1. Post to forums

Go to a popular forum that is related to your niche and add value to existing threads and start new threads. Be polite and show your expertise.

Private message the popular members on the forum and be friends with them. The forum contains prospects which are interested in what you have to sell. Get their attention, show you're an authority and they'll notice you.

In forums, you can market your website using the forum signature under each of your posts. That is where you should advertise. Your threads should not be self promoting.

2. Comment on blogs

Another way to steal traffic from other websites is to visit a popular blog that is related to your niche. Reply to the blog owner's posts with a good, meaningful answer or comment.

You can have a link to your website using your username. Again, don't make your comments self promoting. Start a conversation with your comments and show how knowledgeable you are on the subject. Other readers will notice you and visit your website.

3. Guest blogger

Once you have a good reputation on the blog, ask the blog owner if you can write for their blog. This may not be on a regular basis, but any guest posts you make on the blog will drive a lot of traffic to your business website.

Visit popular blogs in your niche and ask if you can be a guest blogger. This is a very effective way of marketing your business and you can put a link to your website under the guest post advertising your product.

4. Yahoo Answers

This takes time but the traffic is very targeted. Go to Yahoo Answers and see if anyone is asking questions that is related to your niche. If they haven't selected the best answer, go and submit your answer. Make sure it is long, detailed and contains good information.

People with similar problems will find your answer and if it's voted as the best answer, they will visit your website to know more about you.

5. Joint Ventures

Visit websites which are in the same niche as you but not selling the same products. Contact the website owner and ask if they can promote your website to their list. In exchange you will do the same for them.

Not all business owners will do this, but a lot will. Once you do a few promotions and have built a reasonable sized list, you can contact other website owners who have a bigger list. Continue to do this and you'll generate a lot of email leads which you can promote to.

6. Creating a viral report

Create a report with good useful information and give it away for free. People who read your report will have the rights to pass it on to others. Inside your report, market your products and services and have a link for people to subscribe to your newsletter.

This viral report can send you targeted free traffic for many years.

7. Writing articles

You can make your viral report more powerful by writing and submitting articles to article directories. Write a good article on your expertise and in the resource box, ask people to sign up to your list and download your viral report.

These 7 traffic generation methods are effective and they are also free. If you focus on using all 7 methods, you will be able to put an end to your traffic nightmare. Methods 6 and 7 are what I have used with this article.