My previous AdSense traffic tip was about article writing, which is definitely a lot of work. There is a simpler thing you can do to generate small amounts of traffic, and that's to engage your friends and family in promoting your site or blog.
Let's face it, many people — myself included — are not natural self-promoters. In fact, I always look at marketers and salespeople a bit suspiciously. Statistics that indicate that nearly half of all salespeople may lie to clients do little to dispel these kinds of feelings.
But the reality is that if you're doing something solo and creative — whether it's building a site or writing a book — then the person who's most interested in what you're doing is you. Not the general public. You're the one that has to push and promote your project. So you have to learn to put aside your misgivings and start promoting what you're doing.
Here's where you engage your natural allies, your friends and family. While they don't have as much invested in what you're doing as you do, they still want to see you succeed. They're happy to help you out, even in a small way.
So what do you do? The first thing is to tell them to not click any of the ads on your site/blog. That's the last thing you want them to do. They may think they're doing you a favor, but they're not.
What you want your family and friends to do is simply to spread the word about what you're doing. If they're not that technical, help them setup email signature files with the URL of your site/blog so that they're promoting your site every time they send mail. Have them spread the word — not by spamming, but via their regular communications — about what you're doing to their friends and family. Maybe they participate in forums or mailings lists related to what your site/blog's about. Whatever they can do to promote your site without resorting to spam or other dubious techniques can only help you in the long run.
Some people even get quite creative with this. My father, for example, has just created a promotional blog whose main purpose is to publicize my sister's new baby stroller advice site. He goes so far as to claim that “you will not find a better source of information” on choosing a baby stroller than what my sister's managed to pull together in her spare time. You have to give him credit for being bold! Whether or not you agree with his assertion, you can be sure that he's going to try to drive some traffic to my sister's site. Will it be a lot? Probably not.
But it doesn't have to take a lot. He's going to tell his friends and family about it. (I'm already talking about it!) Maybe one of them will pass the word on to someone else, and so on. Maybe at some point someone in that chain will end up linking to her site. Or suggesting it be included in a directory somewhere.
You can also get friends and family to help you in other ways. Such as reading and proofing the articles you write. Or submitting them to article sites on your behalf. Or helping you look for directories and blogs related to your topic.
Don't be afraid to let your friends and family know that you can use your help. And be helpful in return. That's why I've included links to my own family's sites here on my main blog page. They want me to succeed, and I want them to succeed. Together, we can help each other succeed. That's what being part of a community's all about.
Eric Giguere is the author of Make Easy Money with Google, a real (printed!) introductory AdSense book for non-technical people, available at all fine bookstores. Be sure to download the free sample chapter for more information about the book.