Marketing and Traffic Generation Techniques

The basic strategy for marketing virtually anything on the internet is getting traffic to a specific site. The idea is a to begin at a place where there is already plenty of traffic and channel some of that traffic to your site. The more the better. As most people know the major search engines, such as Google, are primary sources of traffic.

To get your actual link in the search results of Google is an important eventual goal, and this is done mainly by what is called backlinking. Among other things, Google and other search engines rank sites by how many other links point to it or link back to it. The links you leave from higher traffic and well known sites point to your smaller site and gradually cause it to be seen as a relevant site. This makes it go up in search engine rankings.

Thus getting traffic to your site both brings visitors who may purchase things of click on advertising, and also causes it to rise in search engine rankings. Keyword usage (also known as SEO) also plays into all of this - use of keywords, both in links and in any test you write, that are popular and not too competitive. At any rate let's get to the list. Read over it and draw your own conclusions.



1. Article Marketing. This is a well known technique that can be used whether you're selling your own products, affiliate products, trying to get traffic to a blog, etc. You write articles on the general topic of what you're advertising and include a link at the end of the article or in your author bio.

2. Forum Posting. In this technique you visit forums, also on the general topic of what you're selling or promoting, and leave forum responses that include a link. We've all seen these on forums and in fact they may be quite far from the topic in question - only distantly related. Note: forums often have rules for the inclusion of links so make sure you check those out before posting a link in a response.

3. Blog Commenting. In this technique an individual visits various blogs and leaves blog comments that contain a link to what the individual is promoting or trying to sell. Again there may be rules for approval of these comments so make sure you know what these are before leaving a comment.

4. Email lists. In this technique people on a list of email addresses you've gathered are sent promotional messages and offers. This is often done automatically by programs called autoresponders such as Aweber.

5. Use of social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Friendster, Linkedin etc.

6. Use of link directories. Link directories are sites that have large lists of organized links, often submitted by users. Some examples are Yahoo! Directory, Best of the Web, and SunSteam Search.

7. Use of classified advertising sites. You can simply create classified ads promoting a website, blog, or affiliate product. One primary example is Craigslist.