In last week’s eLetter we looked at ways to direct traffic to our independent website product listings and so avoid paying heavy listing and final selling fees to sites like eBay and Amazon.

These free traffic sources attract buyers for our own products and others we are marketing as affiliates on free-to-use blogs like Google Blogger, and cost free websites provided by Wix, and frequently given as a bonus with a domain name purchase.

Here are four more ways to get free traffic to your low-cost, no cost websites:

#1. Instagram – http://www.instagram.com

Instagram is the place to upload images that stand out from the crowd and attract thousands of eyeballs and make the image go viral. Once that happens a good many eyes will travel through to your product listing pages to learn more about the subject of your image and at least some people should make a purchase.

Today, when I studied people using Instagram to promote the own goods and services I came by two essential components of a successful image:

– The product or subject of the image should occupy as much of the allowable image space as possible. That’s because so many images contain lots of background and pale into insignificance when an eye-catching full space image appears alongside. But if a background is used, it should never be white, which experts say is the most commonly used background colour of all and makes images more uninteresting than any other colour.

– The image should not show just the product, but also someone using it and looking happy doing so.  A slogan or memorable caption gives more reason for the image to be distributed to fellow users and for some to visit your product listing pages and hopefully buy.  Funny images are believed to be most productive of all and cryptic captions tend to be the most heavily shared.

Here are some tips from Instagram experts I studied today:

– Do not post more than three times a day or more than once every three hours.

– Offering a related series of images tempts people to call back to see all your submissions, as long as they are interesting, of course. Choose a popular theme, such as this week’s most profitable car boot find, this week in antique auctions UK, the cutest dog and what he is doing today.

#2. Tumblr – http://www.tumblr.com

Of itself, microblogging and social networking website says:

‘We made it really, really simple for people to make a blog and put whatever they want on it. Stories, photos, GIFs, TV shows, links, quips, dumb jokes, smart jokes, Spotify tracks, mp3s, videos, fashion, art, deep stuff. Tumblr is 342 million different blogs, filled with literally whatever.’

When I looked at the site and studied most active members, it appears that images with a short piece of text added attract the highest number of views and are more likely to go viral than text and image only entries. One of the most active Tumblr blogs comprises images of animals and a few words about them.

Experts suggest using acronyms in names for Tumblr blogs and posts. Acronyms are abbreviations formed from the initial letters of relevant words, such as the full name of a business – IKEA, DHL, YKK – and they can incite curiosity and lead people to click on a blog or post title to discover the meaning of the acronym. Actual Tumblr examples include OCD (Obsessive Corgi Disorder), FFFFF (Fanfare For Full Fathom Five).

#3. Triberr – http://www.triberr.com

Triberr is a social networking platform where bloggers share their thoughts and ideas with fellow bloggers targeting the same or similar subjects. A group of bloggers working together is called a tribe and their purpose is to share fellow members’ blog content with their own following at social networking sites, notably Twitter.

When you join a tribe, you are effectively growing your marketing audience right from day one, based on the number of people in your tribe and how many followers fellow members have on sites like Twitter.

Each member has a ‘reach’ – the number of people they can target from their own and other people’s followings – sometimes amounting to tens and hundreds of millions.

Note these tips from experts with reach in the high millions:

– Give and take and don’t join a tribe just to target other members’ followers without reciprocating. It’s not essential to reciprocate but if you don’t promote other members’ posts, they certainly will not promote yours.

– Create in-depth posts that fellow members will be pleased to share with their own following. One really good post is far more effective than dozens of lacklustre submissions.

– Problem solving articles and lists are very popular and are among the most frequently shared at the site.

– Comment on other people’s posts, which usually take less time than creating a new post of your own.  Additionally, a post that’s attracting lots of comments from other members provides a readymade audience for comments taking you a minute or two to create. Commenting on other people’s posts, especially influencers at the site, establishes you as an expert and helps develop trust in your comments much faster than ceaselessly submitting your own newly created posts.

– Promote your Triberr profile wherever possible, on Twitter, for example, also FaceBook, Google Plus, in article directories, and at the end of every outgoing email.

#4. Forum Marketing

I love this one and even though I no longer publish or promote goods online, other than on eBay and Etsy, I well remember times when a short comment on a forum has sent hundreds of visitors to my websites.

Forum posting and commenting is so easy and takes very little time to drive a swarm of traffic from forums matching the subject of your blogs and websites.

In most cases, all you have to do is comment on someone else’s forum post or begin a new thread – the name for all posts in the string – and include the url for your own website or blog in your forum profile and after your comments.

The idea is to answer questions and give advice to fellow forum members, both establishing yourself as an expert, as well as someone willing to help them today and in future – as long as it all happens inside the forum and drives constant traffic to your independent blogs and websites.

Find forums matching your interests by Googling ‘forums + (your interest)’.

Let the following tips guide you to success in forum marketing:

– Visit daily, preferably several times a day, and respond to other people’s comments in most active strings, especially those you created.

– End your posts with an active link back to your own outside promotions. Link to a free report to benefit forum members and you could attract double number visitors daily.

– Do not spam and do not make it obvious you have something to sell. Nothing upsets forum members more than people posting purely to sell. Posts have to be informative and helpful and if they are, members will choose to visit your sites to see what products you have to solve their problems and satisfy their needs.

So there you have four of many ways to promote your product listings without paying hefty fees. We’ll look at more in eLetters a few months from now.

The post Free Traffic and Four More Quick and Easy Ways to Get It appeared first on Auction Genie.