Without traffic you might as well hang up your bloggin’ shoes and go get a J.O.B. again. Since you can never have too much traffic, here are 10 ways to get more, so wash the dishes and run the vacuum – you’re about to have company.
- Create remarkable content: Seriously, if every single post on your blog is engaging and fascinating and remarkable you wouldn’t have to worry half as much about traffic generation as you do now because your readers would be sharing your content all over the web. Of course, we can’t remarkable 24/7, but if you don’t have high-quality content on your blog it doesn’t matter how hard you work to generate traffic. They’re not going to stick around.
- Include your link in your email signature: You probably send at least a few emails every day. Most email platforms will allow you to create a custom signature line that’s automatically added to each email you send. Make sure yours includes a link to your website.
- Target your competitors: Start commenting on your competitors’ blogs and get to know their visitors. While you’re there, check out their content and see what they’re doing that different from yours. And pay attention to the keywords they’re using to attract all that traffic, too.
- Have a contest: Run a contest on your blog. Check out Rafflecopter for a cool gadget you can add that awards points for Tweeting, Sharing and commenting. And you can even award additional points for bloggers who write a post and link back to you. If you get freebies from advertisers use them as contest prizes. If not, contact some of the manufacturers you’re promoting and see if they’d like to sponsor a contest in exchange for some additional promotion.
- Tell your readers to share: Make sure you have sharing buttons at the bottom of every blog post and speak up – tell your readers to share. Yes. Sometimes it is just that easy.
- Publish a mash-up: Once a week publish a mash-up and link out to those high-ranking blogs you follow. It’s a great resource for your readers but the real benefit is – those other bloggers will see your links and they’ll eventually start linking back to you.
- Guest Blog: Write the best content you’ve ever written in your life and submit it to other blogs. You’ll get some exposure and you’ll get some new traffic from that link.
- Leverage your social contacts: Instead of just Tweeting and posting your links, get in there and start sharing your follower’s links. Participate, get to know people, and they’ll start sharing your links in return.
- Create sharable content: Take some time and create sharable content. Check out infographics which have become extremely popular. Or put together your first video. Or write a list post with 101 items. Once you’ve created this sharable content, enlist your network to help you start sharing and get the ball rolling.
- Build relationships with influencers: Check out Klout to see who the top influencers in your niche are and then start making connections. These are the people who re-tweet and when they do, their followers take notice.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!