5 Surefire Ways to Drive Results to Your Blog or Website Today
Do you want to drive results to your blog or website this year? At the start of a new year I like to look back on the past year. I delve into what worked and what didn't work so well here on Inspire to Thrive.
I try new things here and like to share them with you. You can learn from my mistakes and grow with my successes. In the past we always talked about driving traffic to our blogs. But traffic alone is no longer what is needed to grow your blog or your small business.
After all you spend so much time working on your blog or small business that you no longer want to waste any time. You want to see results not just traffic coming to your site now!
What Do I Mean By Results?
Results are when people perform an action you want on your website or blog. They purchase a product, they download a pdf or they sign up for email.
I also looked at the bounce rate for various sources of traffic - most from the entire year of 2017. A high bounce rate shows me people do not stay here long enough to read something nor do they perform any type of action. I wrote about bounce rates 3 years ago, read more on bounce rates here.
High Bounce Rate Sites
The websites that produce a high bounce rate for me are: Stumble Upon, Flipboard, Dlvr.it (social automation tool) content studio i.o (another automation tool), I Facebook referrals, - yes, that's a WOW! (the mobile Facebook was slightly better but not good at 92%)
What is IFacebook referrals?
**A Side Note - Business Facebook - From the Facebook page the bounce rate is much lower at just 38% - so sharing from the Inspire To Thrive Facebook page vs. my personal or your personal may be the way to go. (Although you must stay on top of Facebook and their algorithm that changes constantly!)
I have known for years Stumble Upon had a very high bounce rate, 99-100%! It's not a website I use but apparently my readers do share there. On the other hand I loved using Flipboard this past year. It did generate lots of traffic but the bounce rate was fairly high for the year overall at 90%.
These results from my Google analytics also showed which social automation tools that do NOT deliver results! So think twice before using any of them that have very high bounce rates.
5 Surefire Ways to Drive Results To Your Blog
1. Commenting on Other Blogs to Drive Results To Your Blog
One of the highest referrals comes from other blogs or websites. These happen when you comment on other blogs or do guest posts on other blogs. The bounce rate from these blogs were extremely low!
Blogging Love by Ravi Chahar had only a 25% bounce rate.
My dear friend Brenda at Virtual Bren came in at a very low bounce rate of 28%.
Ms Ileane at Basic Blog Tips at a low 34% as was my other friend Donna Merrill at Donna Merill Tribe at 38%.
Ryan Biddulph from Blogging from Paradise also came at 44% which is below the 50% mark which is really good.
The bounce rate from these blogs were extremely low! #bloggingtips Click To Tweet
2. Participating in Forums and Online Communities to Drive Results To Your Blog
Biz Sugar - This online community drove a lot of traffic for me in 2017. The bounce rate was a little high over 70%. Biz Sugar came in #10 of all my top traffic drivers.
Kingged - Another community that also drove a lot of traffic here with a lower bounce rate at just 39% . This was a surprise for me. They have really kicked it up a notch over at Kingged this year. You will see some of their ads at the bottom of my posts. They came in at #13 for my overall traffic source this past year.
Inbound.org - This is a community that I really enjoy participating in. Their bounce rate was a little high at 81%. But the information on this site is really good and I will continue to use it.
Triberr - Not bad at a 61% bounce rate and #27 for my overall traffic source. I have been using the Triberr lite for years now and still recommend this tool.
Quora - I loved being part of the Quora community in 2017. This one started to drive traffic after 6 months of answering questions there daily. (I had almost gave up!) The bounce rate was a little high at 75%. But the traffic has really started to ramp up. Quora Sidenote: Do not put in links in all your answers. You can get banned from Quora. I saw Neil Patel once got banned there so beware! He since has been reinstated.
Scoop it - This is a place I have not spent a lot of time on recently but it does generate some traffic. Their bounce rate is a little high at 83%. They have recently made some updates to this content curation website. You can read more about the updates on the Scoopit blog.
3. Using Social Automation Tools To Drive Results To Your Blog
Not only do these social automation tools save you time sharing content on the big social networks but some can produce some results for you. You must choose the right ones though! You may remember what happened to users of CoPromote last year. It is very important to see what is happening to your content once you use these types of tool.
There is no sense in using these tools if they produce 100% bounce rate. That will only hurt your blog or website. The folks over at the Buffer just did a post if these 3rd party tools hurt engagement or reach. Their results showed it really depended on the content itself more than where the shares were coming from. Love to know what you find in your Google analytics - please let me know in the comments below!
Just Retweet - This tool is easy to use and I like the variety of people that do use it. You share their content and they share yours. It also works with Facebook and Google Plus. The bounce rate for me was around 75%. One side note: Be sure to only share relevant content from JustRetweet!
Viral Content Bee - This is another site similar to JustRetweet where you share others content and they share yours. You can search by categories and more. The bounce rate I had was 78 % in the past year. I have found it improved over the past few months with more users on board.
The One That Didn't Drive Results
Dlvr.it - 100% bounce rate! This is one I don't even use but my some of my readers here do and when they share my links via it the bounce rate is 100% - OUCH! Please re-consider using this one for this year. There are so many others you can use! I'd love to hear from someone who uses this one - please comment below!
One side note: Be sure to only share relevant content from JustRetweet! #Twittertips #tweetsmarter Click To Tweet
4. Social Media Sites That Drive Results to Your Blog
Twitter - My favorite social network Twitter drew my 3rd largest source of traffic to the blog here. It followed direct and organic traffic. The bounce rate was just over 70%.
Facebook - This one followed after Twitter and Flipboard but at a 92% bounce rate. If you saw my notes above, the rate was lower from the Business Facebook vs personal. Interesting that we can now see that in our google analytics. The other stat I saw was the regular Facebook from desktop had a lower bounce rate for the business page - Inspire to Thrive at 66%. Does this mean Facebook doesn't like us using our personal pages to promote our blogs or businesses? (Stay tuned!)
Pinterest - I didn't start out strong with this platform in the past year but it got better with Tailwind. The bounce rate was still a little high over 80%. You can see the results below with Tailwind in a week time period.
The Instagram Surprise
Instagram - This social site came in at a lower bounce rate - at 50%. This one was a surprise to me since I don't promote the blog much on my Instagram. There is link in my bio but my posts are mostly personal nature photos. There are rarely any blog images on my Instagram. I may add more blog type images this year going forward.
Google Plus - This older network came at 80% and I rarely use it today. It was one that I could not keep up with and decided not to spend time with anymore.
LinkedIn - My #14 source of traffic with an over 80% bounce rate. I did not post too many articles via LinkedIn Pulse as time was of the essence for me. But if you have time I would recommend it. It did help draw some decent traffic back to the blog.
My favorite social network Twitter drew my 3rd largest source of traffic to the blog - #Twittertips Click To Tweet
5. Other Digtial Sources to Drive Results to Your Blog
These sources don't drive a lot of traffic but some do generate results for the blog here. Most of these don't require any work after you have them set up, others do.
Feedly - 50% bounce rate. Another surprise for me to see the results from this one.
Alltop - This is an old one I've had since the beginning of Inspire to Thrive. It's a website with topics where one can search for and various blogs show up in the search. It has a fairly low 50% bounce rate. If you are not in this Alltop directory I would recommend it. They are known for "All the top headlines from popular topics around the web".
Klout - Some say this one may be going away. It had a lower bounce rate then some at 60%.
Has #Klout shut down? Tip @Techmeme pic.twitter.com/O7XBDtHflR
- Peter Vogel (@PeterVogel) December 29, 2017
Medium - 66% bounce rate, a few from the traffic. I am on the network there but only have posted a few posts over the past few years. They have changed their membership to paid now too. I'd love to know in the comments if anyone is using that new paid subscription there!
Listly - I used to like this site but it didn't generate much traffic but when it does its a nice 33% bounce rate. List.ly could be another one to reconsider in the coming year.
Paper.li - This one generates very little and has a 100% bounce rate. I don't do a thing for this one but it is automatic. My advice is if you don't use it, don't start. If it doesn't generate results, why bother, right? You may generate a few tweets via it but it doesn't drive any results.
The New One - Zest
Zest - This one is a new content website for pro marketers. You can share and discover great marketing content via their new website. It had an 80% bounce rate for me starting out. I will be closely watching Zest in the coming weeks ahead. I saw that Sam Hurley recommended Zest so you know it must be great. I'm sure I will have more to come on this one! Zest is very particular about what they choose to have for content on their site so it's top notch marketing content!
I saw that Sam Hurley recommended Zest so you know it must be great. #marketing Click To Tweet
Bonus Tip to Drive Results to Your Blog
Guest posting on other blogs - This is one of the ways I found that did not directly drive much traffic for me. But it but did help to drive results to my blog. It did this by helping me reach more people than if I had only blogged at my own site. It also helped me to grow my presence on many of the social networks. If you are interested in becoming a contributor here contact me today.
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2018 may be the year Twitter really takes off according to stock market analysis's. They are expected to grow their user base by double digits and increase usage in the coming year. Don't get left out! You can also purchase my eBook - Learn to Tweet and Thrive on Amazon.This eBook is filled with tips and resources to make the most of your Twitter account.
I'd love to know in the comments below how you drive results to your blog or small business website today!
If you are looking to ramp up your Twitter download a FREE copy of my Twitter Profile cheat sheet Click To Tweet
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