Starting a blog or website is easy, but driving traffic to it is another thing. Even established websites still strategize and work hard to increase and maintain their traffic.
SEO and online advertisements are brilliant methods to get the most traffic. But what if you can achieve the same results without the SEO headache or paying for it?
Free traffic channels!
That’s right. You can diversify with free channels to source for potential audiences.
Let’s dive in.
#1. Leverage social media smartly
Depending on your niche and audience, social media can be a terrific traffic source. In the United States, a chaotic election campaign and a public health crisis dominated news coverage in 2020. However, the most widely shared news story on Facebook was a local piece from Fox 32 about two missing children in Florida, which generated around 3.5 million shares.
The post reached such a wide audience partly because users continued to circulate the article in public Facebook groups weeks after the incident was over. This article would not have garnered such views if it relied solely on search engines.
Fox 32’s smart use of its social media page leveraged its news content to bring more traffic from social media than from search engines. If you add consistency in writing such a piece of content, then you’re guaranteed to get repeat visits to your blog.
#2. Get into guest blogging
Guest blogging generates traffic by reaching a large and relevant audience. You gain reputation and authority by publishing a valuable post on a well-known website. If you provide value, these readers will come. You get backlinks, which helps your SEO ranking.
This is an effective strategy to get long-term visitors to your website. The key here is knowing your audience. How can you hit a target if you don’t know where to aim? Take some time to consider who would benefit the most from your content, then target reputable sites and develop appealing content.
Use this search query (your niche + submit a guest post/write for us) and list down potential authoritative guest sites to write for. Check their guidelines before sending a pitch to the editor or content officer. To find out where you may be published and which sites will provide you with the highest return on investment, you must test, track, and repeat.
#3. Start email marketing
Email marketing is a type of internet marketing technique that entails sending a series of messages (emails) to a list of existing or potential clients. You could be informing them about new items or services that are available for them to try/purchase or valuable content that is of interest for them to read.
Your email copy should strongly convince the potential audience to visit your site for more content, just as Neil Patel’s case study suggests. It should have compelling email subject lines and be personalized in a way that is mobile-friendly, scannable, and tells them directly what to expect.
Reaching out to your audience regularly is a good way to stay in touch while offering value. Your business can benefit greatly from proper and well-executed email campaigns.
#4. Build an online presence
This is being socially active where you show value and readers start viewing you as an authority figure, hence building an online presence. They include commenting on blogs and social posts, answering people’s questions on forums, joining conversations in your niche community, etc.
In 2015, Nicolas Cole became the number one most-read writer on all of Quora. In 2016–2018, he was one of Inc. Magazine’s top 10 most-read columnists, and in the past two years, he became one of the most-read writers on Medium. He now has a huge following on all of his social media accounts.
Over the past 10 years, the exposure and attention to Cole’s profile have helped him accumulate more than 100 million views of his work on the internet. In his book, The Art and Business of Online Writing, Cole attributes his success to one quote—writing online is a game. So, get in the game, and play it.
#5. Utilize online directories smartly
Get your website listed in online directories and listing services. There are a lot of web directories. The most crucial is from search engines and social media but also look for local and industry-specific directories.
Create a free Google My Business listing to ensure your information is displayed properly when someone searches for you on Google. While you’re at it, add your business to Bing Places and Yahoo Local. The majority of web searches are on Google, but the rest are on Bing (19.8%) and Yahoo (12.8 percent ).
Make sure your business is featured on social media sites like Facebook and Yelp. Finally, browse for local business directories. You’ll rank higher without any SEO hassle while getting traffic through relevant searches.
Final thoughts
Always deliver value in your content no matter the traffic strategy. The real price is turning your potential audiences to repeat blog visitors or loyal business customers.
This can only happen if they get the one thing they desire the most.
Value.
And how can you provide value?
By writing excellent content that answers all their questions.
