The best traffic in life is free, but if you can't get free search engine traffic then the very next best thing is to use search engine advertising (we'll cover how to get free search engine traffic in just a couple of pages).
In a nutshell, search engine advertising basically boils down to this: People go to search engines to search what they are looking for (granted). For this example let's say it's video games. So they go to a search engine and type in "video games" - up come the results of all the web sites dedicated to video games. If your site happens to be in the top search results, then awesome for you - tons of free traffic and visitors! However, the odds are your web site will not be in the top search results whatever it is your webs ite is about.
That's where Search Engine Advertising comes in to play. Either above or below the actual search results, or off to the right, will be what are called "Sponsored Search Results". And your site can be listed there for a fee.
It's easy to see why search engine advertising is all the rage. People are searching and looking for something, they go to a search engine to find it, and BAM! - there is your web site right in front of them offering them exactly what they are searching for at that exact moment they are searching for it. Not too shabby.
But it actually gets even better. Because with most search engine advertising packages you only pay when someone actually clicks on the ad and comes to your site.
It's hard to describe just how powerful this option is. It's the reason Google IPO'd at $84 and is now worth over $300 a share.
If you successfully use search engine advertising strategies you can drive tons of targeted traffic right to your site. And if you don't (because it's pay per click) you don't pay anything (unlike a TV ad, or newspaper ad, or magazine ad, etc).