Here are a few low cost ideas to generate traffic to your web site.
- Inbound links – These are links from other sites to your site. Mostly this takes time for you to contact those sites you want to have a link on. The site you contact will probably request a reciprocal link back to them so choose carefully who you want to be directly associated with. Remember, by including links on your site you are telling your customers you trust these sites. Do not ask for links from sites that have no connection to your business/industry and do not participate in link farms. (Google really hates this.) More on link farms in a future post.
- Write and Submit Articles – Contact industry related sites and publications to see if you can submit an article(s) on your area of expertise. Always include your name, email address and web site.
- Newsletter – Keep in constant touch with your clients that subscribe to it.
- Blog – Great way to interact with your site visitors and get them involved in the discussion. They can respond to your blog posting and you can respond back. Make sure to include a link to your blog from your web site and also include a link to your blog in your email signature.
- Join online communities – When participating in online communities don’t go in with a hard sell approach. Go in with information that the community can learn from and if the opportunity arises add a short sentence about what you do and what makes you an expert. Don't forget to include your email address in your signature.
Set aside time each week to market your business with a few of these ideas. Persistence pays off and you will be rewarded with better search results and more traffic coming to your site.