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\nIf you Google any thought or question that pops into your head, it\u2019s guaranteed that you\u2019ll be met with a seemingly endless number of blog posts in your search results. This is the environment that we\u2019re operating in; it\u2019s oversaturated and filled with the white noise of not-actionable, inaccurate, and boring content. And somehow, we need to not only compete with the great content that\u2019s already out there, but claw our way through the bad stuff, too.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a pretty big task. And it explains why it takes even amazing businesses with great blogs a little while to get things going.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, having great content isn\u2019t enough to generate traffic. We need to put just as much effort into finding readers as we do writing the actual posts. There\u2019s a lot of ways to get more traffic to your site; some\u00a0methods are more effective\u2014and cost-efficient\u2014than others. I recommend starting with these 7 free ways to increase blog traffic that work regardless of industry.<\/p>\n
This is one of the most effective ways to increase traffic to your blog, period\u2014 and you don\u2019t have to pay for it. Writing guest posts for other blogs can increase the visibility of your own site significantly. You can showcase your expertise to an interested audience. It can also give your blog a back link from another great site, providing an SEO boost.<\/p>\n\n
When you\u2019re choosing\u00a0blogs to submit to, there are a few things to consider. The first is the blog\u2019s audience; you\u00a0must<\/em>\u00a0choose a blog that will share your exact audience members. If you write for a site that’s only\u00a0kind of\u00a0<\/em>a good fit when audience is concerned, you\u2019ve wasted your time\u2014and some content.<\/p>\n If, for example, you sell social contest software, you’d want to submit to sites like\u00a0Social Media Examiner<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Social Media Today<\/a>\u00a0instead of\u00a0Kissmetrics<\/a>.\u00a0Even though Kissmetrics does cover social content and has an enormous readership, they focus more on\u00a0metrics and SEO.<\/p>\n Guest posting\u00a0should give you exposure. Many sites will let you place at least one link in the guest post, and you can link back to your site if you\u2019re given a bio. Always make sure you\u2019ll get at least one link back to your site so you can actually send that free traffic where you want it; some sites may have different rules.<\/p>\n Sites\u00a0like Kissmetrics have specific rules about guest post linking.<\/p><\/div>\n You should choose a site with an engaged readership. It won\u2019t do you much good to guest post for a site with 50 monthly readers. It won\u2019t be much of a benefit for the backlink, either; try to get your content on a site with a higher web authority so that you\u2019ll get more traffic and your in-content link will carry more weight.<\/p>\n Social media is free (in general) to participate on. While you can get results more quickly with paid campaigns through platforms like Facebook Ads or Promoted Pins, you can send a solid chunk of traffic to your blog with regular, organic posts. This is why utilizing social media is one of the most popular free ways to increase blog traffic. The biggest challenge businesses face with social media is the high competition for user attention. Our readers might be on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter every single day, but they\u2019re following hundreds of friends and other businesses, too. Algorithms are in place on almost every platform to help users see what they most want to see. Facebook is a prime example of how this can hurt Page engagement; Pages are automatically given a lower priority and show up less often in Newsfeeds.<\/p>\n To get the best results from social media, there are a few strategies you can use for more clicks, including:<\/p>\n In many cases, the biggest struggle with getting blog traffic is being able to find where exactly our target audience is. Forum marketing is a great solution that\u2019s extremely effective, allowing you to engage in conversations and answer questions, linking to your content whenever appropriate. You can build relationships with members of your target audience and professional peers alike.<\/p>\n Many industries have some sort of forums you can engage in; if you join the ASJA (American Society of Journalists and Authors), for example, you have access to their extremely valuable discussion forums. You can head to the Warrior Forums<\/a> or Inbound.org<\/a> for any marketing question you have. Almost every industry has some sort of forums to participate in\u2014even dentistry forums<\/a>!<\/p>\n You can also use question and answer sites like Yahoo Answers or Quora to establish credibility, nurture relationships, and send more traffic to your site.<\/p>\n You should always approach forum marketing with care; don\u2019t just scan the discussion boards and look for every opportunity to drop your link. Answer most questions thoughtfully without linking to your resources; when you do actually place links to your posts, people will be more receptive to it. This also prevents you from getting flagged for blatant promotion, which can happen on some sites (including Quora).<\/p>\n One great way to get more content to your site is to upload your posts on other publishing platforms. These are sites that allow you to republish your content, and they have a large readership who can find your posts based on their own interests and reading history.<\/p>\n Examples of ideal publishing platforms are LinkedIn Pulse <\/a>and Medium<\/a>. Both of these platforms have the benefits of providing you with interested readers; on Medium, these readers can be your Twitter followers and on LinkedIn it will be your connections. It does this at no cost.<\/p>\n Medium even lets you upload posts directly from your blog with just a few clicks, and gives proper attribution so you won\u2019t get dinged by Google.<\/p>\n I do not recommend only<\/em> publishing your content on these platforms, because you\u2019ll lose the opportunity for interested readers to click around the rest of your site and convert into leads or customers. Your \u201cinbound\u201d links will only send readers to other posts on the publishing platform instead of back to you. Ultimately, you won\u2019t see the results you should from your content marketing if this is your strategy.<\/p>\n Instead, upload the content on your blog first, and then republish it on the platforms of your choice. Just make sure you have links to other posts back on your site throughout this content, and you can send traffic to the rest of your posts, too.<\/p>\n Social and direct links can send the most traffic to your site, but SEO still matters. Keyword research is still an essential practice that should not be overlooked if you want to get free traffic to your site. The right keywords, after all, can help you connect with users who are actively searching for you. That\u2019s extremely valuable.<\/p>\n Some of my favorite keyword research tools include:<\/p>\n Moz’s Keyword Explorer offers you keyword suggestions based on your search, and can show you a keywords volume of searches, difficulty amongst competition, and opportunity for reaching your audience.<\/p><\/div>\n Each blog post should be optimized for one distinct keyword. This doesn\u2019t mean stuffing the entire post with that single phrase; instead, using it in alt text on your images, in a headline or two, and naturally throughout the post will do the job.<\/p>\n When it comes to blog posts, long-tail keywords can be your best friend. These are phrases like \u201cfree ways to increase blog traffic\u201d or \u201chow to get more traffic on my blog\u201d instead of short-tail keywords like \u201cblog traffic.\u201d<\/p>\n If you\u2019re having trouble ranking for keywords or knowing where you stand, Yoast SEO for WordPress is an amazing plugin. It tells you what factors would hurt you from ranking for your chosen keyword and how you can improve your post\u2019s performance. You can see more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Yoast SEO plugin shows you which factors could hurt how you rank for your keyword, and what’s helping you.<\/p><\/div>\n YouTube (which, yes, is technically a social media site) is a great source of potential traffic. If you\u2019re able to create video tutorials that are related to blog posts, you\u2019ll produce content that will be valuable enough to encourage users to click to those posts.<\/p>\n![\"free](\"https:\/\/blog.snappa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Screen-Shot-2017-02-09-at-6.19.32-PM.png\")
2. Share Posts on Social Media<\/h2>\n
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<\/li>\n\u00a03.\u00a0Utilize Forum Marketing<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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\n\u00a04.\u00a0Use Additional Publishing Platforms<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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\n5. Do Keyword Research<\/h2>\n
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6.\u00a0Take Advantage of Video Integration<\/h2>\n
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