"If you build it, they will come." In the hit movie, Field of Dreams, this was the litany that played through the weaving of the film. It was magical, the happening like something phenomenal and ethereal. At times, getting website traffic can seem like that movie. Put up a website, and magically visitors will appear.

Hogwash. This only works in the movies. No matter how beautiful the build, your web-based business will fail if you don't generate enough traffic to your site or sites. How can you get it? By learning how to promote online.

1. Start with SEO - search engine optimization. This is the core of any good website promotion plan. SEO involves using keywords and the words they are associated with (look up LSI for information on this), as well as inbound links, to create relevance and importance with spider-based search engines. Something like 75% of all traffic to websites comes from a person searching on Google and clicking a link. You do not want to miss out on that traffic.

2. Create relationships at social networking sites. A huge part of your promotion will be involved in getting inbound links, which build your reputation with search engines. Many people use public social networks like Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, or community forums to get those links. The trick is including your inbound link with appropriate anchor text on every post you make. However, never post just to get that link out there; every person reading your comment is a potential customer, and your job is to make them like you. How do you feel when someone barges into a conversation and tries to sell you a vacuum cleaner? Same thing.

3. Article marketing has long been the mainstay of any good promotion campaign. Give them away. Put them in article directories where others can read and use them. Each article picked up has a backlink or inbound link to your site. If somebody on some other site reads your article, likes it and wants to learn more, they will click on the link at the bottom. You, in turn, will receive traffic and potential customers.

4. Write ebooks and give them away. The power of giving away ebooks was one of the first things discovered by online viral marketers. You won't get inbound links in most cases, as search engines don't normally spider ebooks; however, a good book will be shared over and over. On every page, insert your website address in a discrete part of the header or footer. Readers will know where to come for more information.

5. Get other sites to link to you. This is usually done with the free article trick, but you can offer hordes of other free goodies: ebooks, online tools, free software downloads. You may also be able to guest blog for someone with good traffic, or just pay them to run your link somewhere on their site. Just make sure their Google rank is high before you spend all that time and money.

6. Giveaway free services, recipes, calorie counters, charts and exercise kits and reports. Free content and tips are always appreciated and used. If they can post it on their site, so much the better. Ask yourself, what can you offer for free in your niche?

7. Create an affiliate program. Affiliate marketers are like a freelance sales force - you don't pay them until they make a sale. Not only do you sell product, but they include a well-formatted link back to your site on their own sites.

8. Run contests with real prizes. There are dozens of contest clearinghouse sites, and if you let them know you have a contest, they'll link back to you. Think carefully before running a contest; your prize offering should be targeted to bring in the type of traffic who will stay to buy, not who are just coming out to make a few bucks.

While there are plenty of ways to get traffic flowing for our site, these are just a few to get you started. While Field of Dreams was content to just build it, you need to take the saying a bit further: "If you build it AND promote it correctly, the will definitely come. And come. And come."

Learn tips for marketing an online business, or how to start a home based internet business. Visit the website marketing tips blog at http://www.nitromarketing.com/blog