Traffic sometimes called visitors, if you have an online presence you need them. Whether it is for your personal blog or online store you need traffic, the more eyes on your site the more likely you are to reach your desired outcome. There are a number of ways to get traffic to your website these include
a.organic or free traffic ( the best kind in my opinion ).
b.Or you can go the paid traffic route, for the purpose of this article I am going to be focussing on the best organic traffic sources. So below I have laid out my top 8 methods for driving traffic to your blog.
Outreach
There is no denying outreach is a pretty old-school way to get people to your site. However, there is still a place for it for creating good organic traffic as people may have visited your site for a number of reasons. So if you have built a reputation for providing quality content then it is likely you will attract some regular visitors which may not have come back recently, because of this it may be worth targeting them with something new. This also creates interest in your content and is more likely to be seen by the same visitor, making them return and visit your site again. Never underestimate the power of Email Marketing. Email is a valuable traffic driver and is also very cost-efficient, therefore you need to make sure you use it effectively.
Content Marketing
It doesn’t matter how good your content is, people still have to see it. If it is in a category of your niche they will be seeking out more information in that area. You can use tools like Google Analytics or Similar Web to find the best ways to drive traffic to your content. Popular Search Engine Terms Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a form of paid marketing, but at the same time, it is also one of the most important forms of traffic generation for bloggers. Do not waste time trying to learn all the many and varied forms of SEO. Unless of course, you enjoy diving into the technical aspect of things. Instead, spend the time studying the search engine users, and identifying their popular search terms. As the name suggests content marketing should be your number one weapon in your blogging arsenal. It is a long, slow and tricky process but it’s the fastest and surest route to attract traffic to your blog. Content marketing is about creating rich content that your readers are looking for, as opposed to posting for the sake of posting.
Social Media
To be honest social media has the highest traffic that is not directly organic and is the one I have spent most of my time on over the years, simply because there are so many ways to earn free traffic.
There are so many instant messaging services available on the net today, they are user-friendly and work extremely well. If you have a website people can share your blog and links to your website and once the link is clicked they can follow you.
I personally focus my social media time in three places. a. Facebook b. Twitter. c. LinkedIn
Going Live Going live on various platforms is a technique that you can use to generate even more traffic to your site or offer. To be honest I haven’t tried it yet as I am more than a little camera shy.
SEO
Search Engine Optimization is perhaps the biggest and most powerful traffic generating tool, if done correctly it can really drive your blog traffic for years to come. Title Tags This is the first element of search engine optimization that you need to optimize on your blog. If you were to try and implement a title tag on your blog now you would see that it is rubbish. If you look at my title tag below you will see that it does not fit the title of the post correctly. What you need to do is open up an Html editor and make a couple of changes to the body tag on your post. The title tag should go at the top right-hand side and should consist of the main headline, the site title, and a link to your homepage. In the body tag, you will want to add a few subheaders under your site title.
Podcasting
What is a Podcast and what is it about? A Podcast is simply a radio show where you get recorded and podcast the show and distribute it to your fans on your site or via other free distribution platforms such as iTunes or Soundcloud etc. You can do your own podcast or publish a show and get content such as audio, video, photos, articles, etc. What type of content can you do? I personally do not produce any podcasts or publish any content other than my blog. However, you can have a show about anything, tell funny stories, or interviews and discuss some topics you like. You can also submit your podcast for the consideration of producers of shows such as iTunes, Soundcloud, or a host of others. I run my own Podcast and have recorded over 250 shows, because of my radio background this is a medium I love.
Advertising
I will be focusing on organic advertising or social media advertising where you are just promoting a product, however, there are many tactics you can use to promote your content for free, for this article I will be discussing what I call incidental advertising, this is the activity you take part in that is neither organic nor paid for, this activity can be related to your online store, social media accounts, press release, guest posting or anything else you might want to do with regards to promoting your blog or online products. You can either just post content or include a link to your products, or you can have someone in-turn link to your post. Either way, if you are trying to promote your website and products you need to think of which avenues you can use to drive incidental advertising.
Guest Blogging
Another great traffic-generating strategy is Guest Blogging.
This is one of the most effective ways to drive traffic to your blog, especially if your blog is small or new. The reason why is that you will get to reach a targeted audience in need of what you have to offer and that is your conversion rate. You can also use these blogs in your backlink building strategy and also help get your brand known. It’s no secret that there is a lot of spam surfacing the web. It’s your job to make sure you’re not posting to these types of blogs — or publishing any spammy content on your own blog. Focus on finding writers in your niche or your market and from a respected business or background. Here are a few things to look for before offering to guest blog or vice-versa:
a.Does this blog or blogger have a lot of followers who are actively posting comments, sharing blogs with their networks, and otherwise engaging with content?
b. Do they have a Facebook or Twitter account where they share their own blog posts regularly?
c. Are their industry and expertise complementary to my own?
Pro tip: When searching for blogs to publish on, search for a relevant industry keyword + “guest post,” “write for us” or something similar. For example, if you wanted to write about inbound marketing, you could Google:
a. Inbound marketing guest post
b.Inbound marketing guest post guidelines
c. Inbound marketing seeking guest posts
d. Inbound marketing write for us
e. Inbound marketing guest post submissions • … and so on.
This will help you find relevant industry blogs that are interested in the topic you’re writing about and are currently accepting submissions from guest bloggers.
Giveaways
Are one of the most popular methods of traffic generation for bloggers and online businesses, you will often find people will sign up for your giveaways just for the gift if it’s something they really want, this is fantastic because you have a great track record of creating value for your followers, and they will come back to your site more often, build their loyalty and become more likely to make future purchases from your online store or offer. Your giveaways can take the form of physical products, PDFs, discount vouchers, free resources, etc.
Conclusion In this post, I have looked at 8 of the most effective traffic generation methods for bloggers. By reading this article I hope that you have learned at least one thing that can make it easier for you to drive more traffic to your website. As always if you have any questions then please feel free to comment below. Also, be sure to subscribe to my blog so you don’t miss any future articles.
Until next time, keep on keeping on.
D