Traffic-Building Methods to Your Website?

What method of website traffic do you use for your website (or what have you fould to work best)?

Here's methods I know of:
- Start-page exchanges
- Screen saver exchanges (like screenblaze.com)
- Banner exchanges
- Auto-surf (like viralcashmoney.com)
- Pop-up exchanges (like mcexit.com)
- Anything else?
- Purchase advertising from another site

Here's another effort that I tried but never got to work:

Display ads on your site, then use the money you gain from the ads to purchase advertising on another website.

What do you all think about this method?

Moving this to General Search Engine Category.

- Start-page exchanges
"Start Page", like a "Splash Page"? Don't believe in them. If people are coming to your site, they want content. If you've got a splash screen with "Click here to enter", it's just going to drive away potential repeat users to your site.

- Screen saver exchanges (like screenblaze.com)
What's the point in advertising on a screen-saver? The whole point of screensavers is that they're displayed when the user isn't at the PC. If nobody's at the PC, who's gonna see the ad?

- Banner exchanges
Sometimes, with similarly topic'd sites.

- Auto-surf (like viralcashmoney.com)
Nah, pointless.

- Pop-up exchanges (like mcexit.com)
Don't work, most people I know run some kind of popup blocker. I don't like popups, I won't support a program that uses 'em.

- Purchase advertising from another site
Not purchased, but I've traded advertising.

- Anything else?
Having good content. Content that others want to link to without you having to even ask them.

I totally agree with Axe on this one.

Content is the single most reason for visiting a website. It cant just be any old content but content people will find useful. You cant just set up a forum like this and expect people to visit it unless it already has interesting users but this then becomes a chicken and egg question. How did Ozzu get its members in the first place? There has to be a reason.

Many sites in the past have set up flash games to attract users. Sure it worked bringing people to the site but they only wanted to play the game and the money could have been spent on advertising instead.

The most powerful form of advertising is word of mouth. Here in the uk http://www.friendsreunited.co.uk/ is just one of those success stories. Sure we cant all make sites as usful as this but its an importent factor to consider whether you get 100 users a day or hundreds of thousands.

Hotmail is an example of viral marketing by offering something useful for free with a message at the bottom of every email, and then linking it to msn messenger! Sure they had the backing of Microsoft but its feasible any company could attempt to do something like this for another product... its just trying to find these niches is very very difficult.

very few people actually grasp the ability to make a website viral.

There are new ideas poping up all time at work and amongst my technical friends. With the increase in digital media all sorts of ideas are floating about. Its just getting the money or the time to implement the technology is proving to be the most difficult.

I agree --- it's not so much how/what you do, but the fact that you get around to doing it. In the end, its just those who work the hardest that get to the top. There is a chance of getting somewhere quicker, but that's more likely to be short rather than long term...

So... the way to get more traffic is just plain 'ol SEO.

Too bad there isn't some "turn-key" method to broadcast my site, like all these programs offer. Well, if there was such a thing, it would be easily abused.

Optimize your site and get links.
There are many sources out there to get free traffic.
Adword, and overture work also.

How about asking your friends to spread the word?

I agree completely that you should definitely avoid splash pages.

you have inbound links and PR working for you, don't waste it.

"Start-page exchanges" & "Auto-surf " Oh God DOn't waste your time & money because this don't work. Last time i use loads of cash then at last nothing came on my hand. I hate these programs. The best of allfor now is search engine promotion& email marketing. I think this two works great.


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Keith
Christian Online Shopping Mall - Christian shopping online store

I think submitting to the search engines and directories and using proper content at the start and end of webpage is the good idea to get higher rankings.

Most of these methods that you have mentioned will bring alot of visitors to your site, but most of them will be untargeted and will not be worth doing.

You should think more about SEO, link exchanges, writing articles, directory submissions, etc.