When I first started my online business, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. With the help of a friend, we mapped out the initial business plan I would follow to success. The funny thing is that neither one of us had any clue how the internet worked, but armed with professional certifications in accounting and auditing and with a ton of high quality work experience we figured that we had this nailed. We did not.

The one good thing about starting the business was that I could not invest any real capital into the business to get it off and running, as many businesses are required to do when first starting out. I had a meager startup budget of $100. This proved to be my strength and not a weakness as I originally thought it would be.

After getting started with a domain name, arranging hosting, building my web site and then finally publishing, I was astonished by how many "opportunities" came my way to help me achieve success. Everyone had a best of that and a best of this. If I took part in just a few of these great ideas, I would have drawn down my budget and some more in no time.

I had to be innovative, and this is what I did. I decided to do everything that I could free or it would not be done.

* I listed my site in every free directory I could locate. * I listed my web address on every search engine that I could think of, even taking advantage of the free submission services that are available. * I sought out as many high quality competitor link exchange programs. * I wrote an e-book and started an affiliate program of my own. * I began writing articles to post out as free content.

So how will my experience of doing everything free help explode your search engine results? Let us look at what is going on here.

Listing in directories and search engines - Your web site name will appear in the results when someone conducts a search. Link Exchanges - You will benefit from someone else's traffic. When visitors come across your link on another site, it will direct them to your site. Affiliate Programs - These serve two purposes, firstly you can make money from customers purchasing your e-book and secondly, you will have a link back to your site from the affiliate web site. Writing Articles - When submitting articles as free content for others, your web site name will be included in the article and readers will be able to get to your site from the article.

These are just a few ideas for someone looking to get increased web traffic to their site; there are certainly many more great ideas. My closing advice is to search the web for the best ideas that best fit your situation.

About the author:

Peter Engelbrecht is President of Diagonal Street Business Services which operates the web site www.BestBusinesses4u.com. The site provides work at home business ideas to stay at home moms and dads.