In my journey of generating traffic, I found out most free web traffic generation methods come with "headaches". Even though these methods have been widely advocated as effective but after going through them, headache is what I get. Just to share with you what "headache" you will get if you opt for them as well.

Search Engine Optimization ("SEO")

SEO basically means having your website rank high in the search engine and your website will be visible and accessible by your 'potential' online customers. However, if you opt for SEO, be prepared to spend months encountering complications, trying to understand and "maneuvering" with your website's layout, LSI, backlinks, meta data, anchor links, following backlinks and the list goes on. Sometimes, I still wondering what does those jargons really mean.

Article Marketing

This is where you write a 300 until 500 words article about your targeted niche or product with the link to your website or sales page, posting the article across multiple articles directories to get visitors to your website or sales page. This method has been 'heavily' used. There are hundreds and thousands of article directories out there so if you are targeting visitors from these directories, do be patient if you expect them to find your articles.

Backlinks

This is where you request someone else to place a link from their websites back to your website and you must place their link on your website as well. But what if you don't want a website or don't have a website? How are you going to get backlinks? No website no backlinks. This method involves a lot of works and is very time consuming. Be prepared to spend more time and money building a network of backlinks. You will be going through months of boring, grueling work, hoping and praying it will eventually pay off.

Blogging

Today, no doubt that the most influential and popular bloggers are 'loaded' with cash but most of them started back in year 2001. Now, almost everyone has a blog. Do you have something truly spectacular or unique to stand out from the crowd? Do you have years to spare to build a popular blog from scratch? I don't know about you but I don't have the luxury of time.

Press Releases This method sounds awesome in theory as it will give you a quick "burst of traffic"! But most probably for a short period of time only. As you know, press releases are designed to create awareness so they must be 'newsworthy' every time. How many 'newsworthy' information can you come out with every week? 1, 3 or maybe even 10... but what about the next week or the month after? Now, I'm still cracking my head figuring out how to come out with "newsworthy" content.

Social Media and Networking

Yes, no doubt you go for social media or social networking to be entertained or have fun right? but are they really effective in getting traffic and for making money? I don't know.

Social Bookmarking

You just need to write a few lines, hit submit and you get a free backlink. You got instant traffic. Is it really that easy to get traffic? Today millions of people are bookmarking every second, so don't expect visitors to find you listed in some "cluttered" RSS feed.

Headache...headache and headache...If you opt for free web traffic methods, you will need to invest lots of your time and no guarantee that you will get the traffic that you expect. Are those heavily advocated free web traffic generation methods still works? Time is the most valuable "asset" in the world. Do you have time to spare?