Whatever your online business, be it selling a product or offering any kind of service, it can end up being a dud if you don't get sufficient traffic. Sure, there are plenty of ways to direct traffic to your website, but if you’ve tried a few and are fed up with "trickling traffic", you need to stir things up a little and get moving.

Here are three surefire ways to open up the traffic gates to your site.

1) Write ten, 400 word articles about your topic

It’s your business and you know it best. When it comes to writing articles, there’s nobody more qualified than you. Spend some time and write 10 content rich, informative 400-word articles on diverse topics related to your business and submit them free of cost to various ezines and article directories.

You don't need to spend much time on research. These should be written from your existing "head" knowledge.

You can write how-to articles that provide guidelines and tips pertaining to your business. Articles that contain valuable information help you connect with your readers, who can connect back to you through your author resource box. A few good articles that pique the interest of those who are interested in your product will ensure a steady stream of traffic to your website.

2) Submit your site to DMOZ, Best of the Web, and Yahoo

Best of the Web, DMOZ, and Yahoo are reputed web directories, or reference libraries, for Internet resources. These directories are categorized by subject; from broad to specific and they have a huge range of topics to choose from.

Identify the most suitable category for your site and submit it. The criteria for these sites are rather stringent, and the very fact that you are listed will help establish you as a bona fide authority.

Before submitting your site to any of these directories, remember that it's most important you conform to globally accepted web standards and contain informative and unique content. Also, your viewers should be able to navigate your site easily, it should be running 24/7, and it should not contain any broken links or pictures.

3) Offer to write testimonials on any product you buy

Testimonials are the backbone of a good product and are much sought after by all site owners. They provide one of the few methods for online businesses to prove that their product offers good value.

Use this to your advantage. Whenever you come across a great website or if you are truly satisfied with a purchase, make it a practice to send a glowing testimonial to the site owner. What do you get in return? Site owners who get positive testimonials would be more than happy to publish the testimonial on their site and accompany it with a link back to your site. In time, these links add up and lead to a significant increase in traffic.

Use your creativity to master these three traffic techniques and you'll be sure to pick up other traffic generating techniques. Search out online as well as offline marketing methods. You never know when you'll hit on something that starts a traffic snowball to your site.