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Internet traffic is the life of any website or e-commerce business, and if you are an internet marketer, you already know that good traffic is not always easy to achieve. There are however, some simple and effective strategies for getting quality traffic to your site, and most of them are FREE or low cost.

1. Good old fashioned search engine optimization. This is perhaps, the most cost effective way to get many customers to your site, because it does not cost a thing. A web site with top ranking on even a mildly popular term, can get thousands of visitors per month. Visit any SEO forum or article database and you can find hundreds of effective search engine optimization tips and tweaks to apply to your website for free.

2. Pay-Per-Click Campaigns (PPC). Almost all of the major search engines offer some sort of Pay-Per-Click marketing. This is a great way to get targeted traffic to your site, and with some bids as low as $.01 per click, it can also be very economical. Although Google Adwords and Yahoo Search Marketing (formerly Overture) are the main players in the PPC market, there are really good deals to be found with some of the smaller search engines, such as ExactSeek.com and GoClick.com.

3. Traffic Exchanges. Traffic exchanges offer a website owner an instant, free way to get traffic to his/her site. Traffic Exchanges come in all kinds of themes and forms, but the underlying principle remains the same: I view your site, you view my site. The ratio of sites you view to your site views can be diverse, depending on the individual exchange, however it is recommended you find one with a 2:1 ratio or better. Traffic exchanges also offer a multi tier referral program that gives you a percentage of traffic earned by affiliates you bring into the program. Traffic Swarm, NoMoreHits.com, and StudioTraffic.com all offer a website owner great ways to increase traffic, or you can simply search the term "traffic exchange" in any search engine to find an exchange that fits you.

4. Link Exchanges. Link Exchanges are a fantastic way to increase web traffic, and the benefits are two-fold. Not only do you get traffic from the linking website, you also get the added benefit of better search engine placement with every link that is pointing to your site. Reciprocal linking has always been a major component of effective search engine optimization, with more and more weight being placed daily on the quality and quantity of links pointing to your site. Be sure your anchor text is the keyword(s) you are targeting, but at the same time, periodically phrase your anchor text differently so that all of the links pointing to your site do not say the same thing. This makes your links appear more "natural". Linkalizer.com and Linkmarket.net are some good, free services to help you with your link exchange campaigns, or you can also visit any SEO forum or article/ezine database for more tips.

5. Banner Exchanges. Banner Exchanges work on the same principle as Link Exchanges, and depending on the banner you decide to promote, can be very effective at drawing targeted web traffic to your site. As with link exchanges, look for ratios of 2:1 or better, with some banner exchanges providing a 1:1 ratio. The banner you decide to use is very important, as many internet users ignore most banners they see. Your banner needs to be catchy and needs to compel the user to take action and click it right away, but at the same time you do not want it to be too flashy as to turn off potential customers. Most banner exchange programs also have an option to purchase banner impressions at very low prices, usually a few dollars for thousands of impressions. This is a great way to put your business in front of many customers, and helps to increase your "brand awareness". Click4click.com and ThebannerExchange.net are some free banner exchanges that can provide your site immediate advertising and traffic.

6. Write Articles. Writing articles is a great, free way to promote your online business, and can bring in a substantial number of targeted customers to your site, usually within a few days. The key is to submit your article to as many databases and directories as possible. Hundreds of thousands of webmasters and other internet users worldwide search these article databases and directories daily, usually looking for quality content for their own websites. Every webmaster who reprints your article has to include your resource box, which should include a link pointing to your site. Not only will this give your business tremendous exposure, it also improves your search engine ranking with a free one-way link that your article provides. EzineArticles.com and GoArticles.com are very popular article databases with free submission and fast approvals.

7. Paid-To-Read Campaigns (PTR). Paid-to-Read campaigns are an extremely low cost method of getting real, guaranteed visitors to your site quickly. With PTR campaigns, people are paid to view your site for a certain amount of time. Because most PTR campaigns are not targeted, this is not the most effective way to advertise. It is however, a great way to build an opt-in list or ezine subscriber base inexpensively. Usually for only a few dollars, you can send an ad out to all of the members of a program. It is always a good idea to find PTR programs that are well established, with many members in its database. Most programs have the number of subscribers and other stats prominently displayed on the main page of their web site. Donkeymails.com and Maxprofit.org are well established, have thousands of members, and low advertising prices.

8. Email Campaigns and Safelists. Email campaigns and Safelists provide yet another great option to increase web traffic. These campaigns can run the entire pricing spectrum; from free, to hundreds of dollars per email blast. Although spam concerns seem to have some advertisers reluctant to use email, if you use a proper third party or safelist, you can have targeted traffic to your site in hours. BusinessWorldList.com and Herculist.com are some safelists with huge number of opt-in subscribers.

9. Create your own Opt-In List. This is a terrific way to get your own group of ready-to-buy prospects to your site. Getting the content for your list is as easy as searching any ezine or article database, and an easy way to get people to join is to simply give something away. Another way to build a list is through viral marketing. Sites such as ListFire.com can help you build a large list quickly with proper advertising.

10. Purchase Web Traffic. There is not a more "hands-free" way to get traffic to your site, than to just buy it. Pricing for quality, targeted web traffic can vary greatly from site to site. It is recommended to look for web traffic campaigns that offer targeting to your specific audience, and real time stats. This way you can better manage and track your advertising dollars.

As you can see, With a little effort, and not much money, you can bring quality web site traffic to your site right away. Although not every technique is appropriate for every site, choose a few that fit you and watch your traffic surge.