Generating traffic to your website can be one of the most overwhelming parts of doing business online.

When I started online I got stuck in what I like to call the “SEO Trap” which is the mindset that getting to number one on Google (or at least the first page) is the only way of generating traffic.

SEO can be very appealing to newcomers because it feels like a free and passive traffic strategy.

However, the truth is that SEO is getting harder, more long term and more competitive. In many cases it can become more expensive (when you consider the paid tools and services you need to do it effectively) than many paid traffic methods!

So what are the alternatives?

Here is a list of some awesome methods, some free some paid, which you can use to great effect…

1. Viral Videos

Grab a video with several million views from YouTube and embed it in your blog. There’s a great chance that people will email the link to your page around to their friends and contacts after they’ve viewed it.

Here’s an example:

2. Guest Posting

A terrific strategy that costs nothing and only involves you writing an article. Find a high traffic blog in your niche and get your article posted on it.

You can find blogs to post on by searching for the name of your niche and the words, “write for us” in Google.

I’ve had some amazing results with Guest Posting and I highly recommend it to you.

3. Keyword Targeting

This is SEO based. Choose a keyword in the Google Keyword Tool that has a decent amount of searches (at least 1,000 per month), write a blog post on it and build some links to that post.

You can build the links yourself or alternatively hire someone on fiverr.com or oDesk to do the job for you.

4. Blog Comments

This is underrated.

It is true that a single blog comment will only drive a handful of visitors to your squeeze page or blog. But blog comments are a GREAT way of getting on the radar of high profile influencers in your niche who often get their emails filtered by a virtual assistant.

Once you’re on the radar and have demonstrated that you can add value (by posting your comment) then you can contact them directly and start building a relationship. Propose an interview on Skype, a guest post, offer them some free content, etc.

This approach is what I like to call “The Traffic Escalator” principle. You start with quick and simple traffic strategies and escalate them into more powerful ones!

For me blog comments have been the “seed” of some great relationships with other marketers. They can really lead to a great deal more traffic down the road.

5. Banner Ads

Search Google for the name of your niche and “advertise with us” to find websites that accept banner ads.

Then approach the site owner and propose a test display of your banner for a month. Test the opt-in conversions and work out how much each subscriber is costing you (e.g., if you get 100 subscribers and the banner cost $30 then the cost per subscriber is $0.30). Then develop longer term deals with the sites that are working best.

You can get a banner designed that will link to your squeeze page on fiverr.com. Tip: Ugly banners tend to work best!

6. Offering Free Content

Contact product creators in your niche and ask them if you can provide a bonus for their product.

To access the bonus their customers must first sign up to your list. So this is a great way of adding new subscribers who are paying customers (worth at least 10x the value of free information seekers!)

You could create a video, audio interview with an expert, cheat sheet or eBook.

7. Interviews

Conducting interviews are a great way to get started if you feel that you are not an expert in your niche.  It also allows you to learn for free and make contact with key players in your marketplace.

You also gain a huge power of association by aligning yourself with these experts.

After your interview, again use The Traffic Escalator principle to build the relationship with that expert further. Can you guest post for them? How about offering them free content?

8. Forum Marketing

Forums are FULL of traffic!

Almost all popular niches have active forums. Go there, start posting and be as helpful as you can.

You can link to your squeeze page in the bottom of every post (this is called your signature) but also forums are a great way to meet other key players in your area.  Then again, escalate your relationship with these people to drive more traffic.

9. Email Signatures

This is easy!  Just add a link to your squeeze page as the signature of every email you send. Emails get passed around so there is a viral effect here and if you are emailing someone where you don’t feel comfortable with this (e.g., a family member), simply delete the signature.

10. Solo Ads

Very fast and powerful.  You contact other people in your niche and pay them to mail to their lists promoting your squeeze page.

On your Thank You page (the webpage that appears after people enter their name and email address) display a low priced (e.g., $5-$20), high value product. This can be an affiliate product if you don’t have your own. Some people will purchase and you’ll offset the cost of purchasing the solo ad.

11. Giveaways

This is some related to the internet marketing and health niches but it is still worth mentioning.

Grab some PLR products, find upcoming giveaways (here) and sign up for them. When the event is promoted visitors will arrive and download your gifts in return for subscribing to you list.

12. Adswaps

Adswaps are simply “you promote my squeeze page and I’ll promote yours”.

To find partners to swap with you can use a service like safe-swaps.com. It’s a great way to grow your list but don’t do more than 2-3 per month as you’ll end up “diluting” your subscribers base – in other words your subscribers will end up of multiple lists of all your adswap partners.

13. Thank You Pages

Very powerful!

The aim here is to get your product displayed on other marketers Thank You pages. So when people sign up for other people’s lists they are faced with your offer. Some will purchase and you get brand new proven buyers onto your list.

To entice other marketers to agree to this you need to give away commission so they make money out of it. I suggest you give away 100% which you can do my using a system such as Rapid Action Profits.

14. Unmonetized Blog Posts

Search Google for popular keywords related to your niche. When you find blog posts that are ranked at the top of Google, click through to them.

Most of the time at the bottom of the blog post you’ll find, well, nothing!

Question: What if you approached the blog owner and suggested they make a recommendation to promote your product (eBook, video course, audio interview etc) in their blog post?

As I suggested with Thank You pages, offer 100% to entice them.

They make money from the constant stream of Google traffic and you gain qualified buyers onto your list!

Conclusion

An entire blog post could easily be written on each of these methods to explain the various resources, strategies and techniques to maximise the traffic.

Also there are other traffic strategies that we haven’t mentioned (e.g., affiliates, joint ventures etc).

See what I mean by traffic being overwhelming?!?!!

So the trick is to focus on one of these methods and work with it for some time before moving on to others.

We go into masses of detail with these strategies, showing real life examples inside the GHG members’ area. If you aren’t currently part of the family, why not come on board for a week to see if you like it? It’ll cost you less than the price of 2 cups of coffee.  Here are the details.

Comments, questions, agree, disagree?  Let me know in the comments section below….