My Top Five (Still) Traffic Generation Methods

My Top Five Traffic Generation Methods

Today I would like to share my favorite traffic generation methods. They are all old, have been there for a while, and yet, they are still effective and very much alive if you are looking for some website traffic.

 

As we all know, traffic is the lifeblood of any website and without it, it doesn’t matter if you have the best blog in the world; it won’t make a difference. So let’s get right into it shall we! So how to attract traffic?

 

1. Forum Marketing – Traffic Won’t Exist Without It!

Yes, that old hag! Guess what! Forum marketing has been and still is one of my most important and reliable traffic generations methods up to date. It is in fact not hard at all; however, many people tend to do it the wrong way unfortunately. Then they complain that it’s not working. BS!

What I mean by the wrong way is: they go on a forum, they post something like: “Wow! Great post!” and they expect the traffic to come running their way! That’s a load of crap. Excuse my language, but it makes me really upset when I see those kinds of comments on my threads. The only thing that pops to mind is:Β  “Ding ding! Spammer alert!”

The key here is to post threads or replies that are full of goodness. I believe that if you have nothing good to say, then don’t say anything at all. If your thread or comment is not going to help anyone in any way, then it’s better to save yourself the “heat” rather than look/sound like an idiot in the forum.

It is always important to add value to the readers. And if you feel like you want to complement the OP (original poster), then say it nicely; at least write a couple of lines discussing what he or she said in their thread.

So basically, if you have never used forums as a traffic generation method, what you do is first search for a related forum in your niche. It’s very easy to do that; Big G. (Google) is your best friend, simply type:

your niche +Β  forum

That’s all there is to it when it comes to searching for a forum.

 

Now, How To Get Traffic From Forums?

It’s all about the sig box! The sig box or signature box is where you are allowed to put your links. That’s how to attract traffic from forums. Mind you, not all forums allow links in your signature and also, very important: most forums don’t allow AFFILIATE links! So be very careful.

Yes, it is time consuming and yes you need to build a bit of reputation around the forum to become that person that people know like and trust (see my post about this here). But to tell you the truth, it’s totally worth it and that’s where value and quality information comes in handy. Now let’s move on to number two!

 

2. The Power Of Blog Commenting: Can You Get Website Traffic With It?

Well, the answer is yes. Imagine commenting on high PR blogs with useful information? What can that do for you in your opinion? Just have a look at my older posts and see how many comments each one gets, and still counting! Those people didn’t just guess my blog URL and landed here! I commented on some of their blogs. Sometimes, people who saw my comments came to my site and commented on my blog posts. Even better, only a part of the people who visit my blog leave comments. Do you see the potential here?

Again, blog commenting is all about value and quality. Don’t spam!!! I can’t stress it enough. It works the same way as forum marketing in the sense that you can put your link when you leave a comment.

Where To Find Blogs To Comment On To Get Website Traffic?

This time, we won’t use Google straight away. We will use one of two websites that will lead us to Google results. The sites I use are normally either DropMyLink or PutMyLink. They both are good to find CommentLuv enabled blogs. So let’s try:

1. Go to http://dropmylink.com. This is how it looks like once you get there:

dropmylink

traffic generation methods

You will find a box where you can enter your niche name or keyword, then a drop-down menu. Let’s say we want to look for blogs in the dog training niche which are CommentLuv enabled:

 

Then you can choose “CommentLuv Premium Blogs” as shown above. After that, click on “search” and this is where it takes us:

dropmylink 2

 

It takes us to Google. As you can see, all the results are of blogs that use CommentLuv.

dropmylink3

So, Why Commetluv You May Ask?

If you’re not familiar with it, Commentluv is a free WordPress plug-in that allows you to enable comments on your blog posts. What’s more is that, not only does it allow you to post your link along with your comment, but it also shows your latest blog post to everyone who reads it.

This is what you see once you go to one of those blogs you found in Google search results:

google results blog commentluv

 

It says: “X recently posted” then the title of their blog post. That’s where your headlines and post titles come in handy. But that’s a topic for another day πŸ™‚

So this is how to attract traffic through blog commenting. Wow this section took more than I thought! Let’s move on…

 

3. Guest Blogging: One Of The Oldest, Yet Effective Traffic Generation Methods:

This is an awesome way to get traffic to your website. It drives super targeted traffic, and if you write epic content for your host, it can generate you all the traffic you need month after month.

Here’s a little video I made about guest blogging πŸ™‚ This is my first white board animation, it’s not perfect as I’m still playing with the software! Please let me know what you think πŸ™‚

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe7SWUWGcfw&feature=youtu.be

It’s a little off I know πŸ™‚ I’ll do better next time!

 

Ok so back to guest blogging; how can you find a blog that is looking for guest posters and how to attract traffic simply by guest blgging? It’s simple, just do a quick Google search. Here are a few keywords that you can use:

– keyword +Β  submit a guest post

– keyword + guest posts wanted

– keyword + write for us

– keyword + contributing writer

– keyword + looking for guest posts

– keywords + become an author

 

Get creative and think of other alternatives. You can definitely find hundreds of blogs to write for. However, not all of them will give you the traffic you need; this is why you need to check their traffic and ranking. To do that I use Alexa.com and PRChecker.info. These 2 tools are great to check ranking and audience.

Another good website is Compete.com. If they have the data, they can even tell you how many visits the site gets every month. Another resource is Quantcast.com; however this website can only give you information about the sites that are registered with them.

When writing for a blog, make sure that your content is 100% unique and ONLY for the host blog. They all want unique and original content that was written just for them. Also, after submitting your post, you need to dedicate some time to reply yo people’s comments about what you wrote. That way, you can build relationships with the readers at the same time as getting traffic to your site. Two birds with one stone huh!

3. Social Media:

Social media plays a huge role in website traffic. It has become one of the inevitable traffic generation methods to use in order to get some organic traffic back to websites and blogs. A lot of people overlook the power of social media and what it can do to your business. Here are my favorite traffic sucking social media sites:

Facebook: Of course! It goes without saying that Facebook is one of the most powerful social media sites that can bring you loads of traffic.

Twitter: This is second to Facebook. It’s pretty self explanatory.

Youtube: Video marketing anyone? This is by far one of the best ways to go viral. Google loves Youtube, and if you have some good video content on Youtube, it will rank faster.

Google+: I am still new to Google+ but I am already getting some traffic from it.

And finally my new favorite gem in social media: Instagram. Instagram is becoming as strong as Facebook and Twitter. No wonder why Mr. Facebook (Mark Z.) bought it! In a few years, Instagram will most probably be his best investment ever. Instagram is so powerful. I cannot describe how much traffic and potential it has. I have recently started using it after reading an e-book written by Mehdi Tihani. It’s a great course and it explains everything about Instagram from finding followers, to traffic, to how to monetize that traffic etc. You might want to check it out here.

 

5. Video Marketing:

Old too, but still effective. They say a picture is worth more than a thousand words, how about video? Video is the best way to introduce yourself and make people know who you are. Of course we’re still delivering high quality content and value; otherwise it will be just as bad as spamming on a forum, right?

So, I hear you crying: “I don’t want to put my face in front of the camera!” I know! I know! But the good news is you don’t have to! It took me years to be able to finally do it and I am still nervous every time I record myself. For some people it takes longer than others.

Anyway, you can still make videos even if you don’t put your face in front of people. Simply write your content, then split it. After that, create a PowerPoint presentation and turn it into a video. Or even better, I have recently come across a super awesome tool that allows you to make presentations in a jiffy. They have a free option where you can create top notch presentations and turn them into videos. I just started using it and I think it will soon replace PowerPoint completely. You might want to look at it here. You can sign up for free and create your first presentation there.

So after you have your video ready, all you need is to submit it to video sharing sites like Youtube, Vimeo, DailyMotion etc. If you’re too lazy to do that, you can just pay someone over at Fiverr to do it for $5. After they are all submitted, make sure you ping them.

Remember, quality is key. The more videos you make, the more comfortable and the better you will get at doing it. And eventually, the more website traffic you will attract.

 

Well, this is basically my list of my top favorite traffic generation methods. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, please share the love! I would also love to read your comments. If you would like to take this little list home with you, you can also download it as a PDF file please click the image above to download my favorite methods on how to attract traffic.

24 thoughts on “My Top Five (Still) Traffic Generation Methods”

  1. This is one of the most valuable posts I have read in a long time. I just spent a long time following up on all your links and am finding I have a lot more to do to generate traffic to my blog. Thanks for taking the time to put this together. Your post has been bookmarked.
    Zach recently posted…Can a Minor Enforce a Contract?My Profile

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  2. Houda,

    My hats off to you on this post! These are fabulous traffic generation methods. I do use all, but have been weak on forums. One of my to-do’s for this year lol.

    I guest post almost every week on someone’s blog. I usually get asked to do them so I don’t have to search. But it sure drives tons of traffic to me.

    When it comes to commenting on blogs, its a goldmine! As long as we leave a good comment, others read it, become attracted to it and want to know more about us. I’ve gained more traffic from simple commenting and sharing a blog post than anywhere else! So, never leave a one liner…write to your hearts content!

    Oh boy, when it comes to Youtube on a blog post, it can be as short as a minute and it goes crazy. People see it everywhere because Youtube shares it. Plus It is just so nice to see someone behind all those words on their blog. It also brings a better Know/Like/Trust factor because they are seeing YOU! No matter what our business is, it has to be branded as YOU.inc.

    I just love the video you made. I have that program too, but have not been using it so much. It is quite effective because it is entertaining and people love to be entertained.

    Great advice!

    -Donna
    Donna Merrill recently posted…Listbuilding For Bloggers | Why and HowMy Profile

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  3. Your suggestions for gaining traffic are excellent ones. I have used some of them especially Facebook and Twitter on a regular basis. On the matter of posting comments to gain traffic, this has not worked very well in my experience as some of the comments have to be moderated and there are times when it seems that these moderators are fast asleep, completely forgetting about your comment. On the other hand, there are those readers who read the comments and don’t respond one way or the other. so I will give it another try but not hoping for anything great.

    Vinton Samms
    vinton samms recently posted…Why Viral Marketing?My Profile

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  4. Yes, your methods are good and I want to share my experiences at here.

    First, forum marketing doesn’t work much for me and it’s only work in a short time when you promote for something. It’s still depend on what niche of your website.

    Secondary, blog comment is work very well, especially any blog with commentluv and allow people to comment and get dofollow links, like your blog, and of course my blog too (check the link). Why I call it as a good method ? Because if you optimize your post title good enough, with commentluv, there’s no different as normal SEO task. It’s a link with keyword in anchor text, as you want.

    Third, social media is another good one and I get tons of visitors with Twitter by using right hashtag. You should to find out more about it.
    Annette Riley recently posted…Best Free Antivirus Software for WindowsMy Profile

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  5. Thanks for simplifying things Houda!

    And even those five excellent (tried and true) traffic generating methods, may be considered a bit old school.

    With the exception of any of the social media platforms of course!

    They are still extremely viable, and don’t require that much time on a daily basis, in order to be effective!

    Thanks for getting us back to the proven fundamentals!
    Mark recently posted…Wonder Why So Many Extremely Savvy Entrepreneurs Miss This incredibly Simple Marketing Opportunity?My Profile

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  6. Thanks for your YouTube Product. It looks Awesome and I can’t wait to read it!!!

    Also thanks for the bonuses…Easily could be charging much more for the value you provided…

    Sam

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  7. Hello Hooda.

    This is my first time visiting your blog and I’m so glad I found it! This article was top-notch and I really appreciate that you went into depth about your favorite ways to generate traffic.

    After reading through, I realized I really need to take advantage of visiting forums more often and also I should try making some videos. I love the idea of making a powerpoint presentation video! Never thought of that. The camera being on me is what has stopped me from the video thing. But like you said, it doesn’t have to be!

    Definitely going to check out your suggestions.

    Thanks for all the great tips!

    Karen
    Karen Peltier recently posted…How to Make Your Own All-Natural Spa Bath Salts (A Great Gift Idea!)My Profile

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