Folks, there are dozens of ways to promote your website. Press releases, banner ads, newsgroup postings, spam, bribing magazine editors, winning creditable awards, etc.

I've tried all of these for my baby, IT Gossip.net, an Internet news and computer industry gossip site. And some of them worked. And some of them cost $$$. But only one performed really well - and it's the essence of good communication - being observant and personal!

The Internet is a busy, detached ghost town. It's rare to find *real* people - that's why community sites such as GeoCities at The Globe have become so popular. And that's why developing personal relationships with other site owners is so important.

Imagine receiving e-mail, reading: "Hello there. I visited your site this morning. Would you be able to link to my really cool site at www.itgossip.net? I think your visitors will like it. Thanks, Zach"

Hmmm, not too personal, is it? Let's take a minute out to observe the golden rules of asking for a link...

1. Try to find the name of the Webmaster when contacting him/her. "Dear John" sounds better than "Dear Webmaster"
   
   
2. Open the e-mail with flattery. Saying you've just "visited" the site isn't enough. Make an intelligent, complimentary comment about an area deep within the site
   
   
3. Tell them you've *already* placed a link to their site on yours - and provide the URL of the page(s). Trust me, they'll take a look - so make it a prominent link alongside a glowing review
   
   
4. Explain what your site has to offer - and hint towards a reciprocal link Easy, huh?

Now put yourself in those ol' surfing shoes. Visit a search engine and tap in keywords you'd think Netizens would use to locate a site like yours. Then get down and boogey with the site owners. Cool!

Trust me, this is a really powerful traffic-generating tool!

Until my next article, folks. Bye!