You create a personal or company blog, create content, but only few people read and compliment your work with a "thank god someone read my blog" comment.
You Googled and tried all traffic generator techniques that comes your way just to get free quality blog traffic but fails.
You probably invested in different type of paid traffic and get some traffic but prove to be dough consuming and not truly targeted. Now, are you frustrated and thinking of what to do?
I have tried different techniques and noticed which strategies works best. If you are going to invest in any traffic techniques, you need to aim at "Quality". Your website visitors should fall into your targeted audience.
For example, this blog target audience searching for blog design tips and how to build a strong community with high credibility. Any visitor's that fall outside that description won't be categories as quality traffic.
Everyone wants traffic to their website, but that traffic is pretty useless if it’s not targeted and doesn’t turn into sales. In other words, 100 engaged visitors are better than 1000 random visitors.
After examining different techniques to get free quality blog traffic. Here are the top strategies that worked for me and which you should give a try:
1. Write a free report
The best way to make your blog go viral is to write a short report. That 10-15 pages ebook that amplifies blog traffic. Your report should answer bugging question in your niche and should be easily digestible.
Convert your report to a PDF format and giving it out works like charm. Convince people to join your mailing list and give them permission to give it away or sell it but don't ask them for a single penny.
When you authored a book out, make sure your blog link is attribute at both the header and the footer of the report. But make sure you spell it out. No one should change your links. It must be intact.
When people find your report valuable. They download, share or even sell it. They get the money, but you get the traffic which is priceless.
2. Join blogging communities
Setting up a profile on social blogging communities is one of the popular and most effective way of driving massive and targeted traffic to blog.
Blogging communities are online portal designed for people with common interest to share information, ideas and help each other to gain a stand. Most of blogging communities are free and they offers premium account in order to have access to unlimited features.
Here are some lists:
- Blog Engage: this is paid membership and offers premium rss services that will directly published and share user’s contents in the community.
- Bloggers: is one of the largest blogging community and also free. It highlight authors profile by interest and contribution. You can add your blog's and implement the bloggers badge on your blog for easy verification.
- Inbound: The most engaging community for inbound marketers. You can share your blog articles for others to read and upvote.
- Blokube: you can join this community by requesting an invitation and it is design for both bloggers and internet marketers.
- Zimbio: a free automation site with over 200 million users, which syndicate your site content using your RSS feed. You need to set up a profile and add your blog RSS feed. Anytime you published a new article on your blog, it will be automatically fetch up and you will you need to manually categories it into any section on the site.
3. Write great post for prominent blog
Guest blogging is one of the most popular way of reaching out to new targeted audience. Aside building a stand for your brand, it also help in building quality links for your blog which gives you better chances of ranking high in search engine results.
When you run a small blog or just starting out, it can be a tedious task to convince higher authorities to accept your guest post on their site, OR not having a large audience to inspire other bloggers to guest post on your blog.
Getting a spot for your brand on big blogs requires a lot of hard work. When i say hard work, i mean a well detailed, informative and high quality article. Finding the motivation to get that content written might be the toughest task. I'm not even talking about finding a topic to write, simply finding the motivation to actually sit at your keyboard and get typing can be a mission for most of us. But if your greatest ambition is to get quality free blog traffic, and got that post written and approved, then i can bet you are on top of the game.
OR do few searches.
To find top blogs in your niche to guest post, simply type "your niche + blog" in Google to know which are the top blogs in your niche.
Ex: "blogging + blog"
4. Interview higher authorities in your niche
How does interviewing higher authorities got to do with traffic generation?
Well, i can tell you, that is one of the most effective way to connect with top influencers and get your content in the hands of wider audience.
For example, i just publish an interview i have with you, share it to some popular social network, tag your profile to it, please what will be your next move? I know you will be so eager to share it.
Did i force you to share it? No, i just reached out to your audience.
That's it.
Having somebody else promote your content is instantly building a credibility for you. But you need to create an awareness for yourself first. Start interacting with their Facebook status updates, twitter tweets and any of their social activities. It is very important to improve your visibility and get attention from them. The reason why I’m saying this is – From a blogger’s point of view, he or she is most likely to yes for an interview only when he/she knows you. It’s not about knowing a lot about you. Its about having that small feeling about your presence. It is enough to tell that specific blogger that you’re real, genuine and following them.
5. Don't forget SEO
Search Engine Optimization is so vast that an entire books have been written on it. But you don't need to spend most of your precious time reading books. All you need to do is learn some basic SEO techniques, and apply them to your blog. SEO is extremely important if you want search engines to easily find your blog.
The best source that can send you the targeted traffic you seek is search engines. Those user's that landed on your blog through search engines are those people who are really interested in what you blog about.
Google receive over 3 billion searches around the world. Why don't you take the advantages of this massive opportunity by implementing some basic SEO techniques?
Another great resources for further SEO enlightenment is the Beginners guide to SEO by SEOMoz.
6. Conduct keyword research
Keyword research is so crucial to online marketing success, because without conducting a good keyword research, we won't be able to predict what user's are actually typing into a search engine. The best and widely used tool that can provide you accurate result is Google Adwords Keyword Tool. With it, You will be able to select proper keywords for an SEO campaign based off key metrics such as search volume, competition, and seasonal demand.
On Adwords main interface is the word or phrase box, where you type the keywords you’re researching. Right below it are Website and Category. Type some words at the top, hit search and AdWords will show you phrases that match the intent and/or terms you've employed.
On the left are several features that let you customize your research further by selecting the match types of the keywords you’re looking for, whether "broad" or "exact".
When you choose "exact" match, AdWords will show you only the quantity of searches estimated for that precise phrase. If you choose "broad" match, it'll show any search phrases that use similar words in a pattern it think could have overlap with your keyword intent (which can get pretty darn broad). "Phrase" match will give you only those phrases that include the word or words in your search (still fairly wide ranging, but between "exact" and "broad.")
From my own point of view, when you are choosing keyword phrases for your post, you shouldn't go for highly searched phrases. Why?
There is possibilities that you are not the first person to write that particular topic, most people may have already wrote a particular or similar topic on that and did some keyword research. And basically they will settle for the highly searched phrases. Now, you choosing that same phrases will be somehow competitive which will reduce the chances of your content to rank high in search result.
After choosing a preferable searched phrases, utilize it for the title, sub-headings and within your post content.
7. Quality is the Key
A link from Seth Godin is infinitely, a +1 or tweet from Guy kawasaki is imposing. These are people who are known for one thing "quality".
Writing valuable resource post that top influencers will like to talk about or featured on their blog have already guaranty your blog traffic to double immediately. Though, those types of blog post takes a lot of time and effort but the benefits are endless. Over time I have learned that this is one of the best tips for good blogging.
The content you write is what will keep readers coming back for more. Make sure you have something meaningful to say to them and say it often to maintain their interest and keep them loyal.
8. Craft the most captivating headline
In a world of rivalry, how do you get people to actually read what you write? It takes more than good content or great design. People just gloss over it without taking much time to consider it. In their minds, it’s trivial.
No friends; it's not. The most important part of writing an article is the headline. Quarter of the time spent on drafting your content should be spent crafting your headline.
I sometimes deliberate over titles for 30–60 minutes before settling on one that works. And I often go back and change them. This is what it takes to write a good headline.
When you are stuck and couldn't craft out the perfect one, try this:
Use adjective
Using adjective like simple, absolute, effortless, incredible, free etc. Are so compelling and quickly grab the readers attention
Use numbers
If i tell you the simple secrete to get quality blog traffic, will you do it? Write a post about 50 ways to do something your audience might like. I’m betting it’ll be the most popular post in the history of your site.
Actually, there aren’t really any rules regarding what numbers work best, but people typically only remember three to five points. That said, sometimes a really obscure number like 21 or 32 can easily catch people’s attention.
Use what, why, how, or when
I typically use “why” and “how” the most, because I’m often trying to persuade someone with trigger words.
9. Participate in Q&A websites
This is the part most bloggers overlooked. But i can bet you, it can be the greatest source of traffic for your blog if utilized with authenticity. Popular site like Yahoo! Answers, Wiki Answers, StackExchange etc. Have dozens of users who are craving for help. Participate on these sites, but when i say participate, it doesn't mean you should answer every question that comes along. Instead, tackle the one's you think it will provide remarkable value to those who are curious and drops by. If necessary reference one of your blog post to elucidate more on the matter and anyone who find your contribution valuable will like to check out your blog.
Don't take my word for it - Test it
All this tips are totally worthless if you don't practice it. After practicing it, measure the results to see how effective they are. Trial and error is really the only way to figure out what works best.
But wait before you go. I need one tip!
Is there any other smart way's to skyrocket blog traffic? Please share it with us.
{ 1 comments... read them below or add one }
nice and add more more tip
12 October 2013 at 09:54
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