When it comes to website traffic, the old saying "the more the merrier" doesn't exactly apply. Simply having lots of traffic will not increase the number of sales you have. Your goal in creating traffic is to attract targeted traffic, which will in turn, bring you more paying customers. You can have a lot of traffic coming to your website, but if they are not interested in your product or service, what good will it do to have them visit your site?

If you do a search on the Internet for ways to increase traffic to your site, you will find websites that sell software or monthly membership packages that promise to bring traffic to your site. Don't be fooled by these costly gimmicks. There are many ways you can increase traffic to your site for free.

What these companies don't tell you is that one of the methods they use to drive traffic to your site is paying people to "surf" the Internet. People log into a website, enter a password and their computer will automatically "surf the net", displaying different websites.

However, the person that logged in isn't necessarily paying attention to the screen - or even looking at it. The company that you paid may be driving "traffic" to your site in terms of visitors, but that doesn't guarantee more customers.

It may sound like a contradiction, but promoting free items can also bring in bad traffic. Yes, you may attract more visitors, but a lot of those people just want a "freebie". They might not really care about the services or products you provide, and once they get that "freebie", they may never return to your site again.

Now, that doesn't mean you should never offer free items they can definitely help increase sales in certain situations, such as a "buy this ebook and receive this free special report" offer.

Trading links and participating in banner exchanges may sound good in theory, but again, if targeted traffic isn't coming in, your sales won't be affected. Remember, traffic doesn't equal customers. If you have a site related to babies, it doesn't make sense to trade links with a site related to sport fishing.

Always keep your target market in mind. Who is your audience? Why should they visit your site? Having fresh, relevant, timely, and informative content will attract quality traffic. Once people come to know your site as a source of quality information, they will return when they need to learn something new. The more quality traffic that comes in, the more customers you will have.

By staying away from bogus websites offering promises of high numbers of traffic and sticking to proven methods of generating quality traffic, you will not only increase your site's traffic, you will also increase your conversion rates.