Increase Website Traffic: The Ultimate Blueprint to More Profitable Web Traffic

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It’s simple.

Every website wants to increase website traffic.

Profitable website traffic would be even better.

The kind of web traffic that likes you, devours your content, consumes your products, tells their friends, and comes back – hungry for more.

You know… the legendary kind.

The only kind worth getting.

Let me tell you something: you are at the right place at the right time.

Why is this the right place?

Because it’s TRAFFIC Generation Café, doh!

It’s not “How to Make Loads of Money Online“ Café.

It’s not “How to Convert 100% of your Visitors into Hot Leads“ Café.

I know one thing and I know it very well: how to increase website traffic  - whatever the niche, the size, or the age.

I really needed to say this to so many well-meaning commentators on my recent EmpowerNetwork review.

Why is this the right time?

Putting the horse before the cart (almost) never works.

It helps to know where you are going before before figuring out how to get there.

It pays to know your basics, in other words.

The beginning of a new year seems to be a pretty good time to do just that:

• get a good overall picture of the different web traffic sources;
• figure out which ones work better for your niche/site;
• pair that with your own comfort zone, existing skills, and knowledge
• go hunting.

How to Increase Website Traffic: Overview

Click here to see the mind map full-size

Download it as a PDF

Increasing your website traffic in both quality and quantity is vital for your online business.

Increasing your targeted website traffic will result in:

• more clients for your services,
• more buyers for your product,
• more profits for you,
• stronger community around your business and brand.

But before we start generating more web traffic, it pays to

• identify all potential traffic streams,
• estimate their short-term and long-term value,
• zero down on the best starting point for your specific business.

What are our potential website traffic streams?

I narrowed them down to the following (and we’ll talk about them in the order of potential importance):

• Content leverage
• Relationship marketing
• Social marketing
• SEO
• Product creation
• Mobile traffic
• Paid traffic
• Offline traffic

Let’s start with content leverage.

Increase Website Traffic through Content Leverage

Priority: High

Traffic potential: both short and long-term

Implementation: takes time initially, but once the system is in place, becomes second nature.

Most online businesses are content-driven in one way or another.

• We write blog posts,
• Create videos,
• Products descriptions,
• Sales pages,
• You name it…

Yet most businesses have no idea how to leverage that content to increase website traffic.

The possibilities are endless.

Let’s say you write ONE core piece of content (take a blog post as an example).

Instead of simply publishing it on your blog and moving on to the next one (no leverage, no scale), you can:

1. PowerPoint Presentation: create an outline, turn it into a PowerPoint presentation, and submit it to Slideshare-type sites.
2. Video: make an audio to go with the presentation and turn it into a video – syndicate to video sites.
3. PDF: make a transcript of your video, turn it into a PDF – syndicate to PDF sites.
4. Article: condense your post into an article – submit it to article directories.
5. Podcast: turn the audio file into a podcast.
6. Images: turn key points of your post into images – submit them to sites like Pinterest and Instagram.
7. Guest posts: use the main concepts of your original post and develop them into a guest post (not duplicating, but complimenting it); link the guest post to your original one.
8. Free WSO: submit your PDF as a free WSO through WarriorForum.com.
9. Press release: write a press release.
10. Webinars: if the topic has depth to it, you can expand your original PowerPoint presentation into a webinar (conduct it for your own readers or, better yet, team up with another blogger to present it to their readers).

Here’s an example of content leverage system in action – this post turned into a mindmap and video (posted above) and a Slideshare presentation (created for me by Mauro D’Andrea):

Your Guide to Increase Profitable Web Traffic from Ana Hoffman

Additionally, when writing that one core piece of content, think about ways to turn it into a traffic bait to increase your website traffic even more.

Suggestions:

• Link out to other blogs and let the owners know when the post goes live;
• Turn the post into a contest/challenge;
• Offer a giveaway at the end;
• Create “The Best of…” lists in your niche.

Additional benefits of leveraging your existing content to increase website traffic:

• save time/money by making the same piece of content work for you again and again;
• build links back to your site = improve your chances to get more search engine traffic;
• build your brand by “being everywhere”.

Content Leverage Resource Section

• Content Marketing Leverage System: How to Multiply Your Reach
• Content Recycling: How to Turn Articles into Videos in 5 Minutes
• Be Everywhere: How to Convert Blog Post into PDF in Under 60 Seconds
• 7 Creative Content Writing Ideas to Bring Your Old Content Back to Life
• Camera Shy?  Then create a video with PowerPoint instead - WeBlogBetter.com
• List of Guest Post and Guest Blogging Sites - WeBuildLink.com

Highly recommended training:

• Danny Iny’s Write Like Freddy

Increase Website Traffic through Relationship Marketing

Priority: High

Traffic potential: more long-term

Implementation: takes time; based on your ability to develop relationships.

Building relationships with other online businesses related to your niche is one of the key elements of your future business success.

It could become your key to:

• Mentions on other blogs = get more referral traffic
• Organic link building = get more search engine traffic
• More social media shares = build your brand and traffic

Key ways to get noticed:

• Guest posting
• Commenting on other blogs
• Creating your own commenting/mastermind tribe
• Linking out to related posts on other blogs
• Featuring other bloggers/sites in your posts
• Accepting guest posts
• Personal emails
• Product co-creation
• Ad swapping
• Newsletter co-registration
• Offering your freebie as a bonus to their products
• Special discounts for their readers
• Free webinars for their audience

Relationship Marketing Resource Section

• How to REALLY Create a Popular Blog From Scratch
• How to Increase Website Traffic Through Profitable Alliances
• Triberr: Your Step by Step Guide to Being Heard
• How I Got 30 Superstars to Write For Me
• How to Drive Traffic To a New Blog Through a Commenting Tribe

Best marketing training on the topic:

• Danny Iny’s Audience Business Masterclass

Increase Website Traffic through Social Marketing

Priority: High, goes hand-in-hand with Relationship Marketing

Traffic potential: short-term and long-term

Implementation: easy quick traffic source; long-term relationship building

Social marketing includes many forms of relationship building using third-party platforms:

• social media
• forums
• social networking communities

Social Media Website Traffic

Social media takes

• time
• effort
• constant attention and upkeep

So why bother? Here’s why:

1. Best place to find your target audience;
   
2. Quickest way to  build awareness about your brand;
3. Great place to start building relationships;
4. Important for SEO; Social SEO is a must!

How do you choose the right social media platform to increase YOUR website traffic?

Should it be:

• Facebook?
• Twitter?
• Google+?
• Pinterest?

Don’t choose one “just because everyone else says you should”.

• research
• observe
• track

Quick Tip:

Hands-down best way to figure out where to start with your website traffic generation is to see which platform your competitors drive the most traffic from.

Go to Alexa.com, enter the URL of your competitor in the search box, click on “Get Details” about them, and navigate to “Clickstream”.

Their clickstream will show you which top sites their visitors came from. Bingo!

To learn more about this strategy, get my free traffic report.

In most cases, I’d suggest starting with Facebook.

Forum Website Traffic

Why forums?

For the longest time, I thought that forums were a waste of resources and half-houses for spam.

Yet, I’ve seen many website traffic stats that proved me wrong again and again.

Forums are great to:

1. Position yourself as an authority on the subject;
2. Bring web traffic back to your site from more information;
3. Build relationships;
4. Build links.

The key to making the most of forum traffic is to find the right forum for YOUR niche.

Your ideal forum should be

• active
• tightly moderated to prevent spam
• an established authority

Social Networking Communities

These are social networking communities geared towards a particular target market.

Examples:

• BizSugar.com – small business community
• BlogEngage.com and Blokube.com – blogging communities
• BetterNetworker.com – network marketing community
• CafeMom.com – mom community

Social Marketing Resource Section

• Social Media Traffic 101
• Best Twitter Tools to Get More Twitter Followers [Tweet Adder Alternatives]
  
• How To Get Free Targeted Traffic from Forums
• 116 Niche Social Media Sites for Marketing Your Business - GeniusStartup.com

Increase Website Traffic through SEO

Priority: Medium to low

Traffic potential: long-term only

Implementation: takes time to implement, best to put into motion from start

First things first: what is SEO?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the art of showing up on the first page of Google for your best money keywords.

Or for anything at all, as of late.

Search engine traffic makes a great icing on the cake, but please, under no circumstances, rely on it as your main website traffic source.

When developing your SEO strategy, you have to pay attention to the following two types of optimization:

1. On-page SEO
2. Off-page SEO

On-Page SEO

• Choose the niche and stay with it;
• Write on subjects, NOT keywords;
• Smart internal linking;
• Proper titles, descriptions, headings;
• Decrease bounce rate;
• Increase site speed;
• Link out to authority sites;
• Content freshness.

Off-Page SEO

• Traditional link building;
• Social SEO;
• Branding.

SEO Resource Section

• Ana’s Free SEO Report
• SEO Traffic 101

Best backlinking course (post-Penquin):

• Link Building Dossier

Increase Website Traffic through Product Creation

Priority: Medium to low

Traffic potential: short-term mostly, some long-term potential

Implementation: great for a quick boost of web traffic; can be done at any stage of your business

What does product creation have to do with increasing your website traffic?

When you have a product, you can use it to:

• Drive traffic through affiliate programs (get other people to promote your product and send you traffic as a result);
• Offer your product as a bonus to other people’s products;
• Sell it as WSO;
• Offer it (or a modified version of it) as a free WSO.

Product Creation Resource Section

• Best Affiliate Marketing Programs that Pay
• Kindle Publishing: Your Guide to Getting Responsive Traffic with Kindle
• Kristi Hines: Why You Need to Write an Ebook for Income
• Exactly How I Wrote an Ebook That Made $10K in 1 Week

Increase Website Traffic through Mobile

Priority: Medium

Traffic potential: long-term and short-term

Implementation: goes hand-in-hand with your overall web traffic growth

More and more of your web traffic will be looking for you and reading your content on their mobile devices.

…Or not, if your site is not modified for mobile users.

• Install a plugin that will convert your blog into a mobile-friendly version;
• Mobile site app.

Mobile Traffic Resource Section

• What is Responsive Web Design?

Increase Website Traffic through Paid Means

Priority: High if you know what you are doing and have the budget, low if neither one of those factors apply

Traffic potential: short-term only

Implementation: great for quick boosts of traffic; completely depends on the depth of your pockets

Pay Per Click Ads

Google Adwords:

• Requires financial investment
• Requires in-depth knowledge
• Has no leverage (no money = no traffic)

Facebook Ads:

• Easier to master than Google Adwords
• Easier to set up
• Less competition
• Good targeting
• Requires financial investment
• Has no leverage (no money = no traffic)

Banner Ads

• Ads on other blogs/niche websites

Solo Ads

• Email newsletters
• Ezines

Paying for traffic

Otherwise paying for traffic (highly unproductive, and unadvisable):

•  paying with money or time;
• traffic exchanges (a waste of time);
• buying traffic/impressions (a waste of money).

Paid Traffic Resource Section

• Banner Advertising: Viable Make Money Blogging Solution?
• The Highly Profitable Traffic Strategy You Aren’t Using Yet

Increase Website Traffic through Offline Means

Priority: Medium to low

Traffic potential: both short and long-term

Implementation: takes time to implement, depends on how often you come in physical contact with your potential target market.

More traditional ways to increase website traffic; best suitable if:

• your business is heavily localized;
• you attend business conferences, trade shows, etc.
• you do something news-worthy and catch attention of the local press.

Ways to increase offline traffic:

• business cards;
• flyers;
• brochures;
• free samples.

Increase Website Traffic: Marketing Takeaway

By now, you should have a very good overall idea of where website traffic comes from, and hopefully, even know which traffic types would work best for your business.

If not, it’s OK too.

Here’s the plan of action:

Step 1.

Study the information above:

• Download the Website Traffic mind map (no opt-in).
• Watch the video above as I walk you through every aspect of increasing website traffic.
• Take a look at any additional resource I provided under each traffic source (more to come).

Step 2.

Zero down on the aspects you currently have the most knowledge on.

This will save you time and money, and will most likely result in more traffic a lot sooner.

• The UN-Massive Guide to Getting Massive Traffic

I’d also strongly recommend mastering one traffic strategy at a time.

Don’t let yourself be distracted by the abundance of possibilities.

• identify one strategy to focus on;
• learn everything you can about it;
• start driving traffic with it;
• find ways to put it on autopilot;
• move on to the next one.

Step 3.

Keep up with it.

Chances are as soon as you get comfortable with any one traffic strategy, the rules will change the very next day.

If you need my help to stay informed on the latest marketing and traffic generation trends, make sure to request my free Bite-Size Traffic Hacks email series.

In the upcoming weeks, I’ll be publishing more detailed posts on using each specific strategy – you’ll find the new links under “Resource Section” of each traffic stream.

If you know of any epic posts on any of these topics published on other blogs, let me know; would love to take a look at them.

Until next time,