Two different types of "cost-effective" behavior

There are two different types of "cost-effective" behavior: taking advantage of free services, and using paid methods to get the most bang for your buck. 

SFI has a variety of free marketing tools, and you can use them on free-for-all ad sites, safe-lists can provide free traffic in trade for you visiting their ads, and you can set up free websites with free ads that point themselves to SFI and your ECA store. You'll find all manner of free classified ads with a quick web search, and you can plaster your ads all over the place. There are two problems with "free" ads, though: many of them are not very effective, and placing them can be time-intensive. 

There are some great marketing tools available through SFI and TripleClicks, too, from their S-Builder Co-Op to PSAs To Go. Using these save tremendous amounts of time--and they do earn you VersaPoints--but since they are automated, and you're not spending your time connecting with people to bring them in, they're frequently lacking in motivation, even if you manage to connect with them in their own language on the first day. 

The best techniques involve connecting with people personally and having fun while you do it. That way, any money you spend, you get to enjoy, you meet new people, you make new friends, and the connections you make can help you out. For this purpose, I'll invest in some of the SFI marketing cards or TC Gift Cards and use them while I'm at an event. 

For example, as an artist myself, I really enjoy checking out what other people are doing, so I'll go to an art center's "Open House" and visit a whole slew of artists' studios at once. I get to introduce myself to the artists, tell them about what I do, give them my card, and suggest that they might want to check out Tripleclicks as a place to sell their work. Voila! New ECAs! As a writer, I'll trade my services writing articles and put ads up on their websites, so that not only am I promoting SFI, I can promote myself at the same time. 

I also believe in checking out other social groups in person; when you meet people who have big social networks and too much time on their hands, it's just a question of showing them SFI and see how many people they can recruit in turn. Frequently, it gets you someone who will do the duplication with their friends FOR YOU. You get two levels of PSA for your work signing one guy up. 

Basically, save time and money by investing in people, not "traffic." It's the difference between having a party where everyone makes money and treating people like numbers in a "numbers game." At the end of the day, which do you think is going to be more fun, more motivating, and more rewarding?