintenance and tech support? You get what you pay for.

Unlimited bandwidth
Nothing is really unlimited. If you sign up for an account offering unlimited bandwidth and then use a lot of bandwidth, expect to have the plug pulled on your site. The web host may find another explanation for discontinuing your account, but “unlimited” typically means “as long as you don’t use a lot.”

An unprofessional-looking website
Consider how much effort the web host put into providing a usable website with informative content. Does it give you confidence in the web host, or is it full of unsubstantiated statements and grammar and spelling mistakes? A web host doesn’t need to be a spelling expert, of course. But if the company hasn’t put much effort into telling you about their services, will they be conscientious about meeting clients’ needs?

How to research web hosts

Finding web hosts is easy enough. Search engines can take you to the websites of thousands of web hosts. But after you’ve narrowed down your list by features and price, how do you find out which web hosts are dependable?

Read web host package details and TOS
If the hosting packages offer huge amounts of disk space and bandwidth for very low prices, consider yourself warned. Don’t expect the company to have enough money for maintenance and support.

If you want to be sure that you can get a refund if you want one, check what the Terms of Service (TOS) says about refunds.

Read the web host forum
What is the ambience in the forum? Are clients’ questions answered satisfactorily? Don’t be concerned if you see problems; instead, be concerned if you don’t see any problems. Some web hosts remove posts that don’t show their company in a positive light. If posts about problems remain in the forum, you can observe how the host handles problems.

Read web host reviews
Client feedback at the web host’s site may or may not be valid. It’s possible for hosts to make up feedback, and some have even copied feedback from other sites. Look for feedback with links to the clients’ sites, and check via Whois Source to see if the particular web host actually hosts that site.

Numerous forums allow people to post web host reviews. When you read reviews, consider the poster’s credibility. Some people bash their hosts just because they’re unhappy about something. If the host posts in response to a problem, observe how the host tries to resolve it.

Check the company background
The “About Us” or “Company Background” page at the web host’s site should answer these questions.

1. How long has the company been in business? A new company may be excellent, but it’s good to keep in mind that a lot of businesses fail within the first year.

2. Does the company publish a privacy policy? Does this policy clearly protect clients’ privacy?

3. Where are the servers located? Ideally, they should be in a datacenter, and not in someone’s basement.

4. What are the server uptime statistics? If the web host doesn’t publish a link to a server uptime monitor, ask for a link to one. Uptime of about 99.7 percent or higher is generally considered good.

5. Does the company publish an address? You may never need it, but when you’re placing your company website in another company’s hands, you want to know that the company is legitimate and accessible.

Email pre-sales questions
Answers to your pre-sales questions tell you a lot about the web host. You’ll see how fast the company responds and how well they communicate. Ask questions about any of the above points as well as questions specific to your needs.

Finding a dependable web host takes time, but dealing with problems and moving your site takes more time. The time spent looking for a dependable web host is a worthwhile investment.


About the author:
About the author: Lois S. is a Technical Executive Writer for Website Source, Inc. http://www.websitesource.com. Her established writing skills coupled with experience in the website hosting industry have provided internet professionals with marketing, product and service ideas for many years.


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