Online marketing can be a daunting task, especially if you’re on a tight budget. Fortunately there are a few ways you can drive traffic to your website without having to spend any money.

Never underestimate the power of word of mouth. The first thing you should do once your website is completed, and ready to be shared with the world is tell your friends and family about it. Be sure they’re clear on what niche your site serves, and let them know that you’d love it if they recommended it to anyone they knew who might enjoy it. Depending on your niche, and the size of your circle of friends, this can actually bring in more traffic than you might expect.

Using social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook to promote your site is very similar in nature to the word of mouth marketing mentioned above. The first goal of your Twitter or Facebook account should be to make friends. Once you’ve got that down, it’s time to start showing those friends your site, and encouraging your new internet friends to pass that site along. Keep in mind the part about making friends. If you just fire your link off to random strangers seconds after sending them a friend request, you won’t get very far. Take the time to send messages, and reply to theirs. It really doesn’t take as much effort as it sounds like it does, and the benefits are worth the investment of time.

Social bookmarking sites are another great way to spread your link around. Start an account on a social bookmarking site, and fill it with sites you like. Include plenty of things from your niche, but don’t be afraid to include other things too. Over time, throw in links to your own site, and as your account gains attention, so to will your website. Take some time, and send friend requests to people with similar interests, and you’ll be on your way to more traffic.

All of the above mentioned ways to build traffic are completely free, but they all require an investment of time, but it’s worth the effort. That investment of time will yield quality visitors to your site that are interested in your niche. These methods are highly effective at reaching your target audience, and at the end of the day, that’s what really matters.

Youtube has recently stated that they now receive 1 billion views aday from people all around the world watching videos.  Since they are now owned by Google they are offering a partnership program called Google adsense that allows you to make money from advertising from viewers watching your videos.

If you have a youtube account that has 1000’s of viewers youtube will invite you to join their Google adsense partnership program that will allow you to place Google adverts on the right hand side of your videos and also text ads at the bottom of your videos.  If a viewer clicks on those adverts you instantly earn a commission.  You can earn anything upto $5 a click depending on what the adverts are.

To get started you will first need to setup a youtube account and start making and uploading videos regulary then once you have a certain amount of viewers watching your videos (around 100,000), Youtube will then invite you via email to join their partnership program.  They will ask you to join Google adsense and then adverts will automatically appear on your videos and on your youtube channel.

If you also have a website or a blog it is a very good idea to place your website url in the description as this is a great way to drive traffic to your website and also helps with SEO for your search engine rankings.

The best way to get loads of views and star ratings on your youtube videos is to get as much traffic to your channel as possible.  Some ways to do that are:

1.) Embed your youtube videos into blogs, forums, as many websites related to your video audience as possible

2.) Submit your videos to social networking sites – twitter, digg, facebook, myspace, bebo, etc..

3.) Email all your friends and family to view and rate your video