Getting more targeted traffic to websites, blogs or landing pages is the lifeblood of your online business. But many times it can be a real challenge to attract website visitors that consistently produce more leads, conversions and sales.

Essentially, there are only two ways to increase traffic on the Internet; you can buy traffic or generate free traffic. Buying traffic through media buys is faster but much more complicated, risky and expensive if you don’t know what you’re doing. Having said that, it is beyond the scope of this discussion.

Instead, we will focus on 7 free methods to get more website visitors:

1. Creating links to your web properties

You can increase the number of new visitors to your site by exchanging links with other sites. This can be achieved by exchanging articles or guest posts with sites that are within your business vertical that are not necessarily direct competitors. For example, if your blog is about weight loss, you can submit a guest post with keyword anchor text to a muscle building website.

This will create the mutual benefit of increasing site traffic for both parties. It is truly a win-win situation if you can connect with a suitable partner.

2. Viral marketing campaigns

Viral marketing is a way to get the word out about your website, product or service at no cost. This marketing method uses a hidden approach to overcome the usual stigma associated with “being sold” that most people don’t like, including you and me.

So instead of selling, you are simply going to create informative, useful and valuable content related to your market in the form of a report, video or software with a link to your blog or website where they can get even more valuable information.

I hope you have noticed my repeated emphasis on valuable content. This can’t be junk that no one wants or can easily be found elsewhere. People should think that your free content is better than most paid products.

Yeah, it has to be that good to go viral. Encourage your readers to share, like, tweet, and stream your content to whoever they want.

3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Free search engine traffic is pure gold if you can get it. You will need to select the right specific keywords or keyword phrases when writing content for your website or blog. Make sure to use keywords and synonyms that have good search volume with low to medium competition related to your market so that you rank well.

Make sure your keywords are narrowly focused on the specific topic you’re writing about and appear in the page title, description, meta tags, and image alt tags of your website or blog. Blog categories and tags should also contain the keyword you are trying to target.

As an example, let’s say you have a remodeling business, then you might want to use keywords like kitchen remodeling, bathroom remodeling, home remodeling, etc.

Don’t overuse keywords in your article or post. Just adjust them naturally as you write for your audience and you should be fine.

4. Item merchandising

Submit unique and informative articles with your back links to reputable sites and article directories that cover the same topic as your site. For example, if you sell auto parts, write press releases and articles about cars and auto parts. Include a compelling message resource box at the end of your article, as well as an anchor text link to your site.