I have made up a list of effective methods of generating traffic, all of these I have used to get traffic to my own Blog.
1. Articles. In order for your article to be effective you need to do your keyword research. I always use Google Adwords keyword tool, which you can use for free here. I look for longtail keywords that have a local and global search from 100 to 5000 a month. I also try and use the ones that have around 50% to 75% competition (anymore than that and you will find it very hard to get indexed on the search engines). Once you have found your keywords (and try and find as many as you can), then type your keyword phrase into Google and look how many sites your are competing against for your keyword phrase. If it is anymore than 1 million then I would say don’t bother, it will be too hard for you get your article showing high enough in the search engines for anyone to read it, not without some serious backlinking anyway. I always try to look for a competition of around 250,000 to 500,000.
2. Twitter. When used properly Twitter can be a very powerful tool. If you have made a Blog post that you believe provides value and can help people then you can Tweet about it and add a link to that post. Just be careful not to be to SPAMy and send out link after link, just send out the odd Tweet, maybe one or two a day to a informative Blog post you have written and you will see good traffic come from this.
3. Blog Carnivals. Every time I write a Blog post I submit it to relative Blog Carnivals. The permalink and description of the Blog post is published on the carnival, and any interested readers will visit your Blog by clicking on your perma link to read the entire post. To optimize this I use a piece of software that submits to all of the relative Blog Carnivals at the click of a button. It’s very effective and has been a great traffic tool for me. You can see the software I use here.
4. Oil Rig Hopping. This is a phrase that I got from my mentor, Alex Jeffreys. What it means is to go and comment on other peoples Blogs. Find Blogs that are in the same niche as yours, read through their posts and leave a relative comment to their post. Your comment should be interactive and always try and add value to the Blog post. Don’t just say “great post, come and have a look at my site”. The Blog owner will probably never approve this as it is just SPAM. If you can add value then other people reading will notice your comment and are then likely to pay a visit to your Blog to see what you have going on there.
5. Email List. You should always treat your list like gold, and if you have created some valuable and informative content on your Blog, then you should always tell your mailing list about it. Your Blog is where you can brand yourself and your business, so if you keep posting great content there then your list will be happy you told them about it and likely to come back aswell.
6. Viral Competition. Set up a viral competition on your Blog. Give away something then ask your readers to send an email out to their subscribers to tell them about it. Only when they have done that will they receive their free gift.
7. Yahoo Answers. Yahoo Answers can be a good place to divert traffic back to your Blog. Look for questions that are relevant to any of the posts you have made in your Blog. When you find one, provide an informative answer there on Yahoo answers and then add as the end that you have more information about this on your Blog and add your link. Don’t just SPAM it and say, “I have the solution for you on my site”. Give them an answer there, just subtly mention that you have further information that can help them on your Blog and add your link.
8. YouTube. I have only recently discovered the power behind videos. YouTube is one of the most highly trafficked sites on the web, so the possibilities of very getting high traffic to your site from here is very real. Your video doesn’t have to be long, just make it interesting and informative and add a link back to your Blog. Use your description box to add a call to action and include your link right at the start.
If you implement one of these methods each day then you will see your traffic levels go up significantly.
Hey Paul how are you my friend?
Wow very informative post mate,you just keep adding so much value to your blog I especially enjoyed the video on setting up a giveaway event.
I have heard of most of these ways to generate traffic but I just dont implement them to there full potential.
Well done Paul you are a very nice guy and inspirational to me.
speak soon
Marcus
Hey Paul,
This is a great list that actually reminded me of a few very successful methods I used in the past on my previous blogs. I just wonder why I haven’t used them for new new site…
The concept of submitting to blog carnivals helps TREMENDOUSLY! I did this for a previous site of mine and have had traffic randomly come from it at hundreds at a time. If you have a good article and submit it to a fairly popular carnival, you could set yourself up for some valuable traffic.
AND the good thing is a lot of the times it will be very targeted traffic, so they’ll be willing to opt-in to your list!
Paul,
I really like #8 as I just put up a YouTube video that hit #1 in google for the keyword term \’blog copywriting\’.
It did take 4 days… But its a pretty cool method.
I think I\’ll tweet about it after reading what you said in #2.
Talk soon,
Rob
Hi Rob, yes video is very powerful and will get index quickly and high up the search engines if you’ve done you’re keyword research. Wow, that’s incredible getting to the top spot that quickly, and i just checked, it has over 3 million competition too. Just shows the power of video. I will certainly be using it a lot more.
Cheers,
Paul
Hi Joe, yes Blog Carnivals are largely overlooked I think, and they are a great source of targeted traffic. Glad to have reminded you, hope you see loads more traffic now
Cheers,
Paul
Hello Marcus,
.
Just take the time to implement these different traffic methods one at at time. They don’t take long to do and are all very effective
Thanks for your kind words
Cheers,
Paul
Hi Paul,
Excellent post. I’ve never heard of Blog Carnivals before. Can you recommend any to get traffic?
Thanks
John
Hi John,
There are so many available for many different niches. Here is a directory of most of the popular blog carnivals in all niches:
http://blogcarnival.com/bc/clist.php?directory_id=19
Cheers,
Paul
Hey Paul,
Great traffic tips there mate, I have heard of blog carnivals before, but I’d forgotten about them until you mentioned it, so thanks for reminding me of that.
Have you had any traffic from the blog carnivals you’ve submitted to yet?
Paul.
Hi Paul, I actually use some software that submits it to the Blog Carnivals. You just choose the carnivals that are relevant to your Blog and Blog post, enter the perma link and a short description of what the blog post is about and then submit. I always see an influx of traffic from the Carnivals once submitted. It can vary as to the amount, but they do always send traffic so I would highly recommend using Carnivals.
Cheers,
Paul
Hi Paul,
Has your Blog changed since I was last here? I know, I should have been back sooner!
Looks great BTW.
I am using some of the methods you talk about above, I may have been living under a rock but never heard of Blog Carnivals before!
You mention you use some aoftware to submit to these, could you let me know what you use? DM me if you like.
Re: Video, this is working well for me. I posted a video last week that has had over 100 views in four days, so I am happy with that for now, and some of these are visiting my site from the vieiwng.
Definately going to be focusing on video more now that the forst one is out of the way!
Articles, I have submitted only one and need to step this up.
This is a good list of traffic mehtods, thanks Paul.
Sean
Hi Sean,
Yes my Blog has changed. I was playing around with themes for ages as i wasn’t happy but at last i’ve found one i like. I’ll send you an email about the software.
Talk soon Sean,
Cheers,
Paul
Hey Paul,
It looks like you’ve got your traffic sorted here, great job
How does the “Blog Carnivals” software perform? Do you get many visits from this?…interesting…
Talk soon,
Paul
Hi Paul,
Great info. Some of the stuff I knew, and some I did not. I am new at this and learning everyday, so thanks for the traffic tips. We can all use them.
Thanks,
Ed
Hi Ed, my pleasure, and thanks for visiting my blog and leaving a comment. Yes, all the traffic tips mentioned work well, put them all to use and you will see a big increase in traffic to your site.
Cheers,
Paul
Hey Paul,
Some nice information about traffic, I had forgot about the Yahoo Answers ….
Thanks for your post on my blog, glad you got John’s Profit from PLR Package ….
I will also be working through it again ….
Keep in touch
Tommy
Hi Tommy,
Yes, i’m looking forward to working through John’s videos and getting some products up on Clickbank.
Cheers,
Paul
Paul
Some great traffic techniques here which are relatively easy to start to use. Haven’t seen or heard of blog carnivals before so I will definately look into that technique based on your feedback. Thanks for the great tips and have a good weekend.
Tom
Hi Paul,
you have some very good advice there, I am trying some of the suggestions you made. I think I will have to follow the rest of your ideas and see if I can increase my traffic. Nice one.
Pop over to my Blog and say Hi, leave a comment.
Regards Steve.
Paul — excellent post! What a great, concise list! -Norene
Hi Paul,
I’m glad I came over to visit your blog again. I found a very useful information and your post on Different Traffic Methods is very helpful to me.
2. Twitter is something that I haven’t used much, certainly not to promote my blog posts. I’ll try it.
3. Blog Carnivals is something I’ve never heard of before. I will look into it.
4. Oil Rig Hopping is a unique name by Alex. I’ve used it sporadically before but since I heard it from Alex I use it a lot.
5. Email list is a treasure and I started to work on building it just recently.
6. Viral competition sounds great. I’ll have to get some things first to be able to give them away.
7. I’ve used Yahoo Answers about 3 times and will use it more.
8. You Tube is where I have yet to start but what you write about it gives me much encouragement.
Thank you for being so helpful here and in the Alex Jeffreys Students forum.
Vance.
Hi Vance,
Yes, all are effective traffic methods. You’ll see a significant increase in visitors to your site when you use each method individually.
Cheers,
Paul
Hey my friend,
Just checking out your blog and came across this post.
Thanks for the information on Yahoo answers. This one has never occurred to me, but sounds like a great strategy. I’m going to give it a go.
Talk soon,
Andrew.
Hi Andrew,
Yes try it, it can be a very effective strategy.
Cheers,
Paul