A lot of the things we talk about here at GBW is build traffic to your website for the long-term. A blogging strategy is great for building long-term traffic to your site. I like to look at it as investing. Like investing, you start with a little and continue putting it away and over time you see that you have a nice little nest egg and it continues to grow.
But what if you need traffic now…like right now?
That’s a pain point for a lot of businesses and it’s a challenge. But it is possible to kind of mix the long-term strategies for traffic with some short-term strategies. And you can still do the short-term stuff in an ongoing fashion and bring in nice little bursts of traffic.
Here are some good ideas I’ve found to work well.
1. Co-Create Content
I’ve had this work for me and I’ve seen it work well for others. The idea is to find someone that has an established audience and work to build some kind of content that is co-created by both of you.
Now, depending on your influence vs. their influence you may need to do the heavy lifting to create the content. For example, you might create a guide. The other person, the one with the audience, may work with you to create an outline or basic idea and then it’ll be up to you to do the writing or the video or whatever.
But that’s fine because once it’s published (probably on their site) you get exposure for your name, brand name and there will likely be a link or possible multiple links back to your website where readers can find your website.
2. Guest Posting
This strategy has been around for a while now. I won’t spend too much time on it because it’s pretty straightforward. The one key to guest posting is getting the audience right. You can guest post on a site, but if the people reading aren’t your target customer then you might get traffic, but it won’t be traffic full of potential customers. So that’s a big one.
I’ve also had guest posts that have brought a lot of traffic and posts that don’t really bring any. I’ve reached out a couple times to others that have guested on a blog and asked if they got traffic from it. That can help to make sure you’re guesting in the right place.
3. Guest Podcasting
This one builds on the last one. I’ve had some really good success with being a guest on a podcast. Usually you have to start with smaller, lesser known podcasts, but those are fine and can be really fun. And some have really surprised me with the amount of traffic they can bring. And over time you can build up to bigger and more popular podcasts.
4. HARO, Providing Quotes
I subscribe to HARO and I try to send out at least one response every day. I try to respond to the most relevant ones, but I also push myself to try ones that are a little out of my comfort zones. And I think that’s fine. Sometimes I get no traffic, but sometimes I’ll get nice little bursts and that can build over time.
5. Including Influencer Quotes In Content
Guesting and being quoted in content that others create is great, but you can also write about others or include their quotes in your articles. This kind of gives them a reason to help promote the posts. It gives them a reason to share it with their Facebook followers or Twitter followers.
Some bloggers have done really well with this strategy. They reach out to influencers via email or use HARO to get responses and once the content is live they let the people know that it’s live so those included can promote the post.
6. Offering Sneak Peeks To Influencers
Another strategy that I’ve seen work is that someone will create a guide and before they publish it they’ll email industry influencers offering a sneak peek. They send it in PDF form or something like that. They do this for maybe 1-2 weeks before they publish it.
The idea is that if the guide is really good that the influencers will tell their followers that the read this great guide and to look for it once it’s live. Then it’s published and people are waiting to see it.
You see this all the time in the entertainment industries where influencers are given sneak peeks at movies or shows or music and stuff like that to build anticipating and buzz.
7. Paid Promotion For New Content
This is a straightforward one. Instead of just publishing a post and doing your usual promotion you give it a little boost with some paid promotion and advertising. It can be overlooked by some that are used to paying for traffic to their main pages, but paid content promotion can really bring in a big audience and you’re really offering something of value.
8. Forum Answers
This might surprise you, but it can be a good way to bring traffic back to your site. I like the simple strategy of answering questions that your target customers are asking. It works across channels and in life in general. It’s a way to build your reputation. You’re helping people.
Forums are still some of the most trafficked sites on the web. Your industry or niche likely has multiple forums. Go there, signup, read the posts and get a feel for the community and then jump in with answers. Include a link in your signature or in your profile and if you jump into some big threads with good answers you’ll get bursts of traffic.
9. Blog Post Commenting
I’m not talking about a simple, “Nice post!”. I’m talking about leaving really good and possibly really long comments on popular blog posts. On most blogs you can enter your name and include a link. I like to use my real first and last name and not a business name. Look for ways to add to the conversation. You can get controversial if you want to or make the author look bad, but I like to make the author look good and build on what they’ve said in their post.
10. Content Inclusion
This one is tricky so that’s why I put it as #10. Getting your name, brand or piece of content included in another piece of content can bring bursts of traffic. It seems that once you’re included in one list that you’ll be included in more. There is serendipity involved in this, but you could reach out to people with lists and just introduce yourself by saying something like, “I see that you created a great list. Just thought you might be interested in my brand since it fits in well with your list”. That person might create a list in the future.
Conclusion
Long-term traffic is an obvious goal for most businesses and websites. But it’s also important to get bursts of traffic in the short-term. These are some of the best ways I’ve been able to get bursts of traffic. And I’ve seen some of these work really well for others. Try them out and see if you can give a little burst to your website’s traffic.