Waiting for traffic to find your website and your sales to start filling your inbox can be as frustrating as watching paint dry or being stuck in traffic with no way out - but it doesn't have to be that way.

The most common challenge with a new or growing online business is to drive enough traffic to the site so that we can test and improve conversion. To test any sales message you need at least 500 visitors, and the reality is that you may need to test 8 or 10 versions of your sales letter in order to get any kind of a decent visitor to sales ratio for your online business.

I don't have to work through the math do I, it means you need lots of traffic and fast so that you can expect a certain amount of income each week.

OK, let's cut to the chase, how do you get the traffic you need to build momentum with your new or struggling online business?

Forget everything else you have heard and focus on these 4 methods, they are the methods that have been used again and again by successful online marketers who build a growing online business over as little as a few months.

ONLINE MARKETING TECHNIQUES

1. Start a blog, post updates at least a few times each week and submit to the various blog directories. You will find it will get picked up by the SE's quickly which gets you some decent early exposure.

2. Commit to finding at least 3 new JV partners each month (of course nothing stops you from forming many more) by first seeking out ideal partners who already have traffic and loyalty built up toward iPod users (iPod ezines, iPod forums, iPod membership sites, iPod accessory sales sites) then via a system of having them review your product move them toward a partnership with you.

3. Press release. Pull some newsworthy concepts out of your product and write your own press release around them. At the worst, you will gain incoming links from your PR's, if you get the right news slant you can do much better by having your PR's picked up by national or local pubs.

4. Write articles. Commit to writing two articles each week. They can be timely, tips articles, news, etc... and start by submitting through some of the more reputable article submission directories. Ideally, after a few weeks, you want to begin monitoring where your articles are being picked up and start approaching the publishers directly - another method of creating joint venture partnerships.

You would be right in thinking there are many other ways to generate traffic, and in time you can implement them in your business. You can create viral reports, launch your own podcasts, run teleseminars, conduct offline advertising and more.

This last statement comes with a big Warning though, focus on what will get you the most traffic the fastest first - that's what you will achieve by using the top 4 techniques listed above.

Finally, make sure you have an opt-in option to capture names of those who do not want to purchase immediately so you can "drip" on them over time with your own offer and even partner with others to offer their products.