Ways to Increase Website Traffic for Free

1. Submit to Google Base (Froogle)

If you sell products or services, Google Base is fertile ground for free marketing. If you're selling widgets, for instance, you can add them to Google Base and it will then show up in the Google's product search and link directly to your website. You may also submit services listings.

Adding items is fairly simple- just prepare an Excel spreadsheet with the proper header categories- examples and templates are provided. Basic product/service info, such as title, description, price, an image, and link to your website is offered on the page. Traffic from these listings may not be high, but it's free and may potentially attract new customers to your website.

2. Add to free directories and wikis

Look for directories/wikis with the highest Google Page Rank (PR) either on the home page or on the specific page your listing will appear. Also, the more specifically targeted the directory content is to your website, the better. For example, if you sell photography, try to find and get listed in a photography directory. If promoting a massage therapy website, find and list in any health and wellness-related directories. If the directory appears overly 'spammy' then it may be better to avoid. There is no proof that search engines penalize websites for being included in these seedy sites, but it certainly is a waste of time, as there are endless amounts of these directories.

The main reason for listing in directories is not for the traffic from the directories. Hardly anyone actually uses these directories. It is more about the incoming links. The higher the PR is on the website linking to you, the more value the incoming link will give to your website. The more quality incoming links you have, the higher PR you may have on your website. The higher the PR, the higher your website will be shown in the search engine results pages, or SERPs. The higher rank your search listings are, the more search traffic you will receive. And the more traffic you receive, the more likely you are to make sales and make more money. Yes, indirectly, the goal of adding to directories is to increase your traffic and make money.

When you submit information to directories, make sure you use an alternate email address, as many will make you agree to their terms of use, which frees them to send you lots of spam and distribute your email address to other companies.