Consistency and great content ideas are two things every blog must have in order to be seen online. And you have to shout loud to make others know how amazing it is. Here are 19 remarkable traffic generation techniques.
1. Link to Top Blogs/Bloggers of Your Niche
Just count, how many times I have used external links in this post, Perhaps dozens of times. I do this to build relationships with fellow bloggers & digital guys. It ultimately generates traffic to my blog.
Here is how?
My last article about content marketing got featured in UpCity as one of the top inbound marketing articles. I posted it on all my social networks and UpCity got promoted, Upcity retweeted my tweets and my blog got promoted.
Give credit to those that inspired you, it makes your writing more worthwhile.
2. Interview authorities on website
Andrew Warner of Mixergy generates traffic in millions by interviewing big personalities & sharing their success stories on his blog. Create a list of influencers in your sphere and shoot them a mail asking if they can be the inspiration for your valuable readers. Give them a set of questions to answer, put them on your website and get benefit of cross-promotion.
3. Write Success Stories & Case Studies
So you worked on a new project and successfully achieved most of the targeted goals. Don’t be Shy or Selfish. Share its success story so that others know how you made that happen. Everyone little book store’s owner would like to know the brand strategies of Amazon. I too don’t miss any single case studies on afaqs.
Create awe-inspiring case studies to attract more visitors to your website.
4. Create Awesome Infographics & Spread them across the web
Many business owners are putting in definite amount of budget on infographics for better ROI and spotting a tremendous growth in traffic & business. Hire an Infographic designer or create yourself if you have a little sense of design. A lot of free infographics tools are out there which can let you create awesome infographics. Post it on your website and spread it to the web. Ask your fellow bloggers to share it on their blogs and submit it to all infographic directories.
5. Give freebies (eBooks, Templates & Brand Accessories)
HubSpot releases many free templates, dashboards & eBooks every month which leads to increasing subscribers tremendously. Moreover, HubSpot is also giving out free certification to marketing experts.
Plan out to give something grand for free to attract visitors in bulk. It works amazingly.
6. Start a forum on your website & Get Benefit of Google’s Hummingbird Update
From August-2013 Google searches seems to be more conversational. When we search for the “Best ways to do something?”, Google returns forums & communities instead of those enormous blog posts. Plan to set up a forum on your website today to ensure traffic flow tomorrow.
7. Write your own guides or e-books
Neil Patel has written more than 10 guides so far and these guides are most read on his blog & most shared on social networks amongst all posts. These tiny things increase engagement on the website and gain the trust of readers. So what you are waiting for the plan to write an e-book or guide today. Learn the art of writing e-books in 30 days by Ali Luke.
8. Run Contests & viral campaigns on Social Media (Preferably on Twitter or Facebook)
Running contest in social media can generate traffic in thousands or sometimes in millions. TrulyMadly.com, A newly launched matchmaking startup of India proved it by its campaign Breaking Stereotypes.
Emotional tap, tendency & viral-ability are signs of a successful social media. Look around the things happening (Social issues/societal changes/things need revolution) around you and see what people won’t shy from contributing about. Take your time and brainstorm until a new idea comes in your mind.
9. Be steady and don’t give up
Write what you love, what makes you feel great, what saunters all the time in your mind. You can write best about what excites you. But always keep one thing in mind “There is no secret to skyrocket blog traffic overnight”
Why be steady??
10. Answer top-ranking questions & forum threads on Google
After Google’s Hummingbird update, I have noticed forums & community sites showing up in search results. These threads hold higher click-through rate than other results.
For better understanding, I searched the text “How to make friends” and google showed me yahoo threads on the first position. If I have owned a blog about making friends, I would definitely answer and give reference to my blog post.
** Make sure you do it in a natural way.
11. Book expired domains with huge traffic/branded
eHow.com is using expired domains and 301 redirect them all to generate traffic. I will not suggest you to do the same but to put links on these domains and get dual benefit of incoming links & traffic.
Use dropping domain names tool to find related domain names, register all best available domains and setup up a blog or put content pointing to your website.
12. Drive Traffic from Aggregation sites
For those who are not aware of aggregation sites, indiblogger, Alltop & Bloglines are few such websites. One year back when my blog got accepted on AllTop, I received traffic in thousands in the first month. Collect such sites and send a request to their admins to add your blog. Many aggregation sites give DIY dashboard so that you can manage things yourself.
13. Submit Your Blog on top Blog lists & Directories
Look at this list of must-read blogs for entrepreneurs, and Indian Bloggers Directory by Amit Agrawal. Such blogs/articles attract thousands of visitors. A single link of your blog on these pages can lead to regular mass traffic to your website.
Take these two actions today:
Submit your blog to blog directories for approval. If your blog isn’t good enough to influence the administrator of those directories or you have just launched the blog, you can send a mail directly to admin and pitch the importance of your blog for their audience.
Just google the blogs list in your industry, most of the results will be blog posts by bloggers & industry experts. Pitch a mail to all those bloggers asking to add your blog in the list. Mention few reasons, why they should add your blog to the list. If he doesn’t get convinced by your blog and the fine words you drafted in the mail, you can use cross-promotion technique by giving them a back-link, making them a partner, or sponsor.
14. Comment on Other’s Blogs
Blog commenting seems a conventional technique to generate traffic, but it works remarkably. Find 10-20 minutes every day from your daily work-time/spare time and comment on few appreciated blogs in your industry. Don’t just say Thanks for those great blog posts but add few more interesting lines to extend the topic or cover the things they have missed in their posts.
15. Write Facebook Notes and Linkedin Posts
People love to read LinkedIn posts & Facebook notes more than ordinary blog posts, even Google also love these pieces of stuff. Reserve some time to write Facebook notes & LinkedIn posts, post them recurrently and get the benefit of social traffic.
16. Exchange Traffic with Fellow Bloggers
This point is not about making links/resources/partner page on your blog and then ass fellow bloggers to exchange links. I will never recommend you to use this link farm technique.
Just look at all the external links in this blog post from top to bottom. I send them traffic and in return my blog gets traffic. Their readers subscribe my blog and my readers subscribe to their blog.
Action:
Create a list of blogs which matches your niche, ask all if they can add your blog posts links (As reference) in their blog posts. Most of them will agree. I received 18 positive responses out of 25 requests.
17. Interlink relevant posts/category
Interlinking can’t increase no of visitors but no of visits. In a long run, it will dramatically increase organic traffic. Search engines love well-managed internal links more than external links.
How many times do you see Wikipedia & About.com in search results? Almost every time. Better interlink structure is what makes them visible in search engines with every search string.
Create a strong and well-managed internal link structure in your blog and categorize each post. Don’t only put links on new posts but keep updating links in older posts as well.
18. Traffic by Guest Post
Don’t just use the guest post for backlinks, do it for the sake of your personal brand and to build connections. My first guest post on YourStory awarded me 30+ twitter followers and 1000+ visitors to my website. This advance guest blogging guide will help you do it a better way.
19. Become a Columnist
You can become a columnist, if great ideas come in your mind and you are really great at expressing your thoughts. Approach some authority blogs and news sites to become a columnist. People will automatically start following you on social media when you become contributor to Forbes or INC.com
20. Use Old School Method & Ask People to Promote it
I believe, old-school method is far better than new age marketing techniques. You can ask people to promote your website in these ways:
Send a direct message to your friend’s social media profile and ask if they can share your stuff on their profile.
Your friends & next of kin should be very first to read and share your blog posts.
Get your accessories printed with your brand name. E.g. Keychain, Diaries, Coffee Mug and so on
What is your most favorite way of old-school marketing method?
21. Try Paid Content Marketing
If nothing works, even persistence also doesn’t work then paid content marketing will definitely work. Start with a budget of $100 content marketing, if you don’t want to put in thousand dollars. Start with advertising on Stumbleupon, Reddit or Facebook. Alternatively, you can go for paid content syndication on outbrain or taboola.
Final thought
Whether you are a beginner or veteran blogger, you should always remember point 9. Which is one of the most precious lessons every blogger or a website owner learns one fine day?
So what is your most favorite way to generate traffic?