If you own a website and want to get more traffic but don’t want to spend more than $100 a month on marketing, how do you proceed? There are actually a lot of ways you can get traffic to your website for little to no money. Here’s how to do it.
==> Get Ranked in the Search Engines
Go to the Google Keyword Tool and do some research on which keywords you should try to get ranked for.
Look for keywords that have a decent amount of search volume. Ideally the sites ranked on those terms right now shouldn’t be government sites or Fortune 500 companies.
Look for terms that aren’t overly competitive but have a lot of search traffic. Those are the terms you want to target.
Use those terms in your
tags. Optimize your site around those keywords. Research “on site SEO” for more information on how to do this.
Then get other websites to link to you. Ask friends and colleagues to link back to your website. Do other people favors and have them link to you in return.
==> Leverage the Power of Social Bookmarking
Social bookmarking sites like Reddit, StumbleUpon and Digg are absolute powerhouses for traffic. In fact, StumbleUpon still sends more traffic to websites than Facebook does!
The key to making these sites work is to create the kind of content that people want to share. The content needs to be original, creative and possibly shocking.
Look through these sites and see what kinds of things tend to get shared, then create your content accordingly.
==> Build an Email List
Even if you only have $100 a month to spend, $25 of that should go towards an autoresponder service.
Building an email list is an absolutely crucial component of website marketing. It allows you to follow up with people who would have otherwise simply left and never come back. It allows you to build long-term relationships with people and sell high ticket items, rather than try to go for the sale right on the spot.
==> Do Partnerships with Other Sites
If you have a product you’re promoting, see if you can get other websites to promote your site on your behalf. You give them a good chunk of your profits; in exchange they send you a lot of traffic.
This is called doing a Joint Venture or an affiliate marketing deal. It involves first building relationships with people, then over time asking them to promote your products once you have a strong enough relationship with them.
There are many, many ways you can get traffic to your website without spending much money at all. If you don’t have money, getting traffic will just cost you time and creativity instead.