The Definitive Guide to Increasing Traffic to Your Blog And/Or Website

I put in hours writing this post, so it’s quite long at almost 3,000 words. Grab your beverage of choice, sit down, and be prepared to soak up my traffic generation strategies.

If you don’t have enough traffic, your website will die. Traffic is the nutrition of your website, but there’s more to it than just getting people to check out your stuff.

If your website’s digestion is messed up, it won’t retain any nutrients, and it will still die a horrible, slow death. I’ve been reading a lot of health-related stuff lately, can you tell?

What I’m trying to say is that you can get all the traffic in the world, but if you can’t convert that traffic to subscribers, followers, or happy readers, then you may not get to where you want to be.

Increasing traffic, getting more subscribers and fans is not solely about using strategies and “tricks” to get people to check out your site.

It’s about taking action, facing your fears, and using what you have in front of you, instead of searching for the infamous magic bullet.

Struggling, Trying, And Spinning Your Wheels

I see many bloggers and website owners that have been doing this for years, yet they aren’t seeing the traffic they should.

I was guilty of this myself for the first few years of my online journey. I had trouble with getting enough traffic, because I had completely butchered the research part of it all.

But if you’re not getting enough traffic, you most likely aren’t promoting your website enough (or your content isn’t up to par).

You don’t have to waste time. If you know what you’re doing, you can start getting traffic right away, and that’s exactly what we’ll be going through in this article.

The Big Picture

Look at the big picture as a puzzle. It’s hard to start, but you usually have an inkling (hint: start with the corner pieces). The more experience you gain, the more pieces you figure out.

When you’re starting out, you may be confused, uncertain, and even scared. And that’s cool. The below strategies are simple, and you’ve probably heard, seen, or read them before, and you’ve probably seen people use them successfully.

If a magic bullet exists, it is applying the knowledge you already have, or are about to learn 😉

Expect mistakes, and expect to learn from them. Take massive action. One day at a time. One step at a time.

11 Simple Ways to Increase Traffic to Your Website

Strategies, strategies, strategies… There are oodles of them on the web. If you do a Google search, you’ll find more than your brain can handle, so the problem is not a lack of strategies, but the lack of taking action.

The below strategies will do you no good if you don’t apply them. Pick one that resonates with you and start implementing.

I used commenting for the first weeks of Wake Up Cloud’s existence. I quickly realized that I could get many times the results with guest posting, so I did nothing else, and that is what took me from 0 to 1,012 blog subscribers in 101 days.

Pick one traffic strategy that resonates with you, focus on it, and go hardcore, then come back and pick another one, if you feel like it. Sooner or later, you will find something that works and something that resonates with you, just like I did with guest posting.

Notice I did not say something that you like or love, because many may misinterpret those words to mean that it should be effortless. Guest posting can be a step into unknown territory, but it is a powerful tool that’s worth facing your fears over.

1. Content. Like I said above, increasing traffic to your website does not matter if you don’t have content that keeps people around. I will go into more detail on what great content is below, but if you remember nothing else, remember this: solve problems, help people, inspire them, make them laugh, or a mix of the above.

2. Commenting. Leaving thoughtful comments on blogs can bring traffic, especially if you target high-traffic blogs, and are among the first to comment. It is also a good way to connect with bloggers. Every blogger reads their comments, except for maybe those that get hundreds of comments in each post, but I have a feeling they’re at least glancing at them. Commenting is effective in the early stages of your blog, but as you evolve, so should you traffic generation strategies.

3. Article Marketing. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that I’m a big fan of article marketing. To get started right away, create an account over at EzineArticles, and start submitting articles on your topic, with links back to your site. You can use this to drive traffic to your email sign-up page, build links to your blog posts, or send traffic to a review of an affiliate product. The possibilities are endless, and the best part of article marketing is the simplicity of it.

4. Guest Blogging. If I had to pick one way to increase traffic to my website, I would choose guest blogging faster than you can say “make money online”. Guest blogging can dramatically increase your traffic, if you face your fears and actually get your ass off your brain. It’s as simple as finding a blog you like, emailing the owner, getting the green light, and writing the article.

5. Forum Posting. Your niche may or may not have a high-traffic forum, but if it does, it’s a great way to get your name out there. Your mission should be to be helpful. You never even have to mention your website in your posts. Simply leave a link back to your website in your signature, which most forums allow. For finding forums, Google is your friend. Type in “your niche + forum”. Make sure the forum has a lot of members and activity; otherwise it may not be worth your time.

6. Social Media. Focus on Twitter and/or Facebook. That’s where the people are, so that’s where you should be. There are other alternatives, but I don’t use them. Keep it simple. Think of social media as the place for small talk, and getting to know people. It’s a great way to increase your traffic, but you have to be producing great, shareable content for it to work.

7. Relationships. Building solid relationships is the next step from platforms like Twitter and Facebook. This is not about getting to know someone so you can use them, but you already know that, right? Use Twitter and Facebook to find people you’re genuinely interested in, chat them up, and if appropriate, start talking to them via email, or even via Skype or phone. It all comes down to this: make friends, be cool, and have fun.

8. Collaborate. Collaborating with others could mean emailing them and asking a question, then compiling the answers in a post, like I did in my post about the benefits of minimalism. If you’re into knitting (I know. I know. I’m a big fan of knitting examples. I can’t help myself), you can get the top 10 knitting experts to contribute something. They will appreciate the exposure, your readers will love it, and you will look awesome.

9. Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Getting traffic from the search engines usually takes longer than the above strategies, but it’s a long-term strategy that works like new year’s rockets. It takes just a little bit of extra work, but it’s worth it. There’s so much to be said about SEO, and I’m going to write more about it in the future.

10. Links. Believe it or not, if you link to other bloggers, they will notice and appreciate it. Tammy is awesome at this. A few well-placed links in your articles can enhance the article you’re writing, because you will be giving people additional resources they can go check out. At the same time you will have people notice what you’re doing. I don’t really see this as a strategy, but more as a reminder. It’s easy to forget to throw in links, but it can make a dramatic difference in your article (and traffic).

11. Interviews. Ah, interviews. I love them. When you interview someone, you give them a chance to gain exposure, while at the same time providing value to your readers. It’s one of those win-win-win situations. You may not get the most famous to do interviews with you, but never give up. Never underestimate the power of creativity. There are always ways to do things. Think big, and if you’re a blogger, check out BlogCastFM.

How to Increase Website Traffic: Real Life Examples

It’s always helpful to see what other people have to say, so I went out and asked a few people what their #1 traffic tip is. Below are the answers, with a few words from me under each tip.

Rob Rammuny

My best tip for getting traffic would have to be doing collaborative posts.

Gather the answers of a lot of other highly successful entrepreneurs and combine their answers into one post.

I’ve done it myself. Less than I would’ve wanted to, but I’m doing it right here. It’s very simple: send out a concise e-mail with a good question and you’d be surprised at how many great answers you get.

Mars Dorian from MarsDorian.com

Write what you obsessively love and make it as valuable as possible. Take something that interests you massively, and  find a way to make it valuable.

For example: If you love Japanese animation, you could write: How Japanese animation helps me be a successful blogger.

You combine your passion (Japanese animation) with something people are interested in (blogging).

Your passion + their interest = massive traffic

This is awesome, and I completely agree with it. What I take it to be is this: take your personality, and inject it into your posts. It doesn’t matter if you’re into fly fishing or panda searching, it’s all good, and it can all be applied to your topic.

Chris Guillebeau from ChrisGuillebeau.com

I don’t focus on getting traffic; I focus entirely on getting subscribers. The two are naturally related, but the distinction is important: if I focused on traffic, I’d work to produce traffic spikes, articles that were Digg-friendly, SEO, etc.

But instead I work to produce content that is evergreen (I call it “legacy content”) and that my readers will likely share with others.

In short, if you can produce something of value that a community will pass along, building the community further is rarely a problem.

Yes! It’s easy to focus on just traffic, but when you think about it, increasing traffic to your website or blog doesn’t mean anything if you don’t do something with it.

So don’t just focus on getting people to your site, also focus on getting them to hang out, to spread your content, and to learn.

Corbett Barr from Fizzle.co

Write things that matter to people.

If your content isn’t important, or helpful or entertaining, no tactics for getting more traffic or visitors can help you enough.

If you want a popular website or blog, and if you want to increase traffic, visitors, and subscribers, you need to write about what people want.

Helpful, entertaining, or important, it all depends on your strengths. If you’re not an entertaining by nature, don’t try to force it. Be who you are.

Nathalie Lussier

Write great stuff that solves people’s problems, or speaks to their aspirations. Then use techniques like SEO, social media, and newsletters to get people to read it… which will naturally lead them to spread it for you, assuming it’s good stuff! 😉

Are you starting to see a pattern in what everyone’s saying? It can feel a bit abstract at first to hear “write great stuff, and the gods shall reward you” so let’s dive into more practical details of what great content actually means.

The Three Keys to Writing Great Content

Everyone tells you that you should write great stuff. That’s cool advice if you know what you’re doing already, but if you’re just putting on your running shoes, it really doesn’t mean anything.

It’s almost like saying “eat healthy” to someone who wants to lose weight, so let’s get down to specifics, and get some practicality flowing, shall we?

1. Educate. Anyone can educate their readers. Yes, that means you, too. Listen to your audience, solve their problems, help them overcome obstacles, or show them how something is done. I wrote this article to educate you on how to increase traffic and subscribers, but I always like to throw in some inspiration, because that’s the way I roll. What your personal recipe is, only you know.

2. Entertain. Being funny usually doesn’t pay the bills. Johnny B Truant used to run a comedy blog, but he realized that monetizing it was harder than Frodo’s journey to Mordor. The good part is that he didn’t keep going. He created another site where he helped people with tech stuff, and a while later he combined the two and is now entertaining and educating his people.

3. Encourage. This really means inspire, but I wanted to get a third E in the list, so I called it encourage instead. Everyone can write inspirational posts, because we’ve all gone through tough times, and we’ve all learned something from those times. You don’t have to be a Pulitzer prize winner, nor do you have to be an essay-writing superstar. Write from your heart, do your best, and you’re good to go.

5 Things You Probably Shouldn’t Do

Okay, so you’ve got stuff on your to-do list. Now we need some stuff on your not-to-do list. Did you know that we (humans) learn better if we’re told not to do? Apparently it’s true.

Here are a few mistakes you should avoid:

1. Content Tunnel Vision. Do you feel like you’re producing so much content for your website that you don’t have time to promote it? How’s your traffic looking? Are you subscribers going up or standing still? How about if you stopped writing so much content for your own blog, and started promoting it? If you’ve been doing this for a year or two, and you’re not getting results, something needs to change.

2. False Action. Do you feel like nothing works? You’ve tried guest posting, commenting, and article marketing, but the results just aren’t there? If so, I have a feeling that you either haven’t done them correctly, or you haven’t put in enough time to see any results. If you’re going to increase the traffic to your website or blog, you have to work hard, and be consistent. You don’t deserve results, you earn them.

3. Give Up. Creating something valuable online doesn’t happen overnight. It took me a few years and $8,000 to finally understand what was going on. Something about creating something online makes it all feel like it should happen so fast, but in most cases it doesn’t. Set your expectations straight, prepare to work hard, and get ready for a fun ride ahead. That is, of course, if you’re following your passion, which you are, right?

4. Lose Focus. It’s easy to lose focus when your thinking about increasing traffic and subscribers, which is why you have to remind yourself why you’re doing this in the first place. I’m doing this to contribute something to the world. As cliché as that sounds, I want to make a difference and help people. Whatever your reason is, make it something other than making money. Making money online is cool, but if it is your #1 priority, it may end up destroying your soul.

5. Be Selfish. Creating great content, writing for others, connecting with people, and all those things work best if you are unselfish. This means giving before asking. I’m not saying you have to go all Dalai Lama and give away your stuff. I’m saying to be cool to people. Think about how you are with your friends. Do you constantly bombard them with affiliate offers? I sure hope not.

Wrapping It Up

We’ve talked about how important it is to embrace failure, uncertainty, and fear, because the whole picture does not become clear when you’re starting out. Hell, it probably never will get crystal clear, but that’s life.

We then went through the fact that if you aren’t getting the results you want, you should get someone to give you feedback, because the odds are that you are doing something wrong, or not enough of something else.

After that we covered the 11 traffic generation strategies, which is plenty for you to start taking action on. If you’re completely new, I recommend you start with commenting, move on to some article marketing, and then guest posting. Those are my favorites.

Then we dipped our toes in the brilliant brains of Rob, Mars, Chris, Corbett, and Nathalie. It’s always nice to get that extra boost of confirmation that this stuff really works. Most of them talked about creating great content, so we covered that as well (remember the three E’s of great content?)

Lastly, I told you what not to do. That leaves one question: what are you going to do next? Don’t just soak this information up and move on to another blog post, write down how you are going to use it, and take action.

This is a huge article, so I recommend you bookmark it for further reading, and if you enjoyed it, I’m sure you’ll friends will too, which is why I would really appreciate if you shared this post on Twitter and Facebook.

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