There's no doubt that you need to have traffic in order to get people to sign up for your list. And you have several different ways to do it. But what kind of traffic should you be looking for?

People who know what they're going to see when they arrive at your site is targeted traffic. They actually want to see what you have to offer. So, let's say that you've done this viral video about an incredible cleaning product that will revolutionize housecleaning forever. You've put a link into your video for people who want to learn more so they can visit your site, right? OK, when they get there, you give them a squeeze page that offers them "10 Simple Tips to Make Housecleaning a Breeze" for free in exchange for their name and email address. Then, when they join your list, your thank you page is a sales page for your cleaning product. Do you think these people are already interested? Of course, they are!

Now, you have targeted traffic--people who are already involved in your niche and want to know more. They may be interested in buying products in that niche, too, and they don't necessarily have to be yours. You can make affiliate commissions from a list like this, too. Targeted traffic comes from blog posting, ezine advertising, and other methods included in the 17 ways I've identified to increase web site traffic.

Anytime you send people that you don't target to your list building page, it's a crapshoot. Sometimes, you'll get an opt-in and most times, you won't. An example would be of a billboard, right? You're driving down the highway and you see a billboard for snowboarding. That's pretty cool for some people, but if you're 70 years old, do you think it will interest you? Probably not. The odds are that it won't. So, do you think that billboard ad will ever make a septuagenarian go out and buy a snowboard? Does the ad have any chance of success with the majority of those people? Nope. Not a bit.

Any form of advertising that is merely served up for the viewer is untargeted. This happens with TV commercials, banner exchanges, and traffic exchanges. TV commercials are well studied by advertising agencies, who make them appeal to the broadest possible audience. There is at least some attempt at targeting. But if you waste a lot of your precious time on free advertising to unconcerned people, how successful do you think you'll be? Maybe you should be putting your time into working the targeted resources instead.

You will find 17 ways to get great traffic for your list building page. Not all of them are free, but most are. Here's the list in no particular order:

* writing press releases

* pay-per-click

* paid ezine advertising

* teleseminars

* voice broadcasting

* direct mail

* article marketing

* golden rule traffic

* blogging

* podcasting

* affiliate marketing

* viral video

* viral marketing

* search engine optimization

* endorsed emails from joint venturing

* bonus traffic

If you want targeted web site traffic, then each of these 17 ways can do that for you. Study one topic at a time, and implement it right away. Don't wait! I think that when you switch from untargeted traffic to targeted traffic, you'll find a bigger ROI, every single time.