9 Ideas for Building Website Traffic on a Shoestring Budget

If you have just launched a website, one of your key concerns is probably “How do I get people to visit my site?” Creating an effective web marketing strategy doesn’t have to be expensive. With a bit of time and effort, you can start driving visitors to your website. Here are nine ideas for building website traffic on a shoestring budget.

1. Blogging – Another quick, effective tool you can use to drive traffic to your website is blogging. Start a blog and join the blogosphere conversation about your industry or passion.
   
   
2. Search engine optimization – Do keyword research to learn what your prospects search for on Google. Then, include those keywords in articles and webpages on your site. Search engine optimization takes time, but by writing great titles and placing keywords within your content, you can start ranking well in Google within a few months.
   
   
3. Leave blog comments – Seek out other blogs within your niche area and leave comments. Most blogs allow you to leave a link back to your website, so when visitors read your comments, they will click through to your blog to see what you have to say. When you leave blog comments, be polite and add value to the conversation. Don’t troll, start arguments, or leave comments unrelated to the post.
   
   
4. Guest blogging – As you build your reputation within your industry and leave useful comments on other people’s blogs, you can ask for the opportunity to submit a guest post to another person’s blog. This will give you greater exposure to other potential blog readers who are interested in what you have to say and can dramatically increase your blog subscriber count quickly.
   
   
5. Email marketing – As you drive more visitors to your website, start building an opt-in mailing list and send your own newsletter. By following up with prospects regularly by email, you can build trust, rapport and awareness of your products and services.
   
   
6. Social media – Create a Facebook page and Twitter account for your blog or business. Look for other people within your industry who share your interests and friend or follow them.
   
   
7. Forum marketing – Search for forums and discussion boards related to your topic and start participating. Most will allow you to link back to your website in your signature file or profile.
   
   
8. Press releases – Submit press releases to local newspapers and online press release websites – you may get media coverage. Consider putting together a media kit and becoming an industry reference for the press.
   
   
9. Article marketing - Submitting your articles to directories can help you start building traffic to your website. It’s free and with so many directories to choose from, you can place your content in many different places where prospects and publishers can find it. When you submit articles, your article has the potential to be published in different ezines and email newsletters all over the web.

If you are willing to put in the work to market your website, all of these options except email marketing are free. With email marketing, you will probably pay about $20/month to your email service provider but that’s still a much cheaper alternative than paying big bucks for advertising.