How does one improve web-site traffic by spending the least amount of money?

[Teddy]

Adwords is expensive, e-mail blasts lead to spam, poster campaign is flakey, sms blast has high drop rate, SEO is a good option, but too competitive....building community is one good idea...how does one go about it? Any more ideas? How did Craigs List do it?

[imisidro]

Craigslist did it by offering a service a huge number of people actually need and want. Word of mouth helped spread the word about Craigslist

If you want the least expense, the best way to improve site traffic is to create the best content you can with the best products you can possibly offer. Your content is your best advertisement - if visitors love your content, then they will go back and spread the word to others.

Start with great content -- that's the VERY BASIC. With unique and create content,

- people will spread the word to others about your website
- people will put your site in social bookmarking sites such as Digg
- you can get top natural search engine rankings without you spending for pay per click

Otherwise, there are other ways you can help jumpstart traffic to your site

1. Make it easy for users to recommend your site. Viral marketing is very important -- and easy to tap on the Web. But give your users the tools. Get a Recommend this Site script from websites such as cgiscripts.com and similar directories of scripts. Some even go as far as giving incentives to those who recommend the site to their friends. If only 10 people go to your site, but these 10 people invite 10 more - that's additional traffic that you get for FREE!

Recommend Site Scripts (various) http://php.resourceindex.com/Complete_Sc...mend_Site/
Big Nose Bird Recommend this Site http://bignosebird.com/carchive/birdcast.shtml
CGI Resource Index http://cgi.resourceindex.com/Programs_an...mend_Site/
Hostscripts http://www.hotscripts.com/PHP/Scripts_an...index.html

2. Rank well in the search engines (organic search results, not the pay per click). SEs can be a big source of traffic. The key is to create the best content in your niche. If you have good content, other websites will gladly link to you and offer your site as a resource to their audience. Check the on-page factors and be sure to get linked from authority sites in your topic area.

If you are going to read only one piece on search engine optimization, I suggest you read Brett Tabke of WebmasterWorld.com's "Successful Site in 12 Months with Google Alone: 26 steps to 15k a day." http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/2010.htm

3. Send out press releases. While outfits charge as much as $650 per release, there are free press release submission places on the Web. Press releases allow you to (a) attract media attention; (b) get more back links to your website without sending each website an email request; and © get more visibility especially if your press release gets in Google News or Yahoo News.

http://www.prleap.com/sign_up.html
http://i-newswire.com/
http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/
http://www.pressbox.co.uk/cgi-bin/links/add.cgi
http://www.pr.com/press-releases
http://www.prfree.com/
http://www.clickpress.com/releases/index.shtml
http://www.theopenpress.com/
http://www.przoom.com/
http://www.prweb.com
http://www.newswiretoday.com/
http://www.free-press-release.com/

4. Submit articles. Write articles and submit them to websites accepting author submissions. You get exposure for your business; establishes you as an authority in your field, and allows you to get backlinks for your website. If 50 websites publish your article and it contains a link back to your website, then you easily get 50 links from a single article. The more links you have, the greater your chances for increasing your search engine rankings.

Here is a comprehensive list of where to submit your articles http://answers.yahoo.com/question/;_ylt=...6022407481

5. Post a link to your site for free where it is allowed (always read the Terms of Use). Examples are:

Craigslist http://www.craigslist.com
Google Base http://base.google.com
Classifieds for Free http://www.classifiedsforfree.com/...
Text Link Exchange http://www.txtswap.com/
Recycler.com http://www.recycler.com/
Yahoo Classifieds http://classifieds.yahoo.com/
US Free Ads http://www.usfreeads.com/
Kijiji http://www.kijiji.com/
Local.com http://www.local.com/

[Queenie D]

There are a lot of ways you can improve your website traffic. I'm not sure what web building program you're using but a free way to generate traffic that is actually fun is to write articles for either ezinearticles.com or goarticles.com.

I've heard Craigslist.org is worth it and I also know that finding a couple of good blogs that have similar subject matter is a good way to increase your site traffic.

My site http://www.book-club-queen.com has been up for a little while now and besides the big SE's the most traffic I'm seeing is from blogs and article sites. If you love what you write about using either of these features is totally easy!

Good luck!

[Richard L]

Hey I have the solution!

Just alexa my site. You can see that these autosurf websites really work. That spike in traffic was not by accident! A 650% increase in traffic. If you play your cards right, you can use all this to your advantage.

HINT #2 For example, say you want to get into a popular TOPLIST like Kontraband Top 100 list. Just google it. You know this is TRUE high web traffic... it's got 1,000,000 inbound links to it!!! (dnscoop.com will get you detailed info on a website). For laughs because we already know my small time site is really not that popular, dnscoop this website. You will see that there are ONLY 45 inbound links! HOW SAD!!!!

So you see the spike in traffic was not on its own! I had HELP! Hint hint!

Kontraband.com REQUIRES sites to have 100,000 ranking or higher. If you already don't get enough traffic, NO WAY will you be able to get on that popular high traffic list! High traffic means MORE POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS.

HINT #3 The KEY to FREE advertising today on the internet is to put videos out there that will GET popular, then you stick your ADS / Links to your REAL websites or whatever you want on the video or the profile.

BEST OF ALL IT'S FREE!