Traffic: that’s what every blog needs in order to be successful and make money! And you’re here in this article, wondering: how do I get traffic to your blog? But, more importantly, how can I do it for free?
Well, first of all, in case you didn’t know, you can get traffic in two different ways: free traffic and paid traffic. You can drive traffic to your blog for free. However, it will take a lot of time and energy before you see traffic coming naturally to your blog.
Just keep in mind that driving free traffic is a skill you will need to learn, and in this article, I will go over eight great ways you can use to get 100% FREE TRAFFIC to your blog, and I’ll show you how you can do each of these ways step by step.
With that said, let’s get started!
1. Search engine optimization (SEO)
What Is SEO?
Search engine optimization, or SEO, simply means the work bloggers and site owners put into their blogs to make their articles show up on search engines like Google. The goal is to rank their blog as close to the top as possible for specific keywords. That way, when people search for those keywords, they see the blog, click on it, and become free traffic!
SEO is the best kind of free traffic, which is why I had to mention it first. What makes SEO the best is you get “targeted traffic”, meaning that your visitors are not just any visitors. These visitors have problems that your blog can solve. This makes visitors more likely to enjoy your blog and become loyal readers and even valued customers!
How to Get SEO Traffic
I have a complete beginner’s guide to SEO if you would like to learn everything you need to know to start getting free targeted traffic through SEO.
But I will quickly go over a few simple steps you can do to improve your SEO.
- Keep your blog in a specific niche. In other words, don’t try to make a blog that talks about different subjects, like finances, weight loss, and travel. Pick one topic to show search engines and visitors what your blog is all about.
- Create intriguing titles and meta descriptions that will get search visitors to click on your blog. To do this, you can download an SEO plugin such as Yoast or do this simple coding.
- Do keyword research before writing articles. Try to find keywords in your niche that people are searching so that you can create an article to help those specific searchers. I have a step-by-step guide to keyword research that can help you with that.
- Link to other articles in your blog. The more links you use, the longer people will read your blog. If people stick around, search engines will see that as a positive signal and rank you a little higher.
Again, my SEO for beginners article goes deeper into SEO and will show you everything you need to know to get the most traffic and success from SEO.
2. Running a YouTube channel
Did you know that YouTube gets over 30 million visitors every single day? Videos are a fantastic way to get people’s attention and send traffic to your blog! And yes, it’s free, not only to watch YouTube but also to upload to YouTube!
The best part about YouTube is that, because people like you enjoy watching and listening to videos, you get to engage with your audience at a deeper level.
Here’s how you can start to get free YouTube traffic and send them to your blog.
- Start a YouTube channel and name your channel after your blog.
- Each time you write an article, record a video covering the same topic.
- Use a call-to-action to promote your blog at the end of each video. The best way to do this is to make people curious for more. Provide limited information on your video, then tell your viewers to head to your blog for even more information, such as 3 more tips or 4 more websites.
- Upload your video and leave a link to your related blog article in the video description.
- Continue to publish and improve your YouTube channel to get more video views and earn more traffic to your channel and your blog.
Here are some examples of a call-to-action you can say in your video to get people to check out your blog!
I hope you found this video helpful. I actually have 3 more tips for you on how you can lose belly fat which I’ve provided over on my blog. So if you’d like to check out those tips, I’ll leave a link to my blog in the description below.
By supplementing your blog with your YouTube channel, you can get a good traffic boost for your blog thanks to the world’s most visited video site, for absolutely free!
3. Writing for another blog
There are actually websites that allow bloggers like you to write articles for them and for the readers that enjoy their content. Some readers go to these websites and find random articles inside their network, while other readers might discover their articles using search engines like Google.
This gives you the opportunity to write for a website that’s already getting a good amount of traffic!
One example of this kind of website is Hubpages. All you have to do is sign up for a free Hubpages account. Then, create an article on Hubpages similar to a blog article that you want to promote. Share some of the content from your blog article and then encourage readers to check out your blog for more information.
Once you publish it, keep creating articles in this way so that more Hubpages readers will discover you and click on to your content.
You can also sign up for Medium.com, write articles there, and get free traffic for your blog from Medium.com as well.
Here’s an idea of what you can write at the end of your Hubpages or Medium article:
I hope you found this article helpful in helping you do X, Y, and Z. I actually have more tips (or websites) that might interest you. You can find them over in my blog post, so be sure to check it out!
4. Commenting on other blogs
Another great way to get free traffic to your blog is through blog commenting, or commenting on other people’s blogs. That way, when traffic on someone’s blog sees your comment, they might be interested in checking out your blog!
Here’s how you can start blog commenting step by step:
- Go to a search engine like Google and search for a niche (keyword) that is related to your blog.
- Find blog articles that have a comment section available.
- Skim through the article and leave a thoughtful comment. Say how helpful the article was and then mention that you have more good ideas in your blog post. And, of course, link to it!
- Publish your comment and wait for readers to check it out.
But wait, there’s more! You can actually get notified when new blogs in your niche come out so that you can comment on those blogs and get more comment views.
Simply go to Google Alerts, enter a topic related to your blog, and then enter your email address. Once you do, you will start seeing notifications of new blogs every single day so that you can comment on those blogs and get more people to check out your blog!
5. Responding in forums
Being a part of an online community can allow you to earn people’s trust and make members interested in your blog. And it’s very simple to join a forum.
A great example of an online forum is Reddit. Simply sign up to be a Reddit user for free and then find a Reddit thread related to your blog.
Make sure that you interact with other members regularly, whether it is by replying to threads or posting helpful threads. As you do this, feel free to share your blog when you have an article that relates to a thread’s topic.
You can find other forums to join besides Reddit. Simply go to a search engine, enter your related topic into the search bar, and add “+ forum” to your keyword. When you do, you should see forums pop up in the search results. Pick one that best suits the topic of your blog and feel free to join, engage, and promote your blog for free.
6. Joining Facebook groups
This is just like the forum method. Only, this time, you can promote your blog through social media, which is where many people are hanging out!
Inside your Facebook account, simply find a few groups that are in your niche and join them. Once you do, start posting on your groups on a regular basis and show your support for them.
Then, once in a while, simply share the link to your blog so your group can check it out. Just don’t promote your blog too often, or people might think you are spamming.
Facebook is no doubt the most popular social media network, so you can earn great social media traffic by sharing your blog on a few Facebook groups. And the more you post and the more helpful you become, the more people will trust you and check out your blog!
7. Sharing Pinterest pins
If you can create good-looking pictures or designs, then you can easily upload attractive pins on Pinterest. If that’s the case, you can use Pinterest pins to illustrate your blog articles and get free traffic to your blog.
This will work especially well for enjoyable topics like recipes and cooking, beauty and health, crafts, decorating, etc. But honestly, almost any topic can work!
You can use a website like Canva.com to start creating Pinterest pins for free. Then simply upload a pin to your Pinterest account, name it after the blog article you want to promote, and then, in the description of your pin, provide a link to your blog.
It’s really that simple to share Pinterest pins and promote your blog for free!
8. Answering questions on Quora
Quora (pronounced core-uh) is a question-and-answer site where users can ask questions and receive answers from other users. All you do to get Quora traffic is to find questions related to your niche, especially ones that your blog can answer.
Follow these steps to start answering on Quora and get free traffic to your blog:
- Get started by creating a Quora account.
- Think of a question in your niche and search for ideas on Quora.
- Once you find a question in your niche, give them a good answer. Don’t look spammy and paste a link to your blog as your answer. Instead, take the time to answer the question in depth and then offer more information by promoting your blog.
- Keep finding questions and answering them. After each of your answers, offer more information by sharing your blog.
After your answer, you can give a call-to-action to your blog like this:
I hope that answered your question. In case you’re interested, I have more ideas (or tips, websites, etc.) for you in my blog post here. Check it out!
And keep in mind that there will be other people who will see your answer, not just the person who asked the question, so anyone who sees the question and answers can become your blog’s free traffic.
Conclusion
Well, I hope these ways will help you get some free traffic for your blog. Of course, you on your part will need to do what it takes to get it. People can’t just find your blog unless they know about it. And it’s up to you, the blog owner, to do something that will allow more people to find out about your blog!
Now, out of these ways, I think the best free traffic method is SEO, search engine optimization! SEO is something you have control over! But, if you depend on other websites like Hubpages or an online forum, these sites may block your content, or even worse, shut down your account.
Again, check out my complete guide to SEO for beginners if you’d like to learn how to get started ranking your blog on Google!
So, with that being said, get started and give your blog the free traffic it deserves!