Promote and Submit Your Site to Web Directories

7 FREE Ways to Promote Your Website
So you've just launched a new website or blog and you want to start driving traffic to it as quickly as possible. While a strong understanding of SEO is important, it is also important to acknowledge that there are dozens of other incredible and free strategies you can incorporate into your marketing campaign as well. Here are 10 to consider:

Submit Your Site to Search Engines

While search engines will eventually find your sites on their own, you can give your rankings a bit of a boost by manually submitting them to a wide variety of search engines. Remember, Google may be the largest player on the block but the search engine isn't the only player. Don't forget about Yahoo, Bing, and the others - all of which can and will drive some traffic to your site as well.

Submit Your Site to Web Directories

A search engine and a web directory are not the same thing. Search engines allow web browsers to type in keywords and bring results based on complicated algorithms. Web directories are like telephone books, categorizing websites based on their niches. Adding your website to a web directory will help to drive targeted traffic to your blog.

Forum Posting

Forum posting is an often misused marketing firm strategy but is one that could be very beneficial if used properly. Find online forums that are based on your site's same niche. Join the forum, follow the rules, and become an active participant. As you become more involved, others will begin to trust you as an authority in your niche and you'll earn traffic not only from your signature links but from your conversations with interested parties as well.

Encourage Subscribers

Asking visitors to subscribe to your website, via email or RSS, is a great way to promote your site. Sending regular updates will remind your readers to come back and regular visitors are more likely to share your site with others.

Utilize Social Media

Social media sites, like Digg and Technorati, are great for bookmarking your site's pages so that those interested in your niche can find them later on. Articles that receive several online bookmarks can experience incredibly high volumes of traffic.

Start Guest Posting

Guest posting is a great way to network with other blog owners while drawing attention to your website. Write an article that matches the niche of the site on which it will be posted and then include a backlink to your site in your author biography. Most webmasters accepting guest posts are happy to allow you to place a link in exchange for free content.

Write Quality Content

This should go without saying, but writing quality content will keep your visitors coming back for more - day after day, week after week. Make sure your topics are very specific. The broader you are, the more likely your readers could have (or have already) seen that information elsewhere.

Marketing your website doesn't have to be difficult. Simply make some time each day to implement a technique or make a submission to a search engine or web directory. You'll see increases in your traffic before you know it.