What’s the point of creating amazing content if nobody sees it? Well, I’m going to let you in on a little secret… many “traffic techniques” are not very effective. In fact, they may just be a waste of valuable time.
If you’re creating incredible content, it deserves to be seen. By everybody. So to help you out, I compiled a list of the 9 most effective ways to get your content seen and supercharge your traffic. Here they are.
1. GUEST POSTING
Guest posting is a strategy used by many bloggers from beginners to experts. And if used correctly you can see results very quickly.
So what is guest posting? Guest posting is when you write a post on another blog. You help that site get more traffic and if the readers like your post, chances are they will check out your own blog. Win, win.
As you may have guessed, there are ways to optimize your guest posts for maximum traffic. According to Neil Patel, “If you’re starting a brand new blog, guest posting is the most important tactic at your disposal.”. So if you’re a beginner, this technique may earn you a lot of new readers.
Before you go any further, there’s something you absolutely need to know that unfortunately, most people never hear.
Most people get very weak results from guest posting because they don’t take the time to write great content. They think that they should write amazing content on their own blog, and just mediocre content on others. However, it’s the exact opposite.
See, if you’re taking the time to write on somebody else's blog hoping to get traffic, you had better give them a reason to check out your page.
To do this, you need to write jaw-dropping content on others site so that you stand out from all the other guest posters and make them want to read more.
Here are some things that you need to know when writing your next guest post.
1. Only ask to post for a site or another Steemit user if they allow guest posts. - Some sites may not allow them for whatever reason and you should respect their rules. If you don’t, they may find you annoying which could hurt you later on.
2. Write a post better than all the others on the site - Like I said earlier, you need to stand out and the easiest way to do this is to write the best posts.
3. Promote it as much as possible - The more people you can get to see your post, the more people will check out your other posts.
If you consistently repeat these steps, you can expect your traffic to multiply.
As you can see, guest posting is a very powerful tactic.
2. LINK TO OTHER BLOGGERS
If your main goal is to do everything you can to help your readers, this strategy is an absolute must.
Many blogs actually refuse to do this for one specific reason: They think it takes readers away from your site. Which yes, it does. However, chances are that your readers will be thankful that you took the time to refer them to extra information.
Linking out to others also makes you a valuable resource.
If you keep referring readers to other sites, they will see that you are the center for all the relevant information, and they will keep coming back to your post, click on links with more relevant information, and read it.
This keeps readers coming back while also helping them dive deeper into the subject you’re explaining.
Another benefit of linking out is that it makes those sites aware of you, and it increases your chances of getting links from them, causing you to receive more traffic.
Also, linking outwards let’s big sites know that you like to do this which makes these big companies know that if they link to you, they have a good chance of getting a link right back.
3. WRITE BREATHTAKING HEADLINES
Your headlines are the first thing people judge on whether or not they want to read your post.
When it comes to increasing your traffic, your headline is almost as important as your main content.
Imagine a post without a title. The reader would have to rely solely on the description alone to determine whether or not he/she reads it. And on Steemit, the small line of words is definitely not enough to convince a reader to check out your post.
A headline needs to tell the reader what the post is exactly about, or else they will not read it.
According to Copyblogger, 8 out of 10 people will read your headlines while only 2 will continue on to read the post.
It’s just that important.
I wrote a post explaining how to create the perfect headline here.
Once you master the art of creating headlines, you can get more and more people wanting to read your posts which will drive you traffic.
4. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
First off, you absolutely need to make your posts shareable. If you want to make content go viral, it needs to spread. People need to talk about it.
As Seth Godin says it, “ideas that spread, win.”.
What’s one of the best ways to do that?
Take advantage of social media. Here's exactly how you do it.
1. Establish a presence on a single site.
Currently, I’m focusing on promoting SteemRocket strictly on Twitter.
The reason I say to use only one service is because as humans, we get caught up with so much multitasking when the most efficient and productive thing to do is to only focus on a single thing.
If you invest a lot of time on 1 account then it is much easier to establish a presence.
Whereas if you multitask, you’re likely to get easily distracted with a different account, not get anything done and become overwhelmed.
Once you are happy with your presence on a single account, then you can move to something else and build a presence on that site.
2. Identify your target audience
What are their interests? Who do they follow? What are they like? Once you have an idea of who your audience is, you can easily give them exactly what they want.
Once you give them what they want, the support grows exponentially.
3. Use social media wisely
People use social media to have a good time. Not to have businesses force them to buy things and have us shove promotions down their throats.
Sure, every now and then you can promote a post but try to use social media to build relationships with your audience.
You can do this by sharing their content, conversing with them, getting to know them, share things that you think might strike their interests, etc.
Once you use social media correctly, you’ll start seeing traffic flooding directly to you.
5. PROMOTE PROMOTE PROMOTE
One of my favorite blog posts of all time covers different ways to promote your content. It’s “101 Ways to Promote Your Next Blog Post” by Kim Roach.
So rather than giving you a giant list of ways to promote content, I highly recommend you check out her post.
Instead, I’m going to tell you why you should promote your content.
Derek Halpern says, “spend 20% of the time creating content and spend 80% of the time promoting it.”. Derek really stresses the importance of promotion throughout his posts.
The reason being is that you can create as much content or as much quality content as possible, and still not see any traffic.
Promoting is basically setting up your content to be seen by as many people as possible and telling as many people as possible about your content.
6. WRITE FANTASTIC LIST POSTS
People love list posts because
- They’re easy to memorize
- They’re easily scannable
That second point is important.
Unfortunately, we live in a world of scanners. People who scan only pay attention to the titles, headings, bullets, numbers, and rely only on them to give them the key information.
I’m going to be honest with you, I am a scanner. In fact, most people are.
We live in a world where content is everywhere and we can only pay attention to one thing at a time. So we need to be picky about which content we listen to, and which content we ignore.
Solution: List posts.
List posts help us out because we don’t have to read the whole article. We can just read the headings/subheadings and get the key points so that we don’t waste time on something that isn’t worth listening to.
7. ENGAGE IN THE COMMUNITY
One way to do this is to write comments. Comments on posts, forums, everything.
More importantly though, write quality comments.
Just like in guest posting, if your comment stands out and provides a lot of value, people will love you for it and will likely check out your site.
That isn’t the only benefit of posting valuable comments though.
If you post an amazing comment on an influencers post, they have a good reason to check out your stuff and possibly comment on your posts. This is one way to build connections with influencers.
8. BUILD CONNECTIONS WITH INFLUENCERS
Being able connect with big influencers is a very important step in your blog's growth. Not only can it help you out, but it also helps the influencer out.
It helps you out because an influencer can share a post of yours. And if someone that popular shares a post of yours, then the influencers readers will know that it’s good.
This especially builds trust.
Other benefits include links to you, and new networking opportunities.
This helps the influencer out too. By having more and more connections, he/she has more sources that they know are important.
9. INCLUDE SHARABLE VISUAL CONTENT IN YOUR POSTS
A great example of this is Buzzfeed. They hardly even use text compared to how much visual content is on their site.
They use just about everything. Including images, videos, gifs, and memes.
They do this because it works. If an image speaks 1,000 words, then a gif speaks 10,000. And if a gif speaks 10,000, then a video if priceless.
Not all types of visuals are the same though. So I’m going to go through 5 of the best.
1. Infographics
Infographics contain all the important information of a topic in a single picture. This makes them extremely shareable.
2. Videos
Videos are perfect for visual and auditory learners and can pack a lot of useful information in a short period of time.
3. Graphs and charts
Use graphs and charts to represent numbers, percents, etc.
4. Gifs
Use gifs to put a little fun in your posts. Or use them to show quick animations of tutorials instead of a whole video.
5. Memes
Use memes to put a little humor and personality into your content.
Tip* - Avoid cheesy stock photos at all costs. They’re boring and overused.
Tip* - To create featured images like SteemRocket, use Snappa or Canva.
CONCLUSION
I hope this post will help your Steemit career take off fast and reach for the stars!
If you liked this post, make sure to upvote and share.
If you’re excited about SteemRocket and want posts directly in your feed, make sure to follow.
If you have any questions or comments, leave them down below.
That’s it, folks!
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