How to Generate Traffic Without Spending a Dime
Every blogger, whether new or seasoned, wants to know about traffic generation in order to bring the most traffic as possible to the blog. There are always new strategies to learn and old strategies to unlearn because they don’t work anymore.
Many new bloggers are intimidated by the process because it seems like a monumental task as there is so much to learn. Often, they feel that they don’t have enough money to generate any real traffic because all they hear about are paid methods.
You can pay for all of the following:
- Hire someone to optimize your blog
- PPC Advertising
- Traffic generation tools and products
- Hire a mentor
- Purchase an ebook on the topic
- Affiliate products recommended by other bloggers
- Hire someone to optimize your Facebook page
- Autoresponder
- Much more – if someone can think it up, they will sell it
But the truth is, You don’t have to spend money to generate traffic!
There are many ways that you can bring in new traffic on a budget, even if your budget is free until your blog is bringing in enough money for you to purchase the paid products that you desire.
When you give an honest effort at the following free methods ,you will see real results! I suggest you take a screen shot of your Alexa ranking and site statistics before you start. Then you can compare the results by taking another screen shot every month or two.
Blog Commenting
Commenting on other blogs is a very effective way to bring traffic to your blog. If you follow some basic rules, you will find others drawn to your blog from your comments on other blogs:
- Leave valuable comments by adding value to what the author has written. When people see that you have a lot of value to offer they will want to see what other gems you are sharing on your blog.
- Respond to the post content. If you haven’t read the post it will be obvious to everyone who reads your comment. You will look bad, and people will be repelled from your blog.
- Be respectful with your tone and words, especially if you have a differing opinion from the author – it is acceptable to disagree.
If you are serious about generating traffic, you will want to comment at least 8-10 times a day or at least 40-50 times a week. Comment on blogs in your direct niche as well as blogs that are in similar niches. You want people to recognize your name and your face!
Be sure to get around to different blogs, not always commenting on the same ones day after day and week after week. Though it’s perfectly fine to have regulars – that is a great way to build relationships with other bloggers. You want to have a good balance between regulars and new or less frequent blogs.
Join Social Networks
Join as many of the social networks as you can keep up with. Try some new ones ,because they all offer something different and you may end up really liking one that you didn’t want to try. If you find that you really do not like one then try another. Use the ones that work best for you! Social networks are a great way to promote your posts and meet like-minded people.
There are many that you can join. Some of the bigger ones are Facebook, Twitter, Digg, StumbleUpon, and LinkedIn. Look around. There are a lot of social networks that you can join and many niche-focused networks are becoming popular as well.
Voting sites are a great way to network with others as well, and they often offer a lot of ways to build community. Two voting sites that I really like are Blokube and Serpd. Both offer voting buttons that you can put on your posts so that your readers can vote for your post. They also offer commenting on the site and a sense of community.
Create a Free Report
A quick way to make a free report is to gather some of your best material from your blog and combine them into an ebook. Put links to your blog into the book and give it away on your blog, sharing the link on your social media sites. You can also add your ebook to one of the many free ebook sites which accept submissions.
Learn Basic SEO
Learning basic SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is not nearly as intimidating as learning all the ins and the outs of SEO. Once you learn the basics then you can move on to learning the more complicated and intimidating aspects.
Use the Google Keyword Tool to research your keywords for free. Use the free SEO plugins that are available in your WordPress dashboard such as the All in One SEO plugin and the Clean SEO Slugs plugin. Using these plugins will help you to optimize your blog for SEO simply and easily until you learn more about it.
Forum Marketing
Establishing yourself as an expert in your niche through the use of forums or message boards can be a valuable tool in bringing people to your blog. You should have the goal to start one new thread a day or five throughout the week in addition to replying to other posts.
If the forum allows links in your signature you can have a link directly to your blog, but don’t blatantly promote your blog in the posts. You want to instead establish yourself as an expert through the posts that you write. Direct people to your signature which should have not only the link but a little blurb about yourself and your expertise.
Other Free Generation Methods
- Create videos on Youtube
- Write guest posts on similar blogs
- Join a tribe
- Link to other blog posts in your posts
- Answer questions at Yahoo Answers directing to blog posts
- Join a blogging challenge
I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments and don’t forget to share this with your followers! Thank you!
To Your Success,
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