Ahh yes, the question that is on everyones mind is How do you generate traffic to your website or blog? Many first-time bloggers assume that you make a few posts, submit your blog to the search engines and traffic will come naturally. It's not that simple and it takes a little more work than just that.

Here are seven tips to generate traffic to your website or blog.

1. The primary way of promoting any website is by creating valuable content. It is important to have something of value to offer to your readership. Adding quality content to your Web site or blog is the best way to keep visitors returning. Not only will it keep them coming back, but it will encourage them to create links to your website or blog. Make sure that you update your content regularly. Once people realize that you add fresh content regularly, then they will constantly check back to see what is new. The purpose of having a website or blog is to attract regular visitors.

2. You've worked really hard on your Blog, but no one is reading it. Read and comment on other blogs, but make sure that you comment on the topic at hand. Dont ask them to come and visit your blog. Write valuable comments and leave a link to your blog.

3. Technorati currently tracks 35.3 Million weblogs. It is one of the best traffic providers for bloggers. If you dont already have a Technorati account, you can create one at http://technorati.com. Once you sign up youll be required to claim your blog. Technorati will give you two codes. Youll need to put one of these in your blog for Technorati to verify that your blog exists. Technorati also offers tagging. When you use the tagging system of Technorati, youre drawing attention to your keywords. Tags tell the search engines which category your posts are under. Many of Technorati tagged pages rank high in search engines. Once youve added tags to your post be sure to ping it.

4. Use http://pingoat.com to ping more than 50 directories each time you republish to your blog. What does pinging do? Pinging lets the weblog tracking sites know that your site has just been updated with fresh new content.

5. Write articles and submit them to article directories. Writing and submitting articles is a free and easy way to drive traffic back to your website. Article directories are a huge hype with new ones sprouting up all over. When a webmaster or blogger uses one of your articles it increases your web exposure though backlinks to your blog or website.

6. If you want to drive traffic to your website or blog and keep visitors returning then why not consider giving something of valuable away. Giving items away for free is a great way to increase traffic. Some of the things that you can give away are free downloads, free e-books or a free audio. If you administrate a community, you might suggest that your members donate something to give away as a way of supporting their community. Also holding a contest is a great way to boost traffic.

7. Make a commit to yourself to blog regularly. All it takes is ten minutes everyday to increase your traffic. Ask any SEO expert and they will tell you that search engines love content. However dont blog for the sake of blogging. Make sure that what youre blogging about is of interest to your readership.

There you have it, Rose DesRochers seven important ways to increase traffic to your blog or website. I hope that these suggestions will help you.