One of the perennial questions in online marketing is how to get more traffic to your site. Whether you are just starting out, having just launched your site and are now wondering who\’s going to read it, or have been in the business for awhile and would like to improve your numbers, there is always something you can do to get more readers and site visitors. Here is a laundry list of our favorites. Don\’t be overwhelmed if you are new to the game…just dive in and start trying a few of these suggestions at a time. Website traffic tends to be a snowball effect…it starts slowly at first, but after awhile all of your efforts build on each other and soon you\’ll be able to look back and see how far you\’ve come.
1. Post website articles on a schedule.
2. Visit applicable blogs and forums and leave relevant comments.
3. Write guest articles on related sites.
4. Submit articles to a site like Hubpages or EzineArticles.com.
5. Make sure your site is easy to navigate and user-friendly.
6. Make sure your site design is attractive, relevant, and draws people in.
7. Use social media channels like Twitter and Facebook to gain exposure, find friends and followers, and announce your site changes and updates.
8. Solicit other bloggers to write guest articles for you.
9. Use the SEO tool at Google to write SEO-rich articles and titles.
10. Evaluate your site\’s content and look for ways to add more value and in general make the writing better.
11. Network and promote your site in the real world by going to local Meetups and networking events.
12. Attend a conference.
13. Clearly identify your target audience and write for them — don\’t try to please everyone.
14. Find a problem common to those in your niche and write an ebook on it. Offer it for free to anyone who signs up for email
updates.
15. Stay active on your own comments and respond to your email.
16. Buy your own domain instead of using a generic WordPress or Blogger account.
17. Link internally to your own blog posts, where applicable.
18. Encourage people to subscribe to your blog updates, and make it easy for them to do so of their own accord.
19. Write some longer, authoritative posts on your chosen topic that you can always link back to and that tend to define what your site is all about. (Lots of bloggers choose to highlight these types of posts in a Start Here list.)
20. Don\’t be too perfect. People love to read about others\’ mistakes — they are instructive and make you seem more likable and human.
21. Stay current on what is happening in your niche and write about it.
22. Be yourself and strive to develop your unique voice.
23. Link to some of the people you most admire / top bloggers in your field.
24. Interview prominent people in your niche.
25. Talk the talk and walk the walk — if your blog is about improving yourself in some way or accomplishing something, make sure you have actually done this / are doing it yourself!