Getting traffic isn't rocket science, it's actually pretty easy when you know a few of the best tricks pro-bloggers are using every day to get more traffic to their blogs.
Let me share the best with you!
Create a not-so-secret inner circle of your best buddies
- Put together a list of your very best and most influential readers. These are the ones who regularly interact with you or post replies to your posts, share your posts with their followers, send you articles, buy your products and so forth.
- Put these folks on your special inner circle list, and email them to let them know of their newly attained status. Let them know the benefits – they'll get to see your posts before the public and they'll be apprised of any new offerings, updates and ideas before anyone else.
- Solicit their opinion on your posts. This creates a sense of ownership for them and increases the odds they will go out of their way to share your content with their followers.
- Give them special benefits to thank them for their help, and offer to help them in return.
Make it brain-dead easy to share your content
If your content is too difficult to share, your readers and inner circle are less likely to share it. So add the appropriate social sharing buttons for sites like Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn.
So add the appropriate social sharing buttons for sites like Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn.
My all-time favorite? (And I've tried them all!) It's Social Warfare.
A social media plugin that's inexpensive, beautiful and it works SO well. (I pretty much force all my clients to buy it because it grows their list without any extra work.)
Write in-depth content that makes your readers look smart
Here's a little secret: People like to look super smart to their readers and friends.
Okay, so maybe it's not a secret.
But the fact is, in-depth articles tend to get shared more because the people sharing them want their friends to think they read in-depth articles.
Plus, when someone new lands on your in-depth article, they are more likely to subscribe to get even more info than if they land on a simple fluff piece. Especially if you add a content upgrade, like this one:
Another secret: Posts with images, lists and videos will attract over 5 times more links than posts containing only plain text.
So don't stop at just the words – add things like images and graphs to make it share-worthy.
Cheat. Just a little.
This isn't really cheating, but it sure feels like it.
Look at your old content and find the pieces that are still relevant, whether they were written 3 months ago or a year ago.
Now share them again via social media. This way you get new traffic without having to write new content – how awesome is that?
Write a mini-sales letter to promote each blog post
Traditionally, when a blogger writes a new post she sends out the title and first paragraph to her list with an invite to click the link and read the rest.
But the real meat of a blog post isn't in that intro paragraph, which is why this method isn't worth beans.
Instead, write a mini sales letter that gets the email reader curious and excited to know more.
This doesn't have to be long; 50 -100 of the right words is perfect. Build curiosity and show them what the big benefits/takeaways of reading your article will be, and your click-through rates should double if not triple.
That's it – 5 simple tips to increase your blog traffic.
Hi Sue, great write-up.
I tend to forget to share the awesome content I come across the web. I often tend to suffer from social-button-blindness-syndrome. However, sometimes I make my mind to spend 10 minutes to schedule awesome content around the web. I wonder why still some of the blogs do not have proper social media buttons. LOL. I'm using AddThis Chrome extension to share awesome content I cme across..
Maybe I should learn that content without share buttons are not worth sharing!
With regard to sharing old blog posts gain, I found myself posting fresh graphic helpful. I often share an image and just link out to my article in image description, as it tends to get interaction on Facebook and other networks, than just postinglinks with some description. Their alogorithms are perhaps programmed to do so.
Thanks for the post.
Have a great day ahead 🙂
Akshay Hallur recently posted…How to Write Highly Converting Affiliate Product Reviews
Great ideas on sharing old posts and chrome extensions (I LOVE my Chrome browser and actually bought a Chromebook).
Thanks for being the first comment today!
Sue
[ Laughs ] I am in the habit of tweeting old content and like Akshay, I do not view it as cheating.
By the way, Sue, I have been contemplating purchasing a Chromebook for the sole purpose of blogging.
And, try to bribe Akshay into writing another guest post for you (I truly enjoyed his article).
Go for the chromebook – I'm totally happy! I have a 13" Acer.
Sue
Love these tips. I also love Social Warfare, one of the best plugins I have spent money on. While my posts have gotten a little longer, I am still working on making them more in-depth for my readers, but sometimes I struggle.
Totally agree about Social Warfare, Teresa!
You don't have to do long posts each and every time. But once a month would be great.
Thanks for commenting today.
Sue
Funny I should read that bit about the Chromebook! I might be in the market for a new laptop, Sue!
I just recently started using the Buffer app to tweet out old posts, and yes, I find photos get more traction simply because of visibility in a much-too-busy digital world.
Sharing buttons! I've solved the problem by adding the Hootsuite Hootlet to my browser – most blogs don't bother to have them, and those that do, do not configure it to their social media handles. 🙂
I've been contemplating writing a newsletter, but not sure if I'll do it consistently, at least not before May – because I'm going to be busy for two months with travel and the April A to Z Challenge (participating with four blogs, posting every day :D)
I'd like to add this about the old posts for saving time writing new stuff – there are posts that make sense even now, so adding a new facet/perspective to these can make them great new posts, and also provide some ideal internal linking. 🙂
Vidya Sury recently posted…Spread some verbal sunshine #WorldComplimentDay
You can totally share your old posts, Vidya! They are so evergreen.
Love my Chromebook – took about 2 months to get used to it – now I'm a Google Drive person.
Thanks for your thoughtful comment today.
Sue
Thank you for these tips! I love the idea of a "mini-sales letter" informing people of the benefits of reading your article. That ALWAYS works to get me reading too!
Sue I think number point is juicy. That's something I never thought of.
I have a list of my featured bloggers but I only send them a message on Thursdays when a new blogger is featured.
My featured bloggers (including you) are so precious to me. You can always see them being so active on my blog.
I also have so many others who are not featured yet. I think your recommendation of having an inner circle is on top and I'll have to work towards that 😉
Always good to be hear 😉
Enstine Muki recently posted…Join Social Stock, Get A Prize : iPhone 6, Selfie Stick, $100 cash, MacBook Pro, etc
I love the inner circle idea and use mine often, Enstine! It will work beautifully for you also.
Thanks for taking the time to come by today.
Sue
It's a pleasurely constantly coming here and checking out what's new 😉 Always exciting articles I must say
Enstine Muki recently posted…How to get dofollow backlinks from 15 Commentluv Blogs [PART 2]
And I so enjoy it when you do. We call that a win-win situation, right?
Thanks for stopping by and commenting, Enstine!
Sue
Thanks for these tips, Sue! I was just thinking this morning about repurposing some older content, so you seconding the idea had me actually write it down to do it. 🙂 I've also noticed increased traffic to blog posts after I changed the main image for Pinterest. Have a great day! 🙂
Great minds think alike, Jennie! So glad to see you here today.
Sue
Almost of my contents are about guides and tutorials. So, by sharing them over and over and over again on my Twitter account (and of course a few others), it brings me a lot of traffic to my website.
And a lot of those traffic were converted to leads and sales (CPA and Affiliate Marketing).
Alize Camp recently posted…Fix Dns_Probe_Finished_Nxdomain Error
Very nice work, Alize!
I so appreciate your comment today.
Sue
Great post Sue!
A few remarks:
– You mention the success you have with Social Warfare. Did you compare it to a scrolling social sharing bar like SumoMe?
– If you want to share evergreen, older posts at a regular basis, I can definitely recommend to use Buffer. What's you feeling in sharing evergreen posts with or without date? I mean there are blogs that show posting dates and blogs that don't on their site.
– Yeah, those mini-sales letters are great. On my list and as you know very soon I have more time to sort this out.
Keep up the good work! 🙂
Paul
Hi, Paul,
I've done the best with [thirstylink linkid="27914" linktext="Social Warfare" class="thirstylink" title="Social Warfare"], Paul. SumoMe is great for their list builder but I like the image sharing part of Social Warfare – check out the different images when you share this post on Facebook vs. Pinterest vs. the image on my blog.
I don't do a date because my content is evergreen.
Appreciate your comment today!
Sue
Excellent tips as usual Sue! I find I get most of my traffic from Pinterest, particularly by pinning my content to relevant group boards. I also optimize my content for Pinterest so as to encourage pins and repins. Having good copy on the image helps increase clickthroughs too.
Elizabeth recently posted…The Ultimate Guide to Facebook Groups
I SO appreciate your comment about Pinterest. It's my highest social media traffic driver also.
Thanks, Elizabeth!
Sue
Hi Sue. I've started using #4, "Cheat a little" as you called it. I followed another blogger a few years ago who would regularly tweet out old posts to Twitter. It kept good content in her Twitter feed and got her visits to her old posts, at least from me. I've been doing that some lately with a tool called TweetJukebox. Longer, more in-depth posts and making my posts easy to share have also worked well too. Thanks for the other ideas. As I build my list I will be using the newsletter approach you mentioned. It makes more sense than making the email look like my RSS feed.
Ben recently posted…Moving From the Aqua Pour to the PiMag Waterfall
Hi, Ben,
Thanks for the recommendation for that tool. I also use a plugin that does it – something simple like "Post Old Tweet".
I so appreciate your comment today!
Sue
I must check out Social Warfare! I use Buffer, but only the free subscription.
Karyn recently posted…Schedule Your Social Media Posts for FREE
I will change your blogging life!
Sue
These are great tips Sue. I must check out social warfare. The idea of a mini- sales letter to build curiosity and point out the benefits of the most is super.
thanks for the post Sue.
Have a great day.
I so appreciate your comment, Stefany!
Sue
Thank you for the article. I learn something new how to write a mini salesletter to promote the articles which I didn't know before.
That's great to hear, Piseth!
Thanks for letting me know.
Sue
Hi Sue,
Love these tips.I love the idea of a “mini-sales letter” informing people of the benefits of reading your article.
Thank you for these tips!`
You are so welcome, Mansi!I appreciate you taking the time to comment today.
Sue
Hi Sue
Some wonderful tips here
All of them look good to me. I'm already using some of them, one of which is the 'cheat' tip. I'm also extending it a little by selecting suitable old posts, giving them a bit of a makeover and re-posting them. A time saver for sure.
I also really like Point 5. One of the extra things I sometimes do is create a 3 minute screen capture page video featuring, promoting, and pointing to the blog post. I load the video to YouTube then send the link to my list (people love to watch videos). But more than this – sometimes YouTube sends me free traffic. Nice!
Thanks again, Sue
Kim
Kim Willis recently posted…How to Use Effective Messaging to Attract Your Best Customers
Ohh, I like the idea of the screen capture video, Kim! I'm "borrowing" that idea!
Great comment.
Sue
Hello Sue,
This is really a very awesome post, i love all the traffic generation tips you shared here and i agree with you 100%.
You see, one of the things that most bloggers and internet marketers usually find very daunting is how to drive traffic to their blogs and even though a lot of articles have already been written on the internet about it, most of the tips out there today no longer work and that's what made this post of yours very timely.
I love the idea of creating an inner circle of your best readers and then notifying them about your articles each time you publish, I'm sure that will bring a huge returns your way if done properly.
I should be trying that immediately :).
Thanks for sharing.
Theodore Nwangene recently posted…Simplified Methods to Earn More Than $500 Monthly Building Niche Sites
Great to hear, Theodore;
I so appreciate your thoughtful comment.
Sue
Hi Sue,
Your first point really got me thinking! I have a great group that I network with but as I think about it, it's pretty superficial.
What you're asking me to do is go deeper and give them some extra value. Let them know they are more valuable to me than just a comment or social share.
Love it!
Also, agree 100% about making it easy to share. It seems of late that a number of blogs don't even have buttons to follow them on their social media, let alone buttons to share their content.
If they don't care enough to make it easy to share, I'm not going to do so.
I know that sound harsh but it's time I don't have.
Fantastic post Sue!
Have a great week.
~ Don Purdum
Don Purdum recently posted…How to Immediately Stop Losing Money on Marketing
Totally agree, Don.
It's amazing about the digital share buttons, isn't it? I used to have mine just at the bottom of the post and have had them at top and bottom of post for 6 months = more sharing.
I always appreciate you taking the time to stop by, read, connect and share!
Sue
Hey Sue,
Yet another awesome post. I loved the point where you mentioned make it easier to share. A lot of us make the mistake by placing share button at a location that is tough to reach to and that's why loose a lot of possible shares.
Also, I would recommend using social locker on some posts to get more amount of shares. What's your views on this?
Sikhar Dhawan recently posted…How to Fix DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NO_INTERNET in Chrome
My colleague, Matthew Woodward does well with the social locker concept.
If rather do a content upgrade where I get their email address and would recommend going that way!
Thanks for your comment!
Sue
Sue,
This post was extremely helpful to everyone on our team. We just recently discovered your blog and are very happy we did! Looking forward to building our business by starting a blog and using many of the suggestions you provided. Very impressive. Thank you!
Well, you just made my day!
Thanks.
Sue
Hi Sue Anne,
Thanks for sharing these ways to drive traffic to our blog. Thankfully, I'm doing most of these but I need to work on #5 to get my email reader curious to click and read my post. 🙂
Great tips Sue Anne.
Have a great week.
Cori
It's the same thing I'm working on also, Cori! Sometimes the cobbler's kids have no shoes, right?
Thanks for stopping by.
Sue
Hi Sue Anne
Very amazing tips especially the fourth one I like the most. Many people just forget after publishing their post and promoting it once.
We need to go for every tip that could work good for traffic generation but equally should not make any kind of mess while getting more traffic.
All the tips you mentioned are very easy and equally result-oriented. Just with a little effort one can see amazing results in his traffic statistics.
Thanks for sharing such lovely post
Have a great rest of the week.
Great points you make in your comment today.
I so appreciate it!
Sue
#4 is my fave tip Sue. Cause I simply use tools to drive traffic while doing stuff away from my blog. Easy peasy. I also promote older posts on FB and G Plus at times. If it's evergreen, newbies and vets alike will appreciate it. Avoid assuming that all your established and new readers have gobbled up content from up thru last week; let alone from 5 years ago. Good tips!
Thanks for sharing.
Ryan
Ryan Biddulph recently posted…20 Exotic Animals I Saw in the Jungles of Buena Vista Costa Rica
It just takes a while to learn all this, right? We are like dog's ages in internet years – 5+ years = 35 years on the internet!
I always appreciate you stopping by!
Sue
Really a Great Article Regarding the Best Traffic Sources However, I Am Getting All Of Traffic Mostly From Facebook And Twitter And This is really a very awesome post, i love all the traffic generation tips. Thanks Sue For This 🙂
You are so welcome, Rupi!
Sue
Hi Sue,
Interesting point you state about SocialWarfare helping to build lists. Can you say how it does this? I've shared on Twitter people's content who've got it on their blog and been a little concerned that they've got no mention in the tweets. I like giving people credit for their content and I'm wondering how SocialWarfare does this?
Traffic is the make or break of a blog. But not all traffic is worth the effort. You need to focus on the right kind of traffic – the people who most want what you have to give them.
Getting the right kind of traffic means knowing who you want coming to your blog, and why.
Once, you get this right, you'll discover you don't need as much traffic in order to achieve your goals because you're attracting people who are ready for it.
– Tom
Tom Southern recently posted…How To Get Traffic When Everything You’ve Tried So Far Has Failed (and You Feel Like Giving Up)
You are totally right about getting the right type of traffic, Tom!
My tweets have "via SueAnneDunlevie" on them when they are shared thru Social Warfare.
I appreciate your comment today.
Sue
Awesome guide must say! It was a worth reading. And yes completely agree with the #2 point. If your title is eye cachy then you're going to have two benefits.
#1 Of course first of all there will be a +1 in your article reading.
#2 If the content is worth reading then some social media share.
The content is still king and would remain till the Google lasts.
Thanls for the awesome share.
Eye-catchy is key, right?
Thanks so much for commenting, Rahul!
Sue
Hi Sue.
Thank you for sharing this information with us bloggers!
I really like the ideas you shared, and they are all very helpful to any blogger. I also find subscribers and even social media members to be more eager to click on your link when you write a separate "summary" (or sales letter as you put it) to go with your link.
I find that sharing old content also really helps, especially if you can add an update to the old post with some new or updated info.
Great point on sharing the old content, Gerhard. That gets me a lot of traffic.
Thanks for your ideas.
Sue
I think your post also highlights readability as a technique that captures interest and increasing sharing. The numbers definitely caught my eye and I am going to incorporate that into some of my posts.
Love the idea of bringing back older posts – many of mine are still current. That's key to bringing them back without creating a whole new post.
Thanks so much and I'm looking forward to reading more!
Kathleen Desio recently posted…Miche Spring 2016 Available Now
Thanks for noticing the number thing, Kathleen! My hard work wasn't for naught 🙂
Old posts save your life on busy, holiday or vacation weeks.
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Sue
Hey Sue Thanks for sharing this useful information, bringing old post back will be a surprise instead..
Yehh.. after all "Old is Gold" !! isn't it
Thanks
I think I learned that in the Girl Scouts – or maybe it was about Old Friends!
Thanks for commenting, Evine,
Sue
Hey Sue,
Love all your tips and of course you're spot on with these.
I was interviewed yesterday and I was asked if blogging was dead and of course I have to laugh anytime someone asks that question. I mentioned that not only is blogging alive and well but commenting is as well. We went into the subject of all the people who still to this day, four years later, still comment on my blog. That's because of the "network" of people like you mentioned here. These are the people you've made great connections with and all you have to do is just ask. Don't abuse that of course but they'd be more than happy to help you because they know you'd do the same for them. I think it still is a secret for many though but hopefully not any more.
Not making it easy for me to share content still gets under my skin to this day. I just don't understand but I'm sure it's because they're so excited to start getting their content out there that they obviously forget a few things or are overwhelmed by how much they have to get set up. They have to understand though that it's crucial.
I do need to look back on some of my older topics. I actually found one from about three or four years ago that I recently shared in one of my blog posts because it's still relevant today but I'm sure I could find plenty others.
Thanks for sharing this and I'm off to share it as well. Enjoy your week.
~Adrienne
Adrienne recently posted…Do You Want To Know Why You Are NOT Making Money From Your Blog?
Oh, the good ole' blogging is dead question! Don't you love that, Adrienne?
I SO appreciate your thoughtful comment today. Definitely share those older posts when you are busy, on vacation, etc. It works well!
Thanks,
Sue
#1 is the piece of advice I plan to implement immediately. I will make a special e-mail list and send unique messages to this group of fans. Thanks for this idea.
Glad to hear it helped, Fred!
Thanks for your comment.
Sue
That really helped take my blog to the next level, Fred. Enjoy it!
Sue
Fantastic post, Sue! I love how it's so easy to implement these ideas….it's really just a matter of DOING them.
Jasmine Bachrach recently posted…What Does a Rat Have in Common with Art?
Good to see you today, Jasmine! I hope all is well.
Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving a comment!
Seu
Hey Sue,
Loved all your tips and advices. It's really interesting to know how people want to be perceived among friends and others. And how this helps the in-depth articles to get shared. Writing an elaborate article has its own unique values like easier indexing. And this one adds to the list.
I have been seeing people sharing their old contents in social networking sites on regular basis. And after clicking through that only I found that it's an older one. But it doesn't anyway lessen the readers’ interest in it. We may edit the title a bit to make it more eye catchy and to ensure click through.
Thank you for sharing all the practices which are really easy to perform, yet have very powerful effect in increasing traffic. Take care and have a great day ahead 🙂
Manidipa Bhaumik recently posted…Top 7 Reasons Why You’re Not Able To Make Money Online
Great idea on changing up the headline, Manidipa! Thanks for sharing that.
Sue
Hello
There are tons of way to build traffic with emergence of social networking sites. With the help of Facebook Ads, I was able to build a Facebook website page for the people I target. This was helping to get tons of traffic every time I post a new article.
Anyways you had some fabulous points regarding traffic generation and I would like to write a mini-sales letter to promote each blog post and this seems really Interesting.
Noor Basheer recently posted…SiteGround vs Bluehost – Inline Hosting Review
So happy it helped, Noor!
Thanks for your comment.
Sue
Hello Sue Anne,
Regards the social sharing buttons, do you suggest placing the buttons below blog title or below the content of the article?
Both! I received a lot more shares when I switched to Social Warfare and put the sharing buttons at the top and bottom of my posts.
Thanks for your question.
Sue
I love the idea of a mini-sales letter to sell the click so that readers can click through and anticipate the content. I'll give that a try, it's not something I do very often (mainly because they turn into another blog post on why you should read the link 😀 )
Sarah Arrow recently posted…60 Ways to Boost Your Website’s Traffic in 60 Minutes a Day
I'm also starting to do it more regularly and it's working out great.
Always appreciate you stopping by to read and comment, Sarah!
Sue
I strongly believe that as a professional blogger we should focus on every single opportunity which can help us to drive more traffic to our blog and grab more eyes on the content of blogs. This also helps to gain more followers.
Your tips are always helpful and influential. keep sharing more good stuff.
Gaurav kumar recently posted…eAskme Affiliate Program : Make Money with eAskme
I so appreciate that Gaurav. You have made my day – thanks so much for alway commenting on my posts!
Sue
Hey Sue,
These tips may seem simple but they are powerful once you implement them. I've noticed this when I started an inner circle of blogging peers that support each other and it went from there.
I also use a plug in called Revive Old Post where I set it up to tweet and share old blog posts up to a year. I noticed on the "All Campaign" section in Google Analytics that these posts are getting the most clicks which definitely backs up tip #4.
Thanks for sharing Sue! Have a great week!
Sherman Smith recently posted…Importance Of Branding Yourself Online When Youâre Broke With Little Time
Great plug-in referral, Sherman! My readers will love that.
I always appreciate you stopping by to read and comment and share.
Sue
Wow. Yet another awesome post Sue.
I must admit I am in love with your writing. 🙂
Sikhar Dhawan recently posted…How to Fix DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NO_INTERNET in Chrome
You made my day, Sikhar!
Thanks,
Sue
Thanks for sharing your five awesome and extremely practical tips Sue!
And thank goodness none of them are overly techie!
And while I definitely like all five of your use able tips, without a doubt,
my two biggest takeaways are #'s 1 & 4!
None of them are overly time consuming as well!And should
be easy enough to track their results!
Thanks, I always get an extremely worthwhile education, whenever
I study at your blog Sue!
Mark recently posted…How Some Extremely Savvy Small Business Owners Generate 300% More Profit From So Called Dead Assets!Part Four
And thank you for making my day, Mark!
I always appreciate your comments.
Sue
Hi Sue Anne Dunlevie, this is my first visit at your blog. So congratulations for a new reader of your blog. Lol…
Sue, these tips to drive more traffic are really very interesting and appreciable for me and so I am going to say you a big thanks for that, especially for that second tip.
I think an article must contain a natural, attractive and emotional Title which will drive more traffic than normal.
Purushottam Thakur recently posted…5 Best SEO Audit Tools to Review a Website in 2016
You are spot-on, Purushottam!
I appreciate you reading the post and taking the time to comment.
Sue
Love these tips Sue!
I've been working on #1 lately. It seems to make a lot of impact when starting out.
"Write a mini-sales letter to promote each blog post" is also great. I always try to make my writing as enticing as possible no matter where I'm writing it.
Thanks, Eli! I so appreciate it.
#1 is something most bloggers don't do, so it will set you apart!
Sue
Very nice tips, although for sharing i use @Shareaholic, which is very nice as compared to warfare 🙂
thx
Kami
Hi Sue,
Very nice tips which I will definitely be applying to my blog. I am soon starting out. Thank you very much!
You are so welcome, Daniel!
Sue
Thanks fot sharing this eye-opener blog post Sue! Am going to try and work on No #2 then see how things goes.
You're doing a great job here! Keep it up
Tunde Sanusi (Tuham) recently posted…How To Get Verified On Twitter For Free! + 10 Things To Know
Thanks, Tunde!
Sue
Dear Sue,
Thanks for sharing the awesome tips .I am really going applying the these in future .
keep sharing the good stuff !!
Regards,
Ashley
Thanks for your comment, Ashley!
Sue
Hello Sue,
Indepth content writing always work like charm and attract more visitors. Thanks for very informative post. Keep sharing 🙂
You are so welcome, Ravi! I appreciate your comment.
Sue
Amazing Tips, Sue.
However, I was wondering if you also do keyword research for your blog posts to drive more organic traffic.
If yes, what tools do you use?
Thanks,
Manav
I just use Google to see what people are searching for, Manav.
Thanks for your comment!
Sue
Top post, Sue.
Great actionable tips!
Umair
There are lots of ways to generate traffic using SEO, Paid ads, Email marketing etc. but which one is good to go we can decide based on target audience.
If our targeted audiences are on Facebook then we should do more focus on social marketing instead of wasting time on SEO.
I believe if you publish a great piece of content and then create great promotion strategy so you will be able to perform better in marketing.
As i read this blog and get very useful information for me with my problem to sort out to me.
Regards
Ethan