let's talk growth
Navigation Menu Open
Navigation Menu Close

As a small business owner, you probably already know the obvious ways to generate free traffic back to your website. (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogging, video marketing, etc.)

But as a Shoestring Marketer, you’re going to need to tap into an arsenal of creative, high-impact and hard-hitting tools.

Here are 50 fabulous traffic strategies that you may not be currently using.

And remember, the best part is that every one of these marketing tools is totally, completely and absolutely free:

  1. Offer to write a guest post on a blog that caters to your niche. Join Blogger Linkup to connect with bloggers who are looking for guest posts.
  2. Use Trackback links when you refer to other blog posts. The best part is that a link to your blog is now included on their site.
  3. Manually submit your site to at least 100 web directories in order to receive 100 backlinks to your site.
  4. Record an article and upload it to podcast sites such as Podcast Alley
  5. Find ezines in your industry that accept guest articles and offer to write one. You can search for ezines at Ezine-Dir
  6. Create a “hub” of unique content on Hubpages
  7. Comment on high-traffic blogs and include a link back to your site.
  8. Write an informational eBook and give it away on your blog or website in exchange for your visitor’s name and email.
  9. List your free eBook in popular eBook directories  such as Free-Ebooks
  10. Upload your eBook to popular document sharing sites such as Scribd
  11. Add your free eBook to Craigslist
  12. Place your eBook on Ebay
  13. Start a viral campaign by giving away your free eBook when others Tweet about it or Facebook “like it” using CloudFlood
  14. Write a press release and submit it to Free-Press-Release
  15. Send your press release out to journalists and editors. The company Gebbie Press will send you a disk full of addresses for free by filling out a form on their website.
  16. Submit articles to offline trade magazines.
  17. Start a LinkedIn Group
  18. Create a short Powerpoint that teaches a specific skill and post it on Slideshare
  19. Create an informational video and post it on dozens of video sharing sites using TubeMogul
  20. Create an informational product that someone else can include as a “special bonus” for the product that they are selling.
  21. Build a lens using Squidoo
  22. Create stories using social media at Storify
  23. Create a short and snappy signature and use it in all of your emails.
  24. Post in forums appropriate to your niche and include a link to your site in your signature.
  25. Send a free copy of your product to bloggers in exchange for a product review.
  26. Answer questions in LinkedIn Answers
  27. Answer questions at Yahoo Answers
  28. Run and publish surveys using Survey Monkey
  29. Allow your customers to share, vote and interact through Ideascale
  30. Analyze and schedule the best time for your Tweets using Timely
  31. Create website polls using Micro Poll
  32. Submit your site to Cool Site Of The Day in hopes that they will feature your website.
  33. Join Triberr so that your “tribe” can re-tweet your blog posts.
  34. Create a course an add it to Learnable
  35. Offer fun quizzes on your site using Question Writer
  36. Offer fun contests on your site.
  37. Load a top bar to your site that directs your visitors to perform a certain action (sign up for your newsletter, subscribe to your blog, etc) using Hello Bar
  38. Participate in a banner exchange program
  39. Make free business cards online and hand them out using Freepdfcards
  40. Create a newspaper style format of popular Tweets using Paper.li
  41. Supply a testimonial for a product or service that you have used in exchange for a link back to your site.
  42. Place your free offer on someone else’s thank you page.
  43. Set up an integrated social network on your blog using Buddy Press
  44. Set up a separate social network using Ning
  45. Create a “how-to” video and submit to tutorial sites such as Good Tutorials
  46. Get involved in a Google Group related to your niche at Google Groups
  47. Optimize each page of your website for a particular keyword or search phrase using a plugin called Scribe SEO
  48. Make a custom 404 error page for your website redirecting people back to your home page.
  49. Place your text ad on thousands of websites for free using Adsvert
  50. Start an affiliate program to get the word out about your small business.

That should do it! With a bit of creativity and tenacity, there’s absolutely no reason as to why you can’t generate thousands of visitors back to your website without spending a dime.