I’ve seen a few other people talking about increasing their website traffic by advertising on various sites. I suppose it could be anything from using Google Adsense, to paid link directories like the Yahoo directory or even advertising on some of the paid blogging sites.

I’ve been trying to think of ways to get more traffic to my sites. I’d like to do it without spending money if possible. Unfortunately the only way to get more traffic to your site without paying for it is to work very hard at it.

I’ve run websites, and now blogs for many years. I’ve never paid for advertising. Ever. I’ve worked very hard getting my sites listed in all the major directories and even smaller directories that suite the site. Niche directories. Where my websites are concerned I’ve made contact with other site owners and traded links, or given them permission to publish one of my articles on their site.

I’ve used similar methods for my blogs. I do think it’s a bit easier with blogs because you can leave comments on most blogs quite easily. Comment often enough on a blog and make your comments interesting, though provoking or humorous and more than likely the owner of the blog will come and visit your site. If you have good content on your site they might even add you to their blogroll or write about one of your articles.

What do you do to promote your site and get more traffic?