Today on eMoms at Home, Wendy Piersall had a post called 27 Website Promotion Sources That Have Nothing to do with Google or SEO. Some sites lost Page Rank recently due to Google’s dislike of Text Link type ads. Wendy’s list takes a look at other ways to promote your side.

Here are Wendy’s 27 ways to increase traffic to your website or blog that have nothing to do with Google, search engines or SEO. But the bonus is that all of these things will indeed help you rank better in the search engines, too.

1. Social Bookmarking
   (Digg, Mixx, SU, Sk-rt, Sphinn, etc.)
2. Social Networking
   (LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.)
3. Forum Participation
   (I shouldn’t have to say that you go there to add value, not just get traffic!!)
4. Blogging
   (If you aren’t doing this already this should be priority #1)
5. Linking Generously
   (What goes around, comes around - & referral traffic generally sends the best and most qualified visitors to a site)



6. Advertising
   (Even a small budget of $50 a month can get you started with a company like BlogAds or with PPC)
7. Email Marketing
   (An art in and of itself, but most email marketing providers can get you started for free & can cost as little as $15/month)
8. Directory Listings
   (There are lots of free niche directories, and some good paid ones, like BOTW)
9. Flyers
   (Get local and make flyers to post at local cafes and other community bulletin boards)
10. Yahoo Groups
    (I’ve had long-term success building communities through email discussion groups - really highly recommended if you have the stomach to be a good moderator)
11. Listservs
    (Hosting your own email discussion groups is a little more involved, but if you need a branded option to Yahoo groups, it is worth it)
12. Press Releases
    (Really important to raise the visibility of your site - it’s a new priority for me as well)
13. Video
    (I can’t go anywhere without hearing how important it is to get into video. ARGH!)
14. Twitter
    (I haven’t been very active there, but have heard that it can be a huge traffic driver)
15. Conferences
    (A quick search for ‘Wendy Piersall’ and ‘SOBCon’ brings up an astonishing 1200 results. ‘Nuff said.)
16. Meetups
    (Real-life networking is crucial to your long-term success)
17. Blog Comments
    (Leave them, respond to them, encourage them - love them!)
18. Associations
    (Being involved with my local internet advertising community has been critical to my professional success)
19. Widgets
    (BlogRush kind of fizzled, but MyBlogLog has been the 12th top referrer to this site in 2007)
20. Memes
    (I find it hard to participate in them much of the time, but long-term they can be a great source of links and traffic)
21. Blog Carnivals
    (I never had a lot of traffic from carnivals, but I do think they are important, especially for beginners)
22. Craigslist
    (Some of my potential advertisers have done extremely well on Craigslist - not just getting traffic, but traffic that converts)
23. AdLandPro
    (I couldn’t handle this place - but it is indeed a forum dedicated exclusively to letting you promote yourself - mostly for free)
24. Contests
    (Just be careful that you don’t set up the rules so that you get banned by the search engines - unless, of course, you are already banned & don’t care )
25. Article Marketing
    (Some people swear by it, others say it’s dead - I think it’s worth mentioning and testing, as different things work in different niches)
26. Use Email Signatures
    (SOOooooooo important)
27. Feature RSS feeds prominently
    (Once you get them hooked on your content, keep them coming back by making it easy to subscribe to your feeds! A large, prominent RSS button DOES increase subscriber numbers)

For me, the key point here is to not put all your eggs in one basket. You should use as many of the tools available to you on the Internet to promote your site. Google is not the only answer.