Increase Traffic To Your Website

One thing every website, every online business, every internet marketer could use more of, is traffic. Traffic to your website is just as important as traffic to any retail store, and both without traffic, in time will cease to exist. The point is — traffic is extremely important to the success of your online business and your future success in business. More traffic equals more sales, more ad clicks, more signups, more recognition and more money. Even if the product or service you’re selling is complete and utter crap, with enough traffic you could easily become an online millionaire in no time at all. Imagine what you could do with a half decent product?

There are really only 3 ways to generate traffic to your website — you can:

1. Buy Traffic:
This includes things like buying text or banner ads, PPC advertising, renting opt-in email lists and more.

2. Create Traffic:
Article writing, search engine optimization, sending out press releases, submitting to directories, emailing your list, social networking and bookmarking and so on are a few of the ways you can create traffic.

3. Borrow Traffic
Borrowing traffic encompasses things like trading ezine or newsletter ads, forming joint ventures, trading blog posts and so on.

There really are hundreds of ways to generate traffic… I’ve been compiling the following list of 247 traffic generation methods since 2001 and this is the first time I’ve shared it with anyone. Needless to say, it’s not in perfect formation, but it comes in 100% working order. Although I’ve recently gone through and cleaned it up some it’s not grouped in any

way and is in no particular order.
Some of the following methods may be widely used, others rarely see the light of

day, some are a little funky and not for everyone, some are drop dead simple, some are quite complex and time consuming, some are free, some are cheap and some are grossly expensive… but they all have one thing in common – they generate TONS of targeted traffic. But it’s still up to you to test and track your results to find what works best for you and will always, or almost always, generate a positive return on your investment.

Anyways, without further ado… here are the 247 traffic generation methods I’ve been promising:

1. Write a press release and submit it to www.PRWeb.com.
2. Promote your site using cheap or free classified ads in targeted ezines ornewsletters.
3. Leave comments on other people’s blogs with a backlink to your site.
4. Advertise your website in the appropriate category on www.CraigsList.com.
5. Create a viral software program and give it away for free.
6. Send a free copy of your product to other site owners in exchange for aproduct review.
7. Submit your blog articles to www.blogg-buzz.com (a Digg.com like site forbloggers).
8. Participate in www.LinkedIn.com.
9. Write a book. The publicity, credibility and notoriety will practically locktraffic on autofire.
10. Sell a cheap but extremely useful PDF formatted ebook on Amazon.com fullof links to your site.
11. Exchange reciprocal links with other related websites.
12. Find someone on eBay who is willing to tattoo your URL on a visible bodypart. For maximum impact, the forehead is the most highly desired location.
13. Purchase advertising in popular newsletters or ezines.
14. Submit articles to trade magazines with a link to your site in your bio.

15. Submit your site to FFA (Free for All) sites (Warning: low quality traffic and can be bad for SEO).
16. Buy text links or banner ads on eBay.
17. Start multiple blogs on related but slightly different topics to drive traffic to amain sales site.
    For example, if you’re selling an internet marketing product, you could have a blog on internet marketing, another on email marketing, one on affiliate marketing, another on search engine optimization and so on all to drive traffic.
18. Place a classified ad on Yahoo Classifieds – Yahoo receives more traffic than any other website.
19. Find joint venture partners that will send you traffic.
20. Start your own newsletter or ezine.
21. Post some high quality targeted articles on the right sections ofwww.Netscape.com with a backlink to your.
22. Make sure your website is highly search engine optimized.
23. Target your website to low competition niches using long tail keywords.
24. Find a JV broker.
25. Review related products on www.epinion.com.
26. Use www.OnlyWire.com to automate your social book marking andautomatically generate backlinks.
27. Offer a free email mini course or e-course.
28. Have a website with content that’s worth coming back to.
29. Add social bookmarking icons to your website or blog (use the sociable pluginfor blogs).
30. Promote your website on cheap ‘pixel advertising’ websites.
31. Advertise your site on ‘word cloud’ type websites. I’ve gotten lifetime PR 5-6backlinks for as little as $ 2.5.
32. Become a member of the Better Business Bureau and get them to put up a linkto your site (PS: it’s not worth joining just for the link).
33. Network with other people at seminars or other live events.

34. Speak at seminars and give the audience a reason why the absolutely, positively need to visit your website for a titillating piece of information.
35. Promote your website on the ‘thank you’ pages of other sales sites. Work out a mutually beneficial commission for the site owner
36. Try using cheap or free newspaper classified ads. This is also a great way to test the response of different headlines.
37. Pass out business cards with your domain on them everywhere you go.
38. Set up a kiosk or booth at community events and giveaway something free tobuild buzz.
39. Start and affiliate program and let your affiliates send you visitors.
40. Start a profile on social bookmarking sites such as www.MySpace.com.
41. Add as many friends as you can on MySpace.
42. Submit a viral video to www.YouTube.com.
43. Appear on a big time reality TV show like The Apprentice or Jeopardy.
44. Place ads on a local radio station. This is something I’ve actually used and onthe right radio station (preferably talk radio — much higher response rate) and some kind of forced opt-in page (I offered a Caribbean getaway for personal info… to monetize later), it can be financially feasible and even highly profitable.
45. Advertise on TV. This is not as beyond your reach as you might think: Something as simply as having your website sponsor the news on a local station can put you in front of 10’s of thousands of viewers for as little as $100.
46. Hire a public relations company or agent.
47. Blog – blogging is a great way to get free traffic from search engines, RSSfeeds, other blogs, blog directories and more. The following 35 tips will focus

    on how you can grow traffic through the phenomenon that is blogging.

48. Write a variety long and short, timely and timeless posts.
49. Encourage readers to subscribe to your blog’s RSS feed.
50. Submit your blog to all the major blog directories, includingwww.Technorati.com.

51. Participate in blog carnivals; this is very similar to submitting articles (use a multi-carnival submission form http://blogcarnival.com/bc/submit.php).
52. Provide email subscriptions, this allows readers to be notified by email of newposts (use the plug-in “subscribe2”).
53. Ping the blog directories and search engines.
54. Tag your blog posts.
55. Encourage your visitors to subscribe to your RSS feeds.
56. Rewrite some of your blog content and post it to article directories to developbacklinks and traffic.
57. Find a hot topic on Technorati, post about it and then ping Technorati withyour new post.
58. Let visitors sign up to be notified when someone replies to their comments.
59. Give out blogging or top bloggers awards.
60. Send a personal thank you email when someone leaves a comment.
61. Link to your blog in your email or forum signatures.
62. Submit your RSS feed to other sites.
63. Use plugins to search engine optimize your side.
64. Optimize each blog post for a particular keyword or search phrase.
65. Submit your blog to any free and related niche directories.
66. Submit your blog to free review sites.
67. Use WordPress.
68. Link to other blogs that use a “blogs that link to mine” plugin, script orwidget.
69. Set up a feed on MyYahoo so that Yahoo keeps track of your blog.
70. Use trackbacks.
71. Participate in group writing projects.
72. Place a code on your site making it easy for other people to link to you.
73. Promote your blog on related newsgroups.
74. Join www.BlinkList.com and make a list of blogs with your blog.
75. Ask other bloggers to review your blog in return for a review of theirs or abacklink.

76. Review other people’s blogs and tell them about it, so they’ll link to it.
77. Make a list of the top blogs in your niche, tell them about and ask them to linkto the list.
78. Connect with other bloggers at www.MyBlogLog.com.
79. Network with other people in your niche and other bloggers.
80. Analyze your logs or website statistics. Find out what’s working and thenduplicate it.
81. If you have staff, train them to market your business to acquaintances.
82. Barter with other sites for ads or content.
83. Pay an auto-surf company peanuts to get low quality traffic.
84. Put your product on www.Clickbank.com, www.cj.com and other affiliatesites.
85. Manually submit your website to the major search engines.
86. Add your personal profile including pictures and website links everywhereyou can… this is especially useful for social networking sites. This is also

    good for branding.

87. Join a safelist and promote your website, product or service to others.
88. Join a Yahoo or Google group and use it to drive traffic to your site.
89. Print your URL on large pieces of sticky back paper and then stick it on thebacks of busses and trucks — preferably at night.
90. Track everything, find out where your visitors are coming from and duplicateit.
91. Plaster your URL all over your car, truck, van, SUV or bicycle if you driveone.
92. Get a customized license plate for the front of your car with your domainname (if allowed by law).
93. Add a robots.txt file to your site to ensure it’s crawled properly by searchengines.
94. Go to baggage claim at a busy airport and put an empty piece of luggage onthat has your URL on it. With luck, it will circle around and around as it won’t be claimed.

95. Host a teleseminar. Plug your site.
96. Host a webinar. Plug your site.
97. Create an ad ‘swipe file’ and use it for wacky ideas.
98. Submit a news story to www.Slashdot.com.
99. Get your website listed in www.dmoz.org, beg if you need to.
100. Review other websites on www.Alexa.com and include a link to your site.
101. Creatively connect a well-known celebrity to your niche.
102. Be the first to break a news story.
103. Get readers to Digg your blog posts or website pages.
104. Highlight some of your best articles or blog posts on your Squidoo lens.
105. Get PR 4+ backlinks to improve your search engine ranking.
106. Post your photos to www.Flickr.com, with a link to your site.
107. Linkbait: write about something controversial, break a news story or anythingelse to virally build traffic.
108. Sign up to become a Google news source.
109. Purchase or ads or posts on high traffic blogs.
110. Create an online media kit.
111. Concentrate on a specific niche; you’ll get a lot more visitors from Google.
112. Become the go-to source for information on your niche topics.
113. Have a friend recommend your website or blog to his/her list in return for youdoing the same.
114. Print your blog web address on your business cards, letterhead, brochures andall other printed material.
115. Install a translation script or plug-in and translate your website into otherlanguages.
116. Add a forum where your visitors can discuss topics related to your niche.
117. Break a world record and write about it.
118. Purchase the misspellings or variations of your domain name, or those of yourcompetitors to forward to your main URL.
119. Buy a domain name related to your niche that is already receiving traffic andforward it to your site.

120. Barter for traffic with others in your field.
121. Cold call.
122. Hire an SEO company.
123. Volunteer.
124. Use a autoresponder or email campaign to keep people coming back to your site.
125. Purchase ads on other sites.
126. Try direct mail including postcards (they’re cheap and effective).
127. Start a Podcast or Videocast and submit it to iTunes.
128. Get bonus traffic: contribute a bonus product to other people’s products.
129. Use co-registration to build your list… then send them to your website.
130. Create a killer WordPress theme which automatically includes a link to yoursite on the blogroll and another on the bottom (in the footer) giving yourself

     credit for the design.

131. Create a plugin or widget for WordPress with the download link on your site.If it’s good, not only will people from all over the WWW will link to it, but

     they’ll highly recommend or endorse it.

132. Do the same thing as above in number 131, except create a plugin for MozillaFirefox.
133. Solicit the help of a local reporter to write up a newspaper article on youand/or your business.
134. Use the concept of integration marketing. What’s that you ask? It’s when youfind another business that you can integrate your products, services or web traffic with.
     For example, let’s say you run a carpet cleaning company… integration marketing might be where you find a home renovation company and work out a deal where your services are included in their sales process (also knows as an upsell). In this example, the renovation company might ask their customers if they would like to have their carpets professionally cleaned after the construction process is complete. On the WWW, if you provide one on one internet business coaching, you could seek out a company that offers internet

marketing seminars. Part of their sales process might be asking participants if they’d be interested in signing up for ongoing one on one coaching after the seminar is complete.

135. Go to the beach and as you’re walking along, drop stencils of your URL on unsuspecting sleeping sunbathers. Then they’ll get a nice tan of just your URL, and for the next week they’ll be walking billboards.
136. Create a buzz worthy post and submit it to www.Truemors.com. Don’t forget to include a link to your website.
137. Train your affiliates and give them plenty of promo material.
138. Provide additional monetary incentives or prizes for top affiliates, mostimproved and so on above the normal commissions.
139. Find a traffic broker and let them look after your traffic generation.
140. Use www.USFreeads.com to post classified ads and generate backlinks andpartially targeted traffic.
141. Find an expired domain that’s receiving traffic, register it and redirect it toyour website.
142. Write an article for a local or community newspaper that’s related to yourfield of expertise and include a website link in your bio.
143. Do something viral.
144. Answer people’s questions on www.answers.yahoo.com.
145. Post in forums and have a link to your site in your signature.
146. Create a killer PDF ebook and report, then sell it cheaply with master resellrights (and a link to your site) and allow others to do the same, as long as they

     leave it intact).

147. Get some t-shirts screen printed with your URL or get a few golf shirtembroidered with your domain name. Wear them everywhere.
148. Rent out one of those moving advertising billboard vehicles. Get your website written on it in large letters and drive around a busy part of town. For a greaterimpact, honk your horn or play ice cream truck music.
149. Rent space on a roadside billboard or sign and give people a damn goodreason to visit your site.

150. If you have as store or physical location that people visit, put up a large sign advertising your website both inside and another in a window so it’s viewable to passers by. And if you’re really ambitious you can even put up a large neon sign outside your store or office location.
151. Post a bulletin about a contest or other event on community bulletin boards commonly found in grocery stores and community centers. Don’t forget to include little ‘rip off’ tabs with your URL.
152. Put up little vinyl signs at stoplights along the road advertising your products / services and your website.
153. Go to a construction site with wet cement and carve out your URL. You’ll fit in better if bring along a hard hat and clipboard with the words “Building Inspector” stenciled on the back.
154. Add a link in your email signature to your website. It’s a free and easy way to get a little more traffic.
155. Make a custom 404 error page for your website redirecting people to your home page.
156. Use PPC search engine advertising.
157. Add a “bookmark this site” link to your webpages.
158. Sponsor or donate money to a charity — they’ll often put you up on a page oftheir website as a contributor and if you do it on behalf of your business,

     they’ll also put up a link to your site.

159. Master the 7 second elevator pitch.
160. Put your website URL on your business voice mail.
161. If you have an ad in the Yellowpages, make sure your URL is a big part of it.
162. Put your URL in any other print or media advertisements.
163. Go to a book store and sneak a bookmark with your URL on it into all thebooks that have anything to do with your business or niche.
164. This one is not for everyone, but I found it to be an interesting concept and in the right online niche (of which there are lots) it could work well: Organize a wet t-shirt contest and have all the girls wear t-shirts imprinted with yourURL.

165. When you post a project (only that you need completed) on freelance sites like www.elance.com, www.guru.com, www.rentacoder.com and so on, include a link to your website.
166. Add your URL to the company name on your PayPal account (ex. Your Company Name – YourCompanyName.com).
167. Brainstorm: use a white board to come up with traffic sucking, off the wall ideas and write the down before you forget.
168. Use a “YourName@YourDomain.com” email address — curious people will check out your site.
169. Solicit a link from your local chamber of commerce.
170. Give away a freebie (e-book, report, e-course) to keep people coming back toyour site with a strong auto responder campaign.
171. Give an unbiased testimonial on a product/service that you have used inexchange for a backlink to your site.
172. Optimize each page of your website for a particular keyword or search phrase.
173. Have a tell-a-friend form on your site.
174. Submit your site to any related niche directories on the net.
175. Participate in a banner or link exchange program.
176. Conduct surveys and publish them – they’ll make you appear to be an expertin your field and if your stats are good, many others will link to them.
177. Send articles to ezine publishers that include a link to your website.
178. Hold a crazy contest and help it go viral.
179. Ask others for referrals.
180. Ask if you can put your business card in related retail or office locations.
181. Get customized post-it notes with a snappy saying and your URL.
182. Stand at a busy intersecton in a funny mascot suit (or sting bikini) with a signthat reads “Need Traffic: www.YourSite.com.”
183. Advertise in your local ‘Welcome Wagon.’
184. Use www.StumbleExchange.com or www.DiggExchange.com and tradeStumble’s or Digg’s with other users.
185. Use Bum Marketing.

186. Do something to encourage ‘word of mouth’ marketing.
187. Advertise on internet only radio stations. It’s new, it’s cheap and it can bemuch more effective than standard radio. Remember talk radio is best.
188. Advertise in the streaming player used by many FM, AM or online radiostations.
189. Promote your stuff at a trade show and hand out memorable ‘take home’ swagwith your site address.
190. Hire a hot air balloon or blimp and add a banner with your URL.
191. Find an airplane advertising company and have them tow a banner (with yourwebsite address) promoting a contest, giveaway, star search etc. I would think that flights along highly populated beaches would work best, but not having tried this method (yet) I can’t give an expert opinion on the results you should expect.
192. Buy and use a memorable domain name.
193. Do something controversial.
194. Create an Amazon profile and submit reviews for books and other productsthat you have read.
195. Start a lens on www.Squidoo.com.
196. Produce an infomercial for late night TV – just make sure you have a strongsales team with high ticket backend products in place or you’ll go broke.
197. Buy a pair of sandals; get your website engraved on the bottom and walk onthe beach, stomp in the mud or play in the snow.
198. Sell your stuff (and reference your website) on a home shopping channel.There are also cheaper online variations.
199. Appear as a guest on a talk radio show.
200. Give speeches at churches, community or business associations or even yourbest friends wedding.
201. Take a vacation. This one works great for me because I’ll come backrefreshed with all kinds of new traffic building ideas. You might also be able

     to write part of it off as a business expense.

202. Put a link in the ‘about me’ section of your eBay profile.

203. Create and sell a product with resell or giveaway rights and include a link to your site in it so others pass it around for you.
204. Start an organization, club or association.
205. Use a favicon for your site.
206. Participate in a WebRing.
207. Put up links on some of yout sites to some of your other sites.
208. Connect your site with other sites in your niche.
209. Host a forum or chat room on your site and list in the relevant directories.
210. Add an RSS feed to your Squidoo lens.
211. Endorse a celebrity.
212. Sponsor a golf tournament or other sporting event.
213. Go door to door to solicit traffic (only if you’re really desperate or sell insurance).
214. Tip well and leave behind a business card.
215. Enter a business card into restaurants and stores that have free monthly prizedraws.
216. Send letters to local business that could benefit from your product or service.
217. Advertise in the classified section of a large newspaper, or take out a featuredad.
218. Swap newsletter/ ezine ads with other publishers.
219. Improve your resource or author bio box.
220. Use unique Meta tags on each page of your website.
221. Write and submit articles to the article directories.
222. Sell or place classified ads on www.eBay.com with a link to your site.
223. Post free classified ads on any of the sites that allow them with a link to yoursite.
224. Do everything you can to brand yourself and/or your business.
225. Use www.reddit.com.
226. Get awards.
227. Give awards.
228. Use ‘pay for rank’ search engines (please note: these are not the same as PPC

search engines).

229. If you feel you or your company is big enough, established and reputable,create a page about it on www.Wikipedia.org.
230. Rent a one-time mailing from a targeted opt-in list.
231. Participate in a package insert program with local businesses. That meanscooperatively mailing a package of stuff (flyers, brochures, letters etc.) to potential clients and splitting the costs with similar but non-competing businesses.
232. Put on a free workshop at a local store, business, library, or organization.
233. Use reliable hosting. It’s amazing how many extra visitors your site will get ifyou’re hosting is always working.
234. Use www.InstantBuzz.com to send visitors to your site.
235. Redirect all your parked domain names to one that you actually want toreceive traffic.
236. Become a virus within your niche – people will start talking and linking.
237. Create a free ebook and list in on the “free ebook” sites.
238. Use a traffic exchange (low quality traffic, but can sometimes be worthwhile).
239. Buy PLR products, break them apart and customize them into trafficgeneration machines.
240. Get referrals form similar but non-competing sites.
241. Take out a classified or full page ad in a targeted magazine.
242. Use sponsor ads in newsletters or ezines – they’re inexpensive and effective.
243. Get some nice pens made up and carry them with you. Next time someoneasks if you have a pen offer it to them for keeps – it’s amazing how many

     hands it’ll go through.

244. Email your list. If you don’t have one, get one.
245. Sponsor a movie and get your URL placed in the credits… or if you canafford it, get your URL placed in a movie scene much like a can of coke.
246. Join www.43things.com and post your list of 43 things including links to yourwebsites.

247. Call in to the “Leo Laporte – The Tech Guy” Saturday morning radio show on KFI AM 640 in Los Angeles (syndicated across the US) with a website related problem or question. In conversation, Leo Laporte will always ask you what the URL of your site is – giving you a free plug in front of millions of listeners. Dial 1-88-88-ASK-LEO.

Additional Internet Marketing Resources

Free Ecourse
www.increaseyouronlinetraffic.com – free daily traffic tips email based course.

Domain Name Registration
www.godaddy.com – domain name registrar on the net. Offers many other services including email, web hosting, merchant accounts, fax through email etc.

www.namecheap.com – great place for online marketers to register domains as they don’t have some of the pitfalls / problems other registrars do when conducting online business.

www.1and1.com – offers cheap domains as well as many other services (email, web hosting etc.)

Web Hosting
www.startlogic.com – cheap quality hosting www.lunarpages.com – huge provider, good customer service www.hostgator.com – cheap; popular amoung IM newbies www.ipowerweb.com – good all round host

Autoresponders
www.1startcart.com – free trial, also offers tons of other available features like an integrated shopping cart, affiliate management and more.

www.aweber.com – free trial; one of the most popular online. www.mailloop.com – installs on your own server.

Shopping Cart Software
www.1startcart.com – free trial. This is the service I use which offers tons of other integrated features including autoresponders, affiliate management software, ad trackers, email broadcasting, payment processing and more for a low monthly price.

Stat Trackers
www.webstat.com – free trial and/or free basic account. www.statcounter.com – 100% free; paid features also available

Affiliate Management Software
www.1startcart.com – offers tons of other integrated features including autoresponders, ad trackers, email broadcasting, payment processing and more for a low monthly price. www.assoctrac.com – advanced software installs on your own server.

Ebook Compilers
www.ebookpro.com – creates “.exe’ files and offers real time protection www.ebookmaestro.com – free trial; creates “.exe” ebook files from “.html” web pages.

Fax thru Email
www.godaddy.com – simple, easy, cheap and what I use. www.myfax.com – free trial

Forums
www.warriorforum.com – best internet marketing forum forums.digitalpoint.com – largest online IM forum www.wickedfire.com – another popular IM / affiliate marketing forum www.toptrafficforum.com – forum dedicated to online traffic generation Business / Legal

www.corpcenter.ca – Canada (trademarks, corporations, merchant accounts etc.) www.legalzoom.com – United States (trademarks, corporations, LLC’s, copyrights,

patents etc.)

Continuing Education
www.internetmarketingbook.com – my new 300 page internet marketing book, Street Smart Internet Marketing, a must have if you are serious about internet marketing; only $20 + S/H.
www.marketingtips.com – the most popular internet marketing course on the net from the Internet Marketing Center
www.buttcamp.com – Tom Antion’s Internet Marketing Butt Camp on CD

Seminars
www.bigseminar.com – self proclaimed biggest and best internet marketing seminar worldwide by Armand Morin.
www.buttcamp.com – Butt Camp Internet marketing seminar by Tom Antion. www.millionairemind.com – life changing money seminar by Harv Eker, a must for any business people, currently offers free tickets a $2,590 value. Many other seminars also available… this one is the introductory seminar.

Search Engine Information
www.searchenginewatch.com – more info on search engine optimization www.payperclicksearchengines.com – pay per click search engine directory

Article Submission Directories
http://www.ezinearticles.com – biggest / best online article directory. http://www.goarticles.com – 2nd best online article directory. http://www.articledashboard.com
http://www.articlesfactory.com
http://www.ideamarketers.com
http://www.isnare.com

http://www.promotiondata.com http://www.businessknowhow.com http://www.buzzle.com http://www.articlealley.com

Affiliate Directories
www.clickbank.com – largest, most popular affiliate directory online. www.cj.com – affiliate directory for larger online sites like eBay, Dell and Apple. www.linkshare.com
www.affiliatesdirectory.com
www.associateprograms.com
www.affiliatescout.com
www.affiliatefirst.com

Blogging Software
www.wordpress.org – installs on your server; my recommended best software for blog. www.wordpress.com – hosted using WordPress.
www.typepad.com – hosted on your own server.
www.blogger.com – hosted by Blogger.

Auction Sites

www.ebay.com www.pulse.ebay.com www.bidz.com

Classified Sites
www.craigslist.org – largest online site. www.gumtree.com – big in London. www.kijiji.com – Canadian site. www.buysell.com www.classifieds.yahoo.com