Seriously, do you want to get more traffic to your website? Are you a budding blogger who’s been searching Google to ascertain how to increase website traffic?
OMG…did you just purchase that $197 course that promised to help you get 1000 visitors to your blog every day? Have you been wondering exactly how long does it take for a new website to get traffic?
Or maybe you’ve spent days on Pinterest gobbling up all of the pins featuring the best free traffic sources. One’s blogging budget is tight nowadays, right? You have all these monthly blogging expenses and still haven’t earned your first $100. Got you wondering if your family and friends were right about blogging being dead.
Let’s be honest! Did you recently discover how to see the traffic sources of a specific page in your Google Analytics account? Now you’re going through all of the alleys and underground spaces in search of traffic.
Alright, that’s enough! If I’m on your street then this post is for you. Sitting around the table are 23 successful bloggers who will share tips on how to get more traffic to your website.
“The Life You Want, The Success You Want, And The Person You Want To Become, Is Going To Be Determined By Who You Surround Yourself With.”
Stefan James
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.
How to Get More Traffic
Yup, we have all been there. A head full of ideas and raring to go with our new blog project. Already dreaming of what we can achieve we tentatively put out our first blog post.
Then a second. Maybe a third.
But pretty quickly we can’t help but notice – no one seems to be reading it. A few views here, a couple over there. But no shares, no backlinks, and certainly not the hordes of like-minded followers we had imagined.
If you’re not consistently getting website traffic, there’s a good chance it might be because of your website’s user experience (UX). If your site isn’t user-friendly, no one will want to visit it. No matter how great your content is.
Don’t worry.
As I said, we have all been there. And that even includes the Rockstar Bloggers.
But do not get discouraged and don’t you dare quit. You’ve got this! In less than 13 minutes you’ll soon discover that there are many ways you can increase traffic to your website!
Let’s read about the traffic generation tips those successful bloggers suggest can work for anyone:
Focus On Your Passion
Let’s get the foundations out of the way first. You have to be passionate about what you do. Ryan Biddulph at Blogging From Paradise wastes no time in highlighting how important this is.
As he says, it’s our passion for our subject that gives us the energy to put in the hours, to overcome the challenges, and that brings out that sparkle in our writing that is impossible to fake.
That passion will draw your audience in like a magnet. If you blog with passion you will have the charisma to drive website traffic. And on the flip side, Ryan goes as far as to say…
“If you picked a niche you do NOT feel passionate about, trash the blog today. Immediately.”
Can’t get much clearer than that!
Network with Other Bloggers
Rhiza Oyos is Spiralytics resident blogger. She emphasizes how making great connections with influencers can be a traffic generation goldmine.
Follow them on social media, reach out to them via email, and if they would like to collaborate, then link to their blogs to drive traffic for them. Likewise, they can share your work in return. It’s all about connections!
As she says, it’s “20% content creation, 80% content promotion!”
Noah Kagan, employee #30 at Facebook, #4 at Mint.com, and the founder of Sumo.com and AppSumo, has more to add. He has a great blog post that will further guide you on how to connect with high-powered influencers and bloggers.
It’s not that easy, but with the right knowledge and a bit of dedication, it isn’t that hard either!
Get Laser-Focused On Your Niche
Ryan Biddulph at Blogging From Paradise makes a great point here.
Know your audience, know what they want, and know exactly why they are coming to you. Now go and be the hyper-specialist that talks directly to them.
New bloggers struggle and make many blogging mistakes because they try to do everything. It’s natural. Our goal is to win followers, so of course, we don’t want to risk alienating anyone.
But the truth is if you try to be the ‘Jack of All Trades’ then people will never know what you represent and, most importantly, what you can really do for them.
People have very specific problems in mind when they search a topic. Be equally specific in solving those problems and you will succeed.
Build Quality Backlinks to Your Website
This traffic generating strategy is all about creating inbound links or incoming links. Backlinks are one of the top Google ranking factors and Minuca Elena is an expert in the field.
She recommends using expert roundups as a highly effective way to get bloggers to backlink to your site.
Roundup articles draw on the expertise of multiple well-respected people to create definitive lists. Think, ‘Our experts’ 10 top tips for……’, for example.
People are far more likely to backlink to an article that features them. Roundup articles can concentrate a number of these people all into one blog and therefore have the potential to skyrocket the connections you make!
Related: 27 Ways to Increase Traffic to Your Website
Focus On Low-Competition Keywords
Are your target keywords out of your league? Ashley Faulkes, the founder of Mad Lemmings focuses on low-competition keywords. Some keywords are insanely competitive. Hence, you’d have to be a sucker for punishment to throw yourself into the fight to rank highly for them.
But use Google’s Keyword Planner to find some alternatives and you might bag an under-utilized word or phrase that could see you punching well above your SEO-weight.
Mad Lemmings’ simple strategy follows:
1) Find a few low-competition keywords that work for you.
2) Write a series of blog posts around them.
3) Invite guests to post on your site, thus building links to your page.
Simple. And effective!
Update ‘Outdated’ Content
Google likes fresh content. The newer the better. Google wants to stay up-to-the-minute, and as relevant as possible. Therefore, its algorithms favor recent material.
But what about your extensive canon of eleven old articles?
Elna Cain over at Twins Mommy has a great solution to get more traffic from old posts. If you update your post with some new content you can change the published date to the date it was updated.
Yes, that means that after a few changes a post from 2016 can be brought up to date in the eyes of the Google-gods and be ranked as a relevant and current post!
However, beware! You will need to make fairly substantial changes. Think photos, a decent chunk of text, and maybe a link or two. Otherwise, Google will not be fooled!
When done right, this is a great way to not only revitalize your old content and boost your traffic generation but keeping your content evergreen as well.
Consider User Experience (UX)
“User experience is the new SEO” says iBlogZone.
Nobody wants to hang around waiting for content anymore. In the time that it used to take to open a newspaper and find a page, your audience has already lost interest.
Therefore, make website navigation as easy as possible for your visitors. iBlogZone highlights the importance of providing clear instructions for anything that isn’t obvious.
Makes sense, but how does this affect SEO?
One of the key Google ranking factors is ‘dwell time’. That is, how long people stay on your page after landing. Longer is better. If your blog is confusing, visually unappealing, or the title is boring then your dwell time will suffer and your attempts to drive website traffic will too.
Write High-Quality Content
Your content defines you. Without providing value to your readers, there’s no amount of top traffic tips that will sustain your blog!
Having said that, Pat Flynn at Smart Passive Income highlights how important quality is not only for your readers’ loyalty but for your Google ranking.
The better of a source you can prove yourself to be over time, the more weight you will be given in the rankings. In addition, Google now has started to favor long-form, more in-depth articles.
So, aim for 1500 words as a minimum.
Master Keyword Placement
Pat Flynn makes another great point about keyword placement. As a rule of thumb, if they are higher in the blog post they will be given more search engine attention. And the more likely your audience is to immediately see content relevant to them.
Pat recommends making sure they are in the first paragraph or two. And really, in the title or sub-heading is the ideal.
Leverage Pinterest Power
McKinzie Bean at Moms Make Cents gives the lo-down on how you can leverage Pinterest.
Pinterest is one of the top traffic drivers on earth and any serious blogger should know their Rich Pins from their Boards. Consider it a partner to your blogging enterprise. An extension of your brand that will boost your Google ranking and open a new channel of marketing to potential readers.
To maximize results from Pinterest – clicks back to your site – try using these steps:
- Sign up for a business account
- Pay attention to your description copy
- Learn the right time and day to pin
- Create sensational pin images
- Collaborate on a group board
Need more help? This free five-day course will help you establish your Pinterest strategy.
Create A Premium Brand
Marianna at The Collective Mill – “Once you’ve established your brand, it will help your blog stand out, look more professional, and gain more readers”
We all know about the power of brand recognition. So, use that power to your advantage! Your blog is your product, and you are the architect of its design. So why not stand out from the crowd and make it a design to remember?
Marianna suggests a well-constructed page header, brand logo, specific and consistent fonts and color palette, plus social media and social sharing buttons.
Write Irresistible Headlines
Jon Morrow of SmartBlogger is undoubtedly one of the all-time masters of headline writing. He has a unique talent for crafting headlines that make you say, “What? What the hell could that possibly be about?” His subheads are just as powerful.
However, most readers will stick around for fewer than 5 seconds.
Why? Because readers are experts at scanning. They’ll click your headline, quickly scan your content, and — in only a few seconds — decide whether to stay or go.
Writing a great intro is one way to convince readers to stick.
Another?
Write masterful subheads that create curiosity, hook your readers, and keep them on the page long enough to realize your content is worth reading.
Related: How to Write Headlines That Drive Traffic, Shares, and SEO
Target Long-Tail Keywords
Neil Patel makes the case that effectively targeting long-tail keywords in your content can greatly increase your monthly search visitors.
He firmly believes that they’re the foundation of an effective SEO strategy, particularly as they account for 70% of all web searches.
This search phrase strategy works and he continues to target long-tail keywords in his blog posts, video courses, and advanced guides.
The main purpose to conduct keyword research isn’t to manipulate search engines into ranking your web page. Rather, you want to understand what your target audience is looking for, what questions keep them up at night, and what they’re thinking when they use Google search.
It all boils down to creating useful content for your users so that they’ll be satisfied and share it with others. That’s how SEO and social shares work together to increase your sales through long-tail traffic.
Drive More Blog Traffic Using LinkedIn
Stephanie Sammons is a corporate renegade turned digital entrepreneur and author of the #1 Amazon #1 bestseller, Linked to Influence.
She shares seven powerful tips to drive more traffic using LinkedIn. Given that your LinkedIn profile serves as the “gateway” to your primary web presence, it is imperative that you have a powerful LinkedIn profile.
In her post, she masterfully promotes LinkedIn as a valuable place for getting more traffic and exposure. Indeed, this platform is mainly for professionals seeking jobs and companies posting their job requirements. But businesses have turned it into a tool to drive traffic.
After all, millions of professionals and companies are active on this platform.
Interview Industry Thought Leaders
Daniel Marcos is the blogger at Capitalemprendedor.com. He wrote an interesting article – “7 Thought Leaders Who Helped Me Rise To CEO.”
So, if you’d like to get more traffic, consider interviewing industry thought leaders. They’re generally regarded as experts in their respective fields, often toting huge niche audiences. Essentially, this is influencer marketing in a nutshell.
Identifying influencers in your niche and interviewing them is a shrewd traffic-boosting strategy that allows you to cast your net for a broader catch, yet relevant audience. Simple steps to follow:
- Reach out to industry thought leaders and conduct interviews (either one-on-one interviews or in a roundup format) about a topic of interest to your audience.
- After publishing the interview, send your expert(s) a link to the live interview and ask them to share it with their audience.
Because thought leaders tend to have highly engaged followers (and a lot of them), this simple tactic gets more traffic while positioning your brand in front of a relevant audience.
Create A Killer Email Marketing Strategy
Meera Kothand shares an effective email marketing template to create traffic, and keep your business within the scope of your potential and existing customers.
Imagine creating an email strategy that enables you to take the weekend off and still see your list grow, rake in testimonials, and make sales.
Just imagine having endless content ideas.
Imagine creating an opt-in offer with all the right ingredients that has readers clamoring to get their hands on. Imagine sending emails with confidence knowing exactly the impact that particular email will have on your subscribers.
That’s the power of an email marketing strategy!
We’re talking about email marketing strategies that get more customers walking into your store, or more eyeballs on your website and other online content.
Related: 10 Ways On How to Drive More Traffic Using Email Marketing
Make Sure Your Website Loads Fast
Can the speed of your website really have that much of an effect on your business sales? The answer is yes, it does. Google and other search engines penalize sites that load slowly—but more importantly, so do users.
Adam Preiser at WPCrafter notes that “load time affects your SEO score and the visitor experience.” But it all begins with having an excellent web host.
But how do you know if your website host is any good?
Well, the first way to check is to test your website speed. If your web host is any good, then your website should load in under 3 seconds. With an excellent web host, your site should load in under a second.
Say whaaat? Go ahead and think about it for a second.
How to do feel when you visit a website and it takes forever to load? How does that reflect on the individual or business that owns the website?
Poorly right?
Now, are you ready to optimize your page speed and boost your traffic? If so, your assignment right now is to go and test your website speed.
Make Your Website A Daily Destination
Foster a sense of community, focus on value, and design for mass distribution are 3 simple strategies Scott Steinberg employs to keep people coming back.
The website hack to get more traffic I most enjoy is cultivating a community around the blog. A thriving community is always proof of a great valuable blog. The most popular blogs already use this hack to increase their readership and ranks.
Strategies for building a community around your blog
- Build it on a single powerful idea.
- Make them feel comfortable.
- Include your audience in your blogs.
- Brew an ongoing challenge.
- Offer value.
- Monitor ROI and lever your connections.
An award-winning professional speaker, Scott Steinberg is among today’s best-known trends experts and futurists, is a leading provider of leadership and communications training, also dispensing such wisdom from his website at www.AKeynoteSpeaker.com.
Incorporate Video into Your Content Strategy
YouTube is a search engine similar to Google, but for videos. According to Stefan James of Project Life Mastery, ‘the traffic that my blog receives from YouTube is by far the most powerful source of traffic. This is because of the QUALITY of the traffic that YouTube sends me.’
The people that visit his blog from YouTube have watched and consumed his videos, which strengthens their trust and relationship with Stefan right from the beginning. They are more likely to subscribe or purchase something from him than from any other source of traffic.
Just like with creating content for Google, the more YouTube videos you publish, the more likely you are to get found from people searching for something on YouTube. Optimizing your YouTube videos for specific keywords is also extremely important, which increases the chances of you getting found.
The way that Stefan drives traffic from his YouTube videos to the website is by having links in the descriptions of his videos. Also, make sure to mention in the videos for people to visit your blog for more.
Related: Take Your Videos From Embarrassing to Amazing
Master Webinars to Grow Your Business
When it comes to using webinars to sell digital products, there are few people quite as knowledgeable as Amy Porterfield. She’s built a multimillion-dollar business primarily based on webinar promotions.
In fact, utilizing webinars in the marketing mix is one of the best ways to get more traffic to your site.
Particularly, hosting free webinars can be a fantastic way of:
- Winning new members by demonstrating your expertise, proving your credibility, and showing why joining your membership is worthwhile.
- Attracting your perfect audience and new visitors to your website
They can be promoted through various channels thereby providing you with a variety of traffic sources including social media, email marketing, blogging, affiliates that you can engage to promote your webinar, and others.
Furthermore, you can use webinars to strategically grow your email list. Elna Cain from Twins Mommy blog highlights five possible ways.
- Make a blog post about your latest webinar
- Use your webinar as a lead magnet
- Use a webinar as a content upgrade
- Host joint webinars
- Show social proof
“If you want to grow your business, you have to grow your skills. The only way to improve is to DO.“
Ricardo Newbold
Create A High Converting Website
“Treat your website like the hub of your entire business. Use social media marketing strategically to help drive traffic back to your website.” – Melinda F. Emerson of SuccedAsYourOwnBoss.com.
How do you get people to notice you in a sea of abysmally overwhelming digital overload? It’s a no-brainer. Creating a premium online platform is essential. Having a great website still distinguishes you from the competition.
So, are you ready to create a “sticky” and successful homepage that turns passive lurkers into engaged prospects and buyers?
In this instant access training, you’ll leverage DigitalMarketer Co-Founder & CEO Ryan Deiss’ step-by-step formula to construct a homepage that sets the stage for any and all traffic driven to your website… and positions your brand as the answer to all of your customers’ problems.
Basically, Ryan will show you how to outline, create, and optimize your brand’s ideal homepage, allowing you to lower your bounce rate and increase conversions.
A site that truly features what you represent to your audience is more difficult to achieve than it sounds. But it is worth the graft, will help you to get more traffic, and will lift you head and shoulders above your market competitors.
Employ Internal Linking Strategically
SEO expert and founder of 180Marketing Jeff Oxford explains how to optimize your internal links to get more traffic.
Internal links are links that go from one page on a domain to a different page on the same domain. They are commonly used in your website navigation, but here we’re talking about links in the content, on the pages.
Internal linking is only as good as the content you produce. So, publish lots of content. In order to create lots of internal links, you have to have lots of internal pages. While internal linking is not the most important SEO factor, a solid internal structure will make it easier for Google’s crawlers to index your pages.
Lastly, make sure your internal links are relevant between pages and make sense contextually within your content. The best way to internal link is with deep linking principles. Adding pillar pages to your site will tie all of these tactics together.
Related: 29 Ways to Get More Traffic On Your Blog
Conclusion
One of the most difficult aspects of marketing online is getting traffic. Traffic is key to online success whether you have an eCommerce site, a business site, a blog, or a membership site. You have to get eyes to your offerings in order to increase conversions and improve your bottom line.
Remember that your content is one of the prime reasons why people come to visit your blog. Therefore, if you’re not pumping out quality blog posts, no one will want to stop by for a read. No matter how great your marketing tactics are, if your content sucks, so will your traffic flow.
Consequently, if you have just launched your blog or a website and are in need of traffic, then I’d begin to take advantage of these traffic tips as soon as you can. They are all long-term, sustainable sources of traffic that will help you grow your blog or website for years to come.
If you have any questions around anything I have discussed today, feel free to get in touch by commenting in the comments section below! I’d love to hear from you.
