If you are a small business owner with a website, chances are you have wondered how best to promote it. You might wonder if people are going to be able to navigate to it or if it will be popular. Of course, you’ve heard you need to submit to search engines, but which ones? How many? The more the better, right?

Wrong. In fact, if you have been trying to promote your website by making sure that it is listed with each one of the 500-plus search engines out there, you have only been wasting your time.

The fact is, over 93 percent of traffic on the web passes through only the top ten search engines and directories – you know, the major ones, like Google, Yahoo, and Ask.com. Only 6 percent passes through other, non-major search engines. If you are already listed with the 10 most popular engines, you have exhausted that route to website promotion.

So what else can you do to promote your website? Take advantage of reciprocal links. Reciprocal links are established when you make an agreement with another website that you will establish links to it on your site and vice-versa.

For example, if you own a dog-training service, possible reciprocal link websites would include manufactures of dog foods, training tools, and local vets or pet groomers. That way, their customers become aware of your unique services, and you get increased exposure.

When targeting sites for reciprocal links, think big, not small. Why link to a bunch of sites with much less traffic than yours? Target sites that have more traffic than yours. Of course, there is nothing wrong with establishing a few links to smaller sites – after all, reciprocal links are intended to help both websites succeed.

When considering website promotion, do not neglect the design aspect. Make your site attractive, professional, and above all else user-friendly, follow the steps set forth above and watch the volume and quality of your web traffic grow.