One of the fundamentals to finding success on the Internet via the search engines is to make your Web site appear not just as a business Web site, but also as a resource for your industry. While you don't want to detract from the "theme" of your site, providing helpful articles and tools can draw visitors that would have never found you before. Whether you're simply reprinting materials from magazines or other news sources (after getting their permission) or producing in-house materials such as a monthly newsletter, this kind of content can lead you to the promised land.

What do the copyright laws have to say about reprinted materials? Well, the same rules apply on the Web as anywhere else. You need their permission to post, but most publications are more than happy to allow you to do so because it generally leads to more traffic for them.

If you don't have access to any good third-party content, what about all the information that is stored inside your head? We all know the tricks of our trade and can be considered experts in one area or another, so why not write about your experience and share it with others? Your writing abilities can lead to great things for your Web site.

Type "How To Shop for a Web Design Firm?" into Google and see how many Web sites show up. You'll see pages upon pages of results that have archived an article, written just a few months ago. Type the name of other "Recommended Reads" and see how many pages show up. Using RSS feeds, we've syndicated our knowledge to Web sites around the world.

Does your company have a public relations department? If so, they're no doubt busy publishing press releases frequently, so why not post these to your Web site? If you don't have a public relations department, have one of your marketing people do a little bit of research and you'll find numerous examples of press releases to mimic.

There are many ways to accomplish this type of publicity and many of them carry very little or no cost at all. All it takes is a little research and a little time, and soon you'll be seeing a lot of traffic.