So, you have a new website with lots of content ideas and a great design, but where are all the people? There are hundreds of web sites dedicated to getting traffic, but many can be classified into a handful of types with specific techniques.
Online
Social bookmarking (Digg, StumbleUpon, etc)
These sites allow for browsing from webpage to webpage based on keywords of interest. As people view the pages, they rate up or down the pages and this affects the overall viewing activity of particular webpages. Quality of your content and your interaction with the community tends to drive how well Social Bookmarking works for you.
Social Networking (Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, etc)
Rather than browsing web sites, these allow for browsing personal profiles. The primary focus is friendly, content-filled communication with like-minded peers. Not advertising. However, as with social bookmarking, the more you positively interact with others via the networks, the more likely network “friends” will respond to the occasional posted link. Just a caution though, make sure you learn about proper usage of privacy settings before “letting it all hang out”. The wrong picture or message has gotten enough people in trouble that ignorance is not an excuse.
Social Streams (Twitter, MyBlogLog, Google Buzz, etc)
These are a marriage of Social Networking and Social Bookmarking. Users activity and thoughts are fed into quick updates which are then shared with “followers”, people who choose to receive the information from others. People expect to see outgoing links and are not opposed to clicking through, but the response tends to be more dramatic. Either the link is acceptable and you remain followed or it is considered unacceptable and you risk being unfollowed. For more information about using Twitter, read my Twitter Basics post.
Web Rings and Top Lists (tend to be niche managed)
Older webmasters may reminisce about the days when these services where the popular choice for people without a lot of advertising money, but web rings and top lists still exist and can easily be the most targeted traffic you can get for free. The trade off is that you will be required to display some code on your website, which may not be the most visually appealing and allows surfers to easily navigate to other member web sites. With top lists, you websites will be ranked based on traffic movement between the top lists homepage and your site.
Forums (niche-based)
If you are willing to be a community member and contribute content-filled posts (not necessarily articles, just information that isn’t advertisements), forums related to your website topic can draw in visitors via your signature (and sometimes through specific board posts). The big caveat is that you must read the community guidelines regarding links and be a participating member in order for people to be willing to check out your website. If all you do is advertise, chances are you will be labelled a spammer and have your links ignored.
Advertiser/Publisher Networks (Adwords/Adsense, Commission Junction, etc)
These run from simple pay for views of text or banner ads and click-throughs to your web site to full affiliate management programs. The idea is that you set a certain offer price for having an action completed (such as someone signing up for your newsletter) and a “publisher” (another webmaster) can decide if that offer price is enough to display your advertisements. In the simpler setups, the process is automatic but with the affiliate management programs, an approval process will need to be set up – even if you have it automatically accept anyone who requests to display your ads. A good idea is to do some research about what your “competition” is doing and what their offer prices are before getting into these networks as an advertiser.
In-House Affiliate Program (usually self-hosted using distributed scripts)
While running your own affiliate program works best when you already have at least a trickle of traffic, it can drive much more traffic when set up correctly. As with the big networks, the key is to do some research on what your competition is doing and what the best publisher offer is.
Traffic Exchanges (StartXChange, SWAT Traffic, etc)
Be careful with using traffic exchanges. They are foremost a business to business adverting resource, with emphasis on internet marketers and dosed heavily with “income opportunities”. The concept is that the views your webpages get are based on how many times you view other member websites. Instead of being a relative metric (based on how people perceive you) like in Social Bookmarking, the view/receive ratio is actually coded into the traffic exchange. I have a beginner’s guide to traffic exchanges in draft, but the best advice I can give for these at the moment is to consider traffic exchanges as paid services. Instead of getting sucked into surfing pages on end every day (and traffic exchanges always have surfing promos going on), take the short route and buy a “credit” package to test the site out. Having money invested should encourage you to carefully weigh whether traffic exchanges will benefit you.
Safelists (member base tends to be widely spread out)
Safelists can be considered sibling to traffic exchanges in that many successful (as in, making plenty of money) affiliate marketers don’t care for them and safelists are again, primarily business to business services for internet marketers. While safelists are not inherently bad and can be a fair source of traffic, expecially if you have a great advertising idea of your own, they are somewhat tricky to manage as a user. The term “safelist” refers to the fact that by signing up for one, you are agreeing to receive email messages from others in exchange for the ability to email the group. Which means in a popular safelist, you may easily receive hundreds of messages every day. With all honesty, few people really gain a lot by using safelists and usually it isn’t the members. I mostly cover them here because if you get involved with traffic exchanges (or in another direction, get-paid-to programs), you will run into safelists and they will sound tempting.
Your Own Newsletter/Email List
As you gain visitors, or in preparation for visitors, having your own mailing list set up can be very beneficial, especially if you have a website selling products or services. There is a lot of information to running an email list, but there are “two” accepted rules of the professionals you’ll see repeated. One, be legal and fair, do not add people to your list (or share their information) without their express permission and offer an easy out for people that wish to unsubscribe. Two, follow through with expectations, send email as regularly as and with the content you said you would.
Offline
Business Cards
The key to business cards is to not use them as advertisements for whatever product or service you offer. Instead, they should highlight who you are and what your business is. They should contain your name, your relationship to your business (such as owner or webmaster), your business, your business address (web and/or physical), and a visual representation of how you want to be branded. Having an offline method of contact is ideal, but a working website with some sort of easily accessed contact form works well too.
Branded Items (hats, pens, notepads, etc)
There isn’t one specific method to designing branded items that works for all websites and businesses, but choosing which products you brand (and then distribute) can sometimes be more fruitful than simply handing out business cards. People are more likely to keep your name (or your website name) handy when it’s on an item they can and want to use. Branded items can be handed to people in person, but offering a free branded item via your website, especially if it’s a bigger item, can also draw in visitors. If you choose something like t-shirts, be sure to save a few for yourself to wear and actually wear them. Getting a bumper sticker for your car isn’t a bad idea either if your website is a long-term project.
Niche Events
Pay attention to what going on in your area and go to events with subjects related to your site content. Even you have a lot of people stop by your booth at an event looking for free samples, every person is a chance to talk about your site and why it’s something they want to see. On the flip side, if you have a service for businesses or other webmasters, browsing the booths at an event might connect you with someone interested in seeing your website.