But… How Do I Get Traffic?
Feb 19
Yesterday I asked what you all would like to learn about next on this blog. To my surprise I got a lot of …
How do I get traffic?
Which surprised me a little lot since I just spent an entire month showing you different ways to get traffic. 
So there must be a piece that is missing. I’m not sure what it is, but I’ve got a couple ideas and I’m going to cover them in this post. (I had a post about getting traffic with video planned for today ~ but it’s getting pushed to Monday).
What’s the difference between getting traffic and building links?
Traffic ~ the holy grail of internet marketing, because if you don’t have traffic you can’t sell anything right? Everyone, myself included has gone on and on and on about how important backlinks are to traffic but at some point I think information overload and confusion has taken over.
Traffic is any person who comes to your site looking for what you offer. This traffic can come from anywhere ~ twitter, Google, youtube, forums you’ve participated on, blogs you’ve commented on, articles you’ve written and had published, articles you’ve published that someone else has published on their own site, guest posts you’ve made on other people’s blogs, stumbleupon, Squidoo, free ebooks you create and distribute, email groups you participate in, RSS subscribers. These are all traffic channels and there are probably many many more. These are all ways people can find your site.
Backlinks ~ are one piece of the puzzle that will help you get traffic from Google.
So while everyone talks about backlinks ~ and Google traffic is fantastic it is NOT, by FAR the only way to get traffic to your site. Do you see how only one of those traffic channels involves backlinks? Google ~ Google is the reason you build backlinks ~ so you can get traffic from Google. But realize here… Google is not the only game in town.
Here’s a fact.
Brand new websites, whether they are hosted by you, or on Squidoo or on blogger or wherever are VERY likely ~ like 95% likely (I just made up that number but I’m making a point ~ and I’m probably not that far off) to bounce around in the search results and at times get kicked out all together. This is known as “getting sandboxed”.
Getting sandboxed ~ (and I’m sure people will argue with me, but it’s been my experience) happens when you build links quickly to new sites.
So on one hand the “gurus” tell you to build links to your site to get search engine ranking.
On the other hand Google gives you a good slap in the head when you do.
What are you to do?
How about a mental shift? Yes, a mental shift. Almost everything in the world can be changed with a mental shift.
Anyway…
Let’s change the way we look at this whole situation from
How many links do I have to create to get to the #1 spot of Google?
to
How can I help people find the information they are looking for that I provide?
It is a critical difference. Here’s why ~
As you go about your life helping people find your content you will be doing things that Google loves and you will end up getting where you want to be with them.
However, and this is big. You will be getting traffic all the while you’re waiting on Google to figure out how cool you are.
So how do I do that Jackie?
You start thinking about traffic as “communication channels”. This is what I learned from Yaro Starak, one of my mentors, (here’s his free ebook on getting traffic if you want it) When you start thinking about traffic in terms of communication channels you stop looking at how to game google and start thinking about how you can communicate with people. You actually start to remember that traffic is PEOPLE. Real people looking for real things, and if you’re lucky, you have what they’re looking for.
So how to do this…
Find a couple communication channels you enjoy participating in. There are some that are smaller than others, but they will all work. Some will get you trickles of traffic, some will bring you a ton, and some will surprise you and create huge opportunities for you.
Here are a few you can choose from:
Blogs
Forums
Articles
Twitter
Facebook
Stumbleupon
These are all places you can get into conversation (yeah communication) with people. Pick one or two of these that you enjoy and do them. Regularly. Consistently. Do them. I don’t care if it’s for only 5 minutes a day, but do it every day for 5 minutes. (realizing that 5 minutes is not very much and you will have better results the more you put in to it)
If you choose to comment on blogs ~ find 5 blogs you love and go there everyday. Read the post and participate in the conversation. You will get traffic from blog comments, especially if you are participating in a conversation. You may find the blog owner stops by (especially after you’ve been commenting for a while), they may leave a comment on your blog, they may even tell their readership about you.
If you add a particularly juicy bit to the conversation you may find they go back and edit their post and give you some credit for new information ~ this just happened to me a couple days ago on Josh Spaulding’s blog. Don’t think this only works in internet marketing areas ~ it works for any niche you can think of.
You like to participate in forums? Then go do it. Add to the conversation, participate. Just remember, reading all the posts does not count as participation.
Enjoy social networking? Then do it and do it regularly and consistently.
All of these things will bring you traffic, and in doing all these things you will also be building links that Google loves and will use to rank your site.
Traffic before I even got indexed
I recently started a new site. I’m doing a little quiet experiment. New niche, no followers, not using my current assets, starting from scratch, just like anyone else.
Well it took a while for that site to get indexed. I kept watching it and watching it and getting more and more irritated. One day I was in my statcounter account for some reason and I happened to see the site was already getting 25 to 50 visitors a day ~ and the damn thing wasn’t even indexed yet and was less than a week old. Had less than 10 posts on it and getting traffic. I checked yesterday and it’s still only been 2 weeks since I started the site ~ 21 RSS subscribers.
You can get traffic, it’s not hard ~ you have to do a couple things.
1. LOOSEN UP! The entire internet really goes round on information and more and more on connection. Loosen up, have a little fun and get involved.
2. Quit thinking there’s a “right” way to do this. There’s not. There’s a million different ways and the only right way is the one that you can take action on consistently.
3. Open up to the possibility of getting traffic somewhere besides google. (yes, once established it is THE most kick ass traffic you can get ~ but that takes time and not all of us have that long to wait for traffic)
Now let’s address the BUTS ~ because I can hear you yelling “Yeah, but… Yeah, but… Yeah, but… from here.
This won’t work for small niche sites.
Yep. You’re probably right, which is why I am moving in the direction of focusing on a couple of larger sites instead of a million little ones.
It costs a lot of money to throw stuff up against the wall to see what’s going to stick.
Part of the small niche sites strategy is doing many many many many of those sites so you can find the 20% that will work. I personally can not keep track of that much stuff, and I don’t want to have to rely completely on Google for my traffic, which is what those kind of sites are all about.
If you are doing these micro niche type sites your best bet for instruction is Brian Johnson and Commission Ritual. (I have it, have used it and it is an excellent tool to learn how to do these kind of sites) He is doing it and making it work ~ but don’t be fooled ~ he’s spending a LOT of money to do it. He also recommends you only build 1 or 2 links when the site is first built and then leave it alone for at least 3 MONTHS. (this is to bypass the whole sandbox thing), so you just keep building and building and building while your sites age. This is also why we tell you to do the basic linking on lenses and then let them SIMMER.
You can NOT MAKE something show up in the Google search results ~ unless you buy your way in with PPC. You have to relax, and give things time to work. If you want traffic in the meantime ~ there are all the other ways.
If you really like doing small sites ~ or you’re working on Squidoo my suggestion is to create them all in a specific “niche” ~ then you can use more communication channels to send traffic to your sites. It’s much easier to build a following of people interested in one niche and then provide them a way to get to your sites than it is if you’ve got sites on a million different topics.
I don’t have time to do all that!
It doesn’t take much more time than anything else. A tweet is 140 characters, seriously, how long can that take? I spend probably 30 minutes a day on Twitter, and maybe 30 minutes to an hour commenting on blogs and building relationships with other bloggers. Do you have an hour to kill two birds with one stone?
I think social networking/blog commenting/forum marketing is a waste of time.
Then you probably have not done it conistently for any period of time.
Challenge yorself to a 7 or 14 day challenge where you consistently do any of those things and then let’s talk.
I did one _______________ (fill in the blank) and I’m not getting any traffic.
If you think one of anything online is going to be enough to get you traffic you are wrong. One will never get you were you want to be. Internet marketing is an ongoing, consistent action business. One article is not going to get you traffic or enough links to rank in google. One blog comment is not going to create a communication channel or a relationship with that blogger. One comment on a forum is not going to help you build a reputation as someone who knows the subject and is willing to help.
So… how do you get traffic?
Pick a couple ways you can connect with other people who like the same thing as you and do them every single day. It’s not magic, and it’s not rocket science. Don’t let being new, or feeling confused make this any harder than it is.
Choose something and do it. Do it every single day.
I’m sure there are questions ~ so fire away.
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Other Posts That Might Help:
Maybe look a little wider instead of just about spanish language think of things where people would need to speak spanish. Maybe travel blogs. Try googling spain travel blog ~ I found quite a few possibilities.
then maybe try mexico travel blog ~
try to think outside the box of learning spanish, and look at things people might do where it would be beneficial for them to know spanish. Just a couple thoughts.
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thanks jackie, that was helpful, i found some good ones and a couple of forums..
it does help to think outside the box
Anna@beginspanishnow´s last blog ..Helpful Spanish Phrases | Simple Phrases For Asking For Help In Spanish
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Hi Jackie,
I have just started looking for Learn Spanish blogs that I can leave comments on. But I am having a helluva time finding any good ones. What I mean by that is most of them are all about sales. They are stacked with very similar info and then they always go to the potential sale. I can’t seem to find any that are “real”. I am building my site similar to a blog and can allow comments and some interactions. But can’t seem to find some real quality like that, other than static websites, that don’t allow comments.
Any suggestions?
Anna@beginspanishnow´s last blog ..Helpful Spanish Phrases | Simple Phrases For Asking For Help In Spanish
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Jackie, Good post. I don’t think it’s ever wise to rely on one method for getting traffic. … And instead of trying one method and saying it does work after a short time and seeing no results, keep it up for a bit longer but also add something new.
These are great tips for getting traffic to your blog. It is so true that you can’t stop after just one try, it takes effort and a little know how to get traffic to your blog.
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Great post as usual. One question. I have been using your mind map to construct backlinks. How many articles (or blog comments or forum answers) should I do per day. I understand if my site gets sandboxed for a while, as long as it comes back. I intend to always provide quality content, but I would also like for it to help as much as possible in my search engine rankings.
Thanks for being so patient with us noobs.
I can’t say how many you should do per day ~ it totally depends on your situation and your keywords. I’d say set a number of links you want to create a day and do that. It doesn’t have to be a ton ~ if you consistently build links everyday you’ll get there. You could strive for 10 to 15 links a day (or whatever works for you). I’m doing a post today that will probably help those of you building links so watch for it.
Follow me @momtohanna on Twitter!
Your point about slowly building links is well taken Dennis, but one of the biggest points I was trying to make in this post was that there are OTHER ways to get traffic and to try to stop looking at getting traffic in terms of “how many links do I need to get” and try to look at it instead in terms of how can I make connections, create relationships and help people.
It’s a very different way of looking at getting traffic than most ~ but I’ve found it works quite well.
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jackie made a very important point that I’d like to elaborate on…
Link building is an absolute must, it’s the backbone of Googles algorithm, no matter what else changes; two things to always keep in mind…
1. Relevant links
2. Link build reasonably SLOWLY or Google will slap you senseless
Those packages – build 10,000 links in 30 seconds or less! BAD idea.
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Hi Jackie,
This is an excellent post.
I have been torn for quite some time about my business model.
I also have Commission Ritual by Brian Johnson and feel that his business model (or similar ones) suit me best.
However, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that promoting a hundred sites ( I currently have about 40) is much more challenging than creating an authority blog (or site) on one topic… or as you said, just a few.
I have paid for services that provide (or create) backlinks to my sites, but I have to spread them out amongst the sites that I feel will benefit most from them.
But I can’t help thinking, “what if all these links were all sent to the same site or just a few sites???
In an effort to get my wife involved in internet marketing and understand what I am doing a little better, I did something I’ve never done before. I persuaded her to purchased an existing site. Coincidentally, the site sold by “Brian Johnson” lol.
The site is about American Idol and since she loves that show, I thought it would be a good match for her. And I also figured I could help her learn the ropes. Well, she went for the idea. However, she works a full time job and I find myself researching the content and making the posts and pages myself.
The other issue I see with this site is that people who find this site are not searching with “buying” keywords. They are looking for information about the show. Of course, that is what I’m giving them, but I am wondering how this all will turn out.
Thank you for your help and again… this post is excellent!
Don
Thank-you so much Jackie.
There was allot of information there that I did not know about. I especially did not know about the sandbagging thing.
I like what Cathy said about adding your photos on flickr and using them to link to you. Thanks Cathy.
Jackie, you have been so much help to me over the months and I really appreciate it.
Take Care,
Lisa
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As the saying goes ” Ask and You shall receive”… How do i place my picture in my comment like what you have or others here…Thanks in advance
Follow me @jamessamy on Twitter!
Hi Jackie,
Once again thank you for sharing your knowledge to people like me who is coming here at blog to learn and put it in action.
First of all, i just new what is sandboxing from you Jackie. Previously, I thought sandboxed means sand inside a box lol.
I going to Challenge myself to a 12 day challenge ( cause i born on the 12th ) where i consistently going one or two of those things you mention in your post … like blog commenting or forum or social media. After that i come here and share my journey to all here.
Thank you Jackie for showing this simple steps to make it online.
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Jackie,
Thanks for the clear post. I think for beginners, they take any advice that they receive and consider it gold. I love that you take the time to dissect what is actually a complicated process. Keep up the good work!
Hi Jackie,
Yeah I didn’t think about the “leverage” that you already have…. mmm what if you didn’t use that as an advantage, I wonder if that would work?
My offer (I sent it in an email) still stands if you are interested ; )
Follow me @beignspanishnow on Twitter!
That’s great info Jackie – I wasn’t aware of the sandbagging thing – perhaps that’s what is going on with a few of my lenses right now that haven’t yet been indexed although when I built the links – it was over the course of one week – not all in one day. But, maybe even that was too much for google??
Laura :O)
Great post, Jackie. I’m glad I ran across you on facebook. My new baby blog hasn’t been indexed yet (my fault, I didn’t change my privacy settings to allow search engines to see it. Newbie mistake). HOWEVER, I’ve been getting around 30 views per day, with 55 today, from only social media and forum conversations.
I was bummed at first that I missed out on potential traffic, but kind of proud that I can market the heck out of it responsibly without Google’s help. Thanks for reiterating my current state, though it was a mistake.
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This is something we (my husband and I) learned from one of our Squidoo friends (FYI–our squidoo id is 2eklectik)–if you have some photos relevent to your blog, lens, niche,etc upload them to flickr and put your link in the description–along with some keywords. We have some great pictures of the national parks (from vacation) and one of our niches is hiking items–so we put a link to one of our blog sites about hiking boots and we do get some traffic and nice comments from this. One of our pictures of the empire state building (we live in NY and have a lens on the NY Yankees) got picked for an iphone app!! We make all of these pictures public so people can use them in there blogs and lenses with credit given to us.
Thanks for all the info.
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Cathy a great idea and a great way to get some extra traffic! Thanks for sharing.
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Jackie, as always a solid and valuable post. It gave me an idea that falls under your post from yesterday about “what we want to learn next”..
In today’s post you talked about your new blog and how is has received traffic and RSS subscribers etc. What if you did a new blog from scratch in order to “teach” the what’s next series?
Meaning, you start a new blog and step by step each day in your posts, tell or show your readers what you have done, and then we, if we are smart that is, will implement the same system you are using. You can then eventually package it and sell it.
Anyway, just my idea… : )
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hi Anna ~
I definitely thought about doing it that way ~ the problem is that I am then using my existing resources and it won’t really be “starting from scratch” I will get traffic from here instead of showing how you can get it when you don’t have a fanbase intact already. Don’t worry though ~ it will be available shortly.
Follow me @momtohanna on Twitter!
Excellent post Jackie… I didn’t know about the sandbox thing. I have 4 new blogs that are not indexed yet but are getting traffic and backlinks from social media sites. I use OnlyWire and post regularly. I get an average of 40 visits a day and wanted to add article marketing to increase the traffic. Would I be doing too much?
You can add articles ~ even if you get sandboxed you’ll still be getting traffic from your social media and articles. You’re getting traffic NOW and you’re not even indexed ~ which is exactly the point I was trying to make.
Follow me @momtohanna on Twitter!
I’m so glad you said it was ok to just do the things you enjoy doing! I have wasted precious time trying to force myself to do things I hate (forums!) when I could have spent that time doing things I like (blog comments, Twitter).
Just one more little thing some people might want to try: I’ve listed my blog with a couple of blog directories related to my niche and have gotten a few visitors from them.
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