The basics of boosting website traffic revolve around getting more website links. This is the most misunderstood area for most new and even some experienced webmasters. Links are the lifeblood of any website for gaining authority or higher search engine index rankings and directly receiving traffic by people who click on the links.

The hot tip when going for effective website links and boosting traffic is to create links that have both search engine love and induce the viewer to click to find out more information. The most used paid means of this type of linking is Google’s Adwords Program.

The problem with Adwords, beside the expense, is the huge amount of competition and complexity of executing a profitable campaign. Many a smart webmaster loses his shirt trying to learn the ropes on Adwords campaigns. It can drive a sane man (or woman) crazy. It certainly can be done but the learning curve is brutal and expensive.

Three better solutions exist for boosting website traffic that are all free, and much easier to master. Two of these methods are similar and can be used together to make them even more effective. The third is the perfect solution if properly executed. Did I mention they were free too?

The first two involve writing and publishing articles. If you’ve been on the Internet more than a few days I’m sure you’ve heard or read about article marketing. But to do it well, you need to make sure you follow the three basic steps listed below.

Do Your Research – Make sure that the articles you write are of interested to your target group. Don’t just pull a subject out of the air, check to see what people are searching for, what the competition is, and make sure it provides value to the reader.

Double Team – Publish articles to a respected article directory like EzineArticles.com or Isnare.com. Then write an article to post on your website with the same subject matter but different content. Refer the reader of the published version to your website version. Use a good lead in, like very specific information, check list, or anything to attract the reader.

Content Rules – Any article you write must have some value to the reader. Headlines get their attention, the article provides value, and don’t forget the action item at the end to produce the results you want. Those three items must be present to make article marketing effective.

The third best boosting website traffic method is making comments or providing answers on other websites with similar subject matter to your website. Many overlook the value of keeping the subject matter related on any linking activity. Numbers help, but when you get a link from related subject, it increases the search engine respect for the link. And one way links are always a good thing.

Which in turn, will give you a higher index ranking for the link. But it also will mean that the people who do click on your link will be more targeted. This can be a huge factor in getting high authority links for the search engines and getting the visitor that you want.

If you sell a product or service on your website, getting targeted traffic as opposed to general traffic will greatly improve your conversion rate (number of visitors by number of purchases). After all, the traffic you want is potential buyers, not people surfing around looking for something to read.

So how do you find these subject related websites to make comments on and leave links? There are several ways to do this with the search engines. Do a search under the subject related keyword or phrase that you know will relate to your website. You should see websites that have forums, blogs, or comment areas that you can post information and leave a link in your signature.

Do not post crap, no value comments, or objectionable content. The website owner will most likely remove any comments that fit into those categories anyway. Provide valuable information to the reader, don’t solicit, be friendly and helpful. Demonstrate your value to the reader, and they will click on your link.

When looking for places to post comments, you can make sure you get both the possible click from the reader and the credit for the link by checking to see if they use what’s called the nofollow link method. In your browser there is a button that allows you to view the source of each web page. If you view the source and do a find or search for nofollow, it will show whether they use that linking attribute.

There’s some value even if you don’t get a link credit if the website has visitors that fit into your target group. But getting both the link value and targeted click is the best of both worlds. Posting on websites provides an easy way to get links and targeted website visitors. And posting on websites is much easier than sending out requests for reciprocal links that never get any response.

The basics of boosting website traffic should always include linking methods and the three free ways listed above can work well. Writing articles and posting on other related websites should be a part of anyone’s quest for more website traffic.