Increase your web site traffic for FREE!

You don't need to pay to be more popular on the web! We show you how to use different methods to get more traffic to your site:

• Search Engine Positioning
• Banner Exchanges
• News Groups
• Mailing Lists
• Classifieds & FFA Sites

Search Engines

Search Engines allow you to search for information based on keywords or phrases.

Focus on getting a high ranking in the top search engines. They will be your primary source of traffic.  You need to register with the search engines in order to get listed.

Most people only look at the first 10 - 20 Web Sites found during a keyword search.  Your goal is to get listed in the Top 20 in as many search engines as possible.

Beware of services offering to submit your Web Page to thousands of search engines & directories. The Top 40 search engine & directories will generate 95% of your website traffic.  Don't waste your time or your money on generating that extra 5% traffic!

Click here for a list of the Top Search Engines

Directories

Directories classify Web Sites by categories instead of keywords or phrases. 

It is more difficult to get listed in a directory than a search engine.  Some directories hand select only the best Web Sites to be in each category.  It's worth the time and effort to get listed in a directory. 

The most popular directory and also the most important one to get listed in is Yahoo!   Getting listed in the Yahoo directory could draw thousands of extra visitors to your website every day.

Go here for a listing of Top Directories

Here are a few tips how to get into Directories & get a high ranking on Search Engines.

(But if you're serious about promoting your website, you should consider doing The Advanced Search Engine Positioning Course. Read More)

1. Finish your Web Page before submitting it to any directories or search engines.  Your website should not have any pages that are under construction or hyperlinks that are broken.

2. Your website should be free of spelling and grammatical errors.  Use the spell checker on every page of your website, and have a friend proofread your work.

3. Use complete sentences with proper punctuation.  Some search engines ignore phrases without punctuation.

4. Manually submit your website to Yahoo!  Follow the directions precisely or you won't get listed. Your Yahoo submission is too important to allow someone else do it for you. Use Self Promotion.com to submit your website to all the other most popular search engines and directories for free.

5. Use Meta Tags, and make a descriptive title that includes keywords on every web page before you submit to any search engines.  Also summarize what is on your website in the the first paragraph of text. If you don't know what I'm talking about go back and read about Internet Marketing Secrets.

6. View all your web pages on both Internet Explorer, and on Netscape Navigator. Also view your website at different screen resolutions.  What may look perfect to you on your computer with your web browser, and your screen resolution, may look like a total mess to other people. Microsoft FrontPage makes this process easy by providing a menu option called "Preview in Browser".

7. Once you have placed your website on the internet, view it from someone else's computer.  You may be surprised at what you find.  Picture may not load, fonts may look strange, or Hyperlinks may not work.

8. Test Your website with Site Check, NetMechanic, and  Web Site Garage which are free utilities that will test your meta tags, spelling, links, browser compatibility, and find HTML coding errors.

Banner & Links Exchanges

Banners are the small advertisements that you see on many web pages.   They and text links can be an excellent free resource for generating website  traffic.

There are a number of Web Sites that have free programs known as banner or links exchanges.  You can advertise for FREE on thousands of Web Sites just by becoming a member.  They will place your banner or link on other Web Sites if you allow them to place other peoples banners or links on your website.  The amount of exposure you get from other peoples Web Sites is directly proportional to the amount of traffic you generate.

The exchanges takes care of all the details, such as rotating banner adds and links, tracking web traffic, and providing you code to make it all work.

For more information on using banners check out Banner Tips they have everything you ever wanted to know about banners plus free resources to help you create your own banner.

News Groups

A news group is a place were people meet on the internet to talk about a specific subject.  News groups and mailing lists are a great way to target your audience.  One word of caution before you begin promoting your website here.  People do not like blatant advertising.  Follow these rules when posting to newsgroups.

• Visit the target newsgroups and spend some time getting to know them before posting.

• Don't use hype in your message.

• Answer a question or offer some useful information related to the current topic and then mention that you can find additional information at your web site.

Start by visiting Deja News and looking up a few of your keywords to find which news groups to target.

Remember if all you do is write an ad for your website you will get tons of hate mail and your internet service provider will probably drop you for spamming.

Mail Lists

People who are interested in a particular topic join a mailing list. Email written by anyone on the list can be sent to everyone else on the list.

To find out which mailing lists to subscribe to go to Listz.

The same rules for newsgroups apply for mailing lists.

• Join a few mailing lists which would include your target audience and spend some time getting to know them before posting.

• Read the rules before posting, they are usually located under FAQ (frequently asked questions).

• Don't use hype in your message.

• Answer a question or offer some useful information related to the current topic and then mention that you can find additional information at your web site.