Day 7 - Generating Traffic
Acquiring incoming links from other websites is not the only way to attract visitors to visit your blog. In this lesson, we’re going to explore alternative methods, both free and paid, to attract high quality traffic.
The first thing you can do to generate traffic is to regenerate all the content you’ve posted to your blog in another format. That is, you can turn your blog posts into ebooks, manuals, newsletter content pieces (delivered by autoresponder), or articles. If you re-write the content as articles, you can then submit them to article directories. These article directories are like aggregators that collect articles of similar themes together in one place, so they receive thousands of qualified visitors every day.
When you submit your articles to these directories, you are advertising your name to the thousands qualified visitor for free! In most article directories, you are also permitted to include a “resource box” where you can include your contact details, a simple biography and so on. This is where you can truly leverage the traffic of the said article directories. However, many directories do not permit hyperlinks within the body of the article itself. Be sure to read the Terms of Service very carefully, and abide by them (otherwise you may have your account suspended). Article directories are a fabulous traffic generator, but must be used properly.Here are a few article directories to get you started:
» http://www.eZineArticles.com
» http://www.goarticles.com
» http://www.ultimatearticledirectory.com
» http://www.submityourarticle.com
Another great way to draw traffic is to join a few online forums that are related to your niche. To locate these forums, just go to Google or any other search engine and enter “<your niche> +forum”, without the quotes. Look for a forum that is most focused on your niche, with a substantial number of active members, and which seems to be bustling with activity. Just check the dates of the threads posted on the forum.
When you join active forums that focus on your field of interest and post very useful and valuable posts, your peers will start noticing you and paying attention to what you have to say. Most forums also allow you to append a link to your site in the signature line, which is under every post you make on the forums. People will click and visit your blog if they find your posts helpful and informative. Having developed a good reputation on the forum will build your credibility even before other forum members visit your blog.
Thus, traffic that is generated from the forums will be more predisposed to purchasing a product or service that you’ve advertised on your blog. Having ‘qualified’ visitors makes it much easier to sell your own products or recommending others’ as an affilliate. since your visitors will already be convinced you’re an “expert” in the field.
The next strategy we’ll discuss is word of mouth. Suppose you already have a daily visitor count of 100. You can increase this number by compiling a small report or offering a free gift and posted the offer on your blog, saying that if a certain visitor can refer three of his/her friends to visit your blog they will receive the free gift. If your small report or gift is relevant and valuable to your readers, it will generate a small buzz among your blog readers and they will surely want to refer their friends to one of their favorite blogs!
You can also utilize the “blog and ping” technique to announce your blog to internet social networking sites. Basically, when you update your blog, you can let blog portals such as www.technorati.com know by pinging them. You can ping a comprehensive list of portals simultaneously by using the free www.pingomatic.com. Just don’t ping too frequently, as too many pings will be regarded as ’spamming’. Most WordPress blogs can be set up to ping automatically, thus reducing the risk of spamming.
Besides the techniques described here, there are also paid methods such as purchasing links from high-ranking pages, buying banner advertisement space, or participating in Google’s popular AdWords program. Something to keep in mind when buying paid traffic is to weigh your profits generated from the paid ads. If your profits do not offset the expense, you will end up losing money, so choose wisely.
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