How To Drive Traffic To A New Blog
Traffic one of the most important aspect of blogging, After you've hit publish button the next thing is finding those who will read your post, And this is always a nightmare for most new blogs!
Many bloggers have quit blogging because they're not getting traffic, Why you need traffic? If you don't have traffic you won't be able to make money from your blog and won't achieve your aim of reaching out people!
Not having traffic is like shouting out loud to an empty room, no matter how good you write, you really need traffic!
Today I will be divulging how to drive traffic to your blog, so if you've been looking for free ways to get traffic to your blog then this is for you!
Before the list, you really need quality content, yeah content remains king! You should have great contents on your blog. If your blog doesn't contain what you preach, no one will want to come back!
SOCIAL NETWORKS
Social Networks remains one of the easiest ways to get traffic on your blog, you should explore top social networks and grow your blog, There are tons of social network out there but below is a good list to start with!
This is the most popular social network with over 2 billion users, I have personal experience with Facebook and of a truth it's really a life saver! It's a matter of sharing your blog posts to Facebook and have people trouping into your site.. Haha it's not as easy as I said but I will make it a bit easy with my tips. See it below!
Add more friends and gain followers: this is a must for every blogger but it's not too relevant this days as joining Facebook groups will solve the problem but I still recommend you take time to build some SEXY amount of followers and friends. Start making friends and getting followers.
Create Page For Your Blog; This is crucial, you need to have social presence online and creating a Facebook page for your blog will do! Seriously I regard this as a must for all blogger. Most times when I visit blogs and I'm having difficulty contacting the blog owner, I quickly search them on Facebook. This is really crucial!
Create A Community (Group): This is optional because most bloggers create Facebook group for their blog after their blog have attained some level of fame while some other bloggers create a facebook group for their blog together with their launching while some few don't even create at all. I don't have any official Facebook group for LoveNancials, though I have tons of Facebook groups. I'm planning on building a community soon! So it's best you build one for your blog too!
Join Facebook Groups: This is a must for all bloggers, but you should join only groups where your potential audience hangs out. I made the mistake of joining any group I came across and It wasn't a nice experience as I had to create a new account dedicated to blogging!
Don't Spam: When your sharing blog posts to Facebook, you should be helpful and not spammy, focus on solving problems.
Learn how to share post on Facebook; this is crucial, you can share on your Facebook profile, Page, Or Groups. You can even drop your link via Facebook comments, if the needs arrives! But never spam! Read rules of posting links on any group you're in! Also be careful on how to post links on Facebook in order not to be ban!
You should also be active on Facebook groups you're in, don't just care about generating traffic, read the group and contribute to people's plight.
Pay To Play: This isn't a must as I'm trying not to involve money in this article ( it's suppose to be free ways to generate traffic to your blog) but I will be unrealistic if I don't tell you this! Social media have moved from free to play to pay to play! So you should pay for advertising and reaching more people on Facebook. Promote your page, promote course ( if you have any), Promote Post On your Page! If you have a post that address certain pain points and solves problem then boost it!
Promote your blog too, This isn't something you just do without learning, you need to know how Facebook marketing works and how to make your marketing a success. I will advise you take courses on Facebook marketing to improve yourself!
Pinterest just came on board, but it's now the primary traffic source for most top bloggers. I recently started taking Pinterest serious and I'm seeing huge result already! Pinterest isn't only for DIY crafts, it can work for almost all blogging niche as long as you're solving a problem and doing stuffs along the line.
Pinterst is a social networks for getting ideas visually. Images is the bedrock of Pinterest. Not just images but stunning and quality images.
Pinterest is so confusing, yeah I mean it, if you don't learn you can't succeed on Pinterest. Below I have some tips and Recommendations for you to succeed on Pinterest.
Long Images!
It's been proven that long images or infographics perform well on Pinterest than square images.Why? Pinterest is all about your image capturing people's attention, so long images can easily grab attention than short ones!
Text On Images!
Images with descriptive text on it performs better than blank pictures of flowers, pets, human face and more.. Your image should contain stunning text!
Colors!
Good color combination increases your reach on Pinterest and increases repins, I have heard so much about Red and I think your pins should contain red color especially on your text.
Business Account!
As a Pinner, business account is for you, with this you get access to more pinterest features as well as analytics to improve your pin performance. Don't forget to verify your blog with Pinterest too.
Rich Pin Functionality!
The helps your pin to be outstanding from thousands of others! Use Pinterest rich pin feature. You can access it here!
Schedule pins with Tailwind! No matter how you love Pinterest, you can't be on it 24/7, so you need to use a scheduling tool and Tailwind is currently the best, you will also get analytics of your pins and see best times to pin! The good news is that Tailwind have free trail, so give them a try!
Group Boards!
You Should join group boards, this is very necessary if you want to grow your blog! To find group boards, go to pingroupie.com and type a keyword, group boards will display (if there's any for that keyword), click on your favourite and read their description to know if it's available for new Pinners. If it's then contact the board owner! If you can't differentiate between general boards and group boards, the image below will help!
On pinterest mobile website, group boards may look like the image below. Just note the icon.
Read my guide for boosting pinterest marketing!
Twitter has been around for a long while, and it's really great to build your blog. Most bloggers use Twitter to grow their blog. I have been using Twitter for sometimes now and they're good though I spend more time on Facebook.
Twitter is quite tricky as your tweets are limited to only 140 characters. So you can't write so much, you really need to be smart!
Below are my tips and recommendation.
Create Stunning Title!
Since your tweets can contain only 140 characters, you should tweet your post title with a link back to your blog. There's nothing wrong with creating a new title for your tweets. Lets say you have an article titled How To Create A Blog instead of using that title for your tweets, you can better still use stunning words like "Learn how to start a blog in 10min and make $100". This title is likely to grab people's attention but you shouldn't use a distracting title that different from your blog content.
So if you have words that are seductive (LOL don't mind the word) use them.
Shorten Link!
The 140 Characters might not be enough to express yourself and add links too, so you should shorten your blog posts link with link shortening websites like Bit.ly to get additional characters!
Use Hash tags!
Hashtags are popular on Twitter, they contribute to your tweets. So use hot Hashtags. You can find hot Hashtags on ritetag.com (just enter a keyword and see hot hash tags).
Use Automating Tool!
I recommend using blog posts automating websites like Dlvr.it because it's free (though upgradable), they automatically share your recent blog posts to twitter, so your post is being tweeted immediately after you've hit publish.
Use other tools! I have written a good list of twitter tools to grow your blog, open link in a new tab and read later! They're all unique!
Instagram can be a huge source of traffic for you, though I'm not too familia with instagram but on different ocassions I've gotten traffic from instagram to my blog via the link on my profile. This is especially when I'm building my following. Bloggers like Helene has gotten better ROI than myself, she currently have over 60k following. I'm not really taking Instagram serious but it has the potential of growing your blog in terms of traffic.
Instagram is unique and isn't a place to get traffic by incidence, so you need to work for your traffic. For some years now I've been using Instagram and here is what I can say!
Followers!
You really to have some good followers on Instagram but it doesn't ends there, you need to build like mind audience. What's is the benefit of sharing blogging tips when your followers are entertainment fan! You need to follow people that are in your niche and get them follow back. Though this is an exemption to niches like health, relationship and some others as anyone may be interested in such stuff but not for Blogging Niche, SEO, Marketing and more. You get the picture.
Call To Action!
This is very crucial, you need to call followers to action whenever you upload any promotional stuff, whether video or an image, tell what you want them to do. It could be telling them to click on your profile for a certain link, Google search something, telling them to type certain web address on their browser and more. But why would someone obey your call to action since you're not Nicki Minaj or Kim kardashian? Anyway you don't have to be them!
What you need is to be smart, I listened to Ana Hoffman and Jeff Sieh Podcast on Content Repurposing and Anna talked about how she returns people to her blog when she repurpose content. So her tactics works here. If you're solving their problem, don't solve all, tell them to visit a link for the rest. It could be a tempting title and telling them where to find the content. You get the picture!
Follow Other To Get Followed!
I have discovered that following others fetches more followers, so you should apply this tactics.
Use Hashtags!
You should use Hashtags when you're posting, Some people follow certain Hashtags, that's why you should use hot Hashtags, to find hot Hashtags just visit ritetag.com or type your Hashtags (#) on your Instagram post to get suggestions.
LinkedIn is another place to get good traffic, it is for business minded so it might suit your niche! I didn't take LinkedIn too serious when I started newly but I decided to try it out and I'm having great ROI. One thing I can recommend about LinkedIn is joining groups.
Join Groups!
Joining Groups will help you reach people faster and easier, and you should join groups that is related to your field. If it's a general group fine!
Google Plus
I would be too greedy if I didn't mentioned Google plus, Google plus is superb!
This is the first place I share my article after I hit publish. Google plus is great for generating traffic to your blog. I use Google plus to get fast traffic, and from experience this is what I can say!
Join Communities!
This is what I have been using, I join popular communities and share related blog posts. Also, using Google plus you should read the rules of the community you're joining.
Collections!
Follow Hot Collections in your niche, contact the owner and politely ask the owner to allow you contribute!
Furthermore, apart from generating traffic to my blog, Google Plus helps my SEO. Google plus posts get indexed by Google, and it has high rank. So when I post something that's competitive, I share it to Google plus and can henceforth compete with top sites.
BOOKMARKING SITES
Bookmarking sites are great, they've tons of users and are great for generating traffic to your blog.
Though I don't use bookmarking sites always but once in a while when I use them I get some good return of investment. There are tons of bookmarking sites out there but below I have some few popular ones! See them below!
StumbledUpon!
I use stumble upon and it's great. To use this, Go to www.stumbleupon.com, register with them and add your blog.
Afterwards you can start stumbling your blog posts!
Digg!
This is great also, just register and start sharing your blog posts. They have lots of users that might find your post interesting.
Reddit!
This is amazing, you can follow boards and contribute to them!
Technorati!
This is another one you should try, it's fabulous!
OTHER BLOGS
There are ways to drive traffic from other people's blog to yours without breaking any rule or spamming, some these ways are listed below!
Guest Post
Guest posting on top blogs in your niche will definitely increase your blog's traffic, This is one tactics of getting readers from top blog's to your own blog. Below are tips to get you started.
Build A Quality Blog First: Before you set on guest posting on any top blog, your blog should already be well built in design and content. Anyone that visit your blog from the site you guest posted is actually coming to get more of what you offered. That's why it's great to write guest post on topics that is similar to the ones on your blog!
For instance, lets say you guest posted "How to get back with your ex", you should have similar topics on your blog like "Things to consider before getting back with an Ex" or " how to move on after break up". You get the picture!
Guest Post On Only Relevant Blog!
There's no need guest posting on blogs that isn't in anyway related to your blog. So you should guest post on blogs that offer similar stuff to yours.
Duplicate Content!
Don't Copy any content on your blog and summit as guest post, write new and fresh content that's of high quality and guest post. If your guest post isn't of great quality you might have little or no return of investment.
Be Helpful!
When writing an article for the purpose of guest posting, be helpful and always focus on solving problem.
Research!
Before writing your guest posts, research the blog you're writing for, read articles and find those topics that they haven't cover and write on them, this is crucial. If I have "How to cure acne" on my blog and someone submitted similar stuff, I might not approve it because there's no need repeating same thing on my blog. Research and also use search box on the blog to see if the topic you're writing has already been written...
The Link Back!
When guests posting, you should be granted opportunity to link back to your blog or article, the link back should be at least one or two. Don't guest post on blogs that won't allow a single link back. It's or may be a waste of time.
Amy Article On Guest Post!
Amy Lynn has a great article that contains guest posting tips which shouldn't miss for any reason. I actually applied her tips to my strategy.
Comments
Leaving comments on other people's blog is a great way to drive traffic to your blog especially when your comments is of high quality. This should be done with a link back to your blog. Though some blog's disable links in comments, you can should include your website address when commenting and also target blogs with commentLuv plugin. Don't leave comments like "nice post", it should be at least 60 characters!
Ask for link back
You know some bloggers? Why not ask them to shout out to your blog on their blog? Mention you or feature your article? That's why it's great to network with other bloggers!
Join Blogging Communities
Joining blogging communities owned by other bloggers is a great way to get traffic, If I tell you how many communities I've joined in just one month you'll be amazed. That's how important it is. So start joining!
ON YOUR BLOG
There are some certain things you should do on your blog that'll in return generate traffic to your blog, reduce bounce and increase page views. This is a must for bloggers that wants to succeed. So I have come up with some things to do on your blog that will triple your blog traffic. See it below!
Interlink!
Interlinking your blog posts is one thing you should do on your blog before you hit publish or even write a post, you should research for similar posts you've written and inter link. You should also add your new post to existing related ones after you've publish it.
Share Button!
You want your blog posts to go viral? Why not install plugins that allows readers share your content easily? This is crucial. For this, you should use Sumome or ShareAholic.
Click To Tweet!
It's Superb to include tweet able text on your blog posts, maybe a phrase or quote. This is great and is achievable using "Click To Tweet" WordPress plugin or pasting your words in this website tool and get your link.
Related Page Widget!
You've got a blog? Then you should add related posts beneath your blog posts, this alone increase time spent on your site.
Popular Post Widget!
This is optional but I recommend you have a space on your site where you showcase popular posts. This could be on side bar or footer. It's important! I've found myself going back to blogs just to read their popular posts.
Newsletter!
You should have a form on your blog where readers can subscribe. With this you can update them of new article on your blog! You've got Mailchimp, Mailerlite or covert kit to use! Though don't have personal experience with convert kit but I do with mailchimp and mailerlite. Mailerlite is free up to 1,000 subscribers while Mailchimp is free up to 2,000 but ease of MailerLite is someone else especially creating dynamic forms.
Embed Pins!
This is also great if you're wanting repins, you can embed your pin on your blog posts and ask for repins..
Call To Action!
This is one of the most crucial, you should include call to action in each and every one of your posts. Tell readers to do some stuff; Buy a course, Share post, Subscribe, Like Facebook Page or join groups and more!
Blog Design!
Your blog design should be superb, I don't take any poorly designed blog serious, even if there's quality content!
This is the first thing you should work on, your blog should be well designed, easily navigated and fast to load! This, you should take serious.
ELSEWHERE AND AROUND THE WEB
The internet is so broad and there are tons of communities you should join, and tons of ways to generate traffic to your blog. Below I have some other traffic generation techniques you should try!
FORUMS
Forums are great for promoting your blog, it's all about being active in the forum and sharing helpful blog posts. I use forum a lot and below is what I can say!
Forum Signature!
Forum signature matters a lot, when you comment something useful and helpful on forum thread, without drooping a link, people will check your signature and read about you! You should include your website in your forum signature. I use different signature on different forums and below is the kind of text I use!
"Learn How to make sense and cents from everything you do @LoveNancials.com" and in some other forums I use "Keep Your Relationship Healthy and Learn Personal Finance" Or "Get Tips To Better Your Relationship and Financial life". Those are some signature I use!
Participate In Threads!
On forums, You should participate in thread and recommend your blog posts where necessary.
Share Your Blog Post!
You can create thread for your blog posts! This way you can also draw traffic!
I participate in many forums but below are my top 3.
Digital Point
Warrior Forum
NairaLand
Those are my top 3 forums, though NairaLand is crowded with mostly Nigerians and Africa's at large, but most times location doesn't matter. Personally I don't share all my article on NairaLand because entertainment niche is more popular there and get lots of attention.
I post mainly my relationship tips article, I don't post personal finance and blogging that much! So if you're a entertainment blogger like Travel, Relationship, News (Politics and Celebrity), Food and some related niches, NairaLand will work for you! If you have posted something interesting, you can alert some moderators to help you get it to front page (if it worth it), you should mention mods like Lalasticlala and Mynd44. Don't forget to link back to your blog as source.
Digital Point and Warrior Forum is mostly tech and internet. Blogging tips, Ad Network, Marketing and some others of like nature works well on these forums!
Email Signature
Email signature are great, you can use your website and social media profiles as your email signature.
That being said, when you send or respond to mails, your website and other profiles you've added will be displayed at the bottom or footer of the mail.
Also, you can decide to use your latest blog posts as your email signature. This is achievable using wisestamp.com
BlogLovin!
Bloglovin is superbly awesome! All your latest articles is automatically displayed when you add your blog to BlogLovin! You can also add their followers widget on your blog to get more followers. I'm currently working on increasing my reach on BlogLovin.
Ezine articles!
This is an article directory where you can duplicate your blog content on and in return generate some traffic to the original article on your blog as Ezine articles may have more rank and traffic than your blog.
SYNDICATION!
Sindication is way of spreading your blog posts to many networks and top sites. When you syndicate a blog post, you stand a chance of getting it featured on top sites like CNN and more. However I came across an infographic by LaunchGrowJoy and it featured some create sites for the purpose of syndication, so I decided to screenshot them so you can have a glance too. See it below!
The screenshot above as you can see has lots of fabulous sites for syndicating, and also an insightful description of how they work! So feel free to use your match!
SEARCH ENGINE TRAFFIC
Search engines like bing and Google remains the free way to get traffic to your blog.
However getting these traffic from search engine isn't too easy! To get your article in the front page of Google isn't easy. Though laws like Researching Keywords, Interlinking and linking out to top blogs and websites, Building Backlinks, and more still remains a good approach to ranking on search engine but there isn't any guarantee that those techniques can help your SERPs and SEO (search engine optimisation) at large.
FINAL THOUGHTS
One mistake you shouldn't make when working on your blog's traffic is trying to be on all of the sites mentioned above. In fact it's a waste of time. What you need is to find out where your audience are and stick to it.
Aslo, Use Tailwind to schedule pins if Pinterest & Instagram is your thing and Buffer or Crowdfire (not excluding Hootsuite) for Facebook and twitter. So that you won't spend too much of your time on them! You can also use Dlvr.it to publish your latest posts to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, you can upgrade if you want to use it for Pinterest but I haven't use it for Pinterest so I don't recommend it. It's free and comes with analytics of how your posts performed on various social networks.
In Addition, don't waste your time of sites that your audience aren't in, instead focus on where they're.
Thanks for reading, and happy blogging. Don't forget to save this article on Pinterest and also share to Facebook and others. If you find this useful, subscribe to my mailing list for more of this!
Traffic one of the most important aspect of blogging, After you've hit publish button the next thing is finding those who will read your post, And this is always a nightmare for most new blogs!
Many bloggers have quit blogging because they're not getting traffic, Why you need traffic? If you don't have traffic you won't be able to make money from your blog and won't achieve your aim of reaching out people!
Not having traffic is like shouting out loud to an empty room, no matter how good you write, you really need traffic!
Today I will be divulging how to drive traffic to your blog, so if you've been looking for free ways to get traffic to your blog then this is for you!
Before the list, you really need quality content, yeah content remains king! You should have great contents on your blog. If your blog doesn't contain what you preach, no one will want to come back!
SOCIAL NETWORKS
Social Networks remains one of the easiest ways to get traffic on your blog, you should explore top social networks and grow your blog, There are tons of social network out there but below is a good list to start with!
This is the most popular social network with over 2 billion users, I have personal experience with Facebook and of a truth it's really a life saver! It's a matter of sharing your blog posts to Facebook and have people trouping into your site.. Haha it's not as easy as I said but I will make it a bit easy with my tips. See it below!
Add more friends and gain followers: this is a must for every blogger but it's not too relevant this days as joining Facebook groups will solve the problem but I still recommend you take time to build some SEXY amount of followers and friends. Start making friends and getting followers.
Create Page For Your Blog; This is crucial, you need to have social presence online and creating a Facebook page for your blog will do! Seriously I regard this as a must for all blogger. Most times when I visit blogs and I'm having difficulty contacting the blog owner, I quickly search them on Facebook. This is really crucial!
Create A Community (Group): This is optional because most bloggers create Facebook group for their blog after their blog have attained some level of fame while some other bloggers create a facebook group for their blog together with their launching while some few don't even create at all. I don't have any official Facebook group for LoveNancials, though I have tons of Facebook groups. I'm planning on building a community soon! So it's best you build one for your blog too!
Join Facebook Groups: This is a must for all bloggers, but you should join only groups where your potential audience hangs out. I made the mistake of joining any group I came across and It wasn't a nice experience as I had to create a new account dedicated to blogging!
Don't Spam: When your sharing blog posts to Facebook, you should be helpful and not spammy, focus on solving problems.
Learn how to share post on Facebook; this is crucial, you can share on your Facebook profile, Page, Or Groups. You can even drop your link via Facebook comments, if the needs arrives! But never spam! Read rules of posting links on any group you're in! Also be careful on how to post links on Facebook in order not to be ban!
You should also be active on Facebook groups you're in, don't just care about generating traffic, read the group and contribute to people's plight.
Pay To Play: This isn't a must as I'm trying not to involve money in this article ( it's suppose to be free ways to generate traffic to your blog) but I will be unrealistic if I don't tell you this! Social media have moved from free to play to pay to play! So you should pay for advertising and reaching more people on Facebook. Promote your page, promote course ( if you have any), Promote Post On your Page! If you have a post that address certain pain points and solves problem then boost it!
Promote your blog too, This isn't something you just do without learning, you need to know how Facebook marketing works and how to make your marketing a success. I will advise you take courses on Facebook marketing to improve yourself!
Pinterest just came on board, but it's now the primary traffic source for most top bloggers. I recently started taking Pinterest serious and I'm seeing huge result already! Pinterest isn't only for DIY crafts, it can work for almost all blogging niche as long as you're solving a problem and doing stuffs along the line.
Pinterst is a social networks for getting ideas visually. Images is the bedrock of Pinterest. Not just images but stunning and quality images.
Pinterest is so confusing, yeah I mean it, if you don't learn you can't succeed on Pinterest. Below I have some tips and Recommendations for you to succeed on Pinterest.
Long Images!
It's been proven that long images or infographics perform well on Pinterest than square images.Why? Pinterest is all about your image capturing people's attention, so long images can easily grab attention than short ones!
Text On Images!
Images with descriptive text on it performs better than blank pictures of flowers, pets, human face and more.. Your image should contain stunning text!
Colors!
Good color combination increases your reach on Pinterest and increases repins, I have heard so much about Red and I think your pins should contain red color especially on your text.
Business Account!
As a Pinner, business account is for you, with this you get access to more pinterest features as well as analytics to improve your pin performance. Don't forget to verify your blog with Pinterest too.
Rich Pin Functionality!
The helps your pin to be outstanding from thousands of others! Use Pinterest rich pin feature. You can access it here!
Schedule pins with Tailwind! No matter how you love Pinterest, you can't be on it 24/7, so you need to use a scheduling tool and Tailwind is currently the best, you will also get analytics of your pins and see best times to pin! The good news is that Tailwind have free trail, so give them a try!
Group Boards!
You Should join group boards, this is very necessary if you want to grow your blog! To find group boards, go to pingroupie.com and type a keyword, group boards will display (if there's any for that keyword), click on your favourite and read their description to know if it's available for new Pinners. If it's then contact the board owner! If you can't differentiate between general boards and group boards, the image below will help!
On pinterest mobile website, group boards may look like the image below. Just note the icon.
Read my guide for boosting pinterest marketing!
Twitter has been around for a long while, and it's really great to build your blog. Most bloggers use Twitter to grow their blog. I have been using Twitter for sometimes now and they're good though I spend more time on Facebook.
Twitter is quite tricky as your tweets are limited to only 140 characters. So you can't write so much, you really need to be smart!
Below are my tips and recommendation.
Create Stunning Title!
Since your tweets can contain only 140 characters, you should tweet your post title with a link back to your blog. There's nothing wrong with creating a new title for your tweets. Lets say you have an article titled How To Create A Blog instead of using that title for your tweets, you can better still use stunning words like "Learn how to start a blog in 10min and make $100". This title is likely to grab people's attention but you shouldn't use a distracting title that different from your blog content.
So if you have words that are seductive (LOL don't mind the word) use them.
Shorten Link!
The 140 Characters might not be enough to express yourself and add links too, so you should shorten your blog posts link with link shortening websites like Bit.ly to get additional characters!
Use Hash tags!
Hashtags are popular on Twitter, they contribute to your tweets. So use hot Hashtags. You can find hot Hashtags on ritetag.com (just enter a keyword and see hot hash tags).
Use Automating Tool!
I recommend using blog posts automating websites like Dlvr.it because it's free (though upgradable), they automatically share your recent blog posts to twitter, so your post is being tweeted immediately after you've hit publish.
Use other tools! I have written a good list of twitter tools to grow your blog, open link in a new tab and read later! They're all unique!
Instagram can be a huge source of traffic for you, though I'm not too familia with instagram but on different ocassions I've gotten traffic from instagram to my blog via the link on my profile. This is especially when I'm building my following. Bloggers like Helene has gotten better ROI than myself, she currently have over 60k following. I'm not really taking Instagram serious but it has the potential of growing your blog in terms of traffic.
Instagram is unique and isn't a place to get traffic by incidence, so you need to work for your traffic. For some years now I've been using Instagram and here is what I can say!
Followers!
You really to have some good followers on Instagram but it doesn't ends there, you need to build like mind audience. What's is the benefit of sharing blogging tips when your followers are entertainment fan! You need to follow people that are in your niche and get them follow back. Though this is an exemption to niches like health, relationship and some others as anyone may be interested in such stuff but not for Blogging Niche, SEO, Marketing and more. You get the picture.
Call To Action!
This is very crucial, you need to call followers to action whenever you upload any promotional stuff, whether video or an image, tell what you want them to do. It could be telling them to click on your profile for a certain link, Google search something, telling them to type certain web address on their browser and more. But why would someone obey your call to action since you're not Nicki Minaj or Kim kardashian? Anyway you don't have to be them!
What you need is to be smart, I listened to Ana Hoffman and Jeff Sieh Podcast on Content Repurposing and Anna talked about how she returns people to her blog when she repurpose content. So her tactics works here. If you're solving their problem, don't solve all, tell them to visit a link for the rest. It could be a tempting title and telling them where to find the content. You get the picture!
Follow Other To Get Followed!
I have discovered that following others fetches more followers, so you should apply this tactics.
Use Hashtags!
You should use Hashtags when you're posting, Some people follow certain Hashtags, that's why you should use hot Hashtags, to find hot Hashtags just visit ritetag.com or type your Hashtags (#) on your Instagram post to get suggestions.
LinkedIn is another place to get good traffic, it is for business minded so it might suit your niche! I didn't take LinkedIn too serious when I started newly but I decided to try it out and I'm having great ROI. One thing I can recommend about LinkedIn is joining groups.
Join Groups!
Joining Groups will help you reach people faster and easier, and you should join groups that is related to your field. If it's a general group fine!
Google Plus
I would be too greedy if I didn't mentioned Google plus, Google plus is superb!
This is the first place I share my article after I hit publish. Google plus is great for generating traffic to your blog. I use Google plus to get fast traffic, and from experience this is what I can say!
Join Communities!
This is what I have been using, I join popular communities and share related blog posts. Also, using Google plus you should read the rules of the community you're joining.
Collections!
Follow Hot Collections in your niche, contact the owner and politely ask the owner to allow you contribute!
Furthermore, apart from generating traffic to my blog, Google Plus helps my SEO. Google plus posts get indexed by Google, and it has high rank. So when I post something that's competitive, I share it to Google plus and can henceforth compete with top sites.
BOOKMARKING SITES
Bookmarking sites are great, they've tons of users and are great for generating traffic to your blog.
Though I don't use bookmarking sites always but once in a while when I use them I get some good return of investment. There are tons of bookmarking sites out there but below I have some few popular ones! See them below!
StumbledUpon!
I use stumble upon and it's great. To use this, Go to www.stumbleupon.com, register with them and add your blog.
Afterwards you can start stumbling your blog posts!
Digg!
This is great also, just register and start sharing your blog posts. They have lots of users that might find your post interesting.
Reddit!
This is amazing, you can follow boards and contribute to them!
Technorati!
This is another one you should try, it's fabulous!
OTHER BLOGS
There are ways to drive traffic from other people's blog to yours without breaking any rule or spamming, some these ways are listed below!
Guest Post
Guest posting on top blogs in your niche will definitely increase your blog's traffic, This is one tactics of getting readers from top blog's to your own blog. Below are tips to get you started.
Build A Quality Blog First: Before you set on guest posting on any top blog, your blog should already be well built in design and content. Anyone that visit your blog from the site you guest posted is actually coming to get more of what you offered. That's why it's great to write guest post on topics that is similar to the ones on your blog!
For instance, lets say you guest posted "How to get back with your ex", you should have similar topics on your blog like "Things to consider before getting back with an Ex" or " how to move on after break up". You get the picture!
Guest Post On Only Relevant Blog!
There's no need guest posting on blogs that isn't in anyway related to your blog. So you should guest post on blogs that offer similar stuff to yours.
Duplicate Content!
Don't Copy any content on your blog and summit as guest post, write new and fresh content that's of high quality and guest post. If your guest post isn't of great quality you might have little or no return of investment.
Be Helpful!
When writing an article for the purpose of guest posting, be helpful and always focus on solving problem.
Research!
Before writing your guest posts, research the blog you're writing for, read articles and find those topics that they haven't cover and write on them, this is crucial. If I have "How to cure acne" on my blog and someone submitted similar stuff, I might not approve it because there's no need repeating same thing on my blog. Research and also use search box on the blog to see if the topic you're writing has already been written...
The Link Back!
When guests posting, you should be granted opportunity to link back to your blog or article, the link back should be at least one or two. Don't guest post on blogs that won't allow a single link back. It's or may be a waste of time.
Amy Article On Guest Post!
Amy Lynn has a great article that contains guest posting tips which shouldn't miss for any reason. I actually applied her tips to my strategy.
Comments
Leaving comments on other people's blog is a great way to drive traffic to your blog especially when your comments is of high quality. This should be done with a link back to your blog. Though some blog's disable links in comments, you can should include your website address when commenting and also target blogs with commentLuv plugin. Don't leave comments like "nice post", it should be at least 60 characters!
Ask for link back
You know some bloggers? Why not ask them to shout out to your blog on their blog? Mention you or feature your article? That's why it's great to network with other bloggers!
Join Blogging Communities
Joining blogging communities owned by other bloggers is a great way to get traffic, If I tell you how many communities I've joined in just one month you'll be amazed. That's how important it is. So start joining!
ON YOUR BLOG
There are some certain things you should do on your blog that'll in return generate traffic to your blog, reduce bounce and increase page views. This is a must for bloggers that wants to succeed. So I have come up with some things to do on your blog that will triple your blog traffic. See it below!
Interlink!
Interlinking your blog posts is one thing you should do on your blog before you hit publish or even write a post, you should research for similar posts you've written and inter link. You should also add your new post to existing related ones after you've publish it.
Share Button!
You want your blog posts to go viral? Why not install plugins that allows readers share your content easily? This is crucial. For this, you should use Sumome or ShareAholic.
Click To Tweet!
It's Superb to include tweet able text on your blog posts, maybe a phrase or quote. This is great and is achievable using "Click To Tweet" WordPress plugin or pasting your words in this website tool and get your link.
Related Page Widget!
You've got a blog? Then you should add related posts beneath your blog posts, this alone increase time spent on your site.
Popular Post Widget!
This is optional but I recommend you have a space on your site where you showcase popular posts. This could be on side bar or footer. It's important! I've found myself going back to blogs just to read their popular posts.
Newsletter!
You should have a form on your blog where readers can subscribe. With this you can update them of new article on your blog! You've got Mailchimp, Mailerlite or covert kit to use! Though don't have personal experience with convert kit but I do with mailchimp and mailerlite. Mailerlite is free up to 1,000 subscribers while Mailchimp is free up to 2,000 but ease of MailerLite is someone else especially creating dynamic forms.
Embed Pins!
This is also great if you're wanting repins, you can embed your pin on your blog posts and ask for repins..
Call To Action!
This is one of the most crucial, you should include call to action in each and every one of your posts. Tell readers to do some stuff; Buy a course, Share post, Subscribe, Like Facebook Page or join groups and more!
Blog Design!
Your blog design should be superb, I don't take any poorly designed blog serious, even if there's quality content!
This is the first thing you should work on, your blog should be well designed, easily navigated and fast to load! This, you should take serious.
ELSEWHERE AND AROUND THE WEB
The internet is so broad and there are tons of communities you should join, and tons of ways to generate traffic to your blog. Below I have some other traffic generation techniques you should try!
FORUMS
Forums are great for promoting your blog, it's all about being active in the forum and sharing helpful blog posts. I use forum a lot and below is what I can say!
Forum Signature!
Forum signature matters a lot, when you comment something useful and helpful on forum thread, without drooping a link, people will check your signature and read about you! You should include your website in your forum signature. I use different signature on different forums and below is the kind of text I use!
"Learn How to make sense and cents from everything you do @LoveNancials.com" and in some other forums I use "Keep Your Relationship Healthy and Learn Personal Finance" Or "Get Tips To Better Your Relationship and Financial life". Those are some signature I use!
Participate In Threads!
On forums, You should participate in thread and recommend your blog posts where necessary.
Share Your Blog Post!
You can create thread for your blog posts! This way you can also draw traffic!
I participate in many forums but below are my top 3.
Digital Point
Warrior Forum
NairaLand
Those are my top 3 forums, though NairaLand is crowded with mostly Nigerians and Africa's at large, but most times location doesn't matter. Personally I don't share all my article on NairaLand because entertainment niche is more popular there and get lots of attention.
I post mainly my relationship tips article, I don't post personal finance and blogging that much! So if you're a entertainment blogger like Travel, Relationship, News (Politics and Celebrity), Food and some related niches, NairaLand will work for you! If you have posted something interesting, you can alert some moderators to help you get it to front page (if it worth it), you should mention mods like Lalasticlala and Mynd44. Don't forget to link back to your blog as source.
Digital Point and Warrior Forum is mostly tech and internet. Blogging tips, Ad Network, Marketing and some others of like nature works well on these forums!
Email Signature
Email signature are great, you can use your website and social media profiles as your email signature.
That being said, when you send or respond to mails, your website and other profiles you've added will be displayed at the bottom or footer of the mail.
Also, you can decide to use your latest blog posts as your email signature. This is achievable using wisestamp.com
BlogLovin!
Bloglovin is superbly awesome! All your latest articles is automatically displayed when you add your blog to BlogLovin! You can also add their followers widget on your blog to get more followers. I'm currently working on increasing my reach on BlogLovin.
Ezine articles!
This is an article directory where you can duplicate your blog content on and in return generate some traffic to the original article on your blog as Ezine articles may have more rank and traffic than your blog.
SYNDICATION!
Sindication is way of spreading your blog posts to many networks and top sites. When you syndicate a blog post, you stand a chance of getting it featured on top sites like CNN and more. However I came across an infographic by LaunchGrowJoy and it featured some create sites for the purpose of syndication, so I decided to screenshot them so you can have a glance too. See it below!
The screenshot above as you can see has lots of fabulous sites for syndicating, and also an insightful description of how they work! So feel free to use your match!
SEARCH ENGINE TRAFFIC
Search engines like bing and Google remains the free way to get traffic to your blog.
However getting these traffic from search engine isn't too easy! To get your article in the front page of Google isn't easy. Though laws like Researching Keywords, Interlinking and linking out to top blogs and websites, Building Backlinks, and more still remains a good approach to ranking on search engine but there isn't any guarantee that those techniques can help your SERPs and SEO (search engine optimisation) at large.
FINAL THOUGHTS
One mistake you shouldn't make when working on your blog's traffic is trying to be on all of the sites mentioned above. In fact it's a waste of time. What you need is to find out where your audience are and stick to it.
Aslo, Use Tailwind to schedule pins if Pinterest & Instagram is your thing and Buffer or Crowdfire (not excluding Hootsuite) for Facebook and twitter. So that you won't spend too much of your time on them! You can also use Dlvr.it to publish your latest posts to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, you can upgrade if you want to use it for Pinterest but I haven't use it for Pinterest so I don't recommend it. It's free and comes with analytics of how your posts performed on various social networks.
In Addition, don't waste your time of sites that your audience aren't in, instead focus on where they're.
Thanks for reading, and happy blogging. Don't forget to save this article on Pinterest and also share to Facebook and others. If you find this useful, subscribe to my mailing list for more of this!
