This is part of nickstraffictricks.com – 30 Days To More Traffic Series
For 10 years people been told that search engine optimization should be your primary focus when trying to traffic to a new blog or website.
But there’s a huge number of ways to get traffic that have nothing to do with search engine optimization.
And there’s a lot of discussion whether search engine optimization is losing its effectiveness and will eventually die.
Read more: Does search engine optimization matter anymore?
My first 3 tips on how to get traffic to a brand-new blog involve optimizing the blog itself so it can get the very most out of traffic.
1. Start with really good content
I know, you are probably tired of hearing this. But it’s really true. If you don’t start with content that is valuable to the reader then no amount of traffic is going to help you.
It doesn’t matter how you get quality content; you can write your own posts, record your own videos, embed other peoples’ YouTube videos, use EZA articles or whatever. (Just don’t do anything illegal 
)
If your website lacks good content then no one will subscribe to your RSS, or stumble your site, or tweet a link to your website, bookmark your site, or tell their friends.
Traffic is meaningless without good content!!
Read more: 6 Reasons Quality Content Receives More Traffic And Makes More Money
2. Make your website user-friendly
Before you start focusing on sending tons of traffic to your site you need to make sure that it’s easy to use. There are hundreds of things you could possibly do to enhance your visitors’ experience but it’s not practical to do all of them.
Here are the ones that you want to focus on:
- Search Box – it’s a good idea to have your search box on each page in a location that people can easily find. This way if people don’t immediately see what they’re looking for a can use your blog’s search feature instead of leaving your site.
- RSS – Put the link to your RSS feed in a place that’s easy to find. I also recommend actually putting the word “RSS” in the link or next to the link. There have been many times when I visited a website and wanted to subscribe to their RSS feed but couldn’t find it. I did a “find” on the webpage [Ctrl+F] looking for the word “RSS” but I couldn’t find it because they used an icon in the link to their RSS and didn’t have any text.
Read more about RSS:
- Download time – make sure your website doesn’t take too long for people to pull up in view. If it takes too long people will leave before they ever see your site.
Read more: How Fast Does Your Site Download?
- Google analytics – it is vital that you set up a free Google analytics account you can track what your most popular pages are and where your traffic is coming from. This will open up a whole new world of ideas on how to improve your website.
Read more:
3. Determine how much traffic you need
How much traffic do you want? Sure, I know you want 10 gazillion hits a day. Who doesn’t?
Let’s be serious here; you’re not going to get 10 gazillion hits your first day or your first month. So how much traffic do you really need? More traffic is certainly better but you need to have a goal.
And make sure your goals are precise. They should involve a specific number of unique visitors and a specific time.
Example: I want to have 100 unique visitors to my blog this week.
If you’re selling a product on your website hoping to make money then that should help determine how much traffic you wish to get.
Read more: Video: How Much Traffic Do You Need?
4. Leave comments on other blogs
You can find blogs that are related to yours and leave meaningful and well thought out comments to their posts. If someone asks leaves a comment on another blog with the question then you should take the opportunity to answer the question and even find more information on your blog.
5. Go where the traffic is
We can be very challenging to get traffic to a brand-new blog. Even if you have fabulous content you find the people that actually interested in what you have to say? One of the simplest ways is to leverage existing traffic sources and piggyback on their traffic.
Learn more: Video: How to get Traffic – What I learned from Willie Crawford
6. Guest posting on related blogs
Guest posting is another great way to leverage other people’s traffic and send some that traffic to you.
Here’s how it works in a nutshell: find someone’s blog is related to your new blog and write a “guest” blog post for them. They will pay you back with a link to your website. If people like the post you’ve written then they will likely visit your website.
7. Build an e-mail list
My e-mail list is my number one or number two source of traffic. If you don’t have an e-mail list you need to build one right away. Instead of someone visiting your website once and leaving never to return, you can invite them to join your e-mail list (and give them a prize) and then you can get 10 or 20 or 30 visit from this person.
8. Get traffic from forums
One great way to drive quality traffic to your website, although you might find it to be a small amount on a daily basis, is by forum marketing.
Remember that one hit of quality traffic is often worth as much as a few hundred hits from a non-quality source. What makes it of quality is you’re getting traffic based on what you say in forum replies (you’ve already sold yourself to a degree).
So do the following:
- Join a forum on your site’s niche.
- Login and edit your profile.
- In your signature, provide a link to your site along with a tasty blurb.
Another huge benefit of forum marketing is that you’re talking with others in your niche. At the same time you’re driving traffic to your site, you’re market researching. You’re finding out the biggest problems in your niche so that you can provide solutions in the form of info products or website content.
Tips & Tricks
- Start by finding a forum related to your niche and make sure signatures are allowed.
- Build your reputation as an expert in your niche. Provide quality information in your posts and replies. Users of a forum will only click on the link in your signature if you’ve enlightened them. One tactic you can use is by creating a new thread with pure information in your niche, almost like a blog post.
- Never link to your own site within content of threads. Only place a link to your site within your signature.
- Be sure to read forum rules and regulations before joining any forum. Nearly all forums don’t allow affiliate links in your signature or within threads.
- Don’t spam forums!!!
9. Get traffic from twitter
Twitter has become a great source of traffic for me. Whenever I post a link to one of my posts to my twitter account I get traffic within a few seconds.
Learn more about getting traffic from twitter:
10. Get traffic from stumble upon
Stumble upon as send me thousands of visitors to this blog and can be a great source of traffic for you but you need to make sure you use it the right way.
There is way too much to cover in a single post but the low are several posts I’ve written that show you how to get traffic from stumble upon:
11. Get traffic from YouTube
YouTube can also be a great source of traffic and the cost of making videos is quite inexpensive.
Learn more:
12. Put your URL on your business cards
Next time I buy business cards I am going to make sure my website is listed.
Note: Make sure your it is easy to read. So instead of putting http://nickstraffictricks.com I would put NicksTrafficTricks.com on my business cards.
13. Put your URL in your e-mail signature
Most email clients allow you to have a customized signature that is included at the end of each email. Put the url to your website in the signature.
