Traffic to your website is necessary for your online business to succeed. Without it, your site has little chance of capturing potential customers to make you money. While there are many different ways of landing potential customers, it is worth your time and effort to consider these low cost methods.

Link Exchange

Simply, it is the exchange of Links by webmasters. You put someone else's site Link at your website and in return they put a Link back to your site from their website. Links have now been exchanged, hence Link Exchange. A key requirement in exchanging links with another site is sharing the same niche or subject matter as the other site. Many webmasters are willing to exchange links with one another so that they could produce more public awareness about their sites. The down side of this is that now your competitor's Links are distracting your potential visitors away to other sites before they have fully explored your site. Nowadays, it has become a common practice to link through other forms of internet media such as Social Networks, Blogs, and Ezines. While this can produce highly targeted readership, the readers are usually your competitors so you may not get as many potential customers as you would a boost in your search engine rankings and credibility. However, the better your ranking in the search engines, the better your chances of generating targeted traffic to your website.

Traffic Exchange

Traffic Exchange Sites are where you can get views of your site in exchange for viewing other sites. There are generally 2 types of Traffic Exchanges, auto and manual surfing. Auto surfing requires minimal input as the system automatically reloads the page after a set amount of time. With manual surfing your site actually has a better chance of being seen by your target audience because all page views are at the discretion of the viewer. The majority of Traffic Exchange programs have free enrollment with the option of purchasing additional benefits. It is a well known practice for Traffic Exchanges to offer credits at a cost. The minimum length of time for viewing a site in order to earn credits can range from 10 to 60 seconds.

Write and Submit Articles

There are many Ezines, publishers, forums, and other mediums on the internet that provide free space for articles to be submitted. Write informative and interesting articles based on your niche market. Give the readers something to take away from the article (knowledge, tips, guidelines) while at the same time, creating an interest to visit your site. There are many freelance/ghost writers that will write for a small fee, but save the money and write the article yourself. It will boost your self confidence and who knows, you may learn something doing the research. Writing and submitting articles has become an extremely effective way to promote your website and business. The connections an article receives will boost traffic to your website, create your reputation as an expert in your field, and help with search engine optimization. Include a resource box at the end of your article that can link them to your site. Promote yourself and your business. Keep in mind, most Article Directories will not allow affiliate links. You will need to use a URL that redirects to the affiliate site.

Create a Newsletter

This may sound a little intimidating at first because of all the content you need to include in a newsletter but in reality, it's not that difficult. Not all the articles you put in your newsletter have to be original content. There are many authors who allow their articles to be used by others as long as you give them credit and leave their resource box intact and untouched. In return, they receive free advertising as well. Build a Newsletter and give it away, increase your public exposure, and use it as a tool to create an opt-in list. A good Newsletter will increase your business returns in more ways than one and the cost is basically your time and efforts.

Join Online Communities and Forums

Social Networking and Forums are very popular and Free to join. Share your knowledge, form relationships, build a reputation, gain their trust. Learn from what others have to say and share. Be yourself and NOT a salesperson and you'll be sure to make connections that will help your business grow in one way or another. Most Forums and Communities Do Not allow you to blatantly advertise as they consider it Spam. Links to your website can usually be included in your signature file. Profiles can include both business and personal information.

By utilizing these methods you'll be able to generate traffic to your website without incurring a big out of pocket expense.