Are you worried about the economy? Who isn’t! In today’s tough economic time’s small businesses owners need to find and/or create innovative ways to earn more money. I guess that’s why I am constantly asked “What can I do to drive more traffic to my blog or website?” In an economy that has been so challenging, it’s nice to be reminded there are free and low-cost resources available to help grow your business.

Want more website traffic? Check out this traffic generating checklist:

1.    Analyze website traffic
In the old days, to see if you were getting more website traffic, you could use a basic hit (also known as a web) counter to measure visitors. Fortunately, those days are long gone! The analytics tools today are far more sophisticated, easy to understand, and best of all FREE.

If you are serious about driving more website traffic and not using Google Analytics, well, you should be! Once you understand the power of this tool you will make profit-generating improvements to your blogging, social media and advertising.

• Review search keywords visitors use to find your website
• Review what geographical area visitors come from
• Review which social media sites is sending you more website traffic

2.    Leave comments
Leaving comments is a cheap form of advertising without blatantly shouting your sales pitch. This basic effective strategy is often overlooked because many entrepreneurs just don’t understand the power. Leaving comments on sites that attract your target audience builds relationships and shows your expertise.

Engage other commenters by asking and answering thought-provoking questions. Some bloggers reward commenter’s with “dofollow” links which boost your website’s rank in search engines. Best of all leaving comments on popular blogs in your industry is a good way to be known around the Internet.

• Be the first to comment because they are most often read
• Get backlinks that drive more website traffic
• Use your Facebook connection to comment on your Facebook page

3.    Write blogs
Whether you are a beginner or an expert in blogging this strategy will get you backlinks that improve your search engine PageRank. There are literally hundreds of blogs to choose from. However, there is one feature-rich FREE article marketing site that stands out, EzineArticles.com. Your articles will be sent to over 400+ niche email alerts indicating new articles are available that match their unique interests.

• Use archives for past newsletters, blog posts, comments from forums or blogs
• Only use original content you wrote
• Create articles between 400-750 words

4.    Add social share buttons 
Even if you are not using all the social media sites your visitors are. The good news is when they love your content they want to share it with their friends and connects. Don’t miss out on your opportunity to use social media to get more websites and broadcast your message. For those who have not or are still afraid to jump on the social media bandwagon, this is where you can get started.

• Easily let others share your content on all social media sites
• Use them yourself to quickly share and shorten your blogs
• Make it easy for your visitors to share on all social media sites with ShareThis

Using this checklist will keep you from staying awake at night thinking about how you can attract more traffic to your website. Start reaping the benefits today.