Get Website Traffic
Today I want to talk about how to get website traffic.
You see, I am still going with Alex Jeffreys Coaching Program, even though I haven’t really had a lot of time, I keep slowly working away at it. And I have just discovered that Alex has put up a contest for all fellow students to see who can drive the most traffic to their website within the 2 week period from 1st August to 14th August 2009. Now, obviously I am starting more than half way through the competition because I have not been up to date with his teachings, and I certainly won’t win the contest, but I still think getting more traffic to your website is always a bonus!
So, as a little twist in Alex’s competition, we are supposed to talk about how we are driving traffic to our websites, too. Petra-Weiss.com is an established blog (up for about 11 months), so I have been getting constant traffic already. But how did I do it? And how am I going to get more traffic in the future?
Here is a screenshot of my current Google Analytics account; I have only installed it a couple of weeks ago, also as a “homework” we had to do in Alex’s Coaching program. (Google Analytics is an excellent way of analyzing where your traffic is coming from, how many pages visitors look at, how much time they spend on your site, and what sort of actions they perform. I didn’t know it was that good, but you can really improve your sites performance when working with these figures).
Google Analytics Shot Petra-Weiss.com
Now, over the past 2 weeks and a bit I had 574 visits and 1017 pageviews. I also had a 66.55% bounce rate, which represents the percentage of initial visitors to my site who “bounce” away to a different site, rather than continue on to other pages within my site. So you can guess that I am not too happy about that! 
But how do I get website traffic to my site, and how am I going to improve it?
- I have been commenting on other blogs occasionally. This can definitely be improved! When I picked the blogs I commented on, I was mostly looking for top commentator blogs, as you can gain great backlinks to your blog when you make it to the top commentator list. Also important for me was that the blogs are “do-follow” so the link actually counts in search engine ranking terms. So part of my strategy with commenting was SEO. But one should not forget that in traffic terms, any comment on another blog (ideally related to your niche) has the potential to drive traffic, as other people see the link and might decide to click on it, whether it is do-follow or not! So I will be putting myself out there more and not worry too much about only commenting on do-follow blogs.
- I have been trying to optimize my posts for the search engines by picking keywords that have high search volume and low competition. It has actually worked – over half of the traffic to my site comes from the search engines! I am doing it again with this post; I looked for long-tail keywords in regard to driving traffic to a website, and I found “get website traffic” with Google’s keyword tool – it gets searched for 14,800 times a month, and when entered into Google Search within brackets it has only 70,700 competing sites! That is fantastic! So I am trying to optimize this post for the search term “get website traffic” to hopefully get some traffic to my site through the search engines! Have a look at my Google Analytics account regarding sources of traffic to my site:
Google Analytics - Traffic Sources Petra-Weiss.com
I actually hit the Jackpot with my “Free Affiliate Insider” scam posts – I landed on page one quickly and everybody who wants to know something about the program “Free Affiliate Insider” lands on my blog! Search Engine Traffic is the best traffic you can get; if you make it to page one for certain search terms, you get free and often quite considerable traffic to your website.
- I have been building backlinks to my site, also to improve my search engine rankings and get more traffic. I signed up with Angelas BackLinkBuilder Program through the Warrior Forum, for only $5 a month she is supplying you with 30 high page rank backlinks per month which you can use to link back to your site(s). This offer was too good to pass up! Now, whilst this might not be giving me much traffic in the short term, it will pay off in the longer term as my site search engine ranking will improve and I will therefore gain more free traffic from the search engines. Voila!
- I have been active in different IM Forums and have my sites links in my signature. So for every post I make, there is another link to my site(s) for people to click on. But truth to be told, I have been to busy to do much in forums lately, also something I have to improve on immensly!
- Yedda and Yahoo Answers. Yedda and Yahoo answers have acutally given me a fair amount of traffic from the answers I left there alone. If you go and answer questions on either of those sites, and you leave a link to your site, people are quite likely to “check out what you have to say” when they like your answer.
- Twitter, Facebook – hmmm, this is absolutely to be improved on! Shame on me, for ages I haven’t even been following my followers on twitter, which is a shame! I need to get more active in Social Networks and get the word out.
- Writing Articles, Squidoo Lenses – as much as I know that this will get you more traffic, I simply didn’t have the time to get too much into that lately. Something to think about regarding outsourcing. It could well be worth spending the money for somebody to write me some articles. If you optimize your articles with good keywords, they can bring in a fair amount of traffic.
This is mainly what I have been doing to get website traffic to petra-weiss.com. What have I planned to do in the short term to really try to spike my traffic for the contest?
- Twitter – I will tweet a lot more, maybe re-tweet some of my greater posts
, not only tweet when I make an update to my blog which is about once every two weeks… - Comment, comment, comment. I will comment on many of the other students blogs (some of whom you will find here to the right in my sidebar; absolutely great people there!), on other IM blogs and just try to add more value to the community!
- Keep going with answering questions at Yedda and Yahoo answers. Both invaluable traffic sources for me!
- Forums – be more active in forums.
Puh, I am sure that’s not all, but that’s about it for me tonight, it’s nearly 11 pm and I have to be up for my accounting and bookkeeping studies tomorrow morning, so if I find more things I can add to this list I will do so – later. Might just do a few tweets before shut-eye, though….
Related posts:
on Aug 10th, 2009 at 2:19 am
Petra all the tips that you mentioned above to increase the website traffic are awesome. I’m fully agree with your tips and wanna let you know me using almost all from these like twitter blog comments, top commentators and also social bookmarking and results are good..
[Reply]
on Aug 10th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Hi Petra,
Looks like we have another thing in common. I’m also using Angela Edward’s backlink building program and 2 of my big keyword phrases are now on page 1 after having been stucked at page 3 for a long time. Did you get similar good results with yours? I have to say her program works very well and I’m happy to have found it.
Peter
[Reply]
Petra Weiss Reply:
August 10th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
@Peter, I commented on your home business blog that I have just started implementing her backlinks, so I cannot really say yet what kind of results I am going to have, but I am hopeful after reading what you had to say about the program!
[Reply]
on Aug 10th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
Well thanks for sharing the very good and useful information.Very nice indeed.
[Reply]
on Aug 11th, 2009 at 12:23 am
Many people are looking for the “holy grail” websites that generate web traffic magically. Such websites never exist. The “holy grail” is not found in the traffic generation websites but in YOUR STRATEGY.
Syed Akram´s last blog ..What Are The Best Websites That Generate Web Traffic?
[Reply]
Petra Weiss Reply:
August 11th, 2009 at 12:44 am
@Syed, well said, and so true!
[Reply]
on Aug 11th, 2009 at 5:57 am
I added your blog to bookmarks. And i’ll read your articles more often!
[Reply]
on Aug 11th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Amazing post and great tips for generating traffic on your website.I dont think you have missed out any points here, you have included everything including Facebook, twitter, blog commenting etc.But it requires a lot of time and effort to build that kind of traffic for your site it never happens in a flip but yes over a period of time you gain some loyal visitors and great backlinks with an ever increasing traffic. Kudos to you! for writing a post full of great information.Its going to be very helpful to me.
[Reply]
Petra Weiss Reply:
August 11th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
@Frank, thanks for your positive feedback, I feel very flattered after having a look at what you are up to with your site – well done, I will be back!
[Reply]
on Aug 11th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
Hi Petra,
I just popped over to say Hi, I am one of Alex’s students. I am new to all this, but I have to say your Posts are very interesting with a great deal of content. Will have to come back to digest some more.
Pop over to my blog and have a look if you have a minute. please leave a comment. thanks.
http://stevebaileys.com
Regards Steve
Steve Bailey´s last blog ..The importance of blog commenting, Up Date.
[Reply]
on Aug 11th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
Hi Petra,
Interesting post. As a result, I’ll be checking out Yedda and Yahoo answers for sure.
I’ve also been doing some of what you’re doing and posted my first article yesterday on Ezine.
Speak soon,
Andrew.
Andrew Vaughan´s last blog ..The Power of the Internet – ‘Our’ Future.
[Reply]
on Aug 13th, 2009 at 2:53 am
Hi Petra,
thank you for visiting my blog.
you have a nicely setup blog, with good helpful tips
for everyone.
talk soon,
to your success,
Rich Cardarelli
Rich Cardarelli´s last blog ..How to Build a Relationship
[Reply]
on Aug 13th, 2009 at 5:32 am
Interesting and informative. But will you write about this one more?
[Reply]
on Aug 13th, 2009 at 10:06 am
Good advice. I must take more advantage of Yahoo Answers and forums. My problem area is marketing my blog such as making comments, getting backlinks etc. I much prefer just to write and create content but I know doing that alone is not enough.
Ezines is very good too as is my favourite, Squidoo.
Beaman the Interiors Chap´s last blog ..Large Bathroom Cherry Blossom Wall Sticker
[Reply]
Petra Weiss Reply:
August 14th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
@Beaman, try also Yedda, all links on Yedda are do-follow, and you can get a fair amount of traffic from there, if you give good answers.
[Reply]
on Aug 13th, 2009 at 10:51 am
Hey Petra,
This was a great well written post. I really enjoyed reading it and I will most certainly drop back regularly in future to see what you are up too.
Yahoo Answers is a great way to grab some traffic, I have used it a little and seen some results and recommend anyone using it as one of their traffic sources.
This is the thing with traffic, its all about building lots of streams of traffic from different sources so when they all add up you have a strong decent flow of traffic to your site.
Great work again on this post and its good to see the success you have had so far with concentrating on keywords on your blog. Excellent stuff.
I look forward to catching up with you soon,
Josh
Josh Bartlett´s last blog ..The WINNER of the Flip Mino HD! Is it you?
[Reply]
Petra Weiss Reply:
August 13th, 2009 at 11:39 am
@Josh, thanks for the thumbs up! I feel very honored – and congrats to you on your success with your Internet marketing journey! I hope I will get that far one day… I have to keep checking out your blog as you know so much about creating videos and marketing with videos, and that’s one of my next tasks to tackle! Thanks again, Josh.
[Reply]
on Aug 13th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
Looks like you know what you’re doing, and you’re sticking with it! Keep up the good work. I can see your a blogging guru in the making.
The Gooroo @ iBlogPlanet.com´s last blog ..Be More Than An Entrepreneur – Be A Creative One
[Reply]
Petra Weiss Reply:
August 14th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
@The Gooroo, thanks for your confidence in my ability, I feel honored!
[Reply]
on Aug 14th, 2009 at 3:20 am
I am also using some formulas for getting traffic on my blog. I have done my blog do follow also.
Nick@SEO India´s last blog ..Off Page SEO
[Reply]
on Aug 14th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
I liked the idea of picking keywords that have high search volume and low competition for writing posts. Thanks!
[Reply]
on Aug 15th, 2009 at 2:45 am
Thanks for the tips – how’s it looking for the contest?
I forget – is it total traffic or percentage improvement?
I wish #2 since I just started mine this month so there’s no way I can compete with older ones (like you said, it’s a combination of long-term and short-term strategies).
Now I’m going to go write a keyword rich post!
Good Luck–Lee
http://www.Lee-little.com
[Reply]
Petra Weiss Reply:
August 15th, 2009 at 10:58 pm
@Lee, I have noticed quite a jump in my traffic since yesterday, I only started more commenting and forum work a few days ago, so I am sure that the jump is related to me being more active in putting myself out there. I am still nowhere near some of the other guys. And yes, it would be fairer if the contest would be about percentage improvement – otherwise it doesn’t make much sense because there are so many Newbies in the course…. Good Luck with your post!
[Reply]
on Aug 16th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
There is no point in sacrificing the quality of your websites domain name (adding dashes between words for instance) just because you didn’t get the name you originally wanted. An easily typed and memorable domain name is an essential part of a successful website.
[Reply]
on Aug 19th, 2009 at 5:53 am
Hi Petra,
It’s John Tanner here, fellow AJ student, doing the rounds and visiting other students blogs.
I don’t think there is a magic formula for instant traffic, it’s more of a long term strategy.
As a newbie, traffic generation is one of my priorities and I was interested to read your views on Yedda and Yahoo Answers which I’ll look into.
I’m looking into outsourcing some Article writing. There are quite a few people offering these services on Warrior Forum and I’ve ordered 3 articles which should arrive by the end of the week.
I’ll then integrate the articles with Squidoo and create a Weebly site.
Like you say, everything is time consuming.
I’ll let you know if I’ve found a quality article writer.
Keep in touch,
John
John Tanner´s last blog ..How to cloak your affilliate links
[Reply]
Petra Weiss Reply:
August 22nd, 2009 at 12:13 am
@John, outsourcing is one of my “to do” tasks, so please let me know when you find a quality article writer, that would be great! Good luck with your traffic generation techniques – I know, it just takes soooooo much time – that’s why outsourcing is a great idea, if you have the means.
[Reply]
on Aug 20th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Hello..
I like your post. It is very informative. Every one wants to increase the traffic of his site. Thank you for sharing such a useful information with us. I am new in SEO. This post is very help full for New comers.
Joomla Programmer
[Reply]
on Aug 22nd, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Interesting article, a lot of good points expressed in detail. Valuable information too.
You had included all points withoutmissing anything which promote/get traffic for the websites.
THanx for great post.
[Reply]
on Aug 25th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
are those student that listed on your side bar using do follow as well? It seems what you have done is not really different than mine. except in squidoo. I don’t have lens in squidoo.
Ruri@Free article directory´s last blog ..Miami Beats Carolina To Remain Undefeated In NFL Preseason Play
[Reply]
Petra Weiss Reply:
August 27th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
@Ruri, the students in my sidebar are fellow Alex Jeffreys students, and it is up to everybody themselves whether they want to make their blog dofollow or not.
[Reply]
on Aug 26th, 2009 at 8:25 am
For a new blog I highly recommend people to get new visitors by commenting on others blogs. After some while you’ll receive backlinks resulting in your posts ranking better.
With that said, it’s important to write SEO posts from the beginning. By doing so you will have a lot gained.
Stefan´s last blog ..How to Make the Most of Your Comments
[Reply]
on Aug 27th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Nice tips Petra. The long-tail keywords is indeed a smart marketing strategy. Having those with 4-5 words or more on several of your blog posts or internal pages can bring in some little traffic but when combined, it can become a powerful source of free traffic.
[Reply]
on Aug 28th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
[...] I am writing this to “further” my previous post on how to get website traffic. [...]
on Sep 3rd, 2009 at 3:35 pm
that’s a wonderful post. this will really help me a lot. wonderfully described.i appreciate it. thanks .keep sharing.
[Reply]
on Mar 3rd, 2010 at 11:18 pm
Nice work you have done. I think you have practiced almost all basic techniques to get traffic and the results are good actually. Its a good idea that you have shared your site traffic figures and the efforts to achieve them with us. Its a motivation for most of us.
Thank you
[Reply]
on May 15th, 2010 at 7:06 am
Excellent Post! As always, a great read!
[Reply]