If you have a Web site, you have already done so much work just building it. But you are going to need exposure. Why build something great if people dont even know about it? White hat search engine optimization can help you score well with major search engines like Google and Yahoo. I want to share some tips that you can use to finally increase your traffic.

Importance of incoming links

You will need a lot of incoming links to even stand a chance of being highly ranked on the major search engines. The way to do that is to list with free and paid directories. Dont expect tons of traffic from these directories, but what you should expect is relevancy for the major engines. The engines take you more seriously when you have quality links pointing into your Web site. Good places to start with directory submissions are strongestlinks.com and improvinglinks.com; both these sites list great directories and provide information on them. You will want to submit to directories with a high page rank and passes the PR.

Link exchanges

Another way to get incoming links is to exchange links with other quality sites with a similar theme to your site. Major engines such as Google will love this and reward you with higher rankings. Linkmarket and Value Exchange (free) are great places to start with link exchanges.

Keep adding quality content

To stay on the search engines friendlier side, just keep writing rich content with great keywords. Make sure there are no broken links on your site before you submit that hurts your chances of being listed.

High demand, low supply keywords

The keywords you use are very important; you simply cant afford to guess on which ones will work best. Use wordtracker to help you decide which keyword to useeven if you are using SBI. Placing keywords in the title and in anchor links earns you extra points with the search engines.

Help and be helped with forum chat

Not only can you get good tips and advice from forums, you can always pay it forward and help others as well. Forums are another place where you can increase traffic to your websiteall you have to do is leave your link at the end of each post. Remember though, most likely you are not able to blatantly advertise in forums. But you can leave a catchy signature (which should contain a link back to your site) that will lead to a click.

Spending a little more money on advertising

I know people may want to quickly read over this part, but you may have to spend a little bit more on advertising. Theres no need to go overboard with spending though. When you advertise, you should monitor your campaigns to see which methods work best for your particular business.

Starting a PPC campaign can be a great way to advertise. If you are not too familiar with Adwords I would like to quickly explain what it is all about. If you do any search using the Google search engine and then look towards the right of the screen you should see ads under the sponsored links section. When you use Adwords, you are going to be creating ads to go in that same area for a given keyword; everytime someone sees your ad and clicks on it, you have to pay a certain amount (hence, pay-per-click).

Article submission

Submitting your articles to directories is another great way to gain exposure for your Web site. People read your quality articles and check your site out. If its useful, word will get around quickly. Just remember to leave your information (i.e. about author) at the end of your article; that way if someone reprints your article in full, your name and website URL are there.

When your article legally appears on someone elses site, you can gain traffic if they click your link after reading the article. Another bonus is that you have an incoming link from the Web site that is using your article.

Build relationships with newsletters

Having your own newsletter will gain repeat traffic. People who sign up already like you and they are willing to hear whatever you have to say. Dont look passed a quality newsletter.

Blogging a mile

You can also use blogs to increase your traffic. Its another way to write about whats going own in your niche. You gain even more exposure, while helping people out with useful information. If you want to use a blog successfully, try having a form that they can fill out for questions or feedback. Once again you will receive repeat traffic. You can find out what real every people want out of the niche or industry that youre in.

Final thought...

Using any or all of these methods should raise your site traffic considerably.