How do you drive traffic to your site?

Most people do it by focusing only on search engine optimization, and then wonder why they’re not getting any significant boost in search traffic and rankings. try this…

How ever good and optimized your site is but it will not be successful with visitors.

Increasing referral traffic is a lot harder for a beginner than it is for an authority blogger. But it’s not impossible.

That’s why I wrote this in-depth post: to help you build momentum with your site,drive organic traffic without ranking highly in Google, and improve your personal brand/blog.

If you want outstanding results for your online business, you have to stay focused.

Sites like Scoop.it, Storify.com, growthhackers.com, and others can increase your referral traffic. We’re going to discuss in detail how to accomplish that, with specific examples of marketers who have benefitted from referral traffic.

So if you want to grow your referral traffic, you should consider following the steps below. They work so well that I’ve been able to increase your referral traffic by 77% in 90 days using these steps below.
Step #1: Guest blog at industry blogs

I’ve achieved tremendous success with guest blogging. Trust me, most of the people who claim that guest blogging doesn’t work haven’t really been doing it – or at least haven’t been doing it correctly. However, if you want it to work, you’ve got to guest blog at the right blogs.

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If you want guest blogging to work for you, there are a few rules to keep in mind:

guest blogging

Type your main keyword (e.g. social media strategies) + “submit guest post” or one of the following phrases in quotation marks in Google:

“submission guidelines”

“guest post guidelines”

“submit guest post

“accepting guest posts”

“contribute an article”

“submit content”

“guest post”

“want to write”

“write for us”

“add a post”

“become a contributor”

“guest post by”

“submit your post”

Generally, you want to identify industry blogs that publish content on topics similar to your own. You can find these blogs at AllTop.com. However, if you’re looking to attract clients, focus instead on blogs your target audience frequently reads, whether those blogs are in your industry or not.

But for getting referral traffic, industry blogs should be your primary targets.

Make sure the blog you want to write for has a sizable audience of active, enthusiastic, and responsive readers.

Another simple but effective way to find authority blogs for your guest post and drive referral traffic is to search for sites a popular blogger has contributed to in the past. I use this strategy frequently, and it works better than any other strategy or tool that I’ve ever used.

Remember that guest blogging everywhere may not drive significant referral traffic for you. Instead, you’ve got to map out a pitching strategy that will get the A-list and high-traffic blogs to say “yes.”

Once your guest article has been published, actively respond to comments and promote the hell out of the content to drive more visitors and readers to your site.

Must Read: 5 Simple Tips for Writing Killer Headlines
Step #2: Leverage local partner sites

You can get people to visit your site by leveraging local partner sites. But you can also improve your results by getting off of your site and building relationships offline.

As a content marketer, you can partner with companies and marketers in your locality in several ways:

1).   Sponsor local events: You’ve got very little to lose by sponsoring a local event with a few hundred bucks. If the event is highly targeted, you can expect qualified visitors to your site. You should always stay updated on local events, so that when you find a scheduled event with the right audience, you can quickly get on board as a sponsor.

2).   Speak at local events: If you don’t have the budget to sponsor an event, see if you can become a presenter at one. Speaking at over 250 conferences so far has given me a solid advantage in building my brand.

Connecting with people one-on-one can help you stand out from the hype that’s prevalent in the blogging and internet marketing space.
Step #3: Strategically comment on blogs

Make no mistake: Commenting on blogs is a strategy that works.

Comment keyboard key. Finger

Most blog owners use the comments metric to measure the engagement that their content generates. It may not be the most valuable metric you can track, but it indirectly tells you much about your users, your content, and your strategy.

According to Torque Magazine, somewhere around 5.5 billion comments are left on WordPress blogs every single month. Many of those are spam comments, of course, and thankfully the Akismet plugin prevents spam comments from destroying a blogger’s hard work.

Writing comments on blogs can increase your referral traffic, if you learn how to do it properly.

stop comment spamming

How do you drive referral traffic by leaving comments on real blogs? (By “real blogs,” I mean blogs that allow the owner/author full control.)

First and foremost, being strategic at commenting means having a solid plan in place. A good strategic plan helps you pinpoint the right blogs to comment, measure how authoritative the blogs are, and gauge how responsive the readers are to comments. Do users also read the comments left by others? Does the blog owner respond to comments as well? If there is no response, they also won’t click your link or convey approval of it to others.

I reply to the majority of my comments, especially when they’re useful or when the commenter asks a question:

Commit to sticking to it consistently for about 90 days and watch how much referral and search traffic it’ll generate for your site.

blog frequency

That being said, let’s quickly look at some other aspects of blog comments that can help you increase referral traffic:

1).    Understand blog commenting that works: If getting referral traffic is your goal, focus on value. Giving value is the bedrock and lifeblood of content marketing.

You may have read several blog posts teaching you new marketing tricks, but if a post doesn’t resonate with quality and service, nothing else matters.

Make sure you study the blog before writing a comment. Before you comment on any post, take some time out to learn about the community, how comments are structured, and whether or not the blog owner allows links within the body of the comment (most of them do not).

You already know that posting everyday generates 4x more leads. You also know80% of blog visitors are new. So keep that in mind when leaving comments.

increase in refraal traffic

After all, if a majority of the visitors to any blog are new, it means that your comment has to be highly useful, since no one really knows you in person yet. But when your comment is substantive and helpful, people will want to know who you are.

2).    Find high-traffic dofollow & Commentluv blogs: Your goal is to drive traffic, but why not also get some quality dofollow links in the process?

That’s why you should look for dofollow blogs (blogs that pass value/juice to your links) so that you can easily kill two birds (traffic and link) using just one stone. In order to achieve that, you’ve got to find high-traffic dofollow blogs that have installed and activated the Commentluv plugin.

The plugin calls your recent blog posts once you add your blog URL in the appropriate box, before leaving a comment.

In order to pinpoint the exact blogs that have dofollow attributes to external links, follow these simple steps:

Also Read: 5 Mobile Marketing Tips to Drive more Sales (Infographic)

Step #1:  Signup at DropMyLink.com – Just click the “sign up for free” button, fill in the blanks and you’re done.

Next, input your email address:

Finally, type your password and verify it. Then click on “complete signup” button:

Step #2:  Plug in your keyword, then select “Blog Platforms” and “WordPress (no comments)2”:

Step #3:  From the results below, visit at least the top 10 blogs and leave comments. If you can be the first commenter, you’ll get more exposure.

To save time and start commenting right away, several bloggers have done all the hard work of identifying the dofollow blogs for you. Some of the authority blogs are:

If you want more dofollow authority blogs with commentluv feature, go to Google and type in “dofollow commentluv blogs.”

3).   Stay updated and comment early:  If you can comment soon after a post is published, you’ll generate more referral traffic from top sources.

Commenting early doesn’t guarantee your success. Being the first person means that you’ve got an opportunity to write a kick-ass comment that will dazzle both the writer and other readers.

Referral traffic elements such as a high-converting landing page, a strong call to action, and high-quality content must all be in place to help your comment stand out and win.

referral traffic

Once you have those elements in check, you can use several referral programs to drive traffic to your site. It doesn’t matter how long your site has been up – you can make a difference by reaching out beyond your immediate spheres of contact.

Growing a profitable site isn’t for lazy bloggers or content marketers – it takes lots of hard work and creative thinking to nail it.

The best way to ensure that you’re the first commenter on a high-traffic blog is to subscribe to their list.

When leaving comments, make them useful for fellow commenters as well. Your comment should be safe for the blog, and not pose a penalty risk for them.

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4).   Set up relevant landing pages: Earlier, I mentioned that one of the elements that will help you get referral traffic is a high-converting landing page. You can follow the perfect landing page template to ensure that every element is distinct and relevant to help persuade the site visitors.

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standard landing page

The above template helps you position your value proposition to align with the rest of the copy elements. And there’s more:

designing landing pages

Too many bloggers make the mistake of just linking to their blog homepage when they write comments. Instead, get specific – and creative – with your landing pages.

You’ve got to write a strong headline, subheads, and bullet points, and your copy should be relevant to visitors who will be coming from the comment you left on a blog.

Following a proven template is a good start, but exercise some creativity, too. The rules are not set in stone.

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Step #4: Create ego-bait content

When it comes to self-esteem, you’ve got lots of entrepreneurs to connect with, and they’d love to have you feature them. Even mentioning someone’s new product could get you an inbound link.

Knowing someone’s personal opinion that makes you strive to become better is ego – and there is nothing wrong with it. Market Domination Media revealed how to get quality links by creating ego bait.

This is the reason why most successful bloggers and content marketers don’t flaunt their ego that much – but many beginners do.

For our purposes, ego bait drives web traffic and builds strong relationships with others, especially when you target authors, writers, and bloggers from the same industry.

The purpose of creating ego-bait content is to write about other people in a way that serves them and your readers, and generates editorial links that improve your search traffic and rankings in the process.



Follow the tips below and you’ll be ready to start getting referral traffic, quality inbound links, and brand exposure for your site through ego bait.

1).   Find linkable ideas and topics: If things aren’t working out for you, you need an idea before you can make a change – not money or people.

If you can find the right idea, you’ll ultimately earn attention and your target audience will take notice. Taking action on the idea is what makes the difference – but you’ve got to find that idea first.

The proven strategy that I use when looking for ideas and topics for my expert roundups is to look at headlines that have gone viral in my industry.

i).  Identify viral posts: You can use this strategy no matter what your niche is. Here’s what I’ll do: Go to Buzzsumo.com. Type “content marketing” into the search box and search for the most shared content.

ii).   Model the headlines: You’ll see blog posts that have gone viral in the past six months. The next step is to model those headlines to create an ego-bait expert roundup.



2).    Build relationships with A-list bloggers: Life is about connecting with other people and helping them. In the same vein, both blogging and building a successful business are about solving problems for others.

Along the same lines as building relationships with A-list bloggers, you want to connect with social media influencers on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and follow them. Become their friends, and start communicating with them regularly.

The closer you are to them, the more they’re willing to share your next blog post with their fans and readers.

Remember that successful networking and relationship building boils down to the quality and usefulness of the content that you provide. If you’re the type who doesn’t give adequate time to research, strategic writing, and marketing, no authority blogger will want to associate with you.
Step #5: Get active on social media networks

According to The SITS Girls, becoming an authority is a choice, not an appointment. This applies to everything you do. Whether it’s blogging or social media, timing is important. This stat shows that 70% of users read blogs in the morning, and more men read blogs at night than women.

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blog timing

Marketing statistics from HubSpot found that 83% of marketers indicate that social media is a key marketing platform for their business. If you want more referral traffic to your site, choose to get active on social media networks.

Social media marketing is powerful. Investing your resources to understand how it works can help you get the best results.



In other words, if your site isn’t displaying properly on different mobile and handheld devices, your chances of getting organic referral visitors are slim. Therefore, make your site responsive and understand that content is like water.

1).    Understand social timing: What’s the best time to tweet or share on Facebook and LinkedIn? What about pinning to your Pinterest board – is there any perfect time that’s been proven to work?

Well-researched user data shows that the perfect time to post on Facebook is 1.00 PM if you want the most shares, and 3.00 PM if you want to get more clicks.

Read for more tips How to Improve Your Facebook’s Organic Reach 2015

best time to post on social media

Social timing is where the result is. Most marketers who aren’t getting significant social traffic have made a timing mistake by posting new content any time of the day and wonder why nothing is happening.

In particular, Google+ is a potential game changer, because it could extend your reach faster.

When it comes to social media marketing – the kind that drives traffic and leads – you can’t ignore timing. Take a look at the perfect time to tweet and engage your Twitter followers.

Since visual marketing is superior to plain text in terms of engagement and social shares, use Saturday to pin images to your board sometime between the hours of 8.00 – 11.00 PM.



What about your brand and social media? Well, Facebook can grow your blog faster.Third River Marketing noted that 58% of Facebook users have liked a brand, and 41% have shared a link, video or story about a brand.

More to read: Tip to Be More Productive on Social Media [Infographic]
Conclusion

There is no perfect time to increase referral traffic to your blog. Content marketing is one of the best strategies to ensure your efforts aren’t wasted. No one has time for marketing strategies that don’t yield results.

All of the traffic hacks discussed here aren’t going to bring overnight results. It may happen, but there is no guarantee.

You want referral traffic, but your target audience wants useful content that will give them a sense of hope and relief. Stop obsessing on your challenge, and put the user first. Give them what they want, and you’ll get exactly what you want.