How To Get Traffic to Blogs and Websites: 11 Free Ways

If you have been looking for free ways to get traffic to your blog or website, you will find this article useful. I don't claim to be an expert, but I know enough about how to generate thousands of visits to your blog or website.

There are thousands of ways you can drive traffic to your blog but this short article will highlight the main techniques I have been using to drive huge traffic to my blog. The wider you cast your traffic net, the more you future-proof your online business.

I like to think of search engines as my unpaid slaves, working for me 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Whenever I am offline, doing other things, my blog carries on like magic, receiving many visitors everyday. I just LOVE free search engine traffic, hence am addicted to SEO.

TIPS

1. You MUST have high quality, unique content if you want long-term, free search engine traffic.

If you spend time thinking of ways to provide truly USEFUL content that people will talk about, you'll automatically end up with lots of free, one-way links to your site as people recommend it without even being asked to do so.

Many of my blog visitors interested in printing recharge cards keep telling me that my blog is been recommended to them by their friends, for them to learn how to print recharge cards in Nigeria. Can you imagine how much traffic that keeps coming to my blog as a result of this?

If your blog/website helps solve people's problems, they will love you for it.

2. Keep ADDING fresh, relevant, useful content.

The more pages you build full of on-topic material, the better the chances your site will be found. Also, search engines prefer fresh sites which keep gradually adding new content. Don't let your site go stale.

A rule of thumb is this: Add a minimum of 1 article per week, 2 preferably. Adding an article daily is euphoria and adding 1 every six hours, well, that's the best."

3. Choose a memorable domain name.

If you're launching a new site or blog, choose a name people will remember easily. I am sure you will agree with me that the domain name of my blog ( ogbongeblog.com) can be remembered easily.

You may not wish to go to extreme lengths, but at least ask yourself: "Will people remember my domain name?"

Try to choose a name which won't be confused with similar names. You don't want people typing your competitor's domain name when they’re trying to find your site. NameBoy.com has a handy tool to help you choose domain names.


4. Optimise your page titles. (Try this page titles experiment).

Here's a good way increase your traffic. Go to Google and type any phrase into the search box. Look at the titles of the websites in the top 10 rankings. Which ones catch your eye and tempt you to click on the link? Some are dreadfully stodgy, boring. Some are merely a long list of keywords. Some are good. Some are junk.

Good titles are written for search engines AND humans.Now look at the titles on your site. Start with your most important pages. Rewrite them to make them more eye-catching.

5. Submit to the main directories.

The more high quality links you have to your site, the more impressed the search engines will be.

There are lots of good directories to submit to. Just Keep reading...

Each directory has submission rules you must abide with. Be sure to read the submission rules carefully at each site. This will slow you down but it increases your chances of getting your site listed. Listings can last for years, so it's worth while taking your time to get the details correct.

In need of a list of good directories to submit to. Just Keep reading...

6. Write articles directly for other sites.

Getting high quality links to your site is hugely important. Ideally, you want links from "authority" sites - sites which have a lot of links to THEM.

As well as reading what search engine optimization experts say, study what they actually DO. One common tactic they use is to write expert articles and get them published on related websites. When they do this, the links they get to their site are beautifully on target - those links come from a page which is all about search engine optimization - which perfectly matches the theme of their site.

To a search engine, such links look much more important than a boring link which is just one of dozens on a page in a little mini-directory tacked on to a mini-site.

Interested in getting links from my blog, you can write articles for my blog. Feel free to contact me for this.

7. Make helpful posts in forums.

Join forums in your niche and promote your site in your signature.

Be careful. Read the forum instructions first or you're likely to annoy forum moderators and forum members who have been there for years. Lurk and learn. Some forums allow signatures, Some don't. Some won't allow words like "See the link in my signature". Thread carefully.

Build your reputation by posting genuinely, helpful, useful comments. If you think carefully of ways to provide truly USEFUL content that people will talk about, you'll automatically end up with lots of free, one-way links to your site as people recommend it without even being asked to do so.

I keep receiving huge traffic from Nairaland as a result of using this technique. There are many forums you can be targeting, just keep reading.....


8.Write free reports or free ebooks.

Write a free ebook or free report (you can use free softwares to create one in PDF format), and ask website or blog owners to give it away. My free ebook on how to print recharge cards in Nigeria keeps driving huge traffic to my blog based on this technique.

9. Make it easy for people to make you famous - tag your blog.

Sometimes at the bottom of an article in a blog you'll see a link/button that says something like this:
"Did You Like This Article? Share it on Facebook"
     OR
"Digg this article"
     OR
"RETWEET on Twitter"

Providing such links makes it very easy for readers to spread the work about your article.

Some blog owners provide a choice of social networking and social bookmarking links or graphics at the end of their articles.

If you are reading this article on my blog (Ogbongeblog.com), then you should be able to notice such links and buttons especally at the end of each article on the blog.


10. Add thoughtful comments to blogs.

Add thoughtful comments to other blogger posts. Sometimes, when appropriate, link back to your own articles. If the blog is a popular blog and you are lcky to be among the first 5 to comment on the blog post, then you can be sure of some clickthroughs to your blog.

Do not add IRRELEVANT or OFF-TOPIC links to your comments, or else, the blog owner will delete your comment and not publish it after moderation. 

11. Always Mention/Link To OGBONGEBLOG in your Blog Posts 

Go to Google.com and search for Ogbongeblog. You will see thousands of blogs and websites that will come up. If you also link to Ogbongeblog.com, your blog or website will also be listed in such results. This way, you might be lucky to get some traffic.  Try it.

In my future posts, I will be writing more about traffic generation tactics especially using sites like facebook/twitter and also ways of making money from home. I also have 20 free ebooks you will definitely like, you can get yours FREE OF CHARGE at http://ebooks.jideweb.com