For those of you who have Home Businesses on the Internet, you know by now that you have to develop a steady stream of traffic to your website in order to produce enough sales to grow and substantiate your business. Bottom line…no traffic = no sales. No sales = failed business.

During my two years on the Internet, I have tried many forms of advertising that have been less than successful. I am writing this article to all the “newbies out there who flock to these forms of advertising because they are easy and free, and after these advertising methods have produced none of the desired results, they leave with a feeling that they have been scammed and that the Internet is not the virtual marketplace that everyone has raved about.

In reality, the Internet is the virtual marketplace of the future and is producing mind-boggling sales for the entrepreneurs who are pursuing effective advertising methods.

The first form of advertising that leaves the worst taste in my mouth is called FFA advertising (Free for All). In my opinion, FFA sites prey on “newbies, promising that they will put their ad on thousands of websites, often supplying the newbies with automated software so they can accomplish this with one click of the button.

Then their ad is placed on thousands of different FFA sites at one time. What they don’t tell you is that these pages your ad is placed on are never seen by the general public, because they aren’t listed in any search engines, directories, or any of the mainstream traffic locations.

To add insult to injury, while you’re using the automated software to place your ad on a thousand FFA pages, millions of other newbies are doing the same thing. There isn’t enough room on these FFA pages for all the incoming submissions, so your ad may be on these FFA pages for 30 minutes max, and is then dropped.

The real scam behind these FFA sites is that you have to provide your email address in order to submit to them. These email addresses are a free for all for whoever wants to use them. Your inbox is then bombarded with hundreds if not thousands of junk emails each day of people wanting you to join their opportunity.

The next advertising method that produces less than desired results is the surf for clicks programs. While these are not half as bad as the FFA sites, they are about 99% ineffective.

Basically, the way the surf for clicks programs work is that you are required to view various websites for a short period of time, for every website that you view, you will earn a credit. If you look at ten websites and earn 10 credits, your website will in-turn be shown to someone else 10 times.

Let’s look at this surf for clicks logically. Who are you advertising to? You are advertising to other network marketers and Internet business owners. If they already have a business, then how many do you think will sign up for yours? What are they looking for? They are looking to get traffic, the same as you…they are NOT looking to sign up for another program or purchase a product.

You must understand that you need to put your opportunity in front of the general public. Where does 85% of all the Internet traffic come from? It comes from the Search Engines.

Getting a listing in the search engines is also “targeted traffic. Meaning that someone has to input a keyword combination that is associated with your website, and when your site is displayed, its because your site is specifically targeted to what they are looking for.

When this happens for you, you truly will be successful in your business.

There are many other forms of advertising on the Internet that produce poor results, but these are the two biggest hitters that come to mind.