Starting a new website and developing a traffic base if often the hardest and most frustrating part of being a webmaster. It's really an ego hit when you put a lot of hard work in to a website and don't see it perform, or perform extremely poorly.
There are many different tips and tricks to help develop a traffic flow on your website, in fact there are hundreds of companies who are out there waiting to do it for you. Of course the most important thing to do is to first develop your website, once your website is surfable by users and no longer in a "under construction" phase then here are a few great ways to get the word out about your website.
Directories - By far the most important directory on the internet today is the DMOZ directory. It should be the very first place that you submit your website. This process of getting listed will take at least three weeks but probably significantly longer. DMOZ provides a search directory for countless websites, including the Google Directory. Once you are listed in this directory you will start to see traffic coming from all over the place, not in huge quantities, but every little bit helps!
Search Engines - Start submitting your website to all the major free search engines. Google of course is the big boy, though the new MSN Search has really turned itself around and is providing almost as good of results as Google. There are only about 10 search engines that you should bother submitting your website to, and I wouldn't pay to get listed or your submission fast tracked. I'm not a big fan on pay per click search engines because I find that the results are garbage and useless, in my opinion I can't see anyone using that search engine to get relevant information and thus give it no weight in my books.
Signature Block - Whenever you send e-mails you should take the opportunity to paste a little block with your name, e-mail address, and website URL. The more people that know about your site the better, and people are more likely to trust an URL sent from a friend, or forwarded from a friend then some random piece of mail they received.
Newsgroups - I've always been a reader of newsgroups. I've spent years reading newsgroups about all sorts of topics, thought today I find them to be very sporadic and full of spam. However there are many great newsgroups out there that provide great information, and if you can help with their conversations, or provide technical information, having a little signature block at the end of your message is quite acceptable.
Blogs and RSS - Blogs and RSS (Really Simple Syndication) are what seem to be the latest fad on the Internet. More and more websites add their own blogs and interactive message forums on a daily basis which provide a great way to interact with users on your website and keep your website up to date and dynamic. Though these technologies may require a bit of extra effort to setup, you may find they pay off in the long run. Generally speaking I think that the old forum style websites will give way to these newer blogs, and wiki type environments.
Stationary and Business Cards - It's always a great idea to put your website on your stationary and business cards, it's a professional looking medium for getting the word out about your website.
Word of Mouth - If you have a really great website, with good content, tell your friends and family about it. Many people neglect to tell their friends about their websites! Word of mouth advertising is invaluable, because it's a direct recommendation from a known person about your website.
Content Syndication - As always, I can't write an article without preaching the importance of content syndication. By far one of the most powerful method of getting both traffic, and links to your website is by giving out free content. Write an article or review of something and let people reproduce it on their website. If you have written a quality article, people will want to publish it on their website. This gets your name and website known, in addition to getting a link from their website to yours!
Creating a website that will receive a lot of traffic takes work, people always try to buy the program, pay the fee, or take the easy way out. When it comes down to it, the websites that provide a great website, with real information, and work hard at updating and providing an atmosphere which the user likes are going to be the ones who win in the end.
Ken Dennis
http://KenDennis-RSS.homeip.net/