Before we get into how you can use profitable alliances to increase your website traffic we should probably discuss just what exactly are profitable alliances. And alliance is when you join forces with someone else to help boost each other toward your goals. For example, if you blog about Parenting and someone else blogs about Babies, you could form an alliance, or join forces, to start sharing traffic, promoting each other’s products, and generally just making both of your blogs more visible and profitable.
The key word, though, is profitable. If you’re blogging about Pet Care and your buddy blogs about Quantum Physics, your readers won’t have much in common. His readers won’t be interested in your blog, your readers won’t be interested in his, and you’ll both be wasting your time trying to promote each other’s blogs to your readers. Not to mention the fact you’ll probably just piss off the readers you do have by trying to send them to the other guy’s blog.
By now you probably have at least a few blogs in relevant niches that you visit regularly, just to keep up with what’s happening in your field. If not, you should, so get busy!
While you’re visiting these blogs, check out the comments to see who’s commenting on a regular basis. If the people leaving comments are different from the people leaving comments on your blog, then this would be a good blog to form an alliance with. You have two different audiences, so sharing would double the readership for both your blogs.
Now, how can you help each other out, and help your own blog at the same time?
- Promote each other: Share their blog posts on your Twitter and Facebook feeds, and in any other social network that’s appropriate that you belong to.
Don’t be afraid that by promoting their content and products you’ll be sending your own readers over to the other blog. Your readers will appreciate that your pointing them in the right direction and they’ll be even more loyal to your for sharing. And remember, that other blogging is promoting your site and your products to his followers, too.
- Link out to other blogs: Whether you’ve established an official alliance or not, it’s always a good idea to link out to other blogs. First, it establishes your credibility – you’re backing up your statements with proof from another blog. So your readers just look at it as that much more proof that you know what you’re talking about.
Second, when the other blogger sees the pingback from your link, he’ll be more inclined to return the favor and link out to one of your blog posts. Before you know it, you guys will be linking back and forth all the time and your readers are going to love you both.
- Guest Posting: Don’t overlook the major benefits of guest posting. Your article on their blog, yeah, that’s cool. It’s that much more exposure. Their article on your blog? Even better. Your readers will appreciate the new voice every now and then and if it’s an especially well-known blogger they’ll think you’re cool for bringing him to your blog.
- Ad Swaps: If you’re blogging in the Make Money Online Niche and you see someone blogging about Website Design, consider swapping ads and displaying them in your sidebar. Your readers might be more tempted to take you up on your Blogging Product if they knew there was someone out there who could build their website. And his readers might be tempted to build a website if they knew there was someone out there who could teach them how to use it.
Again, don’t be afraid that you’re going to lose traffic by building alliances. There are billions of people using the Internet every day. There’s plenty of traffic to go around. If your readers are already loving your blog, they’re not going to leave it just because you tell them about another one. And remember, that other blogger is just as concerned about his readers as you are.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!