If you are new to starting an online business, you're probably wondering how to get traffic. I know this is the number one question I get from those who are new to internet marketing.

Although there are many ways to get traffic online, if you use paid traffic techniques, it can quickly get expensive.

If you're new to internet marketing, and you're working on a small or non existent budget, you can still get a lot of traffic to your website using free techniques. The easiest way to do this is to start with social networking sites because you can piggybank onto their high traffic and use these sites to start building targeted traffic to your own site.

First, you need to choose the social networking sites you will market on. I recommend starting small to get your feet wet. This means joining one or two general social networking sites like MySpace or Facebook, and then joining one or two topical social networking sites. When joining topical network sites, you want to join sites that have a fairly large number of subscribers and are active. Inactive sites won't do you a lot of good in marketing your business.

Once you join the social networking site, set up your profile. Make sure you add a link to your site in your profile and tell others what your business is about. Let others know you have an ezine or subscription list and tell them they can get more information. If possible, include a subscription box right in your profile. If you can create a simple table, you can do this.

Start making friends. You want to do a search on the site for your topic. You may have to search several times, as well as change your keywords, but keep searching until you find the type of people you are looking to connect with. To make it easier to connect with you, make sure you include the appropriate keywords in your profile and include information on the type of people you want to connect with. Once your friend request has been approved, then post a comment on the person's profile. Say thank you and then include a link to your site, as well as a little information about your business. (Avoid the flashy graphics though. You're a business owner, not looking for a date.)

Next, look for groups and forums on your topic. Look for groups and forums that have a lot of members and get involved in the conversation. Include a signature with every post you make.

Don't go overboard though when writing your signature. You should only include one link and make sure tha you use your keywords as the anchor text (the text others will click on to go to your site). You want to write a signature that will compel others to click on your link, yet avoid offering a blatant sales pitch. Offer valuable, and real, information to get others to click your link.

Some social networking sites will have free classifieds, and others won't. If the site does have free classifieds, then be sure and post an ad. Try to give away something free, like a subscription to your ezine, an ebook, or something like that.

If you have a talent for video, then you should definitely create videos to share on these sites. If you can upload videos to the site to share with others, then you should definitely do so. If not, try to at least embed a video into your profile to make your profile sticky.

How you promote on social networking sites is only limited by your imagination. Just make sure you avoid spamming, as well as obtrusive sales pitches that might annoy your audience.

About the Author

Want to learn how top marketers use social networking to expand their businesses? "Social Marketing" teaches you how to easily bring in more profits in just a few minutes a day. Meet me on MySpace.

Jinger Jarrett is the author of "Internet Marketing for Free: The GUIDE." (On Amazon).