With all the companies on the Internet selling their services for web site promotion, they might be asking for $100, $500 or $1,000. Are they doing something that is off limits to you, or can they do it faster than you can?

Most certainly, a web site promotion company has probably automated many of the tasks that you would have to do manually, but when you don’t want to put your hard-earned money into someone else’s bank account, then this article will show you how to get lots of traffic without spending a dime.

1. Submit your site’s URL to the search engines

Every search engine has a method and entryway for you to submit your web site so that customers can find you. Perhaps you’re only familiar with the top search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, MSN, and AOL, and that’s okay. You can start out with those five and submit your site

Or, you can use a free site submission service and let their wizard walk you through the process of submitting your site’s URL to twenty search engines. One service that I know of that does this is Addme, and there is no charge for their basic service

Once your site’s URL, keywords, and site description have been submitted to the search engines, you will begin to receive visitors to your web site. Just know that this method takes awhile to get listed in all the search engines.

2. Search for and register for forums in your niche market, and then create a signature that includes your site’s URL

Let’s say, for example, that you have a blog that’s all about creating scrapbooks for children under five years old. You can search for forums that cater to scrapbooking and especially to moms, dads, teachers, and others who care for children under five years old.

You’ll have fun reading posts and leaving comments in the forums when you’re passionate about the niche market you’re in. Likewise, every time that you post a comment, members will be able to read your signature line and the potential is there to have someone or many members click through to see what your site or blog is all about. When they see something they like, they’ll buy it. And it didn’t cost you a dime to get that website traffic.

3. Write an article about the product or service that you sell on your web site or blog.

Who is more qualified than you are to write an article about the products you sell? Certainly other writers can share your passion and write the article for you. Or, you could take the questions that your web visitors have asked you and turn your responses into one article or a series of articles. If one person has a question, most likely there are at least 100 other people who have the same question.

Just write an article, post it on your blog or upload it to your web site, and then also submit it to an article directory for more organic (free) traffic.

Within a short amount of time, your web site traffic will increase and you can smile, knowing that you promoted your site without spending any money. As your sales numbers increase, and to keep your listings current in the search engines, then you can take a small portion of that earned income and hire someone to do your web site promotion. Or, in a month or two, you could do it yourself if you have the time.