Why is getting more website traffic such a highly researched topic for any online business?
Naturally, there are plenty of obvious reasons, but the one that isn’t very easily identifiable is gratification.
Website traffic is a measurable number that tells us we are doing well giving us a boost to do even better. Or makes us tear our hair out in “why can’t I make this work!” agony.
When I wrote my blueprint to increasing website traffic, I listed the short and long term benefits of any given traffic source for a reason: to help you understand what your traffic generation starting point should be.
It’s even better explained in my free website traffic report “Mommy, Where Does Traffic Come From?”; get it here, if you haven’t already.
For instance, paid traffic, some social media traffic, guest blogging, content leveraging might get traffic back to your blog a lot faster than, say, search engine traffic, or building relationships – these traffic generation strategies simply take longer.
Given that most of us are not patient people, I wanted to brainstorm a few ways to borrow web traffic from any popular blog in your niche. Even though it’s hard to leverage this kind of traffic over long-term (it won’t keep on giving, in other words), it will definitely result in more exposure for your site today.
7 Ways to Get Web Traffic from Popular Blogs from Ana Hoffman1. Guest Blogging
Guest blogging is the first thing that comes to mind when talking about driving traffic from other blogs – because it works.
Here are the important factors I look for when looking for a perfect blog to write for (in the order of importance):
- It has to be in my niche. After all, I want targeted audience and not just pairs of eyes.
- Alexa ranking has to be low. I know, I know, Alexa ranking is not that accurate, but it’s still a decent measure for this specific purpose. I look for blogs with the ranking of around 20K or less. Generally it means that those blogs get at least 10K visitors per month – not bad.
- Evidence of social engagement. This one is very important. I want to make sure that I see the readers engaged with the blogger and each other in the form of comments and social media sharing. Without it, even with low Alexa ranking, the blog is as good as dead.
- High PageRank. This one is not that important, but a nice bonus. Traffic is much more important than link building. Plus, even with a high PR site your link will still come for a no PR page, since your post will be brand new. This is what I call “long term link building”.
- Allow links within the post. Not to abuse their generosity, but if you have a valuable resource on your blog that will perfectly compliment your guest post, I want my link to be there, no questions asked.
Much has been written on the topic of guest blogging and here are some of my favorite reads:
- Freddy Krueger of Blogging: How to Write Highly Successful Guest Posts in under 2 Hours - TrafficGenerationCafe.com
- Grab a Copy of The Guest Blogging Survival Guide for Free - free guest blogging guide at Kikolani.com
- How To Maximize Conversions from Your Guest Post Traffic - TrafficGenerationCafe.com
2. Weekly Roundup Mentions
Speedlinking, roundups, mashups – all roads lead to bloggers that curate the best content on the web.
Getting on their radar is a great way to potentially generate some fairly passive blog traffic.
To learn more about traffic generation via link roundups, take a look at this post:
- 10+ Blog Link Roundups to Get Traffic From
3. Start Weekly Roundups
Here’s the other side of the link roundups – start publishing your own roundups and draw attention from the bloggers you link to, their readership and social media followers.
There are several ways of going about it; once again, you can read more about it in this post:
- 10+ Blog Link Roundups to Get Traffic From
4. Blogs That Publish Pingbacks
This is a traffic generation strategy that my email subscribers know very well about (if you are not one of them, join my spam-free email list plus get my free website traffic report here).
If you need a refresher on what pingbacks are, read this post:
- Trackbacks vs Pingbacks Explained
In short, many blogs (including very high-trafficked high PR ones) published pingbacks they get from other blogs:
Here’s how it works:
- You link out to their post from your post.
- They are notified about the link in the form of a trackback.
- They approve the trackback.
- It shows up as a link back to your blog post in their comment section.
Usually those pingbacks are displayed just above the comment section and let me tell you: MOST commentators look at those links either out of curiosity or to find related content on other blogs.
Either way, as far as you are concerned, blogs that publish pingbacks ROCK and could bring in a nice amount of traffic.
To learn more about this strategy and how I use it to drive traffic to Traffic Generation Café, you’ll just have to get on my email list.
And no, I won’t publish a list of blogs that publish pingbacks – it’s too easy to abuse those awesome blogs. All you need to do to find them is to keep your eyes open when going through comment sections; that’s what I did to compile my list.
5. Respond to Comments
We all know that commenting on other blogs is a great way to build blogging alliances and get some traffic back to your blog.
However, it’s a very time-consuming and long-term traffic generation strategy.
Here’s a shortcut: in addition to making comments like you normally would, browse through other people’s comments looking for unanswered questions.
You see it time and time again: a popular blogger with lots of traffic and tons of comments gets too overwhelmed to respond to all. Happens all the time. And that’s where you come in.
Your plan of action:
1. Read the post; leave a comment (network with the blogger).
2. Browse through the other comments on the post; see if anyone is asking for help. If you have the expertise to help them, by all means answer the question! (network with other readers)
3. Get actual traffic to your site from commenting and a possible THANK YOU from the blogger. (network with the blogger and their readers)
And yes, you have to be mindful of overdoing it, but for the most part, if your comments are helpful and to the point, it’s a win-win.
6. Use List Posts
There are many types of blog posts, but the list post is loved by all. People love lists – they’re easy to read, they have a ton of info in a little package, and people will link to them. They also leave comments about their favorite ones.
So here’s an idea.
As a good blogger you’re commenting on those posts too. So while there, why not see which items are getting the most comments? Then, create a post devoted entirely to that item. You already know it’s popular, and more than likely people are going to want more.
All you have to do is deliver.
7. Write “The Best of…” Posts
This is where you (appropriately) flatter other bloggers by including them into your “Best of…” list.
It can be anything really.
- Your favorite blogs to read;
- Your favorite people to follow on Twitter;
- Favorite news sites;
- Favorite blog designs… you name it.
“Best of…” lists get visited, shared, talked about. Here are some examples:
- The Top 75 Must-Read Online Marketing Blogs – Kristi Hines at unbounce.com
- 15 Non-Native English Bloggers You Should Follow Today – Marya Jan at writinghappiness.com
- The 100 Blogs You Need in Your Life (LWB 100 — 3rd Edition) – Tom Ewer at leavingworkbehind.com
- 5 Great Bloggers who gave me the Inspiration to start my own Blog - Servando Silva at stream-seo.com
It’s been a while since Traffic Generation Café was mentioned in these posts, yet not only did I share them and commented on those posts when they first came out, but I still remember being listed there and went straight to them for examples of list posts.
As you can see, it’s not about the number of people you mention – a more personal approach works great, but the more people you include, the more shares you are likely to get.
Bonus: Create a Popular Blog
I was about to finish the post when I thought of another point I’d love to make: why not make YOUR blog the one other bloggers strive to get attention from?
It’s possible, believe me.
Talking from experience here: Traffic Generation Café became an authority blog in traffic generation niche within a couple of months.
Resources to help:
- How to REALLY Create a Popular Blog From Scratch
- 3445 Words on How to Promote the Ish out of Your Blog Posts
- Blog Post Promotion: The Ultimate Guide by Kristi Hines
- Engagement from Scratch by Danny Iny
Marketing Takeaway
Blogs are meant to be read.
Going for web traffic where web traffic is (popular blogs in your niche) is the most direct way to get there.
Go get’em, tiger!
