Hello, I’m a long time reader - first time poster - - (I’ve been dying to say that!)
anyway - - I have a dilemma, which I’m hoping someone here can help me with.
I have recently set up a website - and i want to generate as much traffic to it as possible (naturally)…
my first thought was to place links on lots of forums - - which I quickly found out was a forum no-no… (some took it straight off, others displayed warnings not to do it when I registered! )
On the remaining few that it did remain on, generally people appear to just ignore it…
so my question is… how do you promote a website ? - given that you do not have sufficient funds to pay for any advertising…
and before people think this is an imaginitive way of posting spam - I am not going to post a link to my website.
Well, the best way is to have good content and to get people to spread it by word-of-mouth. Putting a small (one-line) link in your signature isn’t frowned on here, but the best way is to make it worth peoples’ while to visit.
Network. If you have a blog, post to it frequently. Either a collection of short links to other sites of interest or a long, well-written essay at irregular intervals. That’s the Instapundit vs. Stephen Den Beste methods. Both will work.
Obviously, you want to link to sites or attract notice from sites similar to yours.
If you link to them, an e-mail to them letting them know would not be improper (pitching a fit and falling into it if they don’t link to you, however, would be). They may link to you or mention your site.
If you don’t have a blog, regular updates will also work. I used to update about once a month with book reviews or essays (I don’t for now, BTW), and I was able to build up a small following.
But in general, having interesting content updated on a regular basis is the way to build traffic.
Google’s AdWords isn’t very expensive: you only pay for clicks, and your ad is only shown for relevant searches and on relevant affiliate pages. You can choose your ad keywords carefully to narrow down the number of pages it appears on, which also makes your ad more relevant to readers, and thus more likely to lead to an interested click. If you can raise $20 or so to advertise, that’s what I’d suggest.
Content is still key even if you advertise, of course. If your site isn’t interesting or updated frequently enough to get repeat visitors and word of mouth promotion, then you’re just paying people to visit.