Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...
50 traffic tips for content marketers
1. 50 Traffic Tips for Content Marketers
by Dan Norris
Hi I'm Dan the founder of Informly, an app that helps content marketers engage
their audience and drive more leads.
World first audience and site analytics for content marketers - Check it out now
Monday, 15 April 13
2. 1. AUTOMATE
Set your systems up to automate the syndication of your content. This was
one of a few tips from Brian Massey the conversion scientist. He covers
automation in his Blog Volcano strategy here.
2. FORUMS
Forums particularly private memberships have been a massive support to
me with my content. I am part of the Dynamite Circle and Fast Web
Formula.
World first audience and site analytics for content marketers - Check it out now
Monday, 15 April 13
3. 3. BASIC SEO
Getting a basic SEO setup for your blog is a must. Check out the Informly
guide to content driven SEO as a good starting point.
4. ADVANCED SEO
Neil Patel has just released an amazing new guide to advanced SEO, check
it out here.
World first audience and site analytics for content marketers - Check it out now
Monday, 15 April 13
4. 5. START PARTNERSHIPS
Work out who has your audience (ideally a similar size) and partner on
some content. This ebook on content marketing metrics produced by
Convince and Convert and the Content Marketing Institute is a great
example.
6. LISTING SITES
Blog listing sites can be a useful traffic source. The Informly blog was
recently added to the Alltop small business section, I’ll monitor this to
see how it goes as a traffic source.
World first audience and site analytics for content marketers - Check it out now
Monday, 15 April 13
5. 7. GUEST POSTING
Guest posting is my most effective source of traffic and conversions but
only since I started doing it effectively. Here is a guest post about guest
posting I wrote for ProBlogger recently.
8. USE SLIDE SHARE
Joe Pulizzi from the Content Marketing Institute says “Take current
PowerPoint presentations and promote them on SlideShare. It’s an
excellent location to syndicate content you already have – no additional
investment with content you already own.”
World first audience and site analytics for content marketers - Check it out now
Monday, 15 April 13
6. 9. CREATE A LIST POST
Doing a list post is a very well accepted way of generating traffic. I haven’t
done one before so I figured I would try. This top 50 content traffic
strategies post is my take on a list post.
10. COLD EMAIL INFLUENCERS
Sometimes it helps to just email people cold. For this traffic strategies
post I emailed all of the people below about contributing to the post (and
more). Getting influencers on board will sure help your reach. I also did a
similar thing for my podcasting guide which is now my most trafficked
post.
World first audience and site analytics for content marketers - Check it out now
Monday, 15 April 13
7. 11. RUN A WEBINAR
Webinars can be a great way to build your authority and get your
name out there. Jake Hower from the Multimedia Marketing Show
just recorded a great podcast with Lewis Howes on this topic here.
12. HELP A REPORTER OUT
Services like Help a Reporter Out (HARO) and Source Bottle allow
content creators to find experts for articles. Sign up for the email and
contact anyone writing an article in your area of expertise.
World first audience and site analytics for content marketers - Check it out now
Monday, 15 April 13
8. 13. GIVE AWAY STUFF FOR FREE
This should be second nature to content creators but it’s always worth
thinking about what else you can give away for free. At Informly I give
away big content like our guides, email courses, calculators and software
as an example.
14. GET GUESTS ON YOUR BLOG
Having guests on your blog could come in many forms (not just guest
posts). Brian Massey likes the strategy of ‘asking experts to spew’. He
points to The Daily Egg blog which asks experts to comment on
something (Websites in this case) and publishes their opinions / analysis.
World first audience and site analytics for content marketers - Check it out now
Monday, 15 April 13
9. 15. CREATE A UDEMY COURSE
Udemy looks like a very promising platform for creating educational
content. Check it out here.
16. WRITE A PRESS RELEASE
If any aspect of your content is newsworthy in any way you can get a
boost in traffic by releasing a press release. I use PR Web.
World first audience and site analytics for content marketers - Check it out now
Monday, 15 April 13
10. 17. BE CONTROVERSIAL
Last year the Verge released an article on ‘scammy’ internet marketers
which annoyed a few people. It’s got over 1,000 comments, 4.5k Facebook
likes, almost 2k tweets, backlinks from the major internet marketing blogs
and had the whole industry talking (for a while). Well done Verge.
18. AUTO FOLLOW ON TWITTER
Auto following on Twitter can be a surprisingly effective (albeit a little bit
dodgy) way at getting traffic. Check out the Informly guide on auto
following on Twitter with Tweet Adder.
World first audience and site analytics for content marketers - Check it out now
Monday, 15 April 13
11. 19. DAILY SOCIAL MEDIA SHARE
Use Google Reader to subscribe to the top blogs in your industry and
post a link to social media on the best article you find each day. I use
Hootsuite to auto post to Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin.
20. IMPROVE YOUR TITLES
Heidi Cohen says “When it comes to driving traffic, the most efficient
thing you can do is to craft compelling headlines since they do the heavy
lifting of driving traffic. Readers decide whether or not to read or share
your content on the basis of your title.” Here is a great article she has
written on the topic.
World first audience and site analytics for content marketers - Check it out now
Monday, 15 April 13
12. 21. START A PODCAST
Chris Ducker says It’s no longer a matter of ‘Should I, or Shouldn’t I Start
a Podcast?’ Producing a podcast has boosted traffic to my blog like I
never would have imagined. It’s a complete game-changer as far as I’m
concerned. Check out Chris’ The New Business Podcast here.
22. INTERACT WITH INFLUENCERS
There are people out there who have audiences big enough to send
thousands of visitors to your site with one mention. Find them and do all
of the things I talk about in this podcast episode.
World first audience and site analytics for content marketers - Check it out now
Monday, 15 April 13
13. 23. POST CONTENT TO FORUMS
Everyone tries the approach of going onto forums and answering people
questions but it’s crowded and a lot of work. Why not save some of your
best original content and post it on a forum instead of on your own blog.
Don’t forget the compelling call to action in your forum signature.
24. CREATE NEWS AND OTR
James Schramko has built up a large following with a news based video
approach known as Own The Racecourse. He has recently released the
whole training series for free here.
World first audience and site analytics for content marketers - Check it out now
Monday, 15 April 13
14. 25. COMMENT ON SOME BLOGS
Blog commenting can produce a range of benefits. I don’t see it has a
huge traffic strategy but it can be a great way to interact with influencers
so build a list of your favorite blogs and make a habit of posting
thoughtful replies to posts.
26. CREATE AN INFOGRAPHIC
I regularly get twice the traffic to my infographics than I do to typical blog
posts.Visual content is taking off so why not have a go. Here is a post
from SEO Moz on10 tools for creating infographics.
World first audience and site analytics for content marketers - Check it out now
Monday, 15 April 13
15. 27. RESPOND ON QUORA
Quora is a hugely popular site now and it also has a lot of high quality
content and contributors. When you have a particularly useful post why
not reply to some Quora comments with useful responses and drop a
link to your blog post with more info.
28. JOIN TRIBERR
Triberr is a site that allows bloggers to form tribes and support each
other’s content efforts. Check it out here.
World first audience and site analytics for content marketers - Check it out now
Monday, 15 April 13
16. 29. GO VIRAL ON HACKER NEWS
Recently my friend Brian posted his first article to Hacker News and got
17,000 visits in 2 days. I wrote about it here.
30. SEND A ‘MENTIONS’ TWEET
When you mention others in your content send out a tweet saying
‘Mentioned in this podcast / post @tropicalmba, @neilpatel’ etc. Some
people will take notice and retweet it (particularly if it’s great content).
World first audience and site analytics for content marketers - Check it out now
Monday, 15 April 13
17. 31. DO SOMETHING FUNNY
Why so serious? Matt from Vooza seems to be doing just fine, check out
some of these not so serious startup videos.
32. DRAW SOMETHING
Brian Massey again with this tip “Since tablets are all the rage, I say ‘Draw
Something’ Scott Brinker uses an iPad app for this (see here)”. I also
produce Illustrations at Informly check them out here.
World first audience and site analytics for content marketers - Check it out now
Monday, 15 April 13
18. 33. CREATE AN EMAIL COURSE
Email courses are a great way to get an opt in and also build a
relationship over time (unlike a one off ebook). CopyBlogger uses them
so it must be good. I use MailChimp for our email courses on content
marketing and actionable analytics.
34. SYNDICATE YOUR SOCIAL UPDATES
Use Hootsuite or Buffer to auto schedule your social updates on the
various networks throughout the day. I use Hootsuite as it’s pretty much
a full replacement for Twitter.
World first audience and site analytics for content marketers - Check it out now
Monday, 15 April 13
19. 35. POST TO SOCIAL MEDIA GROUPS
Linkedin and Facebook are both filled with endless groups of people
within your niche. Join them and start posting valuable content (within
the rules of course).
36. PAID DISCOVERY
Outbrain is the Google Adwords / Adsense for content marketers. It
enables you to show up as a related post on other big name blogs like
Mashable. Check it outhere.
World first audience and site analytics for content marketers - Check it out now
Monday, 15 April 13
20. 37. SEND UP TWILERT
Twilert is a really easy way to see exactly who is tweeting your content. It
will email you every day showing who has tweeted anything on your
domain.You can sign up for free at Twilert.com.
38. JOIN A COMMENT TRIBE
If you are just getting started one thing you could consider is joining a
group of bloggers who comment on and share each other’s posts. This
gives you traffic and adds some credibility to your content (an empty
comments section and low social sharing numbers isn’t a good look).
World first audience and site analytics for content marketers - Check it out now
Monday, 15 April 13
21. 39. WRITE A BOOK
Most of the well known content marketers are either writing a book or
already have at least one. It’s still the ultimate authority builder.
40. IMPROVE READABILITY
AJ Kohn from Blind 5 Year Old reminded me of the importance of
readability. Here is a great article he wrote on making your posts more
readable
World first audience and site analytics for content marketers - Check it out now
Monday, 15 April 13
22. 41. JACK THE NEWS
David Meerman Scott says “Inject your ideas into a breaking news story
via a real-time blog post, photo, or video and generate tons of media
coverage”. He would know, he wrote the book on Newsjacking…like
literally….here’s the book newsjacking.com (with a free chapter).
42. MEET SOMEONE IN PERSON
The web hasn’t killed basic human nature. People will always be more
likely to get on board with what you are doing if you have met them in
person and have a real relationship. Get to some events and get yourself
known. Meetup.com is a good place to find local events.
World first audience and site analytics for content marketers - Check it out now
Monday, 15 April 13
23. 43. CROSS PROMOTE YOUR CONTENT
It’s easy to forget that your audience in one place might be different to
another. Don’t forget to mention your blog posts on your podcast, your
podcast on your videos etc.
44. CREATE SOME DEEP CONTENT
Make sure your site isn’t just filled with ordinary articles. Filler articles
are great but you have to include some pillar content as well. I spoke with
the godfather Joe Pulizzi about this here.
World first audience and site analytics for content marketers - Check it out now
Monday, 15 April 13
24. 45. DEEP LINK TO OTHER BLOGS
When you link to someone else’s blog post (not their homepage) there is
a good chance they will get a ‘trackback’ notification. This is an easy and
subtle way to let people know that you are talking about them (they
might share the post or at least visit your blog out of curiosity).
46. POST TO REDDIT
When I launched Informly and when I’ve published my infographics I’ve
always received a decent amount of traffic from posting on Reddit. I
admit the conversions and onsite metrics are horrible but it’s a good way
to get something noticed.
World first audience and site analytics for content marketers - Check it out now
Monday, 15 April 13
25. 47. NOMINATE FOR AN AWARD
I was recently voted Australia’s top small business blogger all because I
spent 5 minutes nominating myself for the award. I got a decent boost in
traffic immediately and no doubt there will be long term benefits.
48. CREATE LANDING PAGES
Adam Franklin from Bluewire Media says “Offer your premium content
like e-books, tools and templates on landing pages where people fill out a
form to download the content.”. Adam practices what he preaches too,
check out the Web Strategy Template.
World first audience and site analytics for content marketers - Check it out now
Monday, 15 April 13
26. 49. EMAILS NEWSLETTERS
Don’t forget to build your mailing list which could easily become your
biggest traffic referrer and your highest converting traffic source. Here
are 20 tips from Priit Kallas on how to build your list.
50. PRESENT OLD IN A NEW WAY
Dan Andrews recently re-purposed his story (which he had shared many
times before) on a forum of likeminded people. His forum post (see here)
now has 177 replies, 244 thanks and over 17,500 views.
World first audience and site analytics for content marketers - Check it out now
Monday, 15 April 13
27. Understand your audience and what content drives them to action with
Informly. Check it out now
Presentation by
Recurring revenue and more customers with custom content - learn more
World first audience and site analytics for content marketers - Check it out now
Monday, 15 April 13