Some of the biggest and established classified ad sites are visited by millions of people daily! Generally you wouldn’t really care about this piece of information, but if you are looking for a way to promote your own website, then you most certainly would want to find out how to drive traffic to your site for free.

For starters, let’s take a closer look at what the classified ad sites actually are: they are the digital version of the newspaper classified sections, where individuals and businesses can post just about any kind of ad they want either for free or for a small fee. These sites are by far the fastest way to reach a large audience in a matter of minutes; whether you have a business website, a personal site that promotes your services or an online shop, you can post classified ads, drive traffic to that site of yours and at the end earn more money.

Of course, you will have to learn not to cross the line between advertising and spamming; most of the biggest classified sites have pretty good spam-protection tools in place, but you can still play by the rules and increase your website exposure. Before you start putting your online ad together, you need to do a bit of research; find out which are the biggest classified ad sites since they are the ones that can send most visitors your way; however, do not ignore smaller or local sites - placing an ad there is usually hassle-free and much easier. Once you have compiled a list of sites that you would want to place your ad on, take a closer look at the different section - writing and publishing your ad takes time and might cost money, which is why you would want to make most out of it; make sure that you find the section that is visited by people that are looking for whatever your website has to offer.

If you are an auto dealer and you have a business website, then it is more than obvious that you would want to place your ad in the cars for sale or cars wanted section; if the classified site that you are placing your ad allows you, make sure to post a direct link to your site and if at all possible include an image with your logo or website’s address. If your site is used to promote a business that is not bound to particular geographical area, then you might want to post your ad in other states and other big cities, as long as this is not against the classified ad site’s rules.

When played right, you can increase and even double your website traffic in a matter of a few weeks or months; as long as you don’t overpost, use your common sense and your website offers great service or value to its visitors, the online classified sites are a great way of getting free traffic!

Alex Wu operates a classified ads website that lets people advertise, build groups, and connect. He hopes to create an active environment for businesses to place their job listings.