6 Little-Known Ways to Increase Website Traffic

Try a few tricks of the trade to get more inbound links and drive more website traffic

Inbound links tell search engines that you’re popular. When another site of high authority links to you, it tells Google that someone whom they respect, respects you.

In turn, Google now respects you too! It’s like a high school clique; you can make fun of the popular kids behind their backs, but you’re still going to be an “outcast”, and you’re still going to go unnoticed.

Luckily, in search engine land, the rules are in your favor. You can be pretty and flashy, but Google won’t take you out on a date if you have no depth.

Add some dimension with keywords, a wholesome reputation and quality content, and you might just be dancing with Google at the prom.

In other words, the more inbound links you receive (in addition to great SEO) the more respect you will earn and the higher you will rank in search engines. The higher you rank in search engines, the more visible you will become, and the more traffic you will receive.

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Here are a few little-known ways to get more inbound links.

1. Start controversy. That’s right, don’t be afraid to be controversial. Like they say… “any press is good press”.
2. Promote shamelessly. Encourage readers to Digg, Tweet and Facebook your articles. This puts links to your site on some very credible news feeds and can get you indexed much faster in Google.
3. Make lists. There’s nothing more link-able than a good list.
4. Contact bloggers. This is a bold move, but if you really think that something you’ve written will be of interest to another writer, then by all means, put yourself out there. Contact details can almost always be found on a blogger’s site or contact page.
5. Comment on blogs. This has multiple benefits. First, if you are writing genuinely interesting comments, people will feel inclined to learn more about you. Most blogs link to your website if a user clicks on your comment name. The other benefit of this is that you immediately have a backlink to your site. However, steer clear of leaving obvious promotional comments, as they are likely to be frowned upon and removed.
6. Ask for a review. If you are product-based, offer relevant bloggers a chance to receive a free product in exchange for their review. The risk is certainly that they will not be an immediate fan, but that doesn’t mean that the backlink is any less valuable, especially if a user follows it and finds a different product they prefer.

With all that said… keep in mind that most bloggers don’t get paid nearly enough, or at all, to do your profitable company a favor without getting something out of the deal. So you may want to remember this when you email them.

If you plan on emailing the blogger, start your email with a compliment. Talk about how much you enjoy their blog, and do your research beforehand. Make sure you provide them with all of the details they’ll need to link to your site or article. For more tips, check out Ogilvy’s Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics.