Since I’ve been marketing on the Internet for more than six years now, both as an employee and a freelance copywriter, I’ve learned quite a few things about generating traffic.
In fact, TRAFFIC was one of the first subjects I ever dove head-first into — even before copywriting.
This is not to say I’m a traffic expert; far from it. But I have picked up a few simple tips for getting more traffic, starting today if you want.
Tip #1: Read blogs that are similar to yours. If you read a blog post, leave a relevant comment. Make sure you fill in the Comment form with your web site URL. Every time you do this, you are creating a small trickle of traffic back to your site. (Time Investment: ~2 minutes per comment.)
Tip #2: The faster you leave a comment after a blog post has been published, the better. In general, those who comment first get more traffic than those who comment last. If you are first to leave a comment on a new article on a popular blog… and the blog owner pings his list… you will then benefit from the spike in traffic to that particular blog post. (Time Investment: Zero additional minutes; just be alert.)
Tip #3: If you want to find “Do Follow” blogs so you get more “SEO credit” from your comments… or if you want to find blogs that use the “Comment Luv” plug-in for Wordpress… go download Comment Kahuna and start using it. Comment Kahuna is a free software program. It finds blogs that meet your criteria and allows you to post comments very quickly. (Time Investment: ~10 minutes to download and install; ~15 minutes to learn how to use; ~10 minutes to use once a week.)
Tip #4: While you’re at it, if you really like the blog post that you just left a comment on, submit it to StumbleUpon. If the post proves to be popular with other Stumblers, you will get more traffic to your site than you would otherwise. (Time Investment: ~5 seconds per blog post Stumbled.)
Tip #5: Get an account at Gravatar and upload your mug. Since most people don’t use Gravatar and are “faceless” so to speak, you will automatically get more attention (and traffic!) anytime you leave a comment on a blog where Gravatars are displayed. (Time Investment: 5 minutes total, then you’re done.)
Tip #6: Every week, submit your best blog post to a Blog Carnival. If you’ve never done this before, create a free account, search for Carnivals related to the subject of the articles you write, and save them to your Favorites list. Once a week, go to your Favorites and submit your best blog post to one or more carnivals. (Time Investment: ~5 minutes per week.)
Tip #7: Get a free account at Twitter and start “tweeting” once or twice a day. Simply by having a profile, you will naturally attract followers. Example: I created my Twitter profile about two months ago and I now have 340 followers. Use www.TweetLater.com (free) to grab your blog’s RSS feed and automatically “tweet” every time you publish a new post. (Time Investment: ~10 minutes to create your profile; ~5 minutes a day to tweet once or twice.)
Tip #8: Last but not least, get a free account at My Blog Log. Literally thousands of blogs display the My Blog Log reader widget in their sidebar. (You can see mine in the right-hand column.) When you visit a blog that uses this widget, your picture will automatically be displayed at the top left of the list. Visitors to the blog can then click on your face to learn more about you and the blog(s) you write. (Time Investment: ~5 minutes to set up your profile; Extra Credit: ~5 minutes to install the widget on your own blog.)
All of these traffic tips are simple, fast, and easy to implement. Not to mention, they’re all FREE.
If you implement all of them, and you consistently do what I suggest every week, you will create a stream of predictable traffic that grows steadily with time… guaranteed.
-Ryan M. Healy
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Ryan,
Great tips. I think Blog Carnival is an underutilized traffic resource. It does bring traffic, plus the coveted backlinks… which are so important to search engine ranking.
It’s something I’ve not used to it’s potential lately. Thanks for the reminder.
Ryan,
I consider this one of the most useful articles on traffic geenration. It is short but extremely practical and useful.
I really appreciate you taking the time to pen your thoughts … have a great life :-)
Ryan,
You have become a regular read for me. The summary you have here on traffic generation and using social media some of the gurus get good money for.
Thanks
John
Ryan,
Thank you for this. I checked out every single one of your tips just now. Too bad Comments Kahuna is not available for the Mac…
Any thoughts on socialbookmarker.com?
I’m wondering if twitter counts as an incoming link to search engines or not?
@Keith – Thanks! A well-run Blog Carnival can send LOTS of traffic. I usually avoid the junk carnivals though.
@Kingsley – Thank you. I appreciate you.
@John – Wow. Thanks for the compliment. Thank YOU for reading.
@Colin – Well, I’ve never used SocialMarker.com before. I’ve looked at OnlyWire.com, but haven’t used it.
Here’s the thing. Rather than blasting articles to every social network possible, I prefer to go deep with the few that matter most.
The amount of traffic you get is usually directly proportionate to your involvement in the community. At least that’s my experience.
@Dr. Michael – I just looked at the Twitter source code and the profile links have the No Follow tag applied to them. So Google will ignore them.
Ryan,
Great traffic tips – I’m slowly getting into Facebook and Twitter, and “cracking the code” on how to get traffic and new clients from them.
Best Wishes for a great Thanksgiving!
Brian
Ryan,
Thanks for tips.
I will be using each to generate more traffic.
Bob Paroski
Great tips.
I am just getting started with trying to drive traffic to my sites and posts like these are really useful.
Thank you.
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