When I say we stuck to the fundamentals, I mean:

• No paid directory inclusion: the site was not added to a single paid directory (only free directories)
• No paid press releases or other off-site publication
• No paid advertising or search engine marketing (SEM)
• No purchased traffic at all
• No paid search engine optimization (SEO); just the fundamentals of good site design
  • quality content & regular updates
  • search engine friendly URL’s
  • good site structure & sitemap

The performance of the site has been impressive, and because all traffic comes from relevant site referrals and search engines, it tends to be highly targeted and convert very well. Since the site launched it has graduated from a Google Page Rank 0 to a Page Rank 4, and traffic has essentially doubled every 2 months (the trend graph below illustrates this). This isn’t to say we couldn’t have driven more traffic to the site through paid marketing methods, but it demonstrates the often underestimated power of the fundamentals of search engine optimization (SEO). So, next time someone promises to send more traffic to your website, ask yourself if there isn’t more that you could do better on the site itself. It might be a more cost effective use of your time and hard earned dollar.