Generating traffic is the lifeblood of your online
business. Without sufficient traffic, your site and blog will never accomplish
their purpose. And while there are numerous pay options to generate traffic,
there are an equal number of effective and free tools and approaches. Here are
some great traffic generators:
1. Free Traffic
Source: Forum Marketing
Forum Marketing: Share your
expertise with people asking questions about your industry.
In return, you’ll get a
steady flow of traffic to your site. You will be the expert, after all. To
ensure that you get traffic from all the time you spend answering questions, be
sure to spend time on your forum marketing signature. Your signature tells other forum members who you are and
how to read more about you. As you begin in forum marketing, you will want to
watch out for (and completely avoid) these 8 Common Forum Marketing Mistakes.
2. Free Traffic Source: Blog Commenting
Blog
Commenting: Very
similar to forum marketing, blog commenting only differs in the platform it
uses. Instead of being in a public forum, the commenting takes place within an
individual blog. The linkback works very simply. In almost all blog platforms
(Word Press, Blogger, etc) there is a field to enter your URL (your site
address). If your comment catches a readers attention, they’ll click on the
link and visit your site.
Be careful not to post comment
spam. There is a need for caution when sharing links in the comment itself.
Many bloggers don’t take well to this, as it comes across as a blatant attempt
to siphon their traffic to your site. Unless the link you are posting directly
answers a question, it's best not to do it.
The other benefit to blog commenting, even if you don’t get many direct
visitors, is that the search engines see the link and your site gets a small
boost. If you post enough comments on enough unique blogs (different domains)
then you’ll see a significant boost in traffic.
3. Free Traffic Source: Twitter Traffic
Twitter
Traffic: When
most users first sign up and start using Twitter it can be hard to see how it
could ever bring significant traffic. Over time and with regularity Twitter
quickly becomes a principal source of traffic. Many blogs use automation tools
to feed links and past posts to their Twitter account. A favorite of mine is
called Tweet Old Post. It takes past blog posts and tweets the title and URL to
your account. Many blogs generate hundreds, even thousands of new visitors
every month using this simple WordPress plug-in.
4. Free Traffic Source: eBay
eBay: The concept of using eBay as a sales platform is quite simple.
Post a product (often at a loss or at cost) to generate attention and post your
URL in the description as a source for more information about the product or
the subject. Because of the size and traffic on eBay, you’ll reach thousands of
new prospects. Other sales platforms to consider: CraigsList and Amazon.
5. Free Traffic Source: Contest Marketing
Contest
Marketing: One of
the fastest ways to generate non-purchased traffic is to have a contest. It is
a great way to generate hundreds of inbound links, as bloggers love to share
relevant contests with their readers, being the one to break the news. Many
site owners have found it most effective to give away one very large prize,
rather than numerous smaller ones. Everyone loves to dream about that huge trip
to Europe, rather than the free song download. Big prizes create big results.
In addition to the boost of traffic, be sure to require something of the
visitors to enter. Consider requiring a simple newsletter subscription. That
way you have their contact information should they win, and you also can keep
them informed about new content as you publish.
An
example of effective contest marketing was a Galapagos Trip
for Two given away by
Red Mangrove Galapagos Lodges. Contest period was open for a few months, more
than 4500 people entered and the winner was drawn on video.
6. Free Traffic Source: Blog Design
Adjustments
Blog Design Adjustments: Tweaking your site just a little can make
huge differences to your traffic over time. Effective cross-linking, for
example, will help Google to index your content, and help your human readers to
see what other relevant content you have. These changes will also make for a
better visitor experience and keep your readers on your site longer - which is
never a bad thing.
7. Free Traffic Source: Content Aggregators
Content Aggregators: Getting your site (and posts) listed with a
top content aggregator can send a flood of traffic. Consider Alltop.com.
The benefit of an aggregator (a site that aggregates, or collects blog posts)
is that they have a larger and broader readership than you do. By placing links
to your content on these popular platforms, you can count on more traffic. But
there’s a catch: they don’t accept just any site. While this is great for you
when you are accepted, it can be hard to get accepted when your site is still
new.
8. Free Traffic Source: Content Syndication
Content Syndication: This is most simply done via an RSS feed.
This not only makes it easy for readers to follow your site but also notifies
readers immediately upon publishing new content. It's a great way to bring
readers back to your site every time you publish a new piece of content. A
popular tool to manage RSS feeds is FeedBurner (by Google).
9. Free Traffic Source: Write Great Content
Write Great Content: Nothing will build your traffic better than
great content. Regardless of if it is blog posts, video or audio (or a
combination of all three) you need to consistently produce great content.
Great content encourages visitors to share your posts - via social media and
links on their own sites and blogs. This social sharing by your readers has
more weight than any purchased ad could ever carry.
10. Free Traffic Source: Build Your Blog
Community
Build Your Blog Community: By taking the time to engage individual
readers your site will benefit by increased traffic. An engaged community will
happily share your content and refer new visitors to your site.
11. Free Traffic Source: Guest Blogging
Guest Blogging: This is a popular one. But how should you
do it? First of all, a guest post should only be done on a popular site (more
popular than yours). And it should be your best stuff. A mediocre post will
bring mediocre results. Post a compelling piece that adds real value to the
site you are contributing to. This will help you get another opportunity to
post. And give a lot of thought to your bio line. A well-written bio will help
motivate readers to click through to your site.
In
addition to publishing great guest posts, it’s also important to accept guest
posts. This helps widen your base of content and takes some writing pressure
off of you. Be sure to publish a clear set of blogging
guidelines - this will
help reduce the number of low-quality posts that you will receive.
12. Free Traffic Source: Trackbacks
Trackbacks: WordPress
(along with many other blogging platforms) has a great feature called
trackbacks. What are Trackbacks? When you mention another blog on your site,
their blog (if it is also on a supporting platform) will get a notification
that they have been mentioned. It creates a linkback for readers to follow. It
is an easy and effective way to both share great content and get contextual
linkbacks.
13. Free Traffic Source: Video Syndication
Video Syndication: Creating video takes time but is worth the
effort. Once the video is created, don’t stop with YouTube. Syndicate your
video content with a service like OneLoad (owned by TubeMogul). OneLoad will
take your video and share it across numerous platforms. Non-commercial use is
free and the next level is $75 per month. Works flawlessly and exposes your
message and content to millions more people.
14. Free Traffic Source: Video Tagging
Video Tagging: When
you upload your videos, it’s important to take a few minutes to research the
best tags for your post. One great way is to check out similar and popular
video posts. You can mirror theirs and thus increase the odds of showing up as
a related video on theirs. This simple approach can increase video views and
site traffic many times over.
15. Free Traffic Source: Cool Site of the Day
Cool Site of the Day: This extremely popular site has the power
to send a huge amount of traffic to your site, should it be chosen as the Cool Site of the
Day. They accept submissions, so if you have a unique site it’s
worth the time to submit. If you are accepted you will see thousands of new
vistors in a matter of hours.
You may also consider: Video Responses, Video Embedding, Writing
Tutorials and using bookmarking sites as effective ways to generate more
traffic. Getting traffic is a critical part of starting your
online business.