I get on average around 10,000 to 12,000 unique visitors to my main site each month. Actually, when you`re speaking about the Internet, that`s not too much to brag about, but it`s better than getting say 1000 or 2000 visitors; that was my usual rate until I aggressively went after targeted traffic for my site.

I thought I would briefly and in very simple terms explain how I increased the targeted traffic to my main site from around 1,000 to 10,000 unique visitors each month. That`s a ten-fold increase -- I aam aiming for a hundred-fold increase but would gladly settle for thirty or forty times the traffic.

How did I increase my site`s traffic? The answer might just help you get more traffic to your own site. Most of these techniques are very simple to implement and if you`re serious about building an online business, lets face it, the first thing you`re going to need is targeted visitors to your site.

I hope you have noticed I have mentioned the words `targeted visitors` several times already. I did this to bring home the fact that you`re not just after traffic but targeted traffic or visitors to your site. You want visitors to your site who are already interested in your site`s topic and who are more likely to benefit from your site`s content or products.

It`s the first ingredient for a successful web site.

Below are my 5 main sources of targeted traffic to my site. Along with a short explanation of how you can create or put the same practices to work for your own site.

1. RSS EMPOWERED One of most effective sources of traffic to my site would have to be my blogs and RSS feeds. Notice I said blogs and feeds; I have created simple blogs and feeds for the major topics of my site: on rss resources, web hosting solutions, notebook computers, etc. These blogs and feeds bring in a great number of targeted visitors to my site.

With the introduction of Google Blog Search, my blog traffic is increasing even more. Within minutes of posting to my blog - I am getting targeted traffic from Google. You are instantly indexed by Google Blog Search; it`s reason enough for every webmaster to put at least one blog on their site.

Try to imagine the traffic you`ll get when the next RSS empowered Windows browser arrives from Microsoft. Get your own site ready and prepared for RSS to take advantage of all this traffic. Just use Google owned blogger.com to create your blog -- it has that all important blog search bar at the top!

2. SEO EMPOWERED Seo optimization should be your goal! Still the main source of traffic to my site are the search engines. Mainly from Google, followed by MSN and Yahoo. You must optimize your site for the search engines. This includes off/site links and on/site tactics.

I have been online since `98 so I thought I knew how to optimize a website. Boy, was I ever wrong! I didn`t notice a big jump in my traffic until I stumbled across a SEO expert, actually stumble is the wrong word, I actually sought out the best SEO expert I could find. His name is Brad Callen. He offers a free email course on how to optimize your sites for the search engines. His main product is SEO Elite.

Just the free course and his helpful newsletter have really fine-tuned my site, which resulted in a major increase of traffic especially from Google. You should try the same for your site or sites and see the results for yourself.

3. ARTICLE EMPOWERED This one works. Article marketing for me has been the major reason for the turn around in the amount of traffic my sites were receiving. It`s one of the most effective ways to get targeted visitors to your site.

Getting your articles published in ezines and on sites such as addme.com or sitepronews.com will generate an enormous amount of traffic to your site. As a bonus, you even get 100`s of subscribers to your own ezine in one day!

The trick is to write helpful how-to articles on current topics that other webmasters want on their sites, this will boost your link popularity with the search engines and increase your rankings. You must also very carefully choose the right keywords to target in your articles, matching the content on your site. One way to do this is with a site like www.nichebot.com -- it will show how to pick the right `competitive` keywords for your site. You must target keywords that have high traffic, yet little competition from competing web sites.

My main sources of traffic from article sites include www.ezinearticles.com and www.buzzle.com.

4. EZINE EMPOWERED Building a large opt-in list or subscribers to my ezine is another method that brings in a lot of traffic to my site. You can use an ezine to offer helpful tips to your subscribers. It is a very easy way to get repeat visitors to your site and build up a relationship with your visitors.

Your ezine should relate to your site`s theme and offer more information on the same. Whether you believe it not, if you operate a site on a particular subject for a couple of years, you will fast become an expert on that subject. People will regard you as such and this will also bring in visitors to your site.

5. VIRAL MARKETING EMPOWERED Another way to attract targeted visitors is to offer a free product or service. I use free brandable reports that visitors can download and use. These reports and ebooks have links back to my sites. One of my most popular ones is a timely report and guide on how to use and benefit from RSS on all your sites. It brings in a lot of traffic.

Similar to the one above, I use other free viral techniques to build targeted traffic to my site. These are products that can be branded with your links and passed around. Helpful software programs that match the theme of your site are good choices to make.

Another popular one that I have on my site is the DATEwise eCalendar and personal planner that visitors can download and place on their desktops. It has hotlinks to my site that brings in traffic. It can be customized with your site`s products so you get targeted visitors or customers.

OTHER SOURCES There are other sources of traffic for my site that I find effective but they bring in lesser traffic than the methods listed above. But they are still worth mentioning, one of these is regular posting on major online forums. This brings in very good targeted traffic, so too, is posting comments in online blogs.

Another good source is a traffic exchange called `Traffic Swarm` - most sites where members exchange traffic don`t work. You get worthless hits to your site. However, Traffic Swarm is one exception that your should try. You just set your start page to this exchange, and click on sites you want to visit.

Increasing targeted traffic to your site is an ongoing struggle for every webmaster. I hope you can try some of the techniques that have worked for me. I am sure they will also work for you.

Empower your site with targeted traffic!