How to Increase Website Traffic Free

Building a website can be a difficult process, and in order to increase website traffic, you will have to put in a lot more effort. There are many ways to pay for traffic but in the long run, these shortcuts will eventually hurt your website's visibility on Google.

Instructions

1. When building a website or blog you should try to write content to include the popular search terms that are relevant to your site. If you are selling widgets and most people type "Buy Widgets" into Google then this is what you should write instead of "Purchase Widgets". Use the Google Adwords Keyword Checker to find what people type in their searches.

2. Include your website on a social network like Facebook. This will increase website traffic directly, and could potentially lead to more through the word of mouth. The more people that know about your site, the better it will do.

3. Add your site to Stumble Upon, Digg.com, Yahoo Buzz and other similar sites. This will introduce your site to a huge variety of web surfers and could possibly go viral.

4. Write articles about your website's topic on Articlesbase, Articlesnatch, and Ezine Articles. This will help your search ranking in Google because Google sees these articles as natural backlinks, thus increasing traffic. These articles will also become syndicated by other webmasters, and therefore will include a backlink from their site to yours.

5. Obtain natural backlinks. You will need to get as many high quality natural links as possible to your site. A "Natural link" is a link that you do not have to provide a reciprocal link of your own in order to get. This can be tricky. An easy way of getting some natural links is to post on forums and comment on blogs about your topic and include a link in your signature. Just make sure not to spam because this will the forum or blog will just delete your post.

6. Submit to website directories. This has become less and less effective in getting your site well ranked, as the search engines are now looking for more relevant content. However, if you can get listed in DMOZ or the Yahoo Directory then your search ranking will skyrocket due to the huge page rank, and respect, given to these sites by the search engines.

7. Maintain your site by keeping it current and updating it often. Google will lower your search ranking if your site is stagnant (doesn't have any new information on it). An easy way to do this is to include a blog or RSS feed on your site.

8. How long your website's address has been around has an effect on your ranking as well. If you have a brand new address, it will be an uphill battle.

Tips & Warnings

• It will take a long time before you see a good amount of traffic on your site so be patient. Anwhere from 3-9 months.

• Don't participate in link exchange programs this will only hurt your search ranking.

Resources

• Yahoo Buzz
• Stumble Upon
• Digg
• Ezine Articles
• Articles Base
• DMOZ
• Yahoo Directory
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