Are you struggling to get traffic to your blog? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. This article covers 31 places to promote your blog and increase traffic. It also addresses the age-old question of how many blog posts it takes to start seeing traffic to your site. With practical tips and actionable advice, you’ll be on your way to growing your blog audience in no time.
Publishing a blog post and sitting around waiting for people to find it is not an effective method to build your blog audience.
And no sharing with your family and friends and a non-existent audience won’t do it either.
You need to actively promote your posts and engage new readers if you want the exposure your blog deserves.
Just one of these 31 steps resulted in a 342% increase in traffic to NicheHacks overnight (more information below).
And I have 2.2 million reasons why I believe you should take my advice on blog traffic.
So what do you think all 31 ways revealed in this post can do for your blog?
Read on to find out…
2.2 Million Reasons Why You Should Listen To Me About Blog Traffic
When I started NicheHacks back in December 2013 I was an unknown blogger, with an empty WordPress blog, in a super competitive niche.
I didn’t know any other bloggers or marketers and they certainly didn’t know me.
I didn’t know the best traffic sources.
I didn’t know how to create the best content.
Yet fast-forward to now and traffic is no longer a problem.
The graph below is a screenshot from Google Analytics showing the growth in traffic to NicheHacks from the humble beginning until now…
And look at how much total traffic the blog has received since then….
Over 2.2 million sessions and 1.2 million users
That’s over 2.2 million sessions and 1.2 million users that have visited NicheHacks since it’s inception in December 2013 and it’s growing by the second.
And hopefully that gives you 2.2 million good reasons to listen to my advice on how to grow your blog and get traffic.
Let’s get on with the 31 ways to promote your blog posts…
What You’ll Learn:
- How just 1 of these ways results in a 342% increase in traffic.
- 31 ways you can easily get more traffic to your blog without too much extra work.
- How to create guaranteed viral content that naturally picks up shares.
- The “secret” methods to get influential people to link to your content and share it increasing your authority in the process.
- “Hacks” to automate your social sharing saving you time to focus on more important things.
Let Your Content Promote Your Blog For You
Your content has to be REALLY good if people are to link to, share it, read and comment on it.
Make every single piece you post count.
You can easily outsource your content, Jawad has written a guide about that here.
Epic content doesn’t come in a one size fits all package. It takes different forms.
However it tends to be bigger and better than other content on the topic, 1500+ words.
Have a lot of actionable content the reader can go and try for themselves.
And reference other authorities or epic blog content in the niche.
Think ‘ultimate guides’, ‘101 lists’, ‘video tutorials’, ‘in-depth posts’.
The sort of stuff regularly posted on Backlinko, Quick Sprout, Matthew Woodward, Smart Passive Income & Viper Chill for example.
Examples from NicheHacks:
- 34 Ways To Boost Your Blogs Email Subscribers
- 1109 Profitable Niches ‘Hacked’
- The Ultimate Guide To Blogging
1,300 social shares can’t be wrong
2. Link To Influential Blogs So They Link Back.
Linking out to influential blogs and key players in your niche is a great way to get on their radar and get them sharing or linking to your content.
Link to show where people can find more information, a similar topic or find an opposing view.
Be sure to let people know on social media that you’ve linked to them.
This works best on Twitter, in my experience, as they can easily hit re-tweet and share with their audiences.
My Ultimate Guide To Blogging: How To Start A Blog That’s Epic has been shared over 580 times, and counting, across social media by other bloggers I’d featured using this method.
To back up your stats and statements reference experts and quote them then let them know you’ve done so via twitter and watch them re-tweet.
People love being referenced as an expert and want to share that with their audiences.
Include floating social share buttons that move with your reader so they can share at any time.
I recommends SumoMe’s floating share bar as it’s what I use on the blog.
Also add social locked sections to posts as in the example below.
These have increased my posts social shares by up to 50%.
Give people bonuses or additional content if they share, it can be anything from a PDF copy of the post, additional worksheets, bonus content or free downloads.
Start increasing your social shares by up to 50% with Social Locker.
5. Email Your Subscriber List For Instant Traffic
Sending a broadcast email to your list as soon as you publish a new post is the best way to get a fury of traffic to it.
Traffic from emails I send to my list are accountable for around 20% of all my sites traffic.
2016 traffic stats
If you’re not building a subscriber list you should be so get started with a $1 Aweber trial on this link.
Also don’t forget to add a follow up message to the end of your autoresponder series promoting the post.
So it continues to receive traffic over time instead of being lost in the archives.
(FYI: You’ve read 25% of the post already. You’re almost there. Keep reading…)
Use Buffer to automatically schedule your content to all your social media accounts.
It can post to all the main sites like Facebook, Twitter, G+, Pinterest.
Schedule once to Buffer at the start of the week and tell Buffer when to post it and it will do so automatically.
Meaning it saves you having to manually be on social media all the time.
Buffer can even tell you when is the best time for you to post based on analyzing your stats.
To discover 200+ profitable niche markets click the image below now…
There are social hubs that have internal audiences you can tap into even if you don’t have your own audience there yet.
You can manage or interact in hubs on these websites if your niche audience is present on there, and use them to drive traffic back to your site by sharing your own content.
Facebook Groups, Tumblr, and Flipboard are good examples.
You can find groups and pages to share your own content and other content from your niche.
You can find Facebook groups related to your topic and become a valued contributor.
Or create your own Group on Facebook and pages on Tumblr and Flipboard where you curate your content and others with links back to your site.
Flipboard for content curation
8. Syndicate To Other Blogs & ‘Steal’ Their Audience
Source out blogs in your niche which accept syndicated content.
It takes a bit of work to build up a list of sites that both accept syndicated content and like what you write about.
But once done you’ll have a list of sites that will re-publish your post and allow you to tap into their audience.
It’s one of the best ways I know to ‘steal’ traffic from your competitors without doing anything illegal.
Simply reach out to them on social media or via email and ask if they haven’t already mentioned it on their blog.
It tends to be much easier to find people willing outwith the IM niche.
You can also Google “syndicated content + your niche” e.g. “syndicated content + preppers” to find blogs.
9. Publish To Relevant Sub-Reddits To Get Wider Exposure
Reddit has ‘subreddits’ in thousands of different niches that allow you to share good quality content including your own.
It’s a great way to get wider exposure with little work for your new blog posts.
Use this 3rd party tool to find the best results: http://searchreddit.com/
Just enter your niche or keyword of choice into the search bar and see if there’s a relevant sub-Reddit.
Then check the rules on sharing content, most allow it but some do not.
It’s best to get involved with the community first BEFORE you post your own content as Reddit users are very strict about this.
10. Engage New Readers Via Blog Engage
BlogEngage allows you to submit your blog posts to BlogEngages RSS feed and get access to several thousand potential new blog readers.
They have different levels of exposure you can get access to so choose the one that suits you best.
Another easy way to get more eyes on your new posts.
11. Post To Popular Facebook Pages & Groups To ‘Hack’ Into Existing Audiences
There are FB pages and groups with huge amounts of fans that allow you to share your content or have simply been abandoned by the owners and are free for all.
Log into Facebook and type your keyword or niche into the search bar then choose to search for groups.
Pick any with over 1,000+ followers and see whether users can share content or not (some are locked).
Try not just to spam your links but become a valued contributor and share value too.
Share your new blog posts with these groups and you’re ‘hacking’ your way into existing audiences.
Log into Facebook.com and type your niche into the search bar then choose groups…
Facebook Groups in your niche
Again there’s no set number you’re looking for just signs of popular groups in your niche.
Facebook shows the member numbers underneath the group.
But doesn’t seem to show the groups in any logical order or the most popular first.
So you may have to scroll to see the biggest ones.
These will come in handy later if you decide to profit from this niche as you can share content to them for traffic.
So take a note of them now in a Word document or notepad.
12. Get LinkedIn For New People To Discover Your Content
Sharing content to related Linked In groups can help new people discover your content that otherwise wouldn’t.
You’ll be surprised at the amount of niche groups available for discussions and content sharing.
Check the rules before posting and try not to spam or endless self promote.
Go to https://www.linkedin.com/directory/groups/ 404 to find the different groups available.
LinkedIn Groups
Images tend to go viral much easier than written content does so be sure to post any images, infographics or even videos to shared Pinterest boards.
You can post your blog posts too and watch your content get shared.
Pinterest isn’t for every niche, it’s largely dominated with women aged 30+ so depending on your niche you may not find anything relevant.
You can browse the different category boards here.
14. Tap Into 80 Million Users With Flipboard.com
Flipboard is a mobile app turned web based platform that has over 80 million users.
It turns your content into stunning magazine style formats and taps into their 80 million users with just a couple of clicks.
Sign up for an account and with one click you can submit your blog posts and Flipboard will turn them into magazine style layouts without any extra work from you.
Build up a digital magazine that shares the best content across your niche.
Big name blogs like Copyblogger are already in on the act.
15. Run Circles Around Your Competitors With G+
Being active on Google Plus and sharing your newest blog post with relevant ‘circles’ or groups can not only drive traffic but generate discussion and engage new readers.
You can search Google Plus here: https://plus.google.com/+Gpluspagesearch
I have ignored G+ for far too long and that’s a huge mistake, see these 8 ways to drive traffic from Google Plus.
To discover 200+ profitable niche markets click the image below now…
16. Target Tumblr’s 90 Million Users
Tumblr.com has over 90 million users mostly in photo and picture rich niches like cooking, fashion, style, food and more.
You can easily build up your own tumblr blog using the SNAP plugin just by syndicating your existing content.
You can also suggest your content to other peoples blogs and if they like it they will share driving their readers to your new posts.
Tumblr ranks well, has a huge internal audience and content goes viral FAST so there’s multiple benefits to using it.
To see exactly how this all works watch this video from LazyAssStoner.
17. Be A Valued Member In Niche Forums & Reap The Benefits
Being an active and useful member of niche related forums is a fantastic way to find targeted traffic for your site.
Whenever you add a new post update your forum signature to point to the new post with a clear call to action.
Then spend 30 mins answering questions and being a valued member.
It will encourage people to click on your link to find out how else you can help them.
Some forums will even allow you to share your content in the forum through a post giving a summary of what’s they can find in the post with a link directly to it IF you’re a valued member.
Other’s have ‘download’ or ‘freebie’ sections where you can share your blog posts in PDF formats.
Places like the Warrior Forum. Blackhatworld, Digital Point in the IM sphere have market places where you can give away reports for free in exchange for an email opt in or even charge for.
It’s easy to turn a high quality post into a report or guide.
18. Add Your Blog Content To Aggregation Sites
Sites like Digg.com and AllTop.com are content aggregation sites that you can add your posts to for effortless traffic.
Simply sign up and ‘submit your link’ and watch as people discover them without any effort on your part.
Depending on your niche these sites will be different but in the online marketing area you can syndicate your content to the following sites and build a buzz around your new blog posts…
- Inbound.com – online marketing news.
- Kingged.com – internet marketing content and products.
- BizSugar.com – small and online business news.
- AffPosts.com – affiliate marketing news.
For 500+ sources in all niches check out this resource.
Repurpose Your Content To Reach New Markets
Sites like Slideshare, DocStoc and Scribd allow you to share PDF files and documents and can rank well in Google.
These sites also have huge internal audiences seeking out new content.
Turn your blog posts into PDF files and add to these sites to reach new markets.
You can do it simply with one click here: https://www.printfriendly.com/
21. Make Slideshows That Send Shoots of Traffic To New Posts
Turning your posts into simple slides then sharing on Slideshare can bring in server busting traffic overnight.
See Ana from TrafficGenerationCafe’s post on how to do this properly.
There are endless gigs on Fiverr that you can get this done for just $5, click here.
22. Create Visual Infographics That Bring New Visitors
Turning posts into infographics and sharing on sites like Visual.ly, DailyInfographic.com, and Vizualarchive.com can bring in new visitors who react well to visual content.
Creating an infographic and offering it to other bloggers in your niche with a custom written introduction also works for getting traffic and links.
To make your infographic go viral check out this post on Quicksprout and for a great infographic traffic and link strategy see Brian Dean’s guestographic case study.
23. Create Videos That Tease People
Get in front of the camera and give people a teaser of your post asking them to jump over to your site to see the rest of it.
If you’re afraid to be filmed then you can find surprisingly good video makers on Fiverr.com.
Who will make you a 30-60 second video for just $5 or even make animations and whiteboard videos.
Check out all the options here.
Upload to Youtube, Vimeo and Daily Motion which all have huge internal audiences.
One of the best ways to get blog traffic to your post and become known to the authorities in the niche is to network with them.
Scope out the big-name bloggers, product creators, and social media hub owners and get known to them.
Share their stuff, link to them, do stuff for them without asking for anything in return.
And they may repay the favor over time IF you’re creating content worth sharing.
NicheHacks has had links, social shares and blog comments from big-name bloggers like:
- Neil Patel
- Matthew Woodward
- Brian Dean
- Ramsay Taplin (BlogTyrant.com)
- Jon Morrow
- Jeff Bullas
And websites like:
- Huffington Post
- Entrepreneur.com
- HubSpot
- Ahrefs
- OptinMonster
- Empire Flippers
All this is a result from doing just this – and they all help promote the blog and drive more traffic.
It’s a great way to ‘hack’ your way to success and get your blog posts shared.
Simply look for ways you can add value to their businesses.
Whether it be offering advice on their website, feedback on their product, an in-depth and insightful blog comment, sending them something free they can use (like a report for example).
These are all things I did in the early days of NicheHacks to get on authorities’ radars.
You could follow James’s recommendation as he wrote about gaining traffic from commenting here.
(FYI: You’ve read 75% of the post already. You’re almost there. Keep reading…)
25. Tweet Influential People & Watch Them Retweet For Floods Of Traffic
If you’ve created content that you think an influential player in the niche will like or more importantly their readers will like then tweet them and tell them.
If you’ve mentioned them in your posts then let them know.
Chances are they will hit re-tweet if it’s high-quality content.
Bloggers are interested in sharing great content with their audiences.
I’ve found Twitter outreach is great for getting instant blog traffic due to the re-tweets but email outreach works better for attaining links.
I hit the manual outreach hard for my Ultimate Guide To Blogging resource.
The tweets I sent were a mix of telling individuals I had featured them and ‘group tweets’.
The group tweets took 2 forms, mentioning a mix of lesser-known bloggers in with big authority bloggers and all authority bloggers.
Mixing the lesser known bloggers with big names is a great method for getting re-tweets from the lesser-known guys as it’s an ego boost being mentioned with authorities in the niche and they want their audience to see that.
Putting all the big name bloggers together also works well as they want their audience to know they are seen as authorities up their with the best of them.
My social media outreach campaign saw over 100 shares across social media by prominent bloggers allowing me to tap into their audiences and get blog traffic from them.
Messages on social media can be easily be lost in the clutter but people read personal emails.
Send out a quick email telling people you’ve mentioned them.
Many will go on to share or link back to you.
Even if they don’t link or share you’ve made a connection with them and they’ve seen your blog.
To discover 200+ profitable niche markets click the image below now…
27. Blog Comment & Leave Relevant Links To Drive Traffic.
Hardly anyone leaves detailed or insightful blog comments anymore which means it’s wide open for you to do it and get noticed.
Blog comments can still work really well for driving traffic when done properly.
James wrote an in-depth guide here you can follow.
28. Use G Alerts To Stay Updated Of Similar Content
Using Google Alerts to find new content based on your keywords is a good way to reach out to people who post similar content and get links, social shares and tap into their audiences.
It’s a service that alerts you to content related to your topic being published across the web.
You can then go to that content, be an early blog commenter, social sharer, or network with the poster.
Before creating content be sure that it’s going to be something that people want to read, share and link to.
You can do that by finding the best content in your niche (i.e. the content with the most social shares and links) and improving on it.
Then reach out and suggest to people who have already linked to similar content that they might be interested in it.
So How Do You Find The Most Popular Content?
Finding the most popular content isn’t always the easiest task in all niches especially if you’re new to the niche and don’t know who puts out the best content.
There are a few ways you can find it…
Check Successful Blogs For Popular Posts
If you already know some of the popular blogs check them for ‘most popular posts‘ or ‘ultimate guides’ which can usually be listed in the sidebar.
Ad see how many people have shared the posts on social media.
If it’s over 100 this is a good sign (if it’s an authority blog it will likely be MUCH more)
An Old Fashioned Google Search
No need to complicate things you can simply go to Google.com and search for keywords related to the content you’ve created.
In theory these should be posts that have received a lot of love in the form of social shares and links.
Find Highly Linked Content on Open Site Explorer
Alternatively use Open Site Explorer to find out which pages have the most links .
Go to http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/ and enter a URL of a popular blog in your niche which creates great content.
Click on the ‘top pages’ tab.
Look for pages with 100+ linking root domains, this is a sign of a quality post that you could look to improve on.
Thanks to Brian Dean of Backlinko.com for this method.
Discover Popular & Trending Content Via AllTop.com
Or use AllTop.com to discover the most popular and trending content.
Pick a category that best suits your niche then a sub-category if required.
You’ll be displayed a list of the most popular blogs with their last 5 posts. Check for posts with lots of social activity.
Once You’ve Found Great Content Create Something Better
Once you know what the best content is set out to better it.
If you find a post that lists ‘101 Resources To Find Niches‘ you should set out to create a 150 resources post.
If 8 experts were asked “What’s The Best Keyword Research Tool?” you should ask 10 or more.
Reaching Out To Authorities For Social Shares & Links
Once the content is created and posted start contacting people who linked to the original content or similar content and suggest they and their audiences might be interested in it.
Here’s the email I used for The Ultimate Guide To Blogging to outreach to people who had linked to similar content.
I tweeted people too to let them know I had featured them in case the email was missed or ended up in spam or promo folders so I was increasing my chances of them seeing it.
This email and social media outreach resulted in over 100 social shares from top bloggers.
More than 10 permanent links from prominent blogs, and a 342% increase in traffic over night.
It takes time to reach out manually but it’s one of the best ways to get influential bloggers promoting YOUR blog posts.
(Just look at the shares and influencers in Nader’s epic round up post)
You can’t expect them to share it with their audience if they don’t know about it.
And you can’t always assume they will have noticed.
However if you reach out and they genuinely do like your blog post.
Then they will feel compelled to share with their audience which is a great way to promote blog posts and get blog traffic.
To discover 200+ profitable niche markets click the image below now…
Use These Low Cost Paid Methods To Get Fast Traffic To Your Blog
Spending a little money on sending traffic to your blog posts if you have the budget can be a great way to get instant traffic.
30. Use Facebook Retargeting Ads To Boomerang Your Visitors Back
As you’re probably already aware…
Facebook allow you to place a ‘pixel (a piece of code) on your website to track your visitors.
And then “re-target” them with adverts to drive them back to your site.
As these people are already warmed up to your brand and website it’s cheaper to run re-targeting ads than targeting new visitors usually.
Facebook have a handy guide here showing you how to set it up.
Then you create simple ads telling people you have new content.
Here’s an example of a recent, high performing ad, I ran that I was getting $0.19 clicks for…
How to create ad’s is a series of posts in it’s self so luckily we have you covered here:
- How To Create High Converting Facebook News Feed Ads
- Step by Step Guide: Watch Over My Shoulder As I Set Up A FB Campaign
- How To Do FB Ad Tagreting For Niche Marketers
- [Case Study] How I Converted 51.54% Of Visitors Into Email Subscribers
31. Push Notifications: The Newest Traffic Technology Most Bloggers Are Missing
You might have seen these around….
You’re asked if you’d like to subscribe to updates in your browser.
And you get a notification usually any time a new blog post is made and for anything else the blogger would like to send.
It’s push notifications from PushCrew.com
If you have low traffic and expect less than 500 sign ups to your notification it’s free.
Otherwise it becomes a paid service.
Most bloggers aren’t using them yet especially outside the internet marketing niche so now is a golden time to get on them.
You can set it to automatically send out a notification to any subscribers whenever a new blog post is published making them a very passive source of traffic.
Right now these are resulting in up to 22% click through rates for me…
Which is better than I get from email and far better than I get from Facebook Ad’s.
And in the past 6 months since I’ve implemented them they’ve resulted in over 45,000 extra visitors to my content.
Over 45,000 passive visitors from PushNotifications
Not bad for a passive traffic source, right?
Please get them on your site ASAP as you’re missing out on easy, passive, traffic otherwise.
Conclusion
Knowing how to promote your blog posts is essential if you want to get more blog traffic and build your audience.
You can’t simply publish and hope for the best and only sharing with your email list and social media profiles is NOT enough as they are limited in numbers.
You have to reach out to authorities in your niche (see the report to finding your profitable niche in 7 easy steps), syndicate your content, share with others and put in some work to get links, shares and new readers.
When you spend more time promoting you get rewarded with a more engaged community who in turn tell others about your site causing a snowball effect.
And if you haven’t even started a blog yet, you can start one with less than $32 as James has shown here.
Following the 31 steps above is a good start but if you’re looking for more advanced methods that can make you up to $1,000 per blog post click here.
OTHER POPULAR NICHE HACKS CONTENT:
- How To Start A Blog That’s Epic
- 34 Ways To Boost Your Blogs Email Subscriber List
- How To Setup A WordPress Blog With BlueHost
Which methods do you use to promote your blog posts? Which of the above have you found to be the most effective?
Tell the Niche Hacks tribe in the comments section below…
