If you want to make a substantial income on the Internet, you will need your own website. You do not necessarily need your own product, but it definitely helps to have your own website. Those of us that have a website are left with the age old question of how to bring traffic to them. There are many methods to do this, and a beginner may be misled in his or her quest for traffic.
Stay away from the companies that offer thousands of visitors to your web site for one low price. If an offer sounds too good to be true it probably is.
When just starting out be sure to tell all of your friends and acquaintances about your website. This is a good way to get some positive feed back on your website. If anyone you know has a web site, ask them if they would mind exchanging links. This is a good way to get a little traffic and hopefully get your site indexed faster.
If your site sells products and your budget allows, you will want to start a pay per click advertising campaign. Start out with Google's AdWords because it is the simplest to use and will allow you to see how it all works. Select some key words related to your site, set up a few ads, and set a budget. Monitor your campaign and get rid of the keywords that do not bring sales. Be sure to use the conversion tracking so you know which keywords generate sales.
Another good way to get some quality traffic to your site is by writing short articles and submitting them to the high traffic article directories. These articles can be anywhere from 250 to 700 words and should be related to the topic of your site. At the end of the article you are required to write a short bio about yourself. Be sure to include a link to your site with some kind of incentive for them to visit. You may want to offer a free report relating to your site's topic. Remember that the point of your articles is to get readers interested in what you have to offer.