This should be a no brainer but you’d be surprised juts how often people think that “I’ve got a website, I’ve added some tags, worked on some SEO, and that should be enough to get traffic to my site.” The sad truth is that this method will get you traffic, but organic growth is so slow that by the time you’re noticed the competition will have left you in the dust. You could of course spend hard money on AdWords and other ad solutions, but why not give these methods a go before you dive into those pockets for that oh so needed cash.

1. Submit your start up to relevant sources, the list below comes from – marketingstartups.com and we thank them dearly, you can find the link to the whole article here.

• KillerStartups.com- Use their online form (http://www.killerstartups.com/submitted)
• Launchfeed.com- Use this site to announce the launch of your service. Not as important on the site itself, but other sites subscribe to launchfeed and use the info on their blogs.
• Simplespark- Another source of what’s new online
• MOMB- (Museum of Modern Betas)- A site listing new apps
• Go2Web20.net- A flash directory of startups that actually delivers some fairly decent traffic.
• TechCrunch- The grandaddy of internet startup blogs. You can enter your information here: http://www.crunchbase.com/companies/new
• CenterNetworks- Another great web 2.0 blog
• mashable!- Awesome blog covering all that’s new on the web. Read this post before submitting your site: http://mashable.com/2008/04/10/get-your-startup-on-mashable/
• ReadWriteWeb- http://www.readwriteweb.com/contact.php
• Blogstring.com and MarketingStartups.com- Hey, it’s easy. Just contact me (nathan.burke@gmail.com), let me know what you do, and if your site or service is relevant, I’ll review it here.

2. E-mail everyone you know and their mother, tell them about your product and how good it is and how it will change the face of mankind forever, and elaborate on how much wonderful karma they’ll get if they basically start a chain letter from it. Is it spam? Well loosely yes, but the trickle effect should get you a decent initial user base, and your friends won’t really hate you for it in the long run.

3. Socialize the heck out of it. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, post on forums, write a brief about it on EZineArticles, HubPages, and make a Blogger Site or two that links back to your site, and while you’re at it, add a Wikipedia entry. Not only will this increase your exposure, but it will also help in building back-links to your site, which will in the end help you generate traffic to your site, and spread the word on your product. Oh, and get Wibiya on your site, they recently opened it up to everyone.

4. Network as if your job depended on it, because it does. Most cities have entrepreneurial events that are held quite frequently, look on sites such as Meetup.com, Facebook, LinkedIn, and others to find out where they’re being held, if people like your stuff, they’ll spread the word, never, ever, underestimate the power of networking, and you may even get to know people who in one way or other could help you.

5. Send out press releases to everyone and anyone who may be interested. Write one and then email your local newspaper(s), magazines that cover your industry, websites, and bloggers.

6. Targeted SPAM. We hate it as much as the next guy, but targeted e-mail ad campaigns are one of the most effective ways to communicate what it is you’re selling / doing / building etc….

With that, good luck, and let us know if you have any other ideas on getting your site noticed. We’d love to hear them.