There are numerous ways to market a website and it can make or break the effectiveness of a site. We all know a well designed site doesn’t mean anything unless it gets traffic. So the question is: Where do I start?

Well unless your pockets are deep and you can afford expensive advertising campaigns, you should always start marketing your website using the numerous free marketing tools available online today. Believe it or not, even though these marketing tactics are free they happen to be very effective also.

Here are some great ways to market you website absolutely free:

1. Classified Ads:  CraigsList.com. Don’t miss out on this one. I can tell you from experience posting an ad about your services or business on Craig’s List will start bringing highly targeted traffic to your site right away. Also try backpage.com, which is basically just a Craig’s List wanna-be.

2. Blogs: Starting a blog is a great way to attract visitors. Fresh content is good for your audience and also for SEO (Search Engine Optimization). You can start a blog for free at Blogger.com, or have one incorporated into your site like this blog, which will really boost the value of your site (contact us if you would like more info on this).

3. E-Articles: Writing articles about your site takes a little time but is well worth it. This gives you a chance to tell your audience about yourself, attracts visitors and is also great for SEO. You can write articles and submit them to EzineArticles.com which people will read and can also post as content on their site if they link back to your site in the credits of the article. Another article submission site you should take advantage of is GoArticles.com

4. Social Networks: Making a MySpace page for your business can reap some great rewards. With MySpace being on of the highest traffic websites in the world, you should take advatage of this. With a little bit of web design work you can customize your page to include links to your site in the header of your page. MySpace also has free classifieds which should also be taken advantage of.

5. Free Directory’s: There are tons of free directories and listing your website in as many as possible will definitely help drive traffic to your website and boost your search engine rankings. The best fre directory is the Open Directory Project which is at dmoz.org. Getting in this directory is a must as many search engines use this site to build their own directories. Use search engines to find more free directories and submit your site to them all.

6. Local Search: If your website is promoting a local business, submit your site to local search directory’s such as Google Local Business Center and Yahoo! Local. Also be sure to submit your website to SuperPages.com which offers a completely free online yellow pages listing. Submit your site to as many local search engines and directories as you can find to take advantage of local search traffic and also boost your SEO.

7. Q & A Sites: Answering questions on the topic of your site shows your expertise and also gives your company a good reputation. You can answer questions that people have on sites like Yahoo! Answers and AnswerBag.com. One Yahoo! Answers, once you have answered enough questions and earned enough points, you’ll be able to put links to your site in your answers. This is another great way to get traffic to your site.

If you have any questions or for professional internet marketing services and web design, feel free to contact our firm.