It’s because you’re not doing the right things.

Here are 17 ways to drive viral traffic at no cost, in no specific order whatsoever.

You probably know a few of them, but do you really use them (frequently) all?

1. Forum Postings

You know the drill. Almost if not all the niche forums out there allow you introduce yourself, ask questions and answer member postings. The SIG file at the end of your postings or your PROFILE containing your blog URL is going to bring you traffic regularly. It works. Smart marketers do it. What are you waiting for?

Further reading:

The Ins and Outs of Forum Marketing

Forum Marketing @ JonathanLegerSuccess.com

Forums Like DigitalPoint Are Great For Blog Promotion

2. Blog Commenting

That’s my favorite. What other place to promote your blog than on other people’s blogs? Keep in mind – only post on niche-targeted BLOGS and do it frequently.

Further reading:

10 Techniques to Get More Comments on Your Blog

Do You Have A Blog Commenting Strategy?

A case study on why blog commenting kicks ass

3. Article Publishing

Isn’t article publishing death? Hm.. Pros are still doing it, and mostly have great success, including yours truly.

Further reading:

Get 5 Traffic Sources From Just 1 Article!

Article Marketing and the Duplicate Content Filter

Building Traffic with Article Marketing

4. Solo Mailing Ad Swaps

This is outrageously simple. You team up with someone in your niche who owns an opt-in list and approach him/her with a solo mailing ad swap. That’s a reciprocal mailing, win-win deal at its best. You won’t easily convince someone who did not do this before because they can’t see the benefits of ‘sharing’ their subscribers.

My advice – give it a try!

Further reading:

List Building Tips: Ad Swap Magic = Free Advertising

Ad Swap Magic

5. Thank-You Page Swaps

The concept is similar as ad swapping. You don’t exchange solo ads, you’re promoting your offer on someone else’s thank-you page. When they get new subscribers, your offer (text, ad, banner, etc.) is going to be seen by those leads.

Further reading:

The Dead-End “Thank-You” Page

39% of Viewers Accept Offers on ‘Thank You’ Pages

What does a great thank you page look like?

6. Blog Roll Swaps

Another favorite of mine. You have probably a blog roll already in your blog’s sidebar. What other great place to get new link partners than in that spot. Trade links with top blogs in your niche and add them to your blog roll.

This is probably the most often overlooked traffic-getting tactic.

Further reading:

What is a Blogroll? Why Would I Want One?

7. Blog Review Swaps

The concept is dead simple. You review somebody else’s blog (in 300-500 words), and he/she does the viceversa. The first time I did it it brough a few hundreds visitors and up to 100 leads. Still getting traffic and leads from this first blog review swap.

Small warning – it’s not wise you and your swap partner do it on the same day because it really looks like you traded these blog reviews. Readers might feel bad about this. You could publish the review on Monday, and ask your partner to do it the next week.

You could do it both on the same day if the blog your partner reviews is different than the one where you’re going to reciprocate with the review.

Further reading:

Write Reviews that Add Value and Solve Readers’ Problems

Mutual Blog Review

8. Product Review Swaps

The strategy is similar to the one above. You’re not reviewing blogs, instead you’re writing about products.

Find top niche blogs in your market who have their own products and write about them. Your partner will reciprocate if you have your own product, obviouslly. You could try this with affiliate products too

Further reading:

How to Create a Product Review Blog

10 Ways to Maximize The Value Of A Product Review

9. Digg

I’ve been playing with this for awhile and got some cool results. Nothing spectacular yet. I noticed most visitors stick with my blog for about one minute. That’s good, it means something interests them, and you might hit the jackpot using Digg.

All you have to do is submit links talking about news, or sharing videos/pictures.

The links could be on your own site/blog, or on other people’s sites/blogs.

Further reading:

5 Tips to Use Digg to Drive Blog Traffic

How to Build a ‘Digg Culture’ on your Blog

Ten reasons why ‘Top 10′ lists suck

10. Squidoo

I liked Squidoo idea the first time I saw it, yet I never started to use it. Some folks experienced great results with it, while others are ok. The concept is to create your own lense pages with Squidoo. It’s a good way to get traffic to yourblog and monetize it off Squidoo itself too.

Some tell it’s the next generation of article marketing. What would you think about it?

Further reading:

How can Squidoo bring in more traffics for you?

Loving Squidoo, and Loving our Lensmasters

Squidoo: Seth Godin’s Purple Albatross?

11. 43 Things

The first time I used this I got banned. Wanted to create another account but was too busy updating this blog.

If you want to have fun and get some traffic on autopilot at the same time, then start your ‘goals’ list and uploadthem on 43 things dot com.

Further reading:

Using 43things.com as a Marketing Tool

12. Tell a Friend

This is a great plugin which you could quickly add to your blog. It helps get more traffic by allowing readers referyour blog and postings to friends, and in social media sites.

I am testing it myself and starting to see some referrals. Hey, it’s 100% free, use it yourself!

13. All in One SEO Pack

Another great plugin, for WP users and blog owners.

It helps you do proper SEO for your blog postings, thus getting you more targeted and viral traffic (think in
terms of big Google)

Further reading:

Optimal SEO For WordPress: All In One Seo Pack

Search Engine Optimization for Blogs – SEO

Optimize Your WordPress Blog With All In One SEO Pack

14. Google (XML) Sitemaps Generator for WordPress

This plugin works hand in hand with the one above. It helps build a Google sitemap. Use this to index all your posts in Google, Yahoo and Msn, fast.

Further reading:

Sitemaps, Their Purpose, and Some Helpful Resources to Create Your Own

Is Your Google Sitemap Working?

Google Sitemaps with WordPress

15. MaxBlogPress Ping Optimizer

Another great plugin. This works with WP only and it’s well worth. Still free at the moment.

It helps avoid ping penalty and spamming. A great tool if you want to get indexed in blog/rss directories each and every time you do a new blog post.

Further reading:

What’s new in MaxBlogPress Ping Optimizer 2.2?

MaxBlogPress “Ping Optimizer” Review

17. WP-Polls

If you want more viral traffic, then GET interactive. Add polls. Not just one, multiple polls and surveys.

This brings the ‘community’ aspect to your blog, and makes it viral. If your polls are cool, fun and entertaining it might bring a lot of traffic at no cost.

I’m using the plugin above on this blog as you can see on the sidebar. Each time you refresh the page, you get to see a different poll. There are three so far, and I plan to add more in the near future.

Further reading:

Blog Polls – Add Interactivity to Your Blog

P.S. If you liked this TIP, you’re going to love the next ones.