Are you in the “just getting started” phase of blogging where your cat and your goldfish are your only readers?
Don’t despair!
If you don’t have traffic of your own yet, the best way to get some is to take the “Pirate” approach and steal it!
But in a nice way…
Here are some simple ways to get traffic from other people’s networks:
Be Loud & Rowdy (Comment on Other Blogs)
When you comment on a blog it adds a link from your comment to your website (if you put your URL in the URL field). So get out there and be chatty!
Tip: Look for blogs that have CommentLuv enabled. You’ll get not just one link but two—one to your website and another one to your most recent blog post. Here’s a great list of CommentLuv enabled blogs: http://www.trafficgenerationcafe.com/commentluv-enabled/
Jump on the Table and Sing/Dance (Be a Guest Blogger)
Blogging as a guest on other people’s blogs is a great way to get in front of their readers and bring some of them back to your blog. It also helps establish credibility for you.
Tip: When searching for sites to guest blog at, look for ones that have readers who would be interested in your blog. If you blog about social media, try SocialMediaToday.com. If you blog about SEO, try the list at Search Engine Journal. Get the idea? Search at AllTop or Technorati to find blogs in your niche.
Sign In & Be on the “List” (Get Listed at Blogging Directories)
Speaking of AllTop and Technorati, are you listed there yet? Get listed and borrow their traffic!
There are lots of directories and search engines you can get your blog listed in. Look for directories that are based on niche, too.
Rub Shoulders with the Great Ones (Share Resources & Bloggers)
By featuring other bloggers in a post on your website, you get their attention and if it’s nice, they’re likely to tweet/share your post. You could write about them, link to a helpful post they’ve written, or even interview them for a post.
Let Others Do the Work (Feature Guest Bloggers)
Invite other bloggers to write for your blog. Guest bloggers usually bring their traffic and fans with them because they’ll promote the post when it goes live on your site.
Oh, and don’t really let others do the work. When you get a guest blogger, do what you can to drive traffic to that post, too!
Round Up Your Crew (Create a Tribe)
If you’re on Twitter, join http://triberr.com/ and create a tribe of pirate mateys. You’ll be setup to automatically Tweet out their new posts, and they’ll tweet out yours, helping all of you reach a great audience by leveraging the networks of everyone in the Tribe.
Or use HootSuite to setup each other’s RSS feeds to share with your networks automatically.
What Else Would a Pirate Do?
What other ways can you think of to build your blog by connecting with others? Get creative!
Pirate Image Credit: http://stockfresh.com/gallery/keeweeboy
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Great ideas and tips, Michelle! Looks like I know what I’m going to be doing tonight after the baby goes to sleep! (adding to some directories and scoping out some other links) LOL I personally love the whole “pirate” theme too! Awesome!!!! ;)
And you know why that was on my brain, right? Your blog video got my kids all pirate-y and now there’s a POTC marathon happening around here… LOL
Michelle, you are my new favorite hero! Sending my grant consulting clients your way to learn all things social media. ;)
Question: I registered for Alltop but I don’t see where I can “list” myself anywhere. How-to advice? You can email me at *censored to protect from spammers* if you don’t mind.
Thank you!
Betsy
Hey Betsy, just edited out your email to protect you from spammers. ;) I’ll zip you an email though.
Here’s where you can submit your site to Alltop for consideration: http://alltop.com/submission/ (login first and then it’ll show the details)
Great ideas, Michelle. Thanks for all your sharing and encouraging. Life got in the way of me meeting the challenge this time, but I’ve still enjoyed meeting others and pushing myself along. I appreciate all your hard work.
Life likes to do that, Bonnie. But another challenge starts January 1st! And in the meantime, you’ve got more content now than when you started, and I call that success. :)
Great and quite thorough collection, Michelle; I truly have nothing to add.
Of all the things you mentioned, my two favorites and the ones that worked for me best are guest blogging and networking with other bloggers.
Thanks for the mention, of course; always a pleasure!
Hey Ana, thanks for stopping by, and for that fab list. I’ve got it bookmarked and refer to it often. :)
(See everyone, 4th thing on my list works–I linked to Ana and here she is with a comment!)
ALWAYS creative stuff here Michelle ;) It’s why I luv stopping by.
Rubbing shoulders with the great ones works well. Some of the great ones rub off on us, and when we get a RT, guest post opp, or other form of strong connection, our public perception changes in a hurry.
Thanks for sharing!
RB
It sure does!
Hey, I’m enjoying your book. Picked it up on Smashwords after you tweeted it last night.
(See, Twitter works, too!)
I’m guilty of stealing traffic by all of these means! Maybe I’m a pirate at heart? LOL You’ve got a great list here. Don’t think I can add a thing. Keep up the great work!
Argh! I knew it, Martha! LOL
Michelle
Love the analogy of jumping on the table and singing & dancing (like they do at Joe’s Crab Shack perhaps? LOL) I recently contributed to a colleague’s blog and had another colleague ask for one as well.
In addition, it’s great to have guest bloggers post on my site. I’ve got one lined up right now. Bet you can’t guess who’s next?
In the meantime, are you (or your kids) dressing up like a pirate for Halloween? All hands on deck matey. Enjoy and thanks for this humorous & informative post!
Debra
Yes, get out there and be the center of attention like the Joe’s Crab Shack waiters! LOL
Guest blogging is such a fun way to get out there and make connections.
No, but I think my son has spent most of the last two months dressed as a pirate… he’s going through a pirate phase for sure. :)
Hi Michelle,
Thank you SOooo much for the list of commentluv enabled blogs. This is a fantastic resource for any blogger as it gives you a lot of options of places to visit and get interactive with the community.
I totally agree with you on the fact that you need to get out there and let people know about your blog and get them to call over and see what you have to offer as well. Great post, thank you for the link to the list…
Chris
Thanks, Chris, and that is an awesome list. I’ve discovered quite a few great blogs there. :)
Doing a presentation tomorrow night using a treasure map. I love the pirate analogy as it kind of makes us feel naughty but not really hurting anyone. The concept of tribes is a really good one. I keep looking at guest blogging but never quite got the hang of it despite having done some. And finding people to guest blog on my blog seems a challenge too. Just trying to find interviewees for my radio show is a real challenge
Fun! I love themed presentations and posts — somehow I always remember those better.
It took me some time to figure out guest blogging. My goal with it now is just to deliver the absolute best guest post I can and then promote it like crazy and reply to the comments and see what happens. Sometimes I get a hit and other times I don’t but I try to learn from that and keep improving.
What types of interviewees do you look for to do your show? I’d be happy to see if I can brainstorm anyone that might be a good fit. :)
Michelle, your pieces are always so creative! I love the way you take an unrelated idea and mold it to fit your topic with tweaking and a clever way with sub-heads! Wish I could learn the skill…maybe someday :D
Great ideas here, and even though I know them, I tend to forget and let things go. You always bring me back up to speed. Thanks, kiddo! Dropping by from BMMC, and good to see you again. :)
Paula, I’ll be totally honest… this one started out much less interesting! The original title was “How to Borrow Traffic” and it had no theme. I almost published it that way. I’m sure glad I didn’t though as the pirate twist made it much more interesting and I know I’ve gotten more traffic and comments than I would have otherwise. :)
Sometimes I find a fun twist. I’m working on finding it more often and getting a little bit edgier (steal vs. borrow) in my titles. It’s always an interesting challenge though.
Hi Michelle,
I love this, really creative.
I want to add something to it, but I can’t think of any, you mentioned all of it. But how about:
Steal treasures
Research and fin long tail-low competition keywords and try to rank for them. (but I guess that would be more of a SEO and not traffic the way you mean it in this post).
Any way, very fun and informative read. Thank you.
That could be a fun post! A Pirate’s Guide to Finding Gold – How to research and rank for long tail keywords. That’s definitely a good traffic generating idea, Satrap.
Arrrrh, Michelle, methinks the loud and rowdy comment ’tis to set a true course to link juice booty! Lubbers take note: a fleet is mightier than a single dingy, which is what your blog is without yer fellow bloggers. The most famous pirates impressed a strong crew to gain their authority. If you can’t plunder a rank 8 site, you can still comment on a motley crew of 2s, and get pieces of 8!
You’ve got me laughing out loud here, Astro. You speak excellent pirate!
And you’re totally right — a motley crew of 2s rocks it around here and I’m cool with that. :)
Some great advice that you can’t ignore at all. If you want to get huge traffic on your blog then you have to do promotion, promotion and promotion. These are some awesome tips to get traffic on your blog.
“Write it and they will come” doesn’t exactly work — unless we’re already famous. :) Traffic requires promotion for sure. Thankfully we’ve got all sorts of options so we can choose the ones we like. :)
Hey Michelle, great tips!
As for guest bloggiing, you should totally give this site a try: MyBlogGuest.com
I’ve been a member for ages and it has always helped find guest authors as well as places to gust post!
Thanks for the resource, Jessy. I’ll definitely check that one out.
another great way would be to take some interviews of some famous bloggers or better, make a contest with a face-off with 2 bloggers and make each one get more votes. and each blogger will put his fans to vote for him.. of course, there should be a prize for this, in order for them to accept this challenge
Contests can be a great traffic generator. I haven’t jumped into any but I’ve seen them drive huge amounts of traffic for other bloggers. :) Definitely one to consider.
Aaaargh, matey! Those are some fine ideas you have for blundering the traffic booty!
Ah, you speak Pirate, Darren! ‘Tis a fine skill.
Your last blog post got my attention with the reference to the “famous” (or is it infamous) name. There’s one I should have included in the list. Every pirate talks about Captain Jack Sparrow — and if we drop names we can grab attention, too.
Aaaagh, ’tis true Matey! Sometimes hijacking a famous name for our titles is rewardin’!
Awesome post! I agree, and remind my kids often, “You’ve got a brain for a reason–use it!” :)
Tried to leave a comment on your post but got this error: “Error 1: Click back and type in the password.” I didn’t see a spot to add in a password so I could comment.
Great ideas, Michelle! I’m going to make sure I’m “on Alltop and Technorati lists. And the Commentluv list will be helpful too.
Alltop and Technorati are two that actually send traffic, so they’re good for more than a link. :) I also like the feature at Technorati that shows reaction and helps me catch blogs that link to me so I can thank them.
Hey Michelle,
Great post and I definitely will be checking out triberr.
Make sure you know what your audience wants, produce top quality content that enlightens, educates and informs, go where you audience are and scream the roof tops down.
And finally produce consistently.
Thanks
James
James, that’s a great recipe for a successful blog. :)
I’ve written a post today on my blog that was inspired by this post. It’s pretty much the same stuff, I just rewrote it in my own words. Hope that’s ok :-)
You always manage to inspire me, Michelle. That’s part of the reason I visit so often.
Have a great day
Your friend across the pond
David
Hi David, happy to be an inspiration. Build on whatever you’d like and give it your own twist. :)
Wow! My blog is two days old. I check on it every couple of hours, but no traffic. I’m like a worried new mom. These are great tips, and I’m going to take your advice, starting with a comment! Thanks, and I wish I had found you sooner.
Andrea
Blogs are like babies in many ways, aren’t they? :)
Nice! I truly appreciate the information you provided hear. I’m sure I will be looking forward to applying it to great uses. I’ll be sure to pass this post on to others. Thanks you so much, I enjoyed this so much.. ;)
Thanks, Tracey!
Stumbled your post! I love this one, I had read it when you posted it to blogging mastermind tribe!
I would love it if you would link up to my directory: http://momdoesreviews.com/blog-directory/
Thanks Pam, appreciate it.
Arrg! These are great tips. I have had a lot of fun meeting people in blog tribes. I have had mixed experiences with guest posting in terms of traffic, but I do feel that it is fun to work with other bloggers… I stopped by from the Stumbleupon hop and stumbled this post! Have a good weekend.
Hey Kristen, I agree — guest posting can really vary in terms of sending traffic. But as you mention sometimes there are bigger benefits of guest posting than traffic, one being relationship building.
wow – great info – thanks for posting. stumbling your page from MBS
stopping by from the stumbleupon blog hop from MBS!!!
Africa’s Blog
http://africa18.wordpress.com/2011/11/11/unexpected/
This was really helpful. I have stumbled this post. Here is my link: http://www.messforless.net/2011/11/thrifty-thursday-how-to-shop-for.html
Hi Michelle, thank you for sharing these ideas… I believe they are useful
Hello!, Michelle! A Great ideas and tips you’ve been shared with us.
Another Great post that I’d read from you Michelle! Generating targeted web traffic is one of the basis that you are successful online. What you had mentioned are some of the many activities that you must do in order to generate one.
Hi Michelle, your blog is real meat. This is a great guide that when implemented to the latter with bring real results to bloggers. Thanks for sharing
Thanks Michelle! Joining tribrr right now!
Great post Michelle. Thanks, very useful, need to find how to put in a link from another website and Will be doing this
sue
Good post, I would like to add that you should be consistent if you want to steal traffic like a pirate.
Consistent promotion = consistent traffic. Totally agree, Neil!
Truly you are a great blogger, reading this post gas set my head on fire, i get to go cracking right away. THANKS.I am giving you a link in my home page because i see you are a mentor, i will keep following you mam.
Oh Wow. I like the Pirate Theme Michelle.
I gues I lack in the first point above. Leaving comment on other posts I liked and enjoyed. I better follow that as a ritual if I have to remain in the scene.
And sharing resources / bloggers is a great way to reward co-bloggers, being in the same field.
Have learnt something nice and need to start trying.
thanks Michelle.
http://www.mycreativeedge.com
Cute post. I especially liked “Jump on the Table and Sing/Dance.” I literally LOL’d!!!
I never think about commenting is similar to be a pirate, but thank You for open my mind.
You always have the best articles and such a creative way of sharing your suggestions. This post makes all of these suggestions seem fun vs. a ton of work! Thanks!!
Love it ! Read through many of your posts today and this one really mad me think. No only about where I’m taking my blog, but how to get it there. In particular, I appreciate the Create a Tribe segment as I’m new to the whole social networking thing.
awesome!!! awesome Michelle. I have been hearing more and more about guest blogging and how important it is. Also thank you for having those list of websites to promote/steal traffic from.. I am about to get to work on those. :)
I think I can get type with one eye only (like pirate) Thanks for the advice.
Very Nice i like your ideas i am a begginer blogger and making a blog in pakistan on racer pigeons and doves
Being very aggressive is the answer as I believe you are saying being rowdy. The way I look at things is that most bloggers just drop out of blogging after a little bit of time.
Make commotion. Have a great time and have a great 2013! :)
The only thing that scares me about leaving my actual URL in blog posts is all the new algo updates that could potentially hurt rankings. So I put my twitter address. :)
We shall see how it goes!
Gotta stick with it and keep making noise. :)
That’s definitely something to watch. I focus more on traffic strategies I can control (can’t control Google) so while I do basic SEO, I do traffic a little differently than many bloggers.
So, like this then? :)
It is so like a pirate to steal things, including attention! Thanks for the good ideas Michelle, I’m totally going to seek out more blogs and try to comment more in the future.
Hello! I just would like to give a huge thumbs up for the great information you’ve here on this post. I will probably be coming back to your blog for much more soon.
Thanks Michelle, this is a great resource and now to guest blogging for me..