Getting Tons of Visitors Free
by David Seaman, CEO of the popular webmaster information portal -- Web-Master.tv
http://www.linkleads.com/visitors.html

Sometimes you just don't feel like paying to promote your web site. Maybe you don't have an advertising budget or you want a way to get traffic without pulling out the credit card. Below are some popular methods of free internet promotion. You will have to pay for these services by sacrificing a bit of your time, but at least it doesn't involve your checkbook.

Reciprocal Links
Go to any major search engine and type in a few keywords that would best describe your web site. Then, check out a few of the results that interest you. Try finding the owner's contact information on the site, such as a phone number or email address. Contact this web site owner and tell them about your web site. Explain that you have a similar site and that trading links would be a great way for both of you to gain visitors. Including your web site traffic stats and maintaining a professional attitude throughout your conversation (or email) is important. Try to offer several different linking options for your potential internet partner: a small graphic, a banner, or a simple text hyperlink.

Going beyond the link swap is another avenue of partnership worth considering. Talk to your internet partners about co-branding your web sites and sharing content, such as articles and services. Try to develop a logo that represents both sites. Maybe even share a customer database. It's up to you, every web site is different and has different needs. These are approaches for those of you that want more than just a link.

Update: A cool web site allows you to find similar sites that are interested in trading links. Highly recommended, can save hours of searching for the right sites to partner with. URL: http://www.linkleads.com

Join Communities
Try participating in message forums and web communities that are related to the content of your web site. Tell others your opinions when they ask for them. Actively participate in discussions and just be a decent person. Remember to add your signature to the end of all your posts in these message forums. Here's an example of what a signature should look like:

[...your message here.]

John Doe (you)

ABC Corporation (your web site name)

http://www.abc.com (your web address)

"Trying to make the world a better place, one step at a time." (personal quote or company motto)

Just in case you haven't any idea where to find a good message board, try Remarq.com or join a few newsletters/communities at Egroups.com. Good luck!

Promote Offline
Don't forget to promote your web site conventionally as well. Classified ads in newspapers, posted ads, business cards, radio promotion and other "offline" advertising methods can prove to be very effective in getting visitors to your site.

Write Articles
Write on a subject that you know a lot about and submit it to a web site that targets a similar audience. Be sure to include your credit at the bottom, with your web site address! Also, try informing local newspapers and major publications about your web site. If it is interesting enough to them, papers such as USA Today will be glad to feature it on at least their web site.

Copyright 2000 by the author