Either I have an idea and then look for a domain name to bring it to life.

Or I come across a domain name that is available or for sale and it gives me the idea.

Every website needs a domain name and for me they play a big part in its potential for growth. While I spend next to nothing on marketing my websites, I will pay thousands for the right domain name - and do exactly that two or three times a year.

I look for names that are:

a) memorable - so that visitors can find me again

b) have the potential for type-in traffic - the sort of name people will type into their browser to see if a website exists. If you are searching for information on Ferrari cars for example, you won't usually go far wrong typing ferrari.co.uk into your browser.

So if I'm not willing to pay for traffic how do I get it?

Well there's no real secret.

I simply try to build websites that people will want to visit. And visit again. And again.

Amazing things start to happen when you build sites like that.

Search engines will not only list you, they will rank you. And if you are ranked high enough, they will send you traffic.

In amongst that traffic will be journalists and others looking for information to write articles. If you are lucky, they will mention your website in their finished pieces and that will lead to more traffic.

For example, earlier this month one of my websites was mentioned in The Times newspaper and the article appeared on their website too. The result? A spike in traffic.

A targeted press release can also attract media coverage.

If I have an established site and think visitors to that will like my new site, I tell them about it. Other webmasters who come across your site might also tell their visitors by linking to your site (and of course, there's nothing stopping you approaching other webmasters and asking for a link).

And if you are really lucky, your visitors will tell others about your site - perhaps via a forum post or a blog - and you will get even more visitors. Word of mouth can be explosive as far as traffic on the web is concerned.

And so it goes on.

For me, a website is like a flower.

Plant it in good soil (the domain name), give it plenty of nutrients (quality content), make sure it gets plenty of sun (press coverage, links, etc.,) and before long you will have people peering over your garden wall to look at it (visitors).

This approach won't work for every site, but it does work - particularly for sites that target niche markets. And although sites can take off literally overnight, it usually takes a year or two for one of my sites to establish itself.

Meantime, I keep feeding them with new content to help them grow.