Plenty of marketers push fancy software programs to increase traffic to your site. Certainly, some of the software programs are effective. There are, however, some simple, free, online techniques that can help business people who are short on cash but are willing to invest the time it takes to slowly build site visits.

Create a marketing schedule and stick to it. The following techniques are useless if you do not use them consistently. You want to continuously drive traffic to your site. So, the best thing that you can do is write your marketing goals, create a schedule to fulfill those goals and daily review your strategy.

The first technique is social. Visit and post messages to bulletin boards and forums that are relevant to your site. You may want to lurk for a while to better understand the forum's written and unwritten rules. Get involved in conversations, and offer advice to people who seek answers or need help. Don't be a know-it-all. Be humble, and help people for the joy of it. You will slowly build yourself as a forum regular who is knowledgeable and cares about others. Be sure to visit more than one forum board. In fact, you should consider visiting three or four forums a week. Don't forget to add your website's address to your signature lines for your posts.

Place your website address in the signature of your e-mails. This is an unobtrusive marketing method, and people will eventually begin clicking on your link in your signature. Add a phrase, telling people what they will find on your site. Some e-mail programs have features to change your signature's font and color. A red signature is eye-catching. Your link should be blue, because people intuitively associate the color blue with linked sites.

Write articles and post them to article directories, offering them to publishers for free. There has been a lot of positive discussion associated with this marketing method. It works. In the best case scenario, you should write at least 30 articles and post them everywhere. The more articles you write, the greater the traffic. So, 30 articles are your first goal. Next, go for another 30. Don't stop there. Write articles constantly. Post articles constantly. There are hundreds of places where you can post your work. Post your work in as many article directories as possible. Find article directories in a search engine, using the search terms, article directories and free content. Publishers will run your article on websites and newsletters. A resource box, usually located at the bottom of your articles, will have your byline and a link to your site to send traffic your way.

The one-way links, resulting from your widely placed articles, will draw increased recognition from search engines. Again, writing articles will also brand you as an expert. It may take weeks or months for you to see a considerable traffic increase, but it will happen. Not only will your site's popularity rise, but you will also be considered a trusted leader in your field.