The Keen Marketer

Looking to generate money for your site but have no one visiting to see what you’ve got that might benefit them?

It’s true that no show equals no flow (of money that is).

Although you can launch yourself into putting a lot of money out in the hopes of increasing your exposure, there are a few things you can do that don’t cost a lot and can still help you generate traffic and subsequently income.

Many of the larger sites are spending tons of money to drive traffic their way. They will invest in advertising campaigns, marketing gimmicks and schemes. And they probably will be successful in their efforts as it does take money to make money.

Below I intend to show you 5 easy tips to generate traffic that are cost effective and some are even free.

1. Your first tip involves exchanging links with other sites. This is free and easily done by asking other webmaster if they are willing to exchange links with yours. These sites will have similar content as yours. In other words, their niche will be similar to yours which can provide continuity in the service and information provided. How you keep them there is another topic.

When you exchange links, it gives your site a better opportunity at getting a higher search engine ranking so that instead of being on page 40 in a search you may end up on the first page. This will help generate more traffic without spending more money.

2. A step up from link exchanging is traffic exchange. There may be a cost involved at this level. In traffic exchange, you earn credits when someone views your site just as they do when you view theirs.

A traffic exchange service allows you to use the other person’s site content and vice versa. Visitors can visit your pages as well as the other’s. It increases public awareness and thus increases traffic.

3. Writing articles is another method that is used to generate traffic. This method can be free or cost you a submission fee depending on which e-zine you are submitting to.

Writing articles is not difficult but if you are challenged in that department, you can hire freelance writers. There are many to choose from but beware. If you pay little for the service, your articles may reflect the same kind of investment: little information that people will want to read. I’m not saying that you have to pay big money but a general rule of thumb, you should get better content if you pay around $10 per article than if you pay $1. This is not brain surgery!

Of course, your articles should be themed along your niche. If you have expertise in something, people will feel your knowledge and be eager to visit your site to see what else you have to say about the subject. Articles giving tips and how to guidelines always produce the best results.

Always include a resource box at the end of your article that will link back to your site. In this area you will have the opportunity to inform the reader about who you are. If you have a free report they can download for more information, then this is the place to put it in.

4. The idea of making a newsletter is a great one. It might sound hard because you will have to provide content. But the content does not have to be yours. How so? There are many writers and sites that are willing to provide free articles as long as their name is in your newsletter. This provides them with free advertising and you with more visits. As your newsletter gets passed around, you can widen your public awareness and build an opt-in list that can regularly visit your site.

5. Another free tool is joining forums and online communities. Facebook, Twitter and Squidoo are great areas for you to get more exposure.

As for forums, join a couple that have the same subject as your niche site. Here, you can share your expertise and knowledge by adding useful content that will build your credibility and even get you some free traffic.

Don’t forget that your goal is to be respected by your audience as a person who delivers content of value. Eventually, trust in you will bring sales.

So there you have it, 5 easy ways to get started without going broke. Now get to it!