We all want the same goal: to Make More Money, but the lifeblood of our Internet Business is traffic. Most of us when first starting out on the Web had, shall we say, less than an ideal amount of marketing dollars to spend on Traffic Generation.

What’s a website owner to do? Well, here’s a quick and dirty list of 7 ways to get FREE Website Traffic.

As a bonus when using all of these methods, you’ll not only get Free Traffic, but you’ll attract Targeted Traffic, which is the holy grail of online visitors. Make it a point to use all of these methods as often as you can cram into your schedule and you’ll start to be rewarded handsomely after a couple months of patience and diligent work.

Backlinks through Comments on other Blogs

Search for high-ranking blogs in or related to your industry and leave regular comments on their posts. Get the Google Toolbar when checking out each site so you can see the PageRank. Really, when you’re just starting out, pretty much anything that has some history and pagerank will help, but if you want to supercharge your results, aim for high pagerank posts that use similar keywords as you. Just make sure you’re actually adding to the conversation and not just typing a couple words for the sole purpose of getting a backlink. Also, check the source code for comments to make sure the links aren’t rel=”nofollow” so that you’re getting credit for all your posts.

Niche Forums

Find forums that are related to your site and become a regular contributor to them. Edit your profile and add a quick call to action with a link to your website in your signature so that everytime you make a post or reply it will automatically insert a backlink for you. Don’t be spammy with your writing; add value to the community.

Social Networking.

I know this one is mentioned everywhere, but still holds true today.Sign up for accounts on Facebook, MySpace, Squidoo, and Twitter and draft quality information with links in your profile back to your site. Concentrate on useful content with emphasis on building lasting relationships with everyone you meet.

Article Marketing

There are numerous Article Directories where you can submit your work to that all include a Resource Box containing a brief sales pitch and link back to you. Some of the more popular directories can be found at Ezine Articles, Buzzle, GoArticles, and iSnare. I recently wrote an in-depth post on how to Get Free Traffic with Article Marketing if you’d like to find out more about this topic (link to blog below this article).

YouTube and other Video Communities

Open up a YouTube account and spend some time filling out your profile with links to your site and start posting informative videos related to your niche. Make sure to use the description field to your advantage whenever posting videos because it allows you to add more info and keywords that will help your video get ranked higher in the search engines, especially Google, since they own it. Don’t forget to put your web address at the beginning of your description, including the “http://” so it can show up as a clickable link in the “more info” section of the page.
It may seem obvious, but remember to edit your web address into the video at key moments to further expose your site and gain popularity. My Videos are more than Moving Pictures when it comes to Internet Marketing post gives more info (link to blog below this article).

Yahoo! Answers

Get a Yahoo! Answers account and fill-out your profile with website backlink and start answering questions related to your niche. Really try and provide quality responses that help their problems and you may even get picked as a “best answer” and drive a good amount of traffic back to your website.
Additionally, you can link your Yahoo 360 account to this profile for even more exposure. Give great advice, while posting often and you can expect a great response for your efforts. As you complete more and more answers, you have a rating that increases to further boost your expertise in that topic.

Link Exchange with others

The age-old link exchange still has its place in building free traffic and can really thrust your site into stardom if you can build a friendship with the right person. Try opening up the lines of communication between several key owners of popular sites in your niche or a related one and work on building up a trusting work relationship. After some time, go ahead and ask for the link or to write a post as a guest author and see what happens. You don’t know what someone will say or offer if you don’t try in the first place.

Use of these methods will really help with getting Free Website Traffic to your site and the great thing is that all of them will provide long-term results. They build upon one another and each and every link is an additional small boost in traffic. Eventually and with determination, you’ll grow a river of continually flowing traffic that will ultimately allow you to Make More Money Online.

There is only one main source for making any income from a website and that is a constant stream of targeted traffic. These days almost anyone can build a website, even an outstanding website but with no interested visitors, it just sits there. As the saying goes it takes money to make money and that holds true with Internet marketing and website traffic.
There is hope however, because it does not take a substantial investment to generate targeted traffic to your website.
Many of the high traffic websites online are employing multiple marketing tactics to generate traffic. Some invest a lot of money in advertising campaigns and other costly marketing methods. They are spending large sums of money to make even bigger money. Great for them but what about the rest of us who need low cost website traffic?
Some of the top low cost website traffic tactics also produce some of the most targeted prospects to your website, so at the risk of throwing another cliche’ at you. It’s not the quantity but the quality of the traffic that matters most.
Exchanging links with other related websites is one of the oldest and proven traffic generating methods online. However this method should be more than just creating a link page with tons of other websites plastered on it.
A good quality link exchange should be more than that. Perhaps a section of your website touches on a subject but is not your main niche, you could then link to another website for more in-depth information in return for them doing the same. This also provides added value for your visitors.
A key qualification in exchanging links with other websites is having similar content. They should share a general subject so that there is continuity in the information provided and helps target your traffic.
Link exchanges will also help raise your page rank and increase search engine listings. Search engines will rank sites higher in their listings that have quality inbound links from other related high-ranking sites. Its no secret that ranking high in search engines is the most effective way to generate low cost website traffic.
Traffic exchanges are another great low cost yet highly targeted traffic generating method. In fact you can join most any traffic exchange for free. You submit your website to the traffic exchange, and earn credits to get your website shown while you view other websites. You can bypass most of the drudgery of clicking by upgrading your account or buying credits.
Some may discount traffic exchanges as a waste of time or money but if used effectively it can drive highly targeted traffic to your website. Usually a short effective splash page or lead capture page are much more effective that just placing your sites main page into a traffic exchange. Remember the surfers are doing this to earn credits not necessarily to look at your site, so you must command attention with a good page to get the click to your site.
Traffic exchanges are also a great way to learn different marketing techniques. Keep en eye out for the pages that grab your attention and study them to learn how to create more effective lead capture or splash pages.
Article writing and submission is probably the most effective low cost website traffic generating method. There are thousands of websites that provides free space for articles to be submitted. If you are uncomfortable writing articles there are many freelance writers who are willing to do it for you for a small charge, but to save money, it is wise to learn how to write your own articles.
Your article topics should be focused on the theme of your website or about solving a problem that can be provided by visiting your website. Be careful not to blatantly plug your website or product in the article. Provide good tips and information on the topic showing off your expertise on the subject.
Including a resource box at the end of your article is how to get the targeted traffic to your site. You already proved your expertise on the subject in the article body, and if the reader got to this point now its time to get that click. Provide a short informative sentence about yourself or your website, while enticing them to learn more about the subject by clicking the link in the resource box.
Submitting your articles to as many websites as possible has two major benefits both providing low cost website traffic: Your article can be picked up off the article directory sites and used on other sites and passed around online. This gets you the advantages of inbound links described earlier and even more chances of targeted traffic after those website visitors read your articles.
Participating in online Forums only requires some of your time and nothing else. As you share your knowledge and proficiency in the subject of the forum with others online your reputation as an expert will grow. As you build your reputation in these online communities so does the reputation of your website.
Be careful not to spam any forums with outright ads for your website, and follow the forums rules about posting links. Most forums will only allow links in your signature, similar to an articles resource box. Most forums will always welcome new members as long as you don’t just blast on the scene with both guns blazing throwing links all over the place just promoting your website. You will have much better results by keeping it low key and adding valuable input when you feel others will benefit by your contribution.
As you can see there are multiple ways of generating low cost website traffic. Start out with what you can afford and use your profits to invest in some of the more expensive methods when you are generating a positive income.