Few things in life are free, but traffic to your website can be one of them if you do some work to bring it in. Ok, so that’s a cost, in time if nothing else, but we’re talking about not spending money here.

Now, the trick with free methods is that they take a lot of time. However, they’re quite good for your site in many ways, and over time can make the search engines like your site better.

I do quite a few things to promote my sites. I submit them to directories. I have them in forum signatures. I write articles. I keep working.

Does it work? Yes. Fast? Depends on the topic. Some sites take longer than others because they’re so competitive. Others produce sales and/or income pretty quickly.

As I’ve said in other places, forums are a great way to promote your site when used appropriately. Don’t abuse them; take a look at the terms before you start posting. Some will let you promote your site in your signature and even as appropriate in posts while others allow no reference to your site whatsoever.

Link exchanges work if done well. Getting a quality link exchange is not always easy, however. Most link exchanges are simply from links page to links page. Some feel search engines discount these, and who can blame them? Many people will exchange links with just about any site, no matter the relevance. Visitors to their site won’t go through their little directory to find you.

It’s harder to monitor, but if you can agree on a link exchange on pages other than a link page, you will get better results. You want to be on a page relevant to your site so that people will actually see your link. You’ll have to give the same, but if done right this can improve the perceived quality of your site.

Do monitor your link exchanges. Unscrupulous webmasters will delete your link after a month or so, just to see if you notice. Suddenly you’re linking to someone who doesn’t keep to your agreement. It’s one thing to drop a link because it’s no longer relevant, but another to drop a link just because you want a one way link to your site.

Article marketing works well too. I’ve gone over this in some detail in other posts.

These tactics can help you to build free traffic to your website. There are many ways to implement these suggestions, and you should do what is most comfortable to you. However, the more ways you can bring free traffic into your site, the more opportunities you will have to earn money.

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