So, you've got the new website up. You carefully thought out what you wanted to do, planned out the website carefully using the best SEO methods you could (while maintaining a great look) and the website is just where you want it.

Now you need people. Quality traffic. A website without traffic does no good.

So now, you look at your options. You can pay to have ads for your website shown. Or maybe even Google's AdWords. Either way, prepare to spend some serious money for this kind of paid advertising.

There are other options, however. Paid advertising is great for many people if you have a good budget, but there is the downfall that when you stop the advertising, you stop a great portion of the traffic as well.

Wouldn't it be great if there were advertising methods that would bring you targeted traffic, last virtually forever, and free. Well, just rub the Backlink Genie and you'll get your wish. There are many free advertising options available that are actually more effective than the paid methods.

ANCHOR TEXT

This is a topic that needs to be covered first. If you are trying to rank well for some keyword phrases, these are the keyword phrases you should be using as your anchor text for back links in the resource box on articles you write, as well as forum signatures, or anywhere else you get a back link if you have a say in it.

The actual anchor or link text itself can make a huge difference to search engines. Variety is the key here. A variety in the anchor text looks much more natural (as if people had chosen to link to you on their own accord, they would choose their own words), so it's always a good idea. It has also been shown that only so many backlinks with the same anchor text are used by search engines in evaluating your backlink campaign.

WRITE ARTICLES

Writing articles is the top way to get backlinks and traffic. For one, anyone reading your article is already interested in what you have to say. All you have to do is give them good valuable information, and they will likely visit your site for more information and perhaps be a customer.

Now, for the additional gains. The article directories where you article is at (whether you submit directly to the article directories or to a submitter service), give you a backlink in your resource box that you attach to the article. This is the only spot you should be mentioning your own website.

Just keep in mind to give the reader good information and good things will follow. Do not make the article a sales pitch in disguise, and the article is usually minimum 400 words, though many sites prefer 500 words+.

FORUMS

Put your website backlink in your forums signature so it is displayed on any of your posts. Leave that as your only advertisement as most forums don't want blatant advertising, so don't push your website in your post message.

Each place your post shows up and thus your backlink is great for helping both get natural traffic as well as a valuable backlink.

LINK EXCHANGES

You can also go to the source for backlinks. The real key is to choose the right link exchanges. You want to use the ones where you choose who you link to. The websites that promise thousands of backlinks overnight will only damage you in Google, MSN, and Yahoo. Remember to exchange links as you would outside of the exchange. Exchanging with sites like your own, topic-wise, are the first ones you want to exchange with, as they are considered most valuable by search engines.

As you can see, there are many avenues to build backlinks and traffic. These are the best site promotion methods I have found, with writing articles definitely topping the list. If you're on a budget, your only investment here is time.

Tony Kristovich is the owner of EZLinkSystem.com, a back link exchange service where you can register for free to exchange links the easy way with other sites.