Of course, having your members do your promotion for you is a very good strategy when you run a membership site, due to the fact that it is free and would actually not require any marketing efforts on your part. All you would need to do is to create a decent membership site and give your members a few incentives to promote it for you. But there are a few more free methods for promoting your membership site. Let us examine them here:

• Social Media

Again, social media. This is something that is talked about a whole lot in internet marketing circles. Of course, there is one big reason for that: it works. Think of it, if it was ineffective, there wouldn’t be thousands of guides, forum posts, etc. about it. There are two things that you would need to do if you are promoting your site on social networking websites:

• Create a page for it

Facebook lets you create a fan page for a business. You should do so for your membership site. Give a bit of information about it and make a nice looking, but not too pushy, sales page as well. People can also “like” your page. The more people like it, the more popular it becomes.

• Make a post about it

With Facebook, you can post on your wall that you’ve created a new site and invite your Facebook friends to check it out. On Twitter, you can send out a Tweet with the link to your website included in it.

But to make your social media use even more effective, consider creating a promotion for those who access your site through social media. A discount on the membership price works very well, but there are also other things you can do to add value such as adding an additional product, or giving a free personal consultation with you, etc.

• Email marketing

If you already have a mailing list, email marketing could be an excellent way to market your new site. This would work even better if you have released products before that were liked by your subscribers. All you would need to do to make use of email marketing would be to send out an email to your subscribers and let them know about your membership site. If your list is made up of people who have already purchased products from you, then they will be more likely to join your site.

Another way to build a list would be to release a free product and give it to people in exchange for opting in to receive emails for you. That would allow you to build a list of subscribers who are interested in internet marketing course products and might want to join your new membership site. While building a list from zero would take a bit of time, it is nonetheless a very good marketing method and something that you can consider doing alongside other promotion methods such as forum posting or social media promotion.

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.