By Nancy Kraska
There is an old saying "It takes money to make money". While this is true in most cases, the versatility of the Internet makes it possible to make money without investing a dime. When working online the main ingredient is traffic to your website. It makes sense that with traffic you get sales.
While there are many ways to boost your traffic, many sites don't have the capital that others have to generate more traffic for your site. To get your business going you don't have to spend a cent; all you need is a plan, determination, and a lot of patience. You also must have the desire and resolve to do hard work and research to generate more traffic for your site.
It really is very rewarding to have traffic for your site without spending a single penny. Everywhere you look on the Internet you will see websites and articles that offer ideas and ways for you to make money with spending any money. I am here to tell you that it is possible, as I have been doing it for years. One thing I won't tell you in this article is that I am a millionaire, or that using only free advertising is going to make you one. But by using some of the free tried and true methods outlined here, you stand a good chance of succeeding.
By taking advantage of online forums and online communities, you can target a certain group that fits the certain demographic that you are looking for. You can discuss about lots of things about the niche that you represent or offer.
Another great advantage is that you know what you are getting into and you will be prepared. Build your companies reputation with online communities and forums by showing others within what your company represents. By building a reputation and building trust with the people in these forums and online communities you are showing your expertise and knowledge.
Provide people with a catalog of your products and interesting and entertaining articles through newsletters. You can use a squeeze page for sign up, create a sign up form on your website both can be done through a good autoresponder .
If you make it really interesting and entertaining, more people will sign up for your newsletter and recommend it to other people. The more people who signs up for your newsletter, the more people there will be that will go to your site increasing your traffic.
Trading links with other webmasters. One way of doing this is to work with a company such as Linkalizer or one of the other link services. Other like websites are listed there and links are exchanged with other sites. You can also contact the webmaster of sites directly and ask to exchange links with them. Be sure and include your website address in any and all correspondence. Exchanging links benefits both sites. Every time someone clicks on these sites, the potential for them to click on your site increases. Not only that but by having backlinks to your site from others you increase your page ranking. The search engines like backlinks.
Write articles that could draw the attention of people that have interest in your product. Try writing articles that will provide tips and guides to other entrepreneurs. Writing articles that provide good service and knowledge to other people would provide the necessary mileage your traffic flow needs.
Many sites offer free submission and posting of your articles or you can use a program such as Article Submitter or other submitter services, which you can download for free! Using good keywords and content within the article helps the consumer to find the articles they need. Including a brief bio of yourself along with your website address lends credibility to you and provides access to your site.
If you are not confident enough to know if you have good content for your site, then do a search for website content. A lot of free information is on the Internet for your use. Try not to copy any content word for word, but put the article into words you would use, thus making it your content. Do this a few times and you will be writing your own content in no time at all! Be sure and use keywords and phrases related to your site. With the right keywords, you could get high rankings in search engine results without the costs.
These are just a few of the methods myself and others have used to create traffic flow to our sites.
Nancy Kraska has been involved with internet marketing since September, 2004. For more information visit her directory of Work At Home Ideas and Opportunities at Home Work For You http://www.hmewrk4u.com
She is also the owner of a cookbook website at http://www.simply-cookbooks.com