10 ways to get free traffic to your website or business.
Although the easiest way to get more traffic or leads is to pay for them.
There is no reason why you shouldn’t have some strategies in place to pick up free traffic.
Getting free traffic though needs to be looked at as a longer term strategy as it takes time for many of these ideas to get traction.
But a lot of businesses have been built on the concept of not paying for traffic so it is worth considering.
Here are 10 ways you can get free traffic:
1) Being Consistent.
If you are going to create a strategy for attracting free traffic it has been shown that “consistency” is one of the keys to getting traffic.
Even if you decide you only have time to create just one article or video per month make sure you do it every month and at around the same time.
Search engines seem to like consistency and will get to know when to index your site for new content.
Once a month is ok, but it is far better if you can aim for at least once a week.A site that continually gets updated and adds new content on a regular basis appears to really appeal to the search engines.
Also keep messaging consistent with the theme of your business or website.
2) Content is king.
There is no doubt that if you want to get free traffic then you have to provide useful content that people want.Having a blog or article section on your website is a must if you use this strategy.
Every industry can create content that is useful for their potential customers.
Tips, Tricks, updates or even news can all be used to create content.
People appreciate content especially if it is informative.
It’s OK to link it back to your product or sales page just don’t make the article or blog post look like a sales page.
Aim for 1500 words or more and add pictures and if you can video.
Look for popular keywords that are used by your industry and write your article around them.
3) Videos content.
Video content has been on the rise for years now and doesn’t look like it is going to slow down anytime soon.
Creating video content is a great way of getting free traffic and the best thing is that they don’t have to be long videos or even amazing quality.
My Youtube Channel
3 minute videos work really well because people can consume them quickly.
Once created you can then add them to Youtube, content pages and across your whole social media network.
Try to be consistent with your branding so that people learn to recognise your content.
And also ask people to subscribe to your Youtube channel as this will help boost your ranking especially when you add a new video.
Your videos don’t need to be slick or expensive to make.
Good sound is a must but many of the most popular videos on Youtube were created using a smart phone.
4) Facebook
Getting free traffic from Facebook isn’t necessarily easy but it is worth trying just because of the size of the potential audience.
Apart from having an account there are two things you should consider working on.
My Facebook page
The first is to have a “page” on a particular subject.
Facebook pages are great for overall content or even working on a niche subject.
So I have a Malcolm “Biz Life Line” page which covers everything about this system but what I could also have is a page dedicated to just increasing your customers average order value.
The trick is to talk about the subject but make sure you mention your website or business as often as possible and give plenty of links to it.
The second thing you can do with Facebook is create a “group”.
This allows you to gather together like minded people to talk about a subject that interest them.
People like to feel “they belong” and creating a group gives them an ideal opportunity to be in contact with people who have the same interest.
My new group “Biz life line” has been created for anyone (Like yourself) that wants to grow their business using proper techniques.
If you make your group a “Closed group” then it adds to the “I belong to…” feeling.
I don’t want to advertise as much in my group. The idea is to show I know what I am talking about by answering questions and giving out ideas…
…Which will hopefully lead to sales long term.
5) Twitter
To be honest I am not a big fan of Twitter but I know people who use it to generate leads.Twitter is all about “Twitting” often and using the hash-tag to get noticed.
Research on popular “hashtags” is probably worthwhile because they can help you direct your tweets to people who may be interested in your message.
But you also need to mix it up with “tweats” about other interesting things.Growing followers is also important and you should actively find people to follow because they will often follow you back.
I think also you should try to get your message in your twitter username if you can.
So when you are tweeting, people who can see in your name, if they should consider following you.
As example…
If I were selling quadcopters I would try and get an account like “mals_quadcopters”.
Then when I am twitting on a popular hashtag anyone who is interested in quadcopters will probably check me out.
I am still not convinced “Twitter” is worth the effort but as I said I know people who swear by it as a traffic generating source.
More free traffic getting methods in my next email.
6)Forum
One thing about the internet is that you can find plenty of places to waste your time away.Forums are a great example……
But unfortunately they are one of those places where you will often find free targeted traffic.
You do need to be careful about how you use them so here are some tips to help you.
Forums are a great source of traffic if you are careful and don’t just post links to your products or websites.
Only pick forums that allow you to add a signature link otherwise you have no way of getting people back to your offer.
Watch for forums that jump on anyone who tries to mention another site or product as some of them are dead against anything commercial.
Answer questions without plugging your product or site. Let your reputation build up then your signature file will do the rest.
If the forum does allow you to link to your site directly in a post make sure you only use a link which is appropriate to question you are answering.
7) linkedin
How many potential customers you can pick up from linkedin will depend on your particular business type.
If you in the business to business sector then it is a good way of networking and show casing your skills.
Like any social media site you do have to be active and continually reach out for connections that could be potential customers.
Commenting and creating post should all be part of your strategy.
Linkedin also has a number of business tools like your “Company Page” and “Showcase Pages” which can both be used to give potential clients more information about your business.
Make sure you continually make updates and tweaks to your profile and pages to help enhance your linkedin presence.
8) Be on the lookout for places you can add content.
I purchased an HP printer the other day and when I connected it all up I was taken to the online member’s area where there was this section of content that you could print direct from the website.
This included daily Sudoku quizzes, crosswords, origami and other daily info.But it also included were work sheets from Anthony Robbins and other businesses that had the foresight to offer you free content that would hopefully lead you back to their company website and products.
I have a 3D printer and one of the most popular sites for finding things to print is http://www.thingiverse.com/.
I have noticed many companies especially ones that sell models, electronics and related information, create 3D objects so they can get a link back to their site.
My home built 3D printer
I also noticed that people who have made one of the models post a picture of it with a link back to their website.I have even seen companies turn PDF content into software just so they can add it to all the download sites.
There are probably millions of sites where with a little thought you could use them to advertise your business.
9) Podcasts
“Podcasting” is big now and many people who do YouTube videos also create Podcast channels.
The reason is that you can often take the audio from your video and turn it directly into a podcast.Podcasting is very similar to a Youtube channel where the norm is to have regular content.
I follow a guy called Jonathan from the “Podcaster factory” who has a lot of great help when it comes to creating your first podcast.
I could probably write a whole book on podcasting just from what I have learned from Jonathan.
You will need to put in strategies that will get people from your Podcast to your website.
The best way to do that is to set up a freebie download on a squeeze page and tell people about it in every podcast.
10) List swapping or add swapping.
I have probably mentioned this before in a post but I think it is one of the top 10 ways of getting free traffic.
The way this works is that you get together with another list owner and agree to send an ad to each other’s list promoting your websites or products.
It’s even better if you agree to write it into a normal style email with the owner recommending your site.
Don’t try sending someone straight to a sales page or product page……
Shaking hands
You need to give away a free report or something similar in return for their email address.This will give you chance to nurture them into becoming customers.
Probably the easiest way to do this is to use a site like http://safe-swaps.com/ because it is monitored (although it cost money).
When you build up contacts in your industry then it is worth talking to other list owners to see if they are prepared to swap an ad.
I have done this myself on a number occasions and it always brings in new people to my lists but a lot will depend on how well my free offer resonates with the visitors being sent.
But I know several people who continually build their lists this way.
Your probably need to find people with similar lists size and as you build yours you can contact people you suspect have larger lists.
What I have found in the past is to be honest about your list size and the person I am swapping with will still email out to a larger selection of their list.
I hope you have enjoyed this top 10 ways to get free traffic.
Malcolm
