Like this:

So you’ve got this site that promotes some dating sponsors and you want to get some traffic to it? The only problem is that Google hates you and your site never gets above page 341; Yahoo loves you but sends you no traffic and MSN … well MSN provides the most relevant searches but no one has realized that just yet.

Well sit back and join me while I think out loud. That generally means that I don’t guarantee any of the thoughts I’m about to come up with. Some may work, some may be an absolute waste of time and money and some might sort of fit in the middle.

The only thing that I do guarantee is that I want to get you thinking about alternative sources of traffic. Why do I want to get you thinking about alternative sources of traffic? Because depending solely on search engines for your traffic is a recipe for disaster.

Even if Google loves you right now there is no guarantee that Google’s love is eternal. Google is a fickle lover who will drop you like a hot potato if it suddenly thinks your site no longer fits into its view of the world.

So what other sources of traffic are there?

Well of course you can always buy in some traffic from various traffic brokers. Now that raises the question of just how good the quality of the traffic you buy might be and it is something that you should consider.

If it was me buying in the traffic I would be looking to negotiate some sort of deal that would allow me to test the traffic before I made a serious purchase. If it wasn’t possible to run a small test for free then I would be purchasing the lowest amount that I could and watching it very carefully.

There’s always the possibility of buying some advertising on blogs and websites too. Adbrite would be a good place to start if you were interested in blogs and there will be similar places to handle advertising on websites other than blogs.

At one time I wouldn’t have hesitated in suggesting that you look at Google Adwords but just lately they have been doing stupid things with minimum bids and I would definitely pass on them right now.

Up until now I’ve been thinking about advertising on the Web but there are plenty of places to advertise your site offline as well. Think about the rear windscreen on your car, you’ll find that even just putting your URL there will bring hits to your site.

If you’re going to do that though be sure to get a professional signwriter to cut and apply some vinyl lettering. If you have the space then even think of something a bit more fancy than just your URL. But please don’t try and do this on the cheap and stick a hand-written notice in the window. It will look cheap and tacky and it will turn people off your site rather than encourage them to go along and have a look.

T-shirts are another place to advertise. Even something as simple as your URL can go on the back of a t-shirt. If you’re a female webmaster then have the URL on the front as well – it will certainly attract a lot of views and those views could easily turn into hits on your website.

Have you got some big social event about to happen in your town or city? Run some flyers off on your inkjet printer and walk through the crowd handing them out. Go around the car parks and put them on windscreens, drop them in letter boxes, put them up with the public notices anywhere that has a notice board.

If your advertising budget is a little bigger then think about some simple advertising on the back of buses, on cabs and anywhere else that you can afford to have it appear.

Spend some money on having a business card designed but instead of having your name and phone number on the card have a short headline about your site and include the URL. Then go round dropping the card wherever you can.

If you travel in taxis drop one or two on the back seat or even on the floor where passengers will see them. Whenever you get into an elevator drop one on the floor before you get out. When you pass a payphone leave a card on the phone.

When you stop at a café for a coffee, leave a card on the table or even on the seat and keep on doing that wherever you go. That little business card can become a very powerful promotional tool for your website.

There are lots of other ways that you can get your dating site in front of people who may ultimately join up with your sponsor. I’ve only given you a few ideas here but there are plenty more if only you stop and think about it.

These days you have to take every chance to market your site because no one else will and he who depends on Google for their traffic will one day find that they have none.

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