There are many great ways to do your web site promotion:
1. Visit and post in forums, appropriately of course, with your link in your signature.
2. Email webmasters, asking to trade links.
3. Use big link directories (helpful, but still not the best solution).
4. Write articles for great free exposure.
I'm going to discuss the last one since it's the most effective by far. Most other methods you are trying to get backlinks. Writing articles gives you backlinks and much, much more. You get targeted traffic. You get exposure for you knowledge in the topic. You get noticed.
Writing articles does give you immediate traffic, but it is also lasting, viral-like traffic. Those articles don't just disappear. They are out there for more people to find in the future, so every article you send out works for you forever!
The key is to keep writing articles. Write every day if you can, or aim for at least every other day for best exposure.
Some article writing tips for maximum effectiveness:
1.Make sure your title is spelled right. You'd be amazed how often this happens. The read sees your title before anything else, it is your first impression, and making the best first impression is important.
2.Be sure your links, if you use html, actually work. From my experience, more than 10% of articles have links that don't work and therefore don't give the author the exposure and backlinks they could get. Many editors/webmasters will fix obvious mistakes if they catch it, but some may not. You're in this for maximum benefit after all.
3.Spell check your article. Readers will see you as more credible when your spelling and punctuation is correct.
Having described a bit in depth on article writing, the other methods of link exchanging and posting in forums should still be very high on your to-do list. All of this done correctly will have your web site promotion in good order and working very well for your site.
