Traffic generation is a skill which
cannot be learned overnight. Of course, you can get ton of traffic from
paid sources such as pay per clicks (ppc), banner advertisement and
media buying. However, these sources will cost you lots of money. You
can definitely go for paid traffic when you start generating profits from your blog but in the initial stage, you need to learn how to get free traffic through article submission and
content marketing. These methods are pretty powerful when done right.
In my
last post, I mentioned 5 basic steps that will help to increase
blog traffic.
I hope everyone is taking action. The steps might seem basic but they
always work. Today, I will continue and post the remaining five steps.
Combine them all and you will have 10 powerful yet simple traffic
generation methods that will give an extra edge to your blog.
5 Simple Blog Traffic Generation Methods
6. Submit Your Articles to Powerful Article Directories
This is called article marketing. Now it depends on what strategies
you implement to get your blog noticed. I believe that article marketing
is powerful and it does wonders if done correctly. To be honest, it
might not bring massive traffic initially but trust me, it will help you
with seo and link building. There is also another advantage of article
marketing; when your articles get published, a lot of authors and
bloggers might use them on their own site (curation) and provide a link
back to yours. This gives you quality link juice without a cost and
helps your blog rank better in the search engines.
However, remember that only good content that deliver value gets curated and shared very often.
Here is a list of my top 12 favorite article directories where you
can submit your articles to. They are well established and can help you
get some quality backlinks to your blog as well as drive some traffic.
Search engines are getting strict about the quality of content. To
keep up with the search engine algorithm, most content publishing
platforms have revised their rules. Most accept only tip top quality
content so be prepared to write for good.
7. Submit your Blog to Directories
Adding your blog to directories is very important but not always
necessary. This might not bring a flood of new readers but at least it
has its own benefits. If you do it good and work hard on it, you will
get good readers very soon. I am providing the best directories in my
opinion that I have come a cross.
You can definitely find lots more if you Google but these are the
best ones in terms of ranking and reputation and the best ones to start
with. Loren Baker from search engine journal has posted another great
list of 24 directories so check it out.
8. Encourage Commenting and Sharing on Your Blog
Commenting is a great contribution. People comment when they have
something to say or contribute to a particular post. One of the most
powerful ways to convince a visitor to become a loyal reader is to show
that there are other several loyal readers already following you. When
people comment on your blog, others might get interested and join the
conversation. A passionate blogger would always interact with the
audience and keep up with the blog. If your post has comments that
require a response then I would suggest that you provide a valid
response right away.
Another way of encouraging commenting is rewarding your readers. There are various ways to do this. For example, you can have a
top commenters plug-in like Neil uses on his
blog. This encourages readers to comment on the blog so they can have their links stick.
Next, make sure you have the right social plugins installed. If you
do not have share buttons on your blog, you are making it impossible for
others to share your stuff. Social traffic is very popular and
powerful. It not only has the potential to get your post viral but also
helps with seo. Danny Sullivan says that it’s clear that Twitter data
especially plays a role in web search, these days. Check out the post:
What Social Signals Do Google & Bing Really Count?
I am sure you can see how social traffic can be beneficial in the
long run. What social plugins I would recommend? For now, you can use
digg digg or
sharebar for your wordpress blog. Both of them are pretty similar so use whichever you want.
9. Write More “Pillar” Articles
I have mentioned about the
importance of pillar articles
in the previous post. It is good to write one pillar article every once
in a while. Now I am not asking everyone to Google for it, copy it, and
then paste it on your blog. The best way to learn about a topic and
become an expert at it is by researching in depth. You write about what
you know based on your experience. Do your research, gather all the
relevant data and then create the post. Pillar articles get easily
shared in the social networks so imagine if you create one solid pillar
article, it might just get viral and get traffic all life-long.
Yaro Starak from entrepreneurs-journey claims that Pillar Articles is the
Secret of his blog’s success
10. Learn, Implement and Repeat
This is probably the most important tip. Now that you have learned
the basic tips to gain exposure for your blog and generate traffic, it’s
time that you implement them. If you don’t take action now, this will
not work. Follow the steps from 1 to 10 and you will learn a lot of
amazing stuff along the way that will make you a better blogger.
Make sure you don’t overdo stuff. For example, you may find ton of
article directories and blog directories for submission; it is good to
avoid the temptation because too much of article marketing or blog
directory submission in a short period can raise alarm and in some cases
may penalize your blog.
Submitting your blog and content to the wrong directories can affect
your blog ranking and Google PR. I recommend that you stick to the list
provided on this post because quality always wins over quantity. If you
need any assistance, please feel free to comment and ask questions. What
other link building and traffic generation tips would you recommend?
