Site promotion is key to successfully building up your business on Internet and here are some tips for newcomers that don't cost any money and which took me a considerable time to formulate.

1. Submit site to search engines Here I have learned to avoid autosubmit software programmes and that best results are obtained by submitting *manually* to top 10 engines. This way you can accommodate each one's quirks and foibles. It is time consuming but worth it.

2. Submit site to Directories These are different to search engines in that they have their own categories within which enquirers can find a listing of sites that interest them without necessarily using a search button. In my view, this is way Joe public will look for his information in future and, in my opinion, directories will soon outstrip engines in terms of usage. Pay attention to getting your site listed on as many directories as possible, especially Open Directory Project http://www.dmoz.org as their database is used by many of top search engines and directories.

3. Web Rings These are associations of web sites with similar focus. If you join one, you will get a web ring logo at bottom of your site which will allow your visitor to move on to browse all other sites within ring. Similarly, this will allow visitors to other sites within ring to find your site and increase your traffic. Some of these rings are huge and others quite tiny. It depends on what sphere you are operating in but, either way, it is another good way to gain additional traffic for your site.

Articles are by far my number one traffic generator for my sites at this point. I still work other methods, obviously, but writing articles is what I concentrate on.

Why articles?

Because they work so well, but so many are afraid of them.

That's right, afraid. Afraid to write an article because they don't feel they know enough on their chosen topics, or that their grammar won't be perfect, or that their English teacher will pick apart their spelling.

If you feel you don't know enough about a topic you have most powerful research tool at your disposal...the Internet!

Spend time searching Net and finding information to put into your article. You're not looking to plagiarize anyone's work but rather to learn more about subject.

This research can reward you in many ways:

The knowledge you gain will enable you to write your article, or several articles.

The more you learn about your topic more you become a trusted resource to your visitors and subscribers.

Keep a file with links that you visit and find valuable and you can write another article with just links to great places to visit related to that topic. You can also use these to create a links page on your site.

If you are worried about grammar and spelling just paste your article into Microsoft Word and use suggestions that it provides. Better yet, have someone you know read through it for you and make corrections.