1. Google.
This one is obvious. Google is the most popular search engine with over 80% market share. For that reason I consider it the number one place to get traffic. Getting good ranking on Google is a challenge but before you take that on you need to make sure your site's included in their index. The easiest way to do that is submit your URL to them. Unfortunately this process can take up to six weeks. If you're willing to speed up the process WebStarts can get you submitted in less than 3 hours but it will cost you around $50.
2. Yahoo.
Yahoo is the second largest search engine and is making a come back since the Firefox browser opted to provide default search results from Yahoo instead of Google. Like Google you can submit your URL directly to Yahoo and after some time they'll include it in their index.
3. Bing.
Bing is the third largest search engine and commands a slightly smaller audience than Yahoo. By having your website indexed by the three biggest search engines you're ensuring maximum exposure and increased relevance in the marketplace.
4. Instagram.
Instagram is the fastest growing social network over the last year growing by a whopping 25%. It's still a little tricky to utilize Instagram for business because you have to make posts from the app installed on your phone. On the positive side Instagram is the social network young people are paying attention to and there's not a lot of spam or advertisements to compete with yet.
5. Facebook.
Facebook is the staple of social networks. There are now over 1.3 billion people who have a Facebook account. Facebook has increasingly catered to businesses. You can create a page on Facebook for your business and add a button that directs people back to your website.
6. Twitter.
Twitter isn't growing as fast as Instagram but it's still a fairly hot social network with young people. Like Facebook, Twitter has increasingly catered to businesses, allowing a business to create a Twitter account and link back to their website.
7. Youtube.
The online world is becoming all about videos and nobody's bigger in the online video world than Youtube. Creating a Youtube channel for your business and regularly posting videos about your products and services is a must in the modern era of marketing.
8. Pinterest.
Pinterest continues to grow at a rapid rate and is now one of the top 30 websites in the world according to Alexa. Creating a Pinterest account for your business is a great way to get traffic to your website. Some of the best ways to gain traction on Pinterest are sharing creative ideas, top ten lists, and how to's as images.
9. LinkedIn.
LinkedIn continues to be the place for business people to make social connections, and share resumes. And with LinkedIn's new publishing platform it's easy to get extra exposure for your content through the social network.
10. StumbleUpon.
A lot of people don't think of StumbleUpon but all our analytics at WebStarts show nearly as much traffic comes from StumbleUpon as from Facebook. It's easy to create a StumbleUpon account and start posting to the content discovery network.
By creating profiles at all ten of these websites you're sure to get the ball rolling when it comes to online traffic. And the best part of all is you can do this without spending any money. You'll be surprised at how much traffic you can generate by creating quality content and sharing it on these networks every week.