There are thousands of free traffic sources online promising to deliver timely, quality visitors to your websites and businesses. The free traffic site list below are my recommended core programs for anyone promoting business opportunities or advertising within the make money online niche.

Two popular methods of getting free online traffic are safelists and traffic exchanges. Other methods include content marketing, email marketing systems, social media networking, and Pay-per-Click advertising.

I find safelists and traffic exchanges to be effective in promoting products and services related to the make money online niche. In a sense, I advertise advertising to advertisers. Using safelists and traffic exchanges are less effective if promoting products and services in other niches, weight loss for example. Unless weight loss is promoted as a business opportunity.

I use a combination of safelists and traffic exchanges to add subscribers to my lists and money in my pocket. The following traffic resources are my top recommendations based on my marketing online since 1996.

BONUS Download: Click here to get a downloadable PDF version of the Best Free Traffic Sites - Safelists and Traffic Exchanges. You can print out and read later. Or use as a reference. Instant download, no email address required.

These are my "core" programs. I use other safelists, traffic exchanges, and tools as well when time permits. I also occasionally join new programs.

I join programs if I know the owners or if the program looks particularly promising or has a unique twist or feature.

One thing the following sources have in common is that none of them are new "launches" or less than several years old. These traffic sources are PROVEN performers. They have passed the test of time.

Recommended Safelists

Safelist email marketing grew out of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. Prior to the law, marketers sent unsolicited commercial email (UCE) to email addresses harvested from the internet. They used email address harvesting software to scan the internet and websites to collect email addresses. Harvested email addresses were then added to a mailing address database. Then UCE (SPAM) was emailed to the recipients on the list. Marketers sent massive numbers of email ads under the theory of the Law of Large Numbers.  In other words, send enough email out to be successful.

After the law was passed, email marketers were restricted in how they sent email to people. A misconception of the law is the idea that it is illegal to send unsolicited email. Email can be sent as long as it provides a way for the recipient to unsubscribe from the list.

As a result, marketers created and people joined (opted into) safelists for the purposes of collecting credits for reading email. They would then use the credits to send their email ads to other safelist members.

The following list of safelists are my "Go To" mailers. These are all proven, well-established programs that consistently provide good results. They all have:

• experienced owners
• responsive customer service
• proven track record of paying commissions on time
• high levels of commissions on upgrades
• been operational for more than two years

 

	​Guaranteed Solo Mails - GSM is the big brother of Guaranteed Mails, both owned and operated by Marty Petrizza. For upgraded members, GSM guarantees 500 unique views of every solo ad sent. There is also a free credit-based mailer for members.Upgraded members may send 8 solo ads a month. Not only do the solo ads go to other GSM members, the solo ads go to other lists owned by Marty. Click here to join Guaranteed Solo Mails.
	​Adchiever - Adchiever, owned by Darren Olander, is a unique, custom-built safelist that rewards active members. I get some of my best click-through-rates using Adchiever. Not only a safelist, it has some of the best email marketing training available anywhere. Like SOTAM, Adchiever has a member loyalty program. The more members use Adchiever, the more benefits they accrue including upgrades. Click here to join Adchiever.
	​TheLeadMagnet - TLM has been one of the top safelists since it launched years ago. My only regret is that I did not upgrade early on. So I missed out on mailing to this large list of 22,000+ members. Stefan Berg, owner, has a number of ways for new members to get a bunch of mailing credits from the start. Members get instant 100% commissions on every other sale. Click here to join TheLeadMagnet.
	​Mister Safelist - Mister Safelist is a proven responsive safelist. Created in 2011 by Jerry Iannucci, it has consistently been one of the top safelists according to Hoopla. Mister Safelist has a variety of membership levels starting with free. Upgrading enables members to send more emails more often. It pays to be an active member as Jerry offers cash links in emails members read for credit. Also, there are frequent contests with cash payouts. Click here to join Mister Safelist.

Recommended Traffic Exchanges

Back in the day when traffic exchanges first made their appearance, they were highly effective in attracting visitors and getting results. So much so that it caused a virtual stampede into the creation of new traffic exchanges.

The basic premise of a traffic exchange is: You show me yours and I will show you mine (website that is). A traffic exchange user will view a website or several websites for a specified number of seconds to earn a credit. When the viewer accumulates credits, the viewer then can show use his credits to display his website to other viewers. Traffic exchanges are popular because they are free or low cost enabling budget-conscience marketers to promote their businesses.

There was a recent shakeout in the traffic exchange industry due to Paypal cancelling many accounts for violating their terms of services. (Paypal has a clause that prohibits network marketing. And they considered many traffic exchanges enabling the promotion of prohibited businesses.) Paypal was the payment processor of choice for the vast majority of traffic exchanges.

The following list are my "Go To" traffic exchanges. These are all proven, well-established programs that consistently provide good results. The same criteria applied to my list of safelists applies. These traffic exchanges have:

• experienced owners
• responsive customer service
• proven track record of paying commissions on time
• high levels of commissions on upgrades
• been operational for more than two years

	​The Downliner - TDL is technically not a traffic exchange. It is a traffic exchange cooperative. TDL member websites are displayed on 10,000+ other traffic exchanges. Besides the free membership, there are two upgrade levels. The top level, Serious Marketer, enables a member to get 20,000 views of their website(s) a month. Jay Carey, TDL owner, maintains a very big list of banned sites that cannot be used to promote the TDL co-op link. This is to the members' benefit of not getting bogus traffic to their websites. I like the TDL Referral Machine the best. TDL members who upgrade are automatically put into the Referral Machine for referrals in the All In One Profit (AIOP) program. Click here to join The Downliner.
	​​Website Traffic Hog - Website Traffic Hog is one of Marty Petrizza's traffic exchanges. It is highly rewarding for active members, both in terms of winning cash and credits. WTH is over 5 years old and has over 13,000 members. Marty has added a mailer to WTH with a guaranteed views benefit. Members can earn guaranteed view credits by viewing members' ads. Click here to join Website Traffic Hog.
	​​​​​Hot Website Traffic - Hot Website Traffic is another Marty Petrizza traffic exchange. I am long time free member of HWT. At first glance, Hot Website Traffic is very similar to Website Traffic Hog. The only difference being cosmetic in having a tropical theme vice hedge hog based theme. Like WTH, this one rewards active members with cash and credits. It also includes a mailer as well as solo ads. Unlike Website Traffic Hog, HWT does not include guaranteed views. Click here to join Hot Website Traffic.

Recommended Marketing Tools

The following tools are designed to save time and effort with your marketing effort. They have automated features to simplify sending email ads and tracking results. 

	​Viral Mail Profits - VMP is more than just a safelist. It is a tool to send mail, track results, and store and manage all safelist and list builder emails. I find it an easy way to manage my email campaigns. I currently have 198 safelists loaded into VMP. Although I focus my efforts on the most productive mailers. (VMP tracks results so I know which ones are the best.) VMP is free with 3 upgrade options. Each with different levels of benefits. Click here to join Viral Mail Profits.
	​Referral Frenzy - I have been a member since Referral Frenzy began providing advertising and marketing tools to help members build their businesses in 2011. Advertising includes banner and text ads, solo ads, and full page ads. My favorite tool is the Mailer 2.0. The mailer allows members to send their email ads to over 100 safelists in which they belong with just a couple of clicks. It is a huge time saver. Click here to join Referral Frenzy
	​LeadsLeap - I have been a member of LeadsLeap since 2010. Created in 2009 as a lead generation system using contextual advertising, LeadsLeap was relaunched in February 2016 with major upgrades and website redesign. The LeadsLeap system is a useful tool for online marketers to generate leads they can use for marketing their products and services. I particularly like The Real Tracker (TRT). I use the tracker extensively for my links to identify sources and effectiveness of my advertising. Click here to join LeadsLeap.

 

I hope you found this list of traffic resources and tools useful.