6 Simple Ways to Increase Your Website Traffic

As of March 2012, there were 644 million active websites. That’s more than half a billion - in other words, a lot. In this sea of content, images, videos, and social media, it’s easy, as someone with a struggling website, to feel overwhelmed. That said, there is no greater tool your business or brand can have than a website that both promotes your product or service while adding value to your readers’ experience. By generating awesome content and engaging traffic tools to expand your reach, you can boost website traffic while simultaneously establishing yourself as a trustworthy member of the digital community.

Here are 6 quick, creative, DIY ways to improve your website traffic.

1. Optimize your content for search engines

To increase the visibility of your website and boost traffic, incorporate content-rich search words that will earn your site more play in popular search engines. Since much website traffic comes from search engines like Google - especially when a user is discovering your site for the first time - you want to make sure you’re employing simple on-page SEO techniques, like consistently stellar website performance, keyword-rich text and titles, frequent content updates, etc. When incorporated organically, these are great ways to increase your presence in search results and bring more traffic to your site.

2. Improve your social media presence

Your social media outlets should function as an extension of your website. Maintain fun and active Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and Pinterest accounts that don’t only promote your content, but serve to build up your personality and profile. Become active in social communities that are relevant to your content. In addition, make sure your content is easily shareable by implementing social plugins on your website (Like, +1, and Tweet buttons) in order to increase your site’s visibility on social networks.

3. Get grabby

When sharing your content on social media or in link trades, think about creating titles for your posts and pages that will be more interesting to readers. Check out sites like Upworthy and Buzzfeed - they are experts at titles that are creative, honest, and engaging without being sensationalist. We’ve researched and collected some best practices on title length and word choices to determine what kinds of titles generate the most clicks. Think about ways you can implement these best practices to make the content you’re sharing more clickable.

4. Paid traffic

In order to generate high traffic, many websites rely on the pay per click (PPC) model, a form of internet advertising in which the advertiser pays for clicks on their ads, only paying for actual traffic driven to their website. Depending on your budget and industry, this might be a good option for you. If you do want to take your site to this level of visibility, paid content discovery platforms like Google Adwords, Facebook’s PPC platform, and Outbrain Amplify can radically extend your website’s reach and increase your traffic. These content discovery platforms can help extend your reach and bring you a whole new audience that otherwise might not have been looking for you.

5. Find your community

One of the best ways to increase website traffic is to become a hub for your industry. By connecting with other writers, bloggers, and thought-leaders in your field, and forming a virtual community, you will be positioning yourself as a trusted go-to. One way to form real and lasting connections is by prioritizing giving back - ie. employing the “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine” mentality. Participate in link trades with other related site owners. And don’t only wait for others to notice you: drive traffic to other websites you respect and trust, and be sure to participate in conversations in forums or on social media to establish yourself and your site as a dynamic community member.

6. Provide real value

While all the above techniques may help you to gain new readers, you also need to think about keeping the ones you have - and how to inspire those readers to tell their friends and share your content. Create useful, unique, and timely content that your readers will organically want to share with their friends, and that will inspire those who are site owners or bloggers to link to your content. These links are a great organic way to improve your SEO. Use videos and images when appropriate to provide a more dynamic reader experience. Proof your content for grammar and spelling, and reveal your unique voice, point of view, and expertise. Word-of-mouth is still one of the most trusted ways to boost website traffic, and to generate this level of engagement, your website needs to focus on providing real value - both entertainment and educational - to your audience.

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3 Secrets to a Site that Sells

So, you've got your site up. Now what? You need to drive traffic, grow your opt-in list, make sales and work on your SEO. The list seems endless.

Step back for a minute and realize it's not possible to do everything at once. Once you've built your website, the first thing you should do is make your sales process watertight.

There's no point spending a ton of cash on pay-per-click ads to drive targeted traffic to your site if none of those visitors buys anything.

Follow this three-point sales action plan before you spend a bundle on attracting visitors.

1. Get your sales copy in top shape
You've got less than five seconds to persuade people to stay on your website, so your headline has to grab them and compel them to read on. The best headlines tell visitors they've found exactly what they're searching for and make them curious enough to keep reading.

But don't let your readers slip through your fingers once you've grabbed their attention with a hot headline.

Sales copy is what turns visitors into customers. So make sure it guides people through a streamlined process that:

• Identifies with their problem and builds your credibility
• Engages them--and explains why you can help
• Tells them how they'll benefit from your product
• Overcomes any objections they may have
• Compels them to take action--and tells them exactly what to do

Good sales copy funnels your readers through a tight sales process and doesn't give them a reason to click away. Take a look at your own and see if all the elements are in place, and if not, give it more of the attention it deserves. (Here's a more detailed article on sales copy.)

2. Collect testimonials
What's more trustworthy than a personal recommendation? A good testimonial can persuade even the most skeptical potential customer to buy from you.

Testimonials prove that your product really works--that it does exactly what you promise. And if you run a small business and haven't built your reputation, testimonials are indispensable.

Here's how to gather quality testimonials and benefit from them immediately:

• If you don't have any customers yet, give your product away to a group of people in your target market in exchange for their feedback.
• If you have some positive feedback from customers, contact them and ask permission to use their comments on your site.
• Don't be afraid to ask for testimonials. Invite customers to give you their vote of confidence with an e-mail link that says, "Click here to tell us what you think!"
• E-mail your buyers after they've purchased your product to ask them how they're enjoying it.

Try to get testimonials that are full of concrete benefits. How much money did someone save? How much time would they have spent without your product? How much better did they perform than before?

Let your visitors know these are real people. A first name, last name and location will prove it. A photo's great. And don't forget video.

You'll find dozens of opportunities to use testimonials throughout your site: on your homepage, within your sales copy, on a special testimonial page, on relevant product pages or in relevant product listings, so don't hesitate to use them where you can.

3. Make it easy to buy
I'm always amazed how many sites make it difficult for you to buy from them. According to market research from the Gartner Group, more than 50 percent of web sales are lost because visitors can't find what they're looking for. Don't make that mistake.

• Name your navigation buttons clearly so it's obvious what people will find when they click on them.
• Keep your navigation simple and consistent throughout your site, so people don't have to click any more than necessary. Ideally, someone should be able to buy from you in two clicks at most.
• Use "Buy Now" buttons that link to your shopping cart or order page every time a product is shown--especially if you have a catalog site.
  And when people click to your sales page, make things easy for them.
• Provide a range of payment options. Accepting credit cards is an absolute must, but PayPal, Google Checkout or even a downloadable mail-in form make it possible for anyone to complete a transaction.
• On your order form, ask only for the information you need. For example, if you sell an e-book, it's unlikely you'll need a home address. The less information people have to give you, the better they like it.
• Don't underestimate the power of including a phone number people can call if they have any questions.

Sales copy, testimonials, shopping cart. Once you've got these three crucial elements of your sales process shipshape you can confidently drive targeted traffic to your site--and know it'll convert!

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7 Unconventional (and Sneaky) Ways To Generate More Traffic For Your Website

I remember when I first got started in online marketing I read a stat that blew my mind. 

At the time, your average American internet user was visiting 50 different websites every day. To me, this stat meant that there are 50 ways to get your message in front of the right people every single day.

Now, we all know that marketing is about more than finding the right market, it is about bridging the right message with the right media at the right time.

How many different ways do you currently drive traffic to your website?

Or, for that matter, how many different ways do you market yourself to find new customers? If you are using more than 3 unique strategies, than you are in the minority. Most businesses depend on 1-3 sources of traffic and customers.

The truth is though, there are probably close to 15 unique ways you can be finding customers, and easily as many if not more ways to generate targeted traffic for your website.

Previously I shared with you somegreat strategies in this post about Insurance Library.  Where I discussed using Q&A sites to find prospects.

You no doubt read my big list of ways to generate traffic for your website, but in  this post I want to focus on some unconventional strategies.

There is a clever traffic generation click that sneaks up on prospects in a friendly, yet unassuming way.

Basically, you need to come up with an excuse to engage someone in conversation, and than leave breadcrumbs for them to follow to reach and click on the site you want them to.

A classic example is to engage with someone in a blog comment, or on a social post they made. Odds are, they will likely notice you and click through to see who you are. I know I do this all the time.

But, you can take this a step further with some clever sneak attack strategies.

1. User Testing - Sometimes user testing can cost $30+ each, but there are much cheaper options, some even free, like asking in a forum or on reddit for a site review and critique. More importantly though, asking people for feedback is the perfect way to get noticed. A couple years ago, I was consulting for a new user testing company and my recommendation to them was to run user tests to acquire customers. Basically, they would pay a user testing service to have their users test the website, and since the website was targeted to user testers, he was able to reach very targeted traffic. Nowadays, with user testing you can set all sorts of requirements and criteria, which help you reach the right people at the right time. This strategy actually works for many other industries as well. After all, someone running user tests to make a few bucks online is probably also interested in making money online opportunities, ,many might even be willing to be affiliate marketers or social ambassadors, etc…

2. Design contests - Sites like 99Designs let you create a design content where hundreds if not thousands of designers will notice your ad and many will compete to win the contest you post. If you were launching a freelancer website, this would be a great way to get noticed by your target market. If you are launching a marketplace for designs like CreativeMarket, this would be a great strategy to reach your audience. This also works for other freelancer networks.

3.  Linking to sites you want exposure from. I notice any new links that point to my blog. In fact, the moment I see referral traffic from a new source, I will spend 5-10 minutes researching exactly who is linking to me and not only do I discover new products and services, I also discover people worth building a relationship with. Even without a link, I have Google Alerts set up for my name, and my different company names, clients names, etc… In fact many people have social media listening/monitoring tools setup as well looking for brand or name mentions. These are great strategies for reaching influencers. Trust me, most of them will notice.

4. Job Websites - If you are trying to reach prospects, one of the best ways to get noticed is to post a job online. Thousands will see it, and the posting cost will easily be covered.

5. Classifieds websites - Post a gig or a job, or even an item for sale. Just think about which sections will reach your audience and post something related. For example, if you do landscaping, maybe sell a used lawnmower on craigslist and nextdoor.com and you will reach local prospects who will now know you exist. Don’t forget that there are literally hundreds of niche websites that offer classifieds for specific industries and verticals. I sometimes browse the job board on problogger looking for writing opportunities, but I’ll often discover other marketing blogs or websites that are relevant to me.

I think its important to note that you still need to be authentic with your engagement. Most people can sniff out a sales pitch from a mile away.

As Dan Kennedy says, never underestimate the skepticism of your market. You can assume whatever you want about them and their intelligence level, but…NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THEIR SKEPTICISM! This is the reason you should be forthcoming about any flaws in your business and possible objections your prospects may have.

What are some other websites you can think of to sneak up on your audience without screaming for attention?

However, my personal favorite sneak attack traffic strategy is “Consumer Surveys.”

For about 10 cents an answer, I can ask anyone a question through Google Consumer Surveys

You can do something simple like which of two logos do you prefer. This will not only give great insights, but will help you reach your audience in an indirect way.

In fact, for fifty cents an answer, you can ask a qualifying question first. For example, you can first ask, do you own a website, and than ask your survey question. Just make sure to include details about your business in the question, so they are exposed to your brand in an authentically engaging way.

Think about all the websites your targeted persona’s visit and think about all the different ways you get in front of them inconspicuously. I bet you can come up with a dozen ways, many of them free, that you can sneak up on your audience and engaged them authentically.

Now, for the best strategy of them all… Numero Seven…

7. Integration partners with other websites.

The most valuable traffic I have ever found online is getting traffic from an industry peer who gives out your content to their audience. Guest posting is a simple version of this, a much more effective version is giving away free bonuses of your content with the purchase of a related product from an industry peer. Not only do you reach your audience for just the cost of content, and not only do you get instant credibility by having them share your content, but you reach people who are actively demonstrating a willingness and ability to buy a related product. There is no other way I know to actually reach prospects who demonstrated and ability to pay and a willingness to buy.

With that in mind, you should know that I discover new companies all the time by browsing zapier, ifttt and other sites that connect API’s to see who they integrate with. Same goes for Marketo. They list all sorts of marketing apps that integrate with their system. It’s called Launchpoint, and it is full of excellent marketing tools. So, if you have some sort of software, integrate with Zapier, Integrate with other platforms, especially universal ones, and you will see it drive all sorts of targeted traffic your way.

I have easily spent over $10,000 over the years with companies I discovered by browsing the directory of services that integrate with the services and apps I currently use and many that I don’t even use, but may want to in the future. Integrate and you will not only add a new access point to your system, but you will get lots of free marketing and exposure to extremely qualified prospects.

Good Luck!

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4 Creative Ways to Attract More Visitors to Your Website

“How can I get more website visitors?”

This is one of the most common questions I hear from clients, frustrated at the lack of business their website brings them.

Often, there isn’t much wrong with the site iteslf — it’s professionally designed, and the portfolio is full of gorgeous work. But it just sits there, in an obscure corner of the Internet, being quietly ignored.Taking a website from zero to a few hundred or even a few thousand visitors a month is not easy, but it’s eminently doable — as long as you recognize a harsh truth about the Internet:

The online world is an attention economy. Attention is finite, and therefore scarce. So if you want people to pay attention to you, you need to earn it.

You can’t expect your work to speak for itself. Most of the time, it won’t. You need to accept that marketing is part of your job, just as much as making.

But the game changes when you start applying your creativity to your marketing — it becomes more fun as well as more effective. Here are four ways to use your creativity to attract the right kind of visitors to your website.

1. Create an amazing blog.

Note the word ‘amazing’. I’m not talking about a blog you only update when you’ve got a new client or exhibition, or something new to sell. I’m not talking about a personal diary where you to post your musings on art, life, and the universe. I mean the kind of blog that grabs people’s attention by delivering outstandingly valuable, useful, or entertaining material — consistently.

Instead of writing, ‘here’s my latest work’, write about:

• “Here’s how I made it” – with pictures and/or video. Like this or this or this.
• “Here’s what inspired it” – if you like it, chances are your audience will like it too. Like this or this.
• “Here’s how you can make one like it.” Like this or this.
• “Here’s a gadget that makes my work better (and could help  you too).” Likethis.

Instead of burying your opinions in long paragraphs of diary-style ‘musings’, put them out there loud and clear:

• Devote an entire blog post to nailing ONE idea.
• Start with a compelling headline.
• Ask yourself ‘So what? Why should anyone care?’ — and make that the start of the post.
• Give concrete examples.
• Invite comments by ending with a question.
• For example: I’m a designer. Use me better.

And don’t forget to ask for the subscription! Repeat visitors are the best visitors, so one of your goals is to build an audience of loyal subscribers. Ask people to subscribe and offer an email option to make it easy.

2. Give (some of) your best work away for free.

Just so we’re clear: I’m not one of those internet hippies who tells you “information wants to be free”, so you should give away all your best work and forget about being paid. (Have you noticed those guys tend to have a comfortable salary or professorship?)

But as Tim O’Reilly has pointed out, for most creatives obscurity is a greater threat than piracy. If no one’s ever heard of you, they won’t even bother to rip you off, let alone pay for your work.

So take advantage of the spreadability of digital content by giving away something valuable and encouraging people to share it with their contacts:

• the first chapter of your novel (or even an entire novella)
• a free report or e-book, full of insanely useful information
• one of the best tracks from your album
• a design template
• high-resolution images
• a series of tutorials
• videos that anyone can embed in their site

Use a Creative Commons license to make it clear what people are allowed to do with the work. And make sure it’s something genuinely valuable. If you feel slightly uncomfortable about giving away something so good, you’re on the right track. Otherwise, why would anyone get excited enough to tell their friends?But don’t give away the farm. Make sure you have plenty in reserve — products, services, artworks — for the folks who want to take things further and buy from you.

3. Borrow someone else’s audience.

Why build an audience from scratch when you can borrow one that someone else has spent months or years assembling? No, it’s not unethical — in fact, the ‘someone’ in question will love you for it.

Writing high-quality guest posts for popular blogs in your niche is one of the most effective ways to get yourself on the radar of the people you want to reach. Your ‘payment’ is a link back to your site — make a great offer and you could land hundreds of new subscribers with every guest post you write.

And make sure it’s your best work. This is your chance to make a big impression — don’t blow it by sending out second-rate articles and keeping the best stuff for your own site.

4. Get your content into circulation.

Have you noticed that of the three tips so far, only one of them is centered around your site? (No. 2 may start on your site, but the real magic happens when people start sharing it with their friends.) If you really want more visitors, you have to go out and find them.

Social networking sites are not just for networking — they are ideal places to get your content (blog posts, videos, free reports, etc) in front of other people. Use Twitter, Facebook, or Google+ to share links to your content. Make use of portfolio sites like Behance to showcase your work in places where people go to look for it.

And be generous — share more of other people’s content than your own. That way, you not only help others (good digital karma!) you also position yourself as a go-to authority, a source of cool stuff who people want to follow.

***

None of these methods is a quick fix. They require time, effort, and persistence. But the good news is the benefits are cumulative – as your blog attracts links and subscribers, as your free content gets into circulation, and as you get known as a rising star in your niche, you’ll find yourself attracting more and more new visitors for every hour you spend on marketing.And no, website visitors don’t necessarily equal customers — otherwise there’d be a lot more Internet millionaires! Read my next article on turning visitors into buyers here.

-

Over To You

Which of these methods is most appealing to you?

What have been your best sources of web visitors?

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7 Tips for Driving Targeted Traffic With Twitter

Social media has many uses—from making contacts to performing customer service—but driving quality traffic to your site is Twitter’s secret weapon.  The big question is this: How can we get more of that lovely attention we crave?

As my recent poll shows, generating incoming traffic is the number-one need that people have right now, and for good reason. Traffic translates into:

• Attention, engagement, conversation and recognition
• Spreading your message far and wide
• Prospects and subscriber opt-ins
• Customers, increased sales and leads
• Media and interviews, which lead to more attention

… and last but not least, an ego boost.

In a previous article here I mentioned the many benefits of Twitter for your business. Now here are seven key points you need to know if you want to get more targeted traffic from Twitter:

#1: Know your audience

Growing your traffic always starts with your audience if you want to do it right.Untargeted, uninterested “hits” are a waste of time and resources at worst, and at best just pure vanity.

• What does your audience want and need?
• How do they like it delivered?
• Which topics are on their minds right now?
• Are there trends that are growing in popularity?
• How do these folks speak? What words and phrases do they use?

This means that driving traffic starts with listening and observing. Get to know your target so you can most efficiently engage them.

Twitter has a tool for this. Use search.twitter.com to find what people in your niche are talking about and follow some of their conversations.

Once you get an idea of what people are interested in, join in those conversations and talk to people.

#2: Get the “right” followers

So much rubbish is thrown around about how to grow your follower count that it makes it seem that the number is all that matters. Wrong!

You need people to want to hear what you have to say. This means you do NOT want people who auto-follow because they are either:

1. Robots and not real human beings (e.g., spam software, people trying to inflate their follower count, scrapers)
2. Not actually reading your tweets and just following to allow you to DM them

The followers you most want are those who follow you because they are interested and think they will get value from your tweets. These people are most likely to find you via:

• People retweeting your stuff, either within Twitter or using a TweetMeme button
• Referrals from other Twitter users
• Your blog; for example, your articles that say “Follow me on Twitter at @chrisgarrett and tell me what you think,” or your sidebar Follow Me button
• Other people’s blogs, when you guest post or comment
• Clicking your forum signature when you participate in discussions, or your email signature

Unfortunately Twitter closed off a really nice way that people used to get targeted Twitter followers. It used to be that we could “listen in” to conversations that people we followed were having, but now you have to be following both parties. This means we can’t discover new people that way. If someone puts something before they mention your @name it can still work, and I still occasionally get followers through that.

Essentially the advice is, put your Twitter name where it will be seen and encourage people to share it!

#3: Build engagement

Talk to people.

Engage your followers. Don’t just see them as a passive list of eyeballs! Treat folks as human beings and you will do much better at this stuff. It is called social media for a reason.

• Ask questions
• Hold conversations
• Dip into others’ conversations
• Encourage feedback

#4: Get clicks

So now your followers are seeing you as an interesting person and not a robotic “feed,” which means they are more likely to take notice when you tweet out a link.

Tweet Valuable Links

Whatever you do, don’t just tweet your own stuff. That is both selfish and boring!

Get into the habit of sharing anything cool, regardless of who created it. Retweet good stuff and other people are going to be more willing to retweet yours. Tweet out fun and useful links your friends send you in email or from the news. Be known as a person who tweets good stuff.

Timing

Not everyone is online at the same time. There is a whole world outside of your timezone, plus people have a different schedule than you. You know the feeling of confusion when you land in a foreign country. Not only have you got to adjust to local time, but also people seem to have their meals at a different time of day, shops open and close at strange hours, and business meetings seem to be held randomly. Twitter is like that, you can’t just look at a time zone converter and think people will be at their desk at a certain time.

1. Tweet the same thing a few times, a few hours apart, to give your message several chances to be seen.
2. Vary the times of day you tweet and monitor response.
3. Watch for the peaks and troughs of activity in YOUR stream (not just what works for others).

I tend to aim to catch the peak times for Aussies, the EU/Brits, East Coast USA, and West Coast USA, but it is far from an exact science!

Headlines

There are two main driving factors that affect your chances of getting a click:

1. Your reputation
2. The headline

Hopefully at this point #1 is taken care of, but #2 takes some work.

First of all, use my free download 102 Proven Headline Formulas as a starting point. There are 102 fill-in-the-blank templates which ought to give you a head start on writing a compelling caption.

If you use an interesting title and it matches your audience’s wants and needs, then you are going to get clicks.

Split test

You might not get it right the first time, so try another variation:

• Phrase it as a question
• Make it into a “How To” headline
• Use curiosity versus just the facts

A lot of this is about learning what your audience reacts to best.

#5: Measure performance

When you use a link-shortener with a built-in click-tracker such as bit.ly, you can see how well any of your links perform. This is useful for improving over time and to see which links get picked up virally.  As they say, what you measure you get more of!

With Twitter it’s not just the link clicks that YOU get, but the retweets and shares that really drive the real traffic. TweetMeme and bit.ly can give you vital reporting about how well you do, as well as your Google Analytics.

#6: Do more of what works, but test, test, test

When you find what works for you, do more of that. Keep in mind though that if you only do the same things you will either get the same results and not improve, or you will wear out that technique. Experiment, learn and mix it up.

Trends change, techniques improve, fads go out of fashion. Do not get stuck on rails, move and flow with your audience.

#7: Encourage sharing

Once you have your initial click, your job is not done!

Make sure your article has a TweetMeme button so that anyone who likes what you shared can easily share it too.

If you want to get really fancy, give people an incentive to share, such as a random prize drawing for anyone who tweets your message. Of course, the message will contain a link back to you …

Once in a while it doesn’t hurt to actually ask for retweets. Just don’t overdo it, as you will only annoy your followers. This will make them less responsive, rather than more.

Does it really work?

Here is a case study for you. For the last Social Media Success Summit in 2009, Mike Stelzner and I ran a competition on chrisg.com using all the advice mentioned here in this article.

The competition post was retweeted over 1,000 times

Using TweetMeme we can see that the competition post was retweeted over 1,000 times before it stopped tracking.

Social Media Success Summit 2009 Competition Clicks

Just the cli.gs link alone was clicked 12,753 times.

So yes, it does work.

Bottom line:

• Gather the correct audience
• Be awesome
• Share cool stuff
• Encourage other people to share it too

Does Twitter work to generate traffic for your stuff? Got any tips to share? Anything people do that annoys you? Please share—go ahead and comment below right now! 

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9 Killer Ways To Get Traffic Without SEO Or Social Media

You want traffic.

You want relevant, targeted traffic that will convert.

Yes, we all know you need to have great content, do SEO and share on Social Media.

But there other viable ways to get traffic.

Here are 9 killer ways you can get traffic without SEO or social media.

Side note: check out the resources page because there’re tools there that’ll get you fast traffic.

1. Find And Pull Method

This is perhaps one of the easiest ways to bring traffic to your blog. All you have to do is find popular blogs in your niche and bring the already existing traffic back to your blog. Sounds easy right? Well if you know how, it kind of is.

• For this method to work, you need to find out about relevant posts on high traffic blogs in your niche as soon as they are published. You can solve this problem using Google Alerts, which is a free Google service that sends you emails on new content across the web that may be of interest to you. Set up Google Alerts so that it sends you an email as soon as a popular blogger writes an article very closely related to a post you have previously published (We will get into how to set it up soon).
• For the second step go to the post as soon as it is published, actually read it, and write out a relevant and helpful comment after the post but instead of linking your name to your blog’s homepage, link to your post on related content. This way when they click through, they are immediately on a highly relevant page that they are interested in. And because they read your comment, which was useful and unique, they already think of you as an authority.

Here is how you set up Google Alerts. Where it says search query, type in a term related to one of your posts that you want to bring traffic to. 

Set results type to blogs. How often to once a day. How many to only the best results.

These settings will make sure that you only get relevant posts from popular blogs. If you don’t mind getting a lot of emails you can even set the How often setting to As-it-happens, which will give you a higher chance of getting there before anyone comments. You can go back and set up as many alerts as you want for as many of your posts as you like.

2. Viral Content Buzz Community

Viral Content Buzz is a place where you can earn points for sharing other people’s content and use those very points to get other people to share your content.

Yes, I realize this post isn’t supposed to have social media related methods for getting traffic, but Viral Content Buzz doesn’t really have to do as much with social media as it has to do with showing your content to a community. There is no crazysocial media tool, strategy or trick involved. You simply have to submit your content to the site and it will send traffic your way.

On some level it’s nothing more than a place where competent people from different niches gather to share quality content. Now, if you happen to like something shared by someone, you can help them out and Tweet it or Like it on Facebook. The more you participate in the community and share other people’s content, the more exposure you can get for your content.

Viral Content Buzz thoroughly checks your social media profiles to makes sure that your Facebook and Twitter profiles that you are using to promote other people’s content are real profiles with real followers and plenty of activity. This makes sure that none of the people joining the community are looking to take advantage of it. Because these are real people with real followings that are genuinely sharing your content, you get a lot of visibility and traffic.

Join Viral Content Buzz and submit your best content. Your content will be shared by people that would not have seen your articles otherwise and you will get traffic that is genuinely interested in reading what you have to say.

3. Derek Halpern’s Drafting Technique

This is a technique popularized Derek Halpern of Social Triggers. The drafting technique takes advantage of your competitors slip stream much like Nascar drivers do. What does that mean? Well, in Nascar (as well as bicycling and other racing sports) each competitor tends to stay right behind the one in front so that they have to deal with less air friction. As the first car spends more energy pushing through the air, it creates a slip stream right behind where there is less air density for the next car to push through. This means that the second car has to spend a lot less energy to achieve the same results.

Here is how you use the slip stream to your advantage. The idea is simple. You see your competitors somehow land an article on big sites and get huge coverage. Instead of feeling sad about it, you can use this to your advantage to get coverage for your own business or website as well.

When you see that someone in your niche has gotten a post on a huge site, you learn two things:

1. This particular site accepts guest posts.
2. The kind of topics they are looking for in their guest posts.

With this knowledge in hand you can contact the blog or main stream media site and pitch them a similar idea for a guest post you they will be happy to publish. They already published something similar so you know they would be happy to do so again. There is simply less friction. Just make sure it is not actually the same idea and that it is something similar that will add some value to their site.

Find blogs that are authorities in your niche and take a look at their posts that are guest posts. Make a list of similar ideas you can blog about and send them an outreach email pitching them a one or few of those ideas those ideas. Mention the similar posts already published on their site and tell them why you think your post will be just as good and maybe even better.

4. Link To Bloggers In Your Posts

Link to other bloggers in your post. That’s really all there is to it. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is never linking out. Link out to others in your posts and they will take notice of you, most of them will tweet about your post at the very least. Some of them will even link back to you. This is a easy and free way to get traffic. Just don’t forget about your readers and make sure that the links are relevant.

5. Use The Intro Method To Get Massive Forum Traffic

Using Forums to drive traffic is pretty well known. It’s also one of the easiest way to send traffic to your site.

Here is how you use forums to send massive traffic. This method was originally talked by Diggy at ProBlogger in much more detail. Go to a forum you participate in regularly and simply start a new thread mentioning your newest post like Diggy.

Think about it. If you were at your favorite forum and you saw a thread to a link that was actually interesting and full of useful information, wouldn’t you be inclined to check it out? Make sure your title is catchy and if your forum is in your niche and it has a high enough traffic, your results should look something like this:

Some forums have rules against this kind of thing so check the guidelines first. If this seems like something that’s in the grey area for a particular forum, you can start your thread with simply giving out free information or part of your post and end it with saying “you can find more tips on how to get traffic here”. If people liked what you had to say or found it useful, chances are they will check out the link.

6. Do Interviews

Interviews are like video guest posts. Interviewing someone is also a bit like linking to someone except now they are much more likely to share and link to the interview. There are advantages to both being the interviewer and the one getting interviewed.

• Why Be Interviewed – Obviously this sends traffic, but more importantly this establishes you as an authority in your niche. Why would anyone waste time interviewing someone who isn’t important? Because you will be seen as an authority, people who come to check out your blog or website will be more likely to stick around and comeback.
• Why Interview – If you interview someone and post it on your blog, chances are the person you interviewed is going to share it in every way that he or she can think of and probably even link to you. Interviewing someone who is important makes you seem like a bit of an important figure in your field as well.You become an authority by association. Say for example you saw a post by some random blogger where he interviewed Sir Richard Branson on video. Wouldn’t you suddenly think that this blogger is someone important?

Use HARO to get interviews and be interviewed. HARO stands for Help A Reporter Out and is a service that used by news agencies like ABC and FOX. Here is how HARO works.

When you go to HARO, you can sign up as a reporter or a source.

If you sign up as a source, you will get emails with a list of people who are looking to interview experts in different fields. Each interviewer will give a summery as to what they are looking for in their interviewee, which looks something like this:

If you qualify, and would like to be interviewed, you can simply send them an email saying so, and you will almost always get a reply immediately. By using HARO, you may be able to land yourself an interview on a huge mainstream media outlet.

If you sign up as a reporter, you just have to fill out who you are looking to interview in what subject every time you want to do an interview and your request will be there in the next email.

7. Use Your Email Signature.

Let all those emails you send work harder for you. Place a link to your website in your email signature. People are lazy and don’t like to take time to find out what your site is or even bother typing it in the URL bar. So make it really easy for them. Make your site only a click away by placing a link to it after your name in your signature. If you use Gmail, there are plenty of other things you can do to use Gmail like a marketing machine.

This makes a bigger difference than you think. Steve Krug in Don’t Make Me Thinktalks about how every action you are asking people to take causes the number of people to go through with it to drop drastically. Why force people to take more actions than necessary?

8. Be A Case Study

Businesses and people always need testimonials saying that their product or service works. Be that testimonial. If you end up being a case study that they showcase on their site, it can end up sending you a good amount of reoccurring traffic as well as establish you as someone of importance. If you try a product or service in your niche and found that it was useful, send them an email saying that you use the product and it did this and that for you. Be detailed in how it helped you.

9. Take Advantage Of Communities like Bloggers.com

Bloggers is a huge community of bloggers from every niche. Participating here will send you the best kind of traffic because everyone here is capable of linking to you. Not only will you directly get traffic to your blog from Bloggers but you will also end up getting traffic from any of these visitors who end up linking to you.

Getting traffic from Bloggers is simple. Create a full profile like and just start exploring. Find people in your niche that interest you and comment and vote on their profiles or blogs. Most of the time they will vote you back and you will end up getting that much more exposure in the community.

How do you get traffic to your website?

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