Now that you know how to make a website for your business, the next step for you would be to find free ways to get traffic to your site or blog. Traffic is the number of people who go to your website on a daily basis. Other terms for this are: getting website hits, volume of unique visitors, and many more. Why is traffic important? It’s because in order for your website or blog to be successful, it has to be visited by a lot of people. Not only that, you have to make them stay, bookmark your site, subscribe to your RSS feed, come back again and again, and even recommend you to their friends and network. Quite demanding, huh?

It just sounds daunting at first – but if you know how to keep yourself interesting, and if you deliver fresh, original content daily, there is no doubt that an increased website traffic is in your future. You just have to find the right tools and employ the right strategies so opportunities can come knocking. Here are 25 free ways to get traffic to your site or blog:

1. List your website in online directories. Make sure that you choose one or two specific categories where your blog will fit under, and use the proper tags or keywords to describe your site. These words will be what people will be using to find you, so make sure that you choose them wisely.
2. Visit other blogs of interest and leave meaningful and insightful comments. Give your name, with a link back to your website. Preferably, visit blogs that are directly related to your business or that talk about topics that interest you so you will have something relevant to say. It is very important to interact with the users and the author of the blog that you have visited. Showing genuine interest is a must. Your aim is to add to the discussion, and not bluntly promote your business. You will only be considered as spam if you left irrelevant comments and a lot of links.
3. Work on your SEO. SEO means search engine optimization. Search engines like Google and Yahoo scour websites for their keywords – when you search, they use sites’  keywords and match them to what you entered, thereby giving you results for what you are looking for. If you want your website or blog to be found by a specific market, make sure that you use a lot of the right keywords in website content, most especially in the titles of your blog posts, tags, etc.
4. Use Twitter. Sign up for a Twitter account and build a network with a lot of followers who are genuinely interested in what you have to say. Interact with them and update them about what’s happening in your business. Put a link to your website in your bio, and most importantly, whenever you have new blog posts up, make sure that you announce it to your network by tweeting a link back to the website.
5. Have an RSS feed. Because people read and visit a lot of websites each day, it has become difficult to track everything. Having an RSS feed is an advantage because people can sign up and add you to their feed readers. Whenever you have new content, they will be updated immediately. Place an RSS feed button in a prominent area within your website. This shows your audience that you care about them enough to keep in touch and make sure that they are up to date with what’s currently happening.
6. Link to other people’s blog posts. Whenever you write new content, link to other people’s content that may be related to what you are writing about. If that certain blog makes use of a trackback function, your link will appear in their blog as well. Not only are you informing the author that you have generously linked to their article and have potentially driven traffic their way, you are also opening yourself up to the possibility of getting seen by other people on that blog, therefore getting traffic in return.
7. Ping your blog. Make use of ping tools that automatically notifies other services and directories about your website’s new content.
8. Submit your blog posts to social bookmarking sites. Sign up for an account with sites like Digg or StumbleUpon and start bookmarking individual blog posts. Don’t forget to make use of proper keywords.
9. Submit your blog posts to article directories. Include a link back to your website.
10. Swap ads with another website. If you think your blog is fairly popular and is getting a lot of hits but you could always use a little more, then you might consider swapping ads with another blog. Find a website who is as popular and ask the author if he/she wants to swap ads with you. You can both find a space within your respective websites where a lot of people can see it, then create your own graphic with your website’s name on it, to be placed on the provided space.
11. Include the link of your website or blog to your status message in all of your instant messenger accounts. Whenever you are online, people will always see a link as your status. Create interesting headlines or shocking statements that will make your friends and acquaintances curious enough to click on the link.
12. List your blog or website in Google Blog Search. It’s one of the most powerful blog indexers out there.
13. Tag certain words in your posts using Technorati, as this will automatically include your post for that certain keyword. For example, if you are writing an article about fastfood, use Technorati tags for words like McDonald’s or Burger King – when people search for those two food chains, your blog post will appear in the list of results.
14. Use popular videos in your posts.
15. Be aggressive in writing fresh, original content. Be the first to break out the news. For example, if you are writing a technology blog, you must always be ahead of the curve and provide updates to new gadgets even before they are being officially sold in the market.
16. Include social bookmarking buttons at the end of your blog posts. This makes it easier for visitors of your blog to share what you’ve written to their network. One of the most popular are putting Digg This buttons as well as Tweet This buttons.
17. Participate in blog memes or write about current trending topics. Be in the middle of the conversation.
18. Invite popular bloggers to guest post on your blog and share their expertise, or interview them so your readers and fans of the celebrity have something to look forward to.
19. Include photos in your blog posts and tag them properly. The images have a high probability of appearing in the image searches, thereby driving traffic to your site as well.
20. Use a clean template that is easy to read, easy to navigate but is not boring. This will entice your readers to always visit your site because it looks nice and they can have access to the content immediately.
21. Clean up the HTML code of your design. Make sure that you have put the proper keywords where possible because Google also indexes these.
22. Post frequently. A blog that is updated often is a sign that the writer continually engages the reader and is prepared to entertain you further.
23. Write lists. Compile trivia and information. In this day and age, this style of writing is quite popular among internet readers.
24. Create compelling blog titles and headlines. This will be your first line of offense when trying to catch somebody’s interest. Instead of writing, “I Had A Dream Last Night”, choose to write “I Was Chased by Zombies and One of Them Was Michael Jackson” because it sounds more interesting.
25. Interact with your readers. Hold contests, give away freebies or offer to take up dares. If you are more open to keep in touch and talk, your readers will appreciate you more.

About Erica: My name is Erica and I like writing and using my imagination in order to be productive. I believe that creativity is the key in becoming successful, no matter how young or old you are! :). So as the webmaster of TMMI, I'll be sharing some of the ways I found to not only make money but be creative too! Continue reading...

25 Free Ways to Get Traffic to Your Site or Blog, 5.0 out of 5 based on 2 ratings

Related posts:

1. How To Create Blogger Blogs And Get Free Traffic To Your Site
2. Teen Web Site Ideas: How To Start Your Own Web Site For Online Business Success
3. 101 Ways To Make Money With Your Blog
4. 50 Free Ways to Market Yourself Offline
5. 25 Free Ways to Market Yourself Online
6. Free Ways for Kids to Make Money and Earn Prizes
7. 10 Ways to Get More Customers to Pay Attention to Your Business