blog traffic

The #1 Way to Get Targeted Traffic to Your Blog

When I first started blogging, the idea that people I didn’t know were reading my posts freaked me out. It was hard to believe that anyone other than my mom could care about what I had to say!

But today, like most bloggers, I care a great deal about traffic numbers and what I can do to increase them.

All traffic is good traffic, but some traffic is better traffic. I will never turn readers away, but the the techniques I use to get new readers need to fall in line with my specific niche and blog goals, simply because there are only so many hours in each day. One of the most common mistakes I see new bloggers making is going for the easy traffic instead of going for targeted traffic.

In other words, getting 100 new readers from Facebook who actually subscribe to your mailing list is better than getting 1000 new readers from StumbleUpon who hit the back button after 5 seconds on your blog.

The best way to get targeted traffic? You may not like it, but here’s the answer: pay for it.

Paid Targeted Traffic: Wait…You Need to Read This Before You Say “No Way!”

When I tell people that paying for traffic is the best way to get more targeted readers to your blog, most people don’t want to hear anything else I have to say. But let me break it down for you and tell you why you should embrace paid traffic!

For our example, let’s measure by number of subscribers to your mailing list. And, for the sake of the example, let’s also say that you’ve figured out that each of your subscribers is worth $3 over the course of six months.

If you go for organic traffic, most of the people who land on your site aren’t going to be interested enough to sign up for your mailing list. That’s just the nature of traffic from search, social, bookmarking sites, etc. In our example, let’s assume that you get 10,000 visitors to your blog over the course of a week and hat 10% of them are engaged enough to sign up for your mailing list. That means your week was worth $3,000. Not bad.

But instead, let’s say you spend $1,000 on getting the same amount of targeted traffic with Adwords, Facebook, and other means of getting traffic from people who are extremely interested in your blog, based on researched demographics and search behavior. Instead of 10% of the traffic signing up for your list, you double that rate and 20% sign up. That means your week was worth $6,000 instead. Once you subtract the $1,000 you spend on traffic, you’re still operating at a gain, having made a profit of $5,000 instead of just $3,000.

Paid targeted traffic isn’t looking so bad anymore, right?

Paid Targeted Traffic is About Testing and the Long Game

Of course, in my examples, my numbers of arbitrary. You might spend $1,000 and see only a 1% difference in sign-up traffic, which means that your overall profit would be $2,300–not nearly as good as your results with organic traffic.

It’s all about testing. What ads should you buy? How can you optimize them not only to get the top number of clicks, but the top number of highly targeted clicks? Who exactly is your target audience, not just for your free blog content, but for whatever you’re selling?

Testing never truly ends. There’s always something you could be doing better, and an ad that performs well today might not perform well a month from now. Until you get some base testing done, however, you might not see much profit…or any profit. What’s important is this:

Before you start paying for traffic, come up with a plan and budget for testing and optimizing your campaigns.

Paid traffic rarely works if you simply run a burst of ads for a week. You need to be able to afford to test ads over the course of time, knowing that you won’t see a return on investment at first. If you can’t afford to do that, paid traffic isn’t your best option right now.

Yes, Free Targeted Traffic is an Option

If you don’t have the budget to pay for ads at the moment, you can still get targeted traffic to your blog. Like with paid traffic, it’s all about testing. You want to spend your time on the promotion activities that give you the best returns.

Bounce rate alone doesn’t tell the whole story, but this is a start. Look for traffic sources that have a low bounce rate. This will change based on your niche and your specific content. For some bloggers, Pinterest performs well, well other bloggers have more luck with SEO and still others see the best results with Twitter. Test, test, test!

Look beyond bounce rate. Use Google Analytics to set up a goal and track conversions. This allows you to see which traffic sources get you the most new subscribers. Sometimes, your bounce rate might be extremely low (which is a good thing), but the subscriber rate is also very low (which is a bad thing).

Want more ad clicks? You need more traffic. Want to sell sponsored posts for more money? You need more traffic. Want to sell more affiliate products? You need more traffic. Do you see a trend here? Better traffic is your first step to making more money, whether you do that with a mailing list or another form of monetization. Adding paid traffic to your strategy is ideal, but at the very least, start thinking more about how to spend your time promoting your blog to your target market, not just to anyone who will click your link.

Do you pay for targeted traffic? What have your experiences been with this kind of traffic versus non-paid (organic) traffic?

Blogging - Increasing Traffic - SEO - Social Media
April 10, 2013

Social Media vs Search Engines for Blog Traffic: Who Wins in Content Marketing?

Author: burtontulk35

I have posted previously about an ongoing MBA class on content marketing called Marketing with Social Media that I am teaching at a university in Silicon Valley. We just wrapped up our 7th of 11 weeks. And I have some numbers regarding the social media versus search engine debate.

All 73 students started their websites out from zero. No domain. No hosting. No idea of the difference between tagline and ‘tag, you’re it’. No nothing.

Some of them have been posting very faithfully, using specifically the SEO guidelines I gave them for each post. Well, sorta kinda. As much as people, especially students, follow rules in general that is. We also have a great back linking strategy. And and and …

Question: What performs better? Sending people to sites via your social networks or just writing good stuff and letting the search engines do their thing?

Answer: The course is 45 days old. I took three screen shots from Google Analytics. The reader can compare Facebook referrals to Google organic traffic. (I know. I know. There are other social networks. There are also other search engines.)

Compare the following three 15-day time periods.

Feb 17 – Mar 3

Click to see a larger version of this image.

The students worked their Facebook networks and in the end social network traffic outperformed organic search. It makes sense. The sites were still finding their feet and search was still finding them.

Mar 4 – Mar 18

Click to see a larger version of this image.

Facebook referrals remained constant, but search results more than doubled as well as outperformed social networking.

Mar 19 – Apr 2

Click to see a larger version of this image.

Facebook referrals dropped a little but organic search continued to increase – another 13%.

At the risk of overwhelming you screenshots and numbers take a look:

Facebook traffic dropped 33% from 617 visits the last week of Mar/Apr compared to 415 the last week of Feb/Mar.

Organic traffic increased 58% from 697 visits the last week of Mar/Apr to 1100 the last week of Feb/Mar.

One more thing – organic traffic grew by itself. That is my students wrote something and turned off their computers, while with social networking, traffic requires the student to write something and do something else, login elsewhere and promote, interact, build, smooze.

I may be wrong, but after a time, the promotion of content elsewhere = on social networks, gets cumbersome, tiresome, and loses its effectiveness. However, with search traffic, as long as the content is meaningful, follows the rules of good SEO, will continue to grow.

Who wins in the social media vs search engine debate when it comes to content marketing?

Blogs win.

Unless, that is, you have a different experience that you would like to share in a comment below.

6 Ways to Get More Traffic to Your Blog – Fast

Author: kwkvada967

We all need more traffic … at least, I’ve never met a blogger who wanted less!

Without readers, your blog isn’t going anywhere. But as your traffic levels grow, you’ll find that it’s easier to get new readers – and with more people to share, retweet and post about your content, you have more chances to get in front of new audiences.

Even big bloggers, though, need to think about traffic: those shares and retweets and links won’t always happen on their own.

Whatever stage you’re at with your blog – whether you’re just starting out or you have thousands of visitors every month – these tips will help you get more traffic, fast.

1. Write a Shareable Post

Most bloggers agree that the “if you build it, they will come” advice doesn’t really apply – there’s lots of great content out there that never gets read. Even so, content is where you should start before looking for more traffic.

Write a great, compelling post – one that delivers real value. Make sure you have an attention-grabbing headline (throwing a number in there usually works well). People love to share amazing content, so the better you can make your post, the more likely they are to tell all their friends.

2. Pay Attention to SEO

If you see yourself primarily as a writer, you might be a bit nervous about SEO (search engine optimization). Perhaps you’ve come across sites that were optimized in such a heavy-handed way, the content became almost unreadable.

SEO doesn’t mean cramming keywords into your post, nor does it mean having a degree in computer science. By paying attention to the basics – like having keyword-rich headlines, interlinking posts, and getting links from high PageRank sites (see #6) – you’ll find that your search engine traffic goes up.

3. Use Your Email Signature

Your email signature is a great place to let people know about your blog. It gives you an easy way to include a link to your blog in every single email you send – without having to remember to do so manually, and without seeming pushy or demanding.

You might want to simply link to your blog, or you might link to a specific post, page, or other resource. By changing your signature around occasionally, you prevent the people you email regularly from becoming blind to it.

(Many forums also allow signatures, and these too are a great place to put a link: do check the forum guidelines, though, for any rules on whether or not you can put links in your signature.)

4. Leave Great Comments

Although commenting on blogs will only usually bring in a trickle of new readers, it’s a great way to grow your blog in the very early days – when even five or ten new readers can be a big boost.
When you comment, make sure you’re adding something relevant to the discussion: people will be much more likely to click through on your name, and the blog post author will value your contribution.

Don’t use keywords in the “name” field for your comment: use your real name. If you feel you want to add more, you could use your name followed by your blog’s name (e.g. I might be “Ali Luke – Aliventures”).

5. Ask for Shares / Retweets

Some bloggers worry that it’s somehow “wrong” or “needy” to ask their audience to share their posts…but this can hold them back from getting more traffic. Plenty of bloggers, big and small, will say “Please retweet” or “If you enjoyed this post, please share it.”

Make it easy for people to share your posts, too. If you’re tweeting a link and asking for a retweet, make sure your tweet is short enough that people can add a “RT @yourname” (if that’s how they prefer to do retweets). On your blog posts themselves, have a Tweet and/or Facebook share button.

6. Write a Guest Post

One of the very best ways to get an influx of targeted traffic is to write a guest post for a blog in your niche. (This also boosts your SEO by giving you an inbound link from a high PageRank site).

Your guest post should be your very best work – that way, it stands a good chance of being accepted. Make sure you use your bio and especially your link to full effect: try linking to a particular post or resource rather than to your blog as a whole, as this gives people more of a reason to click through.

Have you been successful with any of the above methods…or do you have a seventh tip to add? Let us know your experiences, and your ideas, in the comments.

Photo Credit: Bigstock

How Finding Ten New Readers Can Lead to a Blog Traffic Explosion

Author: elkecarvosso6

Want more blog traffic? This post teaches you exactly how to leverage just ten readers to explode your blog traffic.

Finding new readers is the bane of my blogging existence, and I don’t think I’m alone. Without blog traffic, you might as well write in a private journal, because you certainly won’t make money or spread your ideas online. I’m constantly on the lookout for new traffic-building techniques, and today I wanted to share with you one of my favorite traffic-building techniques when your blog is new (and really, this technique can work for established bloggers as well).

Best of all, it only takes ten new readers. You can find ten readers, right?

Finding Ten New Readers

The first step in this process is to find ten new readers. This doesn’t mean convincing people in your current circles to stop by your blog more often. It doesn’t even mean reaching out to friends of friends. These people are already in your extended circle of potential readers. You want to find ten readers who are completely new to your blog.

My favorite way to do this is to find new bloggers in my niche and leave comments. Comments are not going to bring you a wave of traffic, but that doesn’t mean they’re worthless. You don’t need millions of new readers. You just need a handful.

Another way to find brand new readers is to participate in link parties or blog hops. These are especially popular in niches like parenting, DIY, and food. Again, you are likely not going to get thousands or even hundreds of new readers this way, but for this specific technique, you only need ten or so.

The Key to Traffic Explosion

Once you find the new readers—and this is important—you have to treat them like VIPs. Go the extra mile to make them feel welcome on your blog. You want to treat these relationships like they are the most important ones you’ll ever have.

Don’t be inauthentic during this step. Yes, you want to leverage your relationships for traffic, but if that’s all you care about, you’re doing it wrong. Never use people and then ignore them once you’ve reaped the benefits. I’ve seen people do this and I’ve had it done to me, and it is pretty upsetting. So build real friendships. Traffic is just the benefit.

Here are a few ways to treat your new readers like VIPs:

Find and follow them on Twitter and other social networks.
Interact with them on places other than your blog (social networks, their own blogs, etc.)
Reply to every comment they leave on your blog (you should be doing this anyway).
Email them thanking them for their comment. You don’t have to do this every time, but with especially good comments, reaching out via email is a nice gesture.
Continue to read and comment on their blogs.

Basically, build not just a relationship, but an actual friendship. Some people will be receptive to this, and some won’t. That’s okay. Don’t force it because you want traffic benefits. Just see how friendships form naturally. But the point is you can’t just sit around and wait for it to happen. You have to be proactive in finding new online friends outside of your current circle.

How and Why This Works

Once you start treating your readers like VIPs, your traffic will start to snowball. Why does this happen?

Readers will see how you treat your community and they’ll be more encouraged to participate.
Treating your newest readers like VIPs increases the chance that they’ll tell their friends about your blog.
Even if they opt not to spread the word, the special attention makes them more likely to become fans of your blog rather than just one-time readers.

It all starts as a trickle, but if you continue to roll out the red carpet, you’ll see the effects begin to snowball. Like with most things, this takes time and you have to be consistent. Building a community is hard work. But it all starts with ten readers (and actually, if you want to get technical, it all starts with one reader). Even if you’re brand new, you can use the tiny amount of traffic you get today to build momentum.

If you want even more traffic tips, check out the content we have coming up at NMX. We also have sessions on community, monetization, content creation, and more, so you don’t want to miss this event!

The 12 New Media Days of Christmas 2011: 5 Traffic Tips

Author: elkecarvosso6

During the 12 New Media Days of Christmas, we’re counting down the days until 2012 comes by featuring some of the best blog posts of 2011 from awesome writers within the BlogWorld community! Skip to the end to read more posts in this holiday series and don’t forget to leave a comment if you’ve written a post about today’s topic!

When it comes to blogging, the numbers matter. Without traffic, you can’t build a brand. Without traffic, you can’t sell advertising. Without traffic, you can’t spread your message. Without traffic you can’t sell your products. Unfortunately, the “if you build it, they will come” model of blogging doesn’t really work. Great content is often buried in the bottomless void of the Internet, and even the best bloggers in the world occasionally write posts that are fantastic, but go relatively unnoticed. So the topic of traffic is relevant to all of us! Here are some awesome posts about this topic:

1. How to Drive Massive Traffic To Your Blog—With Less Effort by Amy Porterfield at AmyPorterfield.com

This is the last post in an entire series by Amy called “How to Create Bite-Sized Content Your Readers Will Devour and Share.” In this post, Amy talks about the need to find your own sweet spot when it comes to the effort you exert trying to get more traffic to your site. The answer is going to be different for each person, but the overall concept is that you don’t need to do everything. You just need to do what works for you. Writes Amy,

The good news is, you’re probably already doing a lot right. Really. You’re probably already doing at least 90% of what you need to do to hit your own sweet spot.

In fact, you might be doing too much.

Let’s look at what you HATE doing. Some people hate, hate, hate Twitter. If you hate Twitter, maybe you’re doing too much there—or maybe you’re wasting your time. Often, when we don’t love something, we don’t do it very well. The same goes for Facebook, your blog, and any other social media you do.

Amy created the 4-week video training program The Simple Social Media Formula: Social Media on Your Terms and is the co-author of Facebook Marketing All-In-One for Dummies. You can find her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter @amyporterfield.

2. Why Guru Strategies for Blog Growth DON’T WORK… and What Does! by Danny Iny at Firepole Marketing

This post from Danny covers everything you need to know about building your traffic, using the idea that you don’t need to use the “slow and steady” strategy, but you do need to do what’s right for your current level of success. That’s why what’s working for someone with a million hits a day probably won’t work for you. You need to get to that level first! From the post:

No, this isn’t a post about how you should be patient and take things slow and steady, because eventually you’ll win the race.

(As Sonia Simone said in a recent radio interview, “slow but steady works, but we’ve all had the experience of being beaten to the finish line by a jack rabbit with ADD!”)

The point of this post is that the fastest way to grow is by using the strategy that fits with your current stage of growth. The more appropriate your strategy is to your stage of growth, the faster you’ll outgrow it, and be ready for the next one!

You can find Danny on Twitter @DannyIny. He’s also the co-author of Engagement from Scratch! and founder of Bowl of Goals.

3. 49 promo ideas. simple, grand + the tried n’ true. by Danielle LaPorte at White Hot Truth

I love the ideas for promotion that Danielle offers in this post. Some of them are old standbys that everyone tells us to do to drive traffic. Others are pretty unique ideas that I haven’t heard anywhere else. All of them are fantastic! Go through the whole list or pick and choose what makes sense to you. Whether you’re launching a new business or trying to build traffic to a site you already run, these are great ideas. Here are a few examples of the tips Danielle gives:

15. Don’t be shy about all the awards and accolades you’ve earned—create a special section on your site’s About page just for that.
16. Have ongoing giveaways on your site to engage customers, generate content, and build up subscriber base. e.g. “Answer Today’s Q&A and you’ll be entered to win the Awesome Gift of the Month.” Get cool people to donate the Awesome Gift (or Service) of the Month and they’ll help with the buzz.
17. Host a Story, Poetry or Photo contest that’s related to your industry. You could take the best submissions and turn them into an e-book, or you could partner with a print magazine and the winner would get published.

You can find Danielle on Twitter @daniellelaporte. She’s the creator of the Spark Kit and Your Big Beautiful Book Plan and has a number of free downloads available for readers.

4. Are You Taking Advantages of Recurring Posts? by Pat Flynn at Smart Passive Income

What are you “known for”? What do readers enjoy looking forward to reading on your site? Hopefully, every post your write keeps them coming back for more, but doing a recurring series makes a lot of sense. Traffic isn’t just about finding new eyeballs. It’s also about keeping current readers coming back to your site more often. In this post, Pat talks about how doing a recurring series can boost your traffic. He writes,

Are you giving your audience anything specific and regular to look forward to?In other words, is there some type of post that you publish consistently over and over again that becomes a true unique element to your brand?

Pat’s free ebook guide is available on his blog’s sidebar. You can also like Smart Passive Income on Facebook and follow Pat on Twitter @patflynn.

5. How to Improve Google Rankings for Your Older Posts in 4 Easy Steps by Ana Hoffman at Traffic Generation Cafe

Oh, Google. You are the bringer of traffic, but the bane of my existence. I couldn’t write a post about traffic and not include any links to information on boosting your search engine rankings. In this post, Ana writes about the step by step process to actually put your old post to good use. You’ve probably spent hundreds or even thousands of hours writing those old posts, so you deserve to get a little traffic from them! Just a few small changes can help make good (but old) content more visible on search engines. Writes Ana,

Blogging is never a “publish and forget it” sort of deal.You publish a post, you answer comments, you build links to it in hopes of ranking it high in search engines so that you can start getting organic traffic on autopilot.

Then comes the day of publishing a new post – for many of us, it’s the following day.

And what happens to the previous post? Previous 10, 20 posts? That’s right – who has the time?

If you make the time for your old content, you can see great results! After checking out this post, you can find Ana on Twitter @AnaTrafficCafe and add Ana to your Google+ circles. She’s the author of 7 Steps to Complete Search Engine Domination, which is available for free on her sidebar.

Other posts in the 12 New Media Days of Christmas series will be linked here as they go live:

12 Bloggers Monetizing
11 Emailers List Building
10 Google+ Users a-Sharing
9 Vloggers Recording
8 Links a-Baiting
7 Community Managers a-Managing
6 Publishers a-Publishing
5 Traffic Tips (this post)
4 New Media Case Studies
3 Must-Read New Media Interviews
2 Top New Media News Stories of 2011
And a Partridge in a Pear Tree

You can also check out the all the posts from 2010 and 2011 here, and don’t forget: If you wrote a post in 2011 about today’s topic (traffic), PLEASE leave the link in a comment below to share with the community!

Blogging - Social Media - Tips & Tricks - Twitter
October 8, 2011

Three Ways to Use Twitter Lists to Build Blog Traffic

Author: elkecarvosso6

When I first signed up for Twitter, I didn’t use the list function at all. I didn’t even realize they had one, and I was following so few people that it didn’t really matter whether or not I had them categorized. As I began to “meet” people online and the number of people I followed grew, I suddenly needed to create lists in order to make sure I didn’t miss the tweets I really wanted to see. I have lists for blogging friends, lists for people I know in real life, lists for those I’m following who are gamers, and more. Organization is important to me, so I make good use of lists.

But lists are great for another reason too. When used correctly, they can actually help you build blog traffic. Today, I wanted to talk about three ways I’ve seen people using lists to drive traffic to their blogs, including some tips I’ve done myself.

Disclaimer: I do not encourage you to have “fake friendships” on Twitter or other social media sites. Basically, tweet with people because you like them, not because you think you can leverage your friendship to make money in the future! These tips are simply ways you can organize Twitter to make it more effective for driving blog traffic while still maintaining friendships and meeting new people.

Twitter List Tip #1: List chat participants.

I love taking part in Twitter chats, including our very own #BWEchat (held every Wednesday). When I participate in a chat that has to do with my blog niche, I like to add participants to a special list. After all, they’re all talking about the same topic, so they must be interested in it! Throughout the week, I often see chat participants asking questions about the topic at hand, and I can swoop in to answer them, even linking to past blog posts if relevant. Throughout the week, I’ll delete people who don’t engage or are spammy, follow the people who are friendly, and then clean out the list to prepare for the next chat.

Twitter List Tip #2: Create a list for conferences.

BWELA is coming up in less than a month, so now’s prime time to start preparing for BlogWorld and test out this tip for yourself. As you see people tweeting about going (follow the #BWELA hashtag), add them to a list of your own and interact with them. You’ll make some new friends, and be able to plan some great meet-ups while you’re in LA. The added bonus (and traffic-driving portion of this tip) is that most people who are going to meet you in real life take a moment to check out your blog.

Twitter List Tip #3: Go for the multiple RTs.

People retweet posts all the time. Sometimes because they’re friends with you already, while other times because they just happened across your link via a friend or search engine and liked the post. Those are people who have already raised their hands and said they like your blog! Add them to a list and build that relationship. You can even notify them when you’ve written something similar to something they’ve retweeted in the past (though try not to be too spammy).

Do you use Twitter lists to build traffic? Share your tips with a comment below!

Measure Your Traffic From Twitter with their New Web Analytics Tool

Author: onicatherine

Have you ever wondered just how much traffic Twitter actually sends your way? I have. You want to know that the areas you are spending your time at are bringing you results. Sure, Twitter is more than just bringing numbers to your blog, but that is an important aspect of it and it’s been hard to measure it accurately until now.

Today, Twitter announced their new web analytics tool. It will allow website owners to know how much traffic they are receiving from the social networking site, as well as the effectiveness of it integrated with their site.

Here are three key benefits of the web analytics tool they listed:

Understand how much your website content is being shared across the Twitter network
See the amount of traffic Twitter sends to your site
Measure the effectiveness of your Tweet Button integration

As always, the new tool won’t be released to the masses, but instead to a “small pilot group of partners” and in the coming weeks, to all website owners.

What do you think? Does this sound like a useful tool to you?

Another Google Panda Update Made Late Last Week

Author: onicatherine

Have you noticed any changes in your blog traffic or rankings the last few days? I’ll be honest. I’ve been so busy I haven’t even checked my stats lately, but I am definitely about to after reading this latest news. I’m crossing my fingers it’s good news.

Google confirmed to Search Engine Land that they did indeed push out a small Google Panda update late last week. A Google spokesperson told them, “We’re continuing to iterate on our Panda algorithm as part of our commitment to returning high-quality sites to Google users. This most recent update is one of the roughly 500 changes we make to our ranking algorithms each year”.

Some webmasters have said that the changes in rankings was a positive one for them, which is always nice to hear after one of these updates.

Here are the Panda updates so far:

Panda Update 1.0: Feb. 24, 2011
Panda Update 2.0: April 11, 2011 (about 7 weeks later)
Panda Update 2.1: May 10, 2011 (about 4 weeks later)
Panda Update 2.2: June 16, 2011 (about 5 weeks later)
Panda Update 2.3: July 23, 2011 (about 5 weeks later)

So, it looks like about every month Google is pushing out a Panda update.

What does that means for us bloggers? Not much really, except keep pumping out good solid content and hope that if your site was hit badly one month, it might go up the next month. Or, you could try the little experiment HubPages has done with sub-domains.

Did you notice a drop in traffic or rankings and do you have any tips or tricks to share?

Put a Little Thought into Your Link Exchange Requests

Author: Ghost89

links-via-stockxchnge

I receive requests every day for link exchanges. Many newer bloggers especially feel a link exchange from a more established blog or blogger is a good way to get traffic and create buzz. Backlinks are always good, but people, can we put a little more thought into this?

Yesterday I received a link exchange request from someone who felt my blog would be perfect for his readers, and vice versa and we should have a link exchange. “Your blog is about watches? It’s a sales tool filled with affiliate links,” I told him. “I have a blog network geared towards freelance writers. How is that perfect?”

“Easy,” he responded. “Everyone needs to tell time.”

Know your audience

You know what annoys me so much about Viagra and a lot of other spam? I mean besides that it’s so spammy? It’s because I’m a woman. I don’t use Viagra. I don’t have male bodyparts to enlarge. I’m not into cheerleaders. I’m sure there’s a market for all of this, however, it doesn’t include me. What happened to knowing one’s audience?

This same logic applies to the folks seeking out link exchanges. Sure, everyone wants to be linked to by a major blog, but there has to be a relevance. Take some time, do a little research, and maybe you’ll find the right target for your requests.

Stop asking for links and write link-worthy content instead

I’m not huge into link exchanges, to be honest. Instead, I prefer to link to interesting content. Others must feel the same way because my blog has received link love from Mashable, ProBlogger and many others. Not because I asked, but because I wrote blog posts that made them take notice.

If you want backlinks, write backlink worthy content. Put some thought into what you’re writing instead of Googling someone else’s work. Don’t write linkbait, instead, write timeless, information-filled blog posts that folks will find useful in years to come.

The #1 Way to Get Targeted Traffic to Your Blog

Paid Targeted Traffic: Wait…You Need to Read This Before You Say “No Way!”