41 Free Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Blog

Today’s Marketing Monday tip offers a list of 41 free (online and offline) tactics to drive traffic to your blog. This post is an introduction to a series of follow-up posts that will provide in-depth information about each item, one at a time.

Here’s the list:

1. Word of Mouth
2. Business Cards
3. Free Report or White Paper
4. Social Bookmarking**
5. Blog Directory Submissions
6. Produce an Ezine
7. Develop Relevant Inbound Links
8. Optimize Your Blog for Search Engines*
9. Submit Articles to Content Distribution Services
10. Network within Your Niche
11. Interact on Forums
12. Create an Email Newsletter
13. Start an Online Community for Your Niche
14. RSS Feeds
15. Product Marketing
16. Barter/Swap Advertising
17. Ebay & Craig’s List
18. Wikipedia & Other Wiki Sites
19. Social Media**
20. Joint Ventures/Affiliates
21. News Releases
22. Video
23. Industry Trade Publications
24. Local Media — TV/Radio/Newspaper Interviews
25. Regional Magazine Articles
26. Podcasting
27. Bizstreaming/Lifestreaming
28. Multi-media Sharing/Slidecasting
29. Relationships with Fellow Bloggers
30. Email Signatures
31. Creating Valuable Content
32. Contests
33. Polls/Surveys
34. Car Banner
35. Offer Freebies (Products or Services)
36. Become an Expert (write for Examiner and/or other reporter-type sites)
37. Develop a Referral System
38. Create an Online Directory for Your Niche
39. Create a Resource Page for Your Niche
40. Amazon.com
41. Images (SEO* and Social Photo-sharing**)

* This topic is already being covered through SEO Saturday tips.
**Beginning on January 27, we’ll start a series on Social Media/Social Bookmarking. This series will be held on Wednesdays, since Wednesday is “Friends Day.”