Almost anyone who has a liberal arts education can figure out marketing strategies for the real world. For the most part, it is direct and straightforward. After all, we have all been marketed to so aggressively for our whole lives growing up in this country that we know the routine. Most of us have a pretty good idea of conventional target marketing, and are familiar with concepts like viral marketing, word of mouth, and guerrilla marketing. Once you start reading Internet marketing articles, however, it is clear how much things change once you are in cyberspace. It is another game altogether.

Market research is king in most areas. You see, the goal is to find a way to reach the target audience and either give them what they want, or make them think that they are getting what they want. Although there is an aspect of this in Internet marketing articles, it certainly is far from the whole story. Internet marketing online has more to do with statistics than it does with catchy buzz phrases or clever ads. The whole key is to get as many people to see your product as possible. The more people who see it, the more likely someone is to buy it.

The way to get people to see this is through article marketing content. Basically, if you put keyword optimized articles on a web page, people are more likely to be led to it through Google. If you can link to other affiliated sites, it further increases your Web traffic. Of course, the problem is that everyone is doing this nowadays. According to one Internet marketing article that I read recently, keyword optimization is one of the most common schemes among Web designers. If you want to stay ahead of the game, you have to read more sophisticated Internet marketing articles. You cannot afford to use just one strategy, you have to use them all!

Many Internet marketing articles do not deal with the hardest part of Internet marketing: making the sale. You see, as more and more people surf the Web, it becomes easier and easier to get people to look at your product. It is almost inevitable that someone will wander through looking for something similar. The question is how to make them want yours. Unfortunately, many Internet marketing articles neglect this issue. The Internet is still so new, and so there is no agreement among different Internet marketing articles on how to really catch peoples eyes. The only way is to trust your own eye; what look appeals to you?

There is one hard and fast rule in generating income for your website: A steady flow of website traffic. If no one goes to your site, it hardly stands a chance of generating an income. Many sites have died because of a lack of traffic. It takes money to maintain an income generating site; it also takes money to make money.

BUT, it doesn’t take a whole caboodle of cash to generate website traffic for your site.

Ever wonder how the big hit sites drive traffic to their sites? Most of them are spending tons of money, investing in many advertising campaigns and different forms of marketing schemes. This is all worthwhile because, well, they are what they are now, high earning, big hitting websites.

You don’t have to do this if you don’t have their resources. There are many ways to generate low cost website traffic without having to spend what you don’t have or can’t afford. Many people have banked on high cost methods and have ended up losing their shirt over it.

Here I present to you the Top five ways to generate low cost website traffic that could help your site a whole lot. Even if you only get a small percentage of successful visitors in to client ratio it still works especially if you get a high number of website traffic.

Exchange Links

This is a sure and proven method. Rarely would you see a site where there is no link to another site. Many webmasters are willing to exchange links with one another so that they could produce more public awareness about their sites. You’ll soon see and feel the sudden upsurge of the traffic coming in to your site from other sites.

A major prerequisite in exchanging links with other sites is having the same niche or content as the other site. They should share a common subject so that there is continuity in the providing of service and information to what interests your target traffic.

Exchanging links also boosts your chances of getting a high ranking in search engine results. It is common knowledge that search engines ranks high sites that have inbound and outbound theme-related links. With a good ranking position in the search engines, you will generate more traffic in your website without the high costs.

Traffic Exchange

This is like exchanging links but on a different higher level. This may cost a bit more than exchanging or trading links but could be made cheaper because you get to earn credits. You can use those credits when viewing others traffic, while you earn credits when someone views yours.

Traffic exchange services are the viewing of another’s site or page. This is done vice versa where a site can use your sites contents and so can you to his or her site. You both benefit from each others efforts to generate traffic. The other sites visitors can go to your pages and know more about your site as well as theirs. Once again the public awareness of your sites existence is boosted.

Write and Submit Articles

There are many e-zines and online encyclopedias in the internet which provides free space for articles to be submitted. If you want to save costs, you can do the articles yourself. There are many freelance writers who are willing to write for you for a small fee, but to save money, it is wise to do those articles yourself.

Write articles that are themed along with the niche of your site. Write something that you have expertise on so that when they read it, they can feel your knowledge about the subject and will be eager to go to your site. Write articles that produce tips and guidelines to the subject or niche your site has.

Include a resource box at the end of your article that can link them to your site. Write a little about yourself and your site. If you provide a light, information-laden and interesting article, they will go to your site for more.

Make a Newsletter.

This may sound like hard work because of all the articles you may need to use to build a newsletter but on the contrary, this is not so. There are many writers and sites that are willing to provide free articles as long as they can get their name in on your newsletter. This will also provide free advertising for them as well.

As your newsletter gets pass around, you can widen your public awareness and build an opt-in list that can regularly visit your site.

Join Online Communities and Forums

This only requires your time and nothing else. You can share your knowledge and expertise with many online communities as well as your website. You can get free advertising when you go to forums that have the same subject or niche with your site.

Share your two cents and let them see how knowledgeable you are with the subject. As you build your reputation, you also build the reputation of your site, making it a reputable and honest business that could be frequented and trusted by many people.