The significance of the internet as a research, networking, work and play platform can hardly be overstated, making an online presence an imperative for many. To aid this, website creation has become easy. However, driving traffic to the website still remains a key challenge. Like traditional advertising, driving traffic to websites is also proportionate to the exposure of the website across the internet.

As awareness of your website increases, so will traffic and hits. Awareness can be built in a number of ways, some paid and some free of cost. Covered in this article are some of the most popular methods in use today.

The most obvious way to drive traffic to a website is through search engine optimization or SEO. This is based on the belief that in a search results page, the higher your position the higher your hits. Ask yourself, when was the last time you saw the 17th page of a Google search result? To optimize your website use carefully selected 2-4 word key phrases on your home page and also on the title tag of your browser.

Email marketing to an existing database or a purchased mailing list is another popular way of building website traffic. Those who feel that this method resembles spamming may opt for less intrusive RSS feeds.

A more expensive option is Cost Per Impression advertising in the form of online banners, pop-ups or special effect ads. In this case, the popularity of the ad hosting website influences the actual click through rate. If you can afford it, Yahoo, MSN are still among the best sites to get noticed. For those with tighter budgets, targeted contextual advertising or Cost Per Click advertising such as the Google Adwords program or Facebook ads is a great way to get started. This method allows for optimal use of funds, where you pay only for each converted click.

Free marketing is possible too on the internet. Viral marketing in the form of fun videos and other content on sites like YouTube and MySpace are sure to spread like wildfire.

Article directories are another form of free advertising. Articles submitted should contain well-written, relevant content and may include backlinks to your website through the author bio space. The actual submission to directories with the proper keywords and categorization is as important as the article itself. Forum marketing also constitutes unpaid advertising, but requires considerable time and active community participation.

Another method creating buzz currently is that of affiliate marketing. This method not only allows greater visibility but involves economical commission-based pay for proven conversions.

To conclude, if traditional advertising is all abuzz with the notion of 360 degree marketing, the same applies to the World Wide Web. Hence, the key to driving traffic to a website lies in the simultaneous use of multiple methods discussed above.