How effective is your website marketing strategy? If it doesn’t include all the essentials, you may need to rethink things. Otherwise, you risk leaving traffic on the table.

I’ve outlined three important concepts below that you should inject into your website marketing plan. Using any one of these will enhance your efforts, but combining them yields much more power.

1. Leverage — Leverage allows you to magnify the power of your efforts. You can use the power of article directories, for example, to rank higher in the search engines than you could otherwise. Article directories also build links without any additional effort on your part. Submit your article once, and it continues to work for you.

One of the best ways to use leverage is to spread your content around on various powerful sites. This allows you to increase your reach, get the attention of the search engines, and rank higher. Using article sites, Squidoo, and other user generated content Web properties help you reach new markets and create valuable backlinks to your site.

2. Diversification — The more you diversify your sources of traffic, and the keywords your site is found for, the more stable your free traffic becomes. As website owners, we often spend too much time trying to rank high in the search engines for keywords with a lot of demand and competition. We all know that if we can accomplish that, we’ll get lots of free website traffic.

For more stable free traffic, however, it’s sometimes best to rank for a diversified set of easier to win for keywords. In fact, the larger the number of keywords your site ranks for, the more stable the traffic will be. For this reason alone, diversifying your keywords should be a key result of your website marketing strategy.

Building more Web pages is one way to diversify. Having additional pages will result in an increase in internal links, more PageRank, and your site being found for more keywords. Another way to diversify is to create more links on other websites, especially in conjunction with substantial content. This will expand your free traffic sources.

3. Automation — Automation can free up your time, create leverage, and help you diversify. Using software is one way to take advantage of automation. You can use software to create links, make article or directory submissions, and research new topics for your website.

If you feel your website marketing strategy is failing you, evaluate it and make sure you’re taking full advantage of diversification, leverage, and automation. If you don’t have enough inpointing links, diversify your efforts. If you aren’t leveraging other websites to build your business, create additional content on more powerful sites. If you aren’t automating, then start doing so. Making small changes in these areas can lead to big changes in terms of more free traffic.

How effective is your website marketing strategy? If it doesn’t include all the essentials, you may need to rethink things. Otherwise, you risk leaving traffic on the table.

I’ve outlined three important concepts below that you should inject into your website marketing plan. Using any one of these will enhance your efforts, but combining them yields much more power.

1. Leverage — By using leverage, you increase the power of the site promotion techniques you use. Using more powerful sites, for example, you can boost your own site’s credibility and search engine ranking. Viral methods, such as article marketing increase your link building power by leveraging the reach of other sites and individuals.

One of the best ways to use leverage is to spread your content around the Web on various powerful sites. This allows you to get the attention of the search engines and new markets, and rank higher. Using article submission sites, Hub Pages, and other user generated content and Web 2.0 properties, you can create valuable backlinks and reach new audiences.

2. Diversification — The more keywords your site is found for, and the more traffic sources you have, the more stable your free traffic becomes. It’s pretty well established that if you can get your site to rank well for keywords with a lot of demand and competition, you’ll get more traffic. But, we often spend too much time trying to hit those hard to win for keywords.

More stable free traffic, on the other hand, can be had by ranking for many more of the lesser competitive words. The larger the number of keywords your site ranks for, the more stable your search engine traffic. Your website marketing strategy (or at least part of it), therefore, should focus on diversifying.

How do you achieve that? Well, first, build more pages. More pages means more PageRank, more internal linking, and more words your site can be found for. Second, create content and links on as many other sites as is reasonable. The more sources of traffic you have, the more the search engines will like you.

3. Automation — If you want to diversify and increase leverage at the same time, do it with the help of automation. You can use software to republish your RSS feeds, do keyword research, and submit your site to directories.

If your current website marketing strategy is feeling a little ill, try reviving it with automation, leverage, and diversification. Use leverage by creating unique content on other more powerful sites (such as article directories). If inpointing links are a weakness, seek out linking opportunities. If your site is being found for very few keywords, create more Web pages on your site. If automation is not part of your arsenal, add it now. More free traffic can be yours by implementing a few small changes.