Building Traffic for Dummies – Part 2

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Even the most viable business plan has little use without highly targeted traffic. Who is going to read your content? Who is going to see your message? As important as useful content, an engaging site, and an irresistible offer are to your campaign, it all becomes massively wasted time if there is no one to see it.

Unfortunately, building traffic can be one of the most perplexing tasks that many marketers face. I want to be clear; there are no shortcuts in internet marketing. It’s important to realize that there are, however, ways of simplifying certain operations in order to leverage your time, money, and efforts  effectively.

In Part 1 of our 2 Part series, we discussed some of the basic methods to help in achieving your goals of obtaining traffic. In this second installment, we will be covering more intricate techniques that, if used properly, will garner some big results.

One of the methods outlined in this addition will not only provide target traffic, but also help improve your site’s standings within the search function (which will also supply fresh new visitors).

Though some of these methods may help elicit a positive change within the SERPs, there is no manipulation involved, making them “white hat,” and 100% safe against future Google updates.

They are based on a little bit of ingenuity, instead of spamming. If done correctly though, they will pack a powerful punch. Enough talk, let’s get to the information you’ve been looking for…

The New Age of Content Syndication

In order to build an authoritative brand, you need to be everywhere at once. Google is awesome, but it should NOT be your only source of traffic. In Part 1 of this series, I mentioned the use of StumbleUpon for building views.

Fortunately, there are countless websites similar to StumblUpon that are designed for the sole purpose of providing people with the most useful content from around the web. Below is a quick list of sites that will allow you to submit links, RSS feeds, content, etc. for thousands of new viewers.

• Alltop
• Digg
• Blog Carnival
• Flipora
• Piggyping
• BlogHub
• NextStories
• Blog Catalog
• Slashdot
• Newsvine
• Technorati
• Bloglovin’

Each one of these sites allows an avenue in which to reach a whole new audience, many of whom may have never seen your site if you relied solely on Google, social media, and paid ads.

One site in particular that I want to mention can yield HUGE increases in traffic, while also providing your current audience with insightful information.

The site I am referring to is known as Viral Content Buzz Similar to the other sites listed above, Viral Content Buzz is a free platform that allows users to submit content for others to view.

This site is ingenious, absolutely earning the right to use the word “viral” in its name. If only 1,000 users share your content with their 1,000 followers, then your content will have been seen by 1 million new viewers, all while having the opportunity to provide your own clients with much sought after articles from within your niche. 

The Broken Wiki

I wish I could take credit for this innovative method for building traffic AND increasing rankings within the SERPs, but I can’t. I have to give credit where credit is due.

Brian Dean was the one that turned me on to this method and it has since proven to be incredibly effective for drawing in new audience members while also providing some extremely powerful, Google-friendly backlinks.

Every informational page in Wikipedia links to multiple other websites to be cited as a source for their material. Often times these sites are relatively popular within their respective niche and are linked to by other sites as well.

On occasion, these sites listed as sources are no longer available; whether the site shut down, the page was deleted to make room for others, or they simply changed the URL without adding a redirect, they will not show up once clicked.

One amazing attribute that Wikipedia has is their ability to identify broken links, but instead of replacing them, they simply leave them where they are, and label them as a “dead link”.

So, here is how the broken Wiki method works:

Step 1 – Type in site:wikipedia.org [keyword] + “dead link” into the search area of Google. In between the brackets where it says “keyword,” you will add the keyword that you choose. Make sure it is as relevant as possible to your site or a piece of content that you’ve created. 

Step 2 – Enter the Wiki page that shows in the search and scroll to the bottom. Identify the link that is labeled as a dead link. 

Step 3 – Plug the link into Open Site Explorer or your link analysis tool of choice. This will provide you with every site that has that specific broken link on their site. 

Step 4 – Export the list into a CSV file and begin contacting the highest authority sites. Send them a simple email explaining that you found a broken link on their site that not only decreases the value that their content provides to their audience, but may also be harmful for SEO as well.

Take a screenshot of exactly where the link is located for easy identification. Then offer them a link to your site as a possible alternative. 

BOOM! If all goes well, you will now have a link from a high-authority site, effectively increasing your value within the SERPs and a new avenue in which to draw in more traffic, all from some basic research and networking. 

Most sites will simply ignore you, which means that you may need to contact a number of sites in order for this method to work, but when it does, the benefits strongly outweigh the time spent. 

Video Marketing 
 

Marketing with the use of videos has become increasingly popular over the last several years. Over 6 billion hours of online videos are watched every single month on YouTube alone. To put this number into perspective, that is almost 1 full hour of video footage for every single person on earth. 

According to the YouTube statistics page, “The number of people subscribing daily is up more than 300% since last year, and the number of overall subscriptions is up more than 400% since last year.” If trends are indicative of things to come, you would be missing out on quite an opportunity by not utilizing video marketing. 

There are countless facets that need to be taken into consideration when marketing a video, most of which would take several posts to explain. Instead, I’d like to cover a few points that will help enhance your video marketing campaign. 

Point #1 - Similar to a setting up a regular website, proper keyword analysis must be taken into consideration. Since YouTube is owned by Google, ranking for long tail keyword phrases is not incredibly difficult.

If you happen to be in a relatively large niche, then it may be difficult for people to find your videos in YouTube’s search function. Instead, choose extremely low competition keyword phrases and receive your traffic directly from the Google SERPs instead. 

Point #2 – You do NOT need a professional crew to create an extremely engaging video. Believe it or not, you don’t even need a camera. Software such as Jing or Camtasia allow for screen recording and seamless video editing.

You can then create your own videos using Prezi or PowerPoint. If you want to take it a step further, you can purchase some outstanding intro videos from Fiverr to add an extra bit of professionalism to the mix. 

Point #3 – Having a video on your page can actually attract more organic traffic from the Google search function, without your video even ranking. Huh? That doesn’t even make sense. Let me explain.

When Google author photos began showing in searches, those that had a photo next to their page saw an average rise in traffic of at least 35%. Photos attract clicks. Unfortunately, as of December, Google has decreased the number of photos that are showing, making it difficult for newly created sites to derive any benefit at all. 

Instead of relying on Google Authorship, you can use the Video SEO plugin by Yoast to receive the same benefits. When a video is added to a page, a small photo will show up in the search results next to your page, similar to how a Google Authorship photo would, effectively taking advantage of that 35% or more additional clicks that pages with images next to them receive.

In the next post, I will be covering a way to enhance how Google views your site, propelling you to the top of the SERPs and receiving MORE organic traffic than ever before!