But, what about right now? What about the short-term?

You might be wondering if you'll make it to the long-term? portion of your entrepreneurial efforts. Any business startup is hard and you want to make sure you will be around long enough to see the benefits of these long-term strategies.

So, what do you do to bridge the gap between the ?lean? now and the potentially ?prosperous? then?

Short-term Strategies

Press Releases ? The use of the press release is a proven method of inviting individuals to view your site in a manner that provides the information in a news-oriented format. Many online and print publications will publish these releases as a professional courtesy.

Message Boards and Business Blogs ? These may require some time, but the strategy is not overly difficult to develop. By placing a link to your business site in postings in a message board you may find potential customers visiting your site as they begin to trust your expertise in the message board (often called a forum). A business blog (b-blog) is a great way to share your personality with a growing customer base. Both strategies can be implemented at little or no cost.

Search Engine Directories ? While most search engines will ultimately find and index your site automatically you can be proactive by locating search engines that allow you to submit your url for potential inclusion in their search engine. This simply alerts them to your presence sooner.

Article Links ? You may have some original content on your site that may be beneficial to other sites. By exchanging original content with other sites you may be able to find links posted with each article to be a positive way to drive traffic to your site earlier.

Advertising ? Cost-effective advertising can be found through sources like Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising. You might also find sites that compliment your site. These sites often welcome advertising that may benefit your business growth in the short term.

Social Networking Sites ? Placing your personal and business information on a social networking site like My Space can also be a means of driving visitors to your site.

In most cases the short term solutions listed above provide the potential of additional site visitation and in many cases the only cost associated with the strategy is in the amount of time you might spend working on the strategy.