Top Traffic Tips from 9 Full Time Bloggers

So what would happen if you asked some of the top bloggers in the online business field to share a few thoughts on traffic generation?  This week we find out, as I ask some of the top full time ($100K+) bloggers to share their best tips for building web site traffic.

My adventure started several weeks ago.  I started the day on google reader browsing some of my favorite blogs for ideas, as I do on many mornings.  I’ve been focused recently on building traffic for some sites, and I thought it would be interesting to compile some of the ideas from some of my favorite bloggers into one post.  However, to take it a bit farther, I decided to contact them directly and ask them for just a few lines on their top traffic generation tip.  I did not know how well this would work, but I thought I would give it a try.

So here’s the note that I sent out:

I’m a blogger writing an article on “Traffic tips from top
bloggers” for my web site OnlineBusinessZen.com. I was wondering if I
could get a 2-3 sentence quick tip from you with your best tip for
generating traffic?

I sent it to a total of 16 bloggers that I read on a regular basis.  These are not amateurs – all of them are professionals that make a full time living in areas like building online business, blogging, traffic building and search engine optimization.  These are busy people – on average they get 100+ emails per day – so I did not expect a high response rate.  I will also note that I wanted to contact a handful more, but they actually had no way for someone to send them a message or email (not a good thing in my opinion!).

Of the 16 emails or messages, I received 9 responses – not a bad response rate considering how busy many of these people are.  A tenth person (very likely their virtual assistant) replied that they were too busy to possibly answer my question – a reply I found interesting.  One has to wonder why they bothered replying at all?

So without further ado, here’s what some of my favorite professional bloggers had to say about generating traffic.

Pat Flynn – Smart Passive Income

Though Pat’s web site, Smart Passive Income is relatively new, he has rapidly gained readers with his clear style, transparency and sense of humor.  Pat’s latest project has been participating in a niche competition see which blogger can build a profitable niche site in just a few months.  Pat is leading the competition with a security guard site that ranks #1 on Google for his target keywords after a bit over 2 months – very impressive!

Here’s what Pat had to say about building traffic:

My best tip for getting massive traffic is to simply publish a lot of awesome content. It can’t be any simpler than that.

When I started The Smart Passive Income Blog, all I did was publish relevant content that I thought people would want to read. I didn’t focus on search engine optimization or keyword research or anything like that – I just wrote awesome content. As a result, people were happy to share my posts with their own followers and eventually I created a brand because of it, and the search engines favored my site as well.

Of course, search engine optimization and keyword research are hugely important, and I wouldn’t recommend skipping over those things, but this just shows you how important awesome content is. Additionally, since you’re writing relevant content, the search engines will pick you up anyways and the more content you write, the more chances people have to find you for terms that you don’t even optimize for.

Chris Brogan – ChrisBrogan.com

Chris Brogan runs an online marketing company serving fortune 500 companies.  His blog at ChrisBrogan.com boasts nearly 70,000 feedburner subscribers and covers a wide variety of topics including internet marketing, blogging, social media and online business.  Here’s what Chris has to say about generating traffic:

I’ll tell you one thing I know: the more you post, the more traffic you get.  It’s helpful if the stuff you post is worth something. I try hard to make that always the case. Others don’t try as hard, and yet, their traffic climbs when they post more stuff.

Glenn Allsop – Viper Chill

Glenn’s site Viper Chill, which focuses on viral marketing, has managed to attract 10,000 subscribers in only a year – an impressive accomplishment.  Unlike others who post a lot, Glenn focuses on fewer detailed posts ranging from 1000-2000+ words each.  However each one of them is a gem.  Glenn is only in his early 20′s but has been working online since his teens. Glenn also just published his first product called “affiliate skin”.  Here’s what Glenn has to say about generating traffic:

Offer the best resource in whatever industry you want to conquer. At the end of the day, that’s what people link to.

Daniel Scocco – Daily Blog Tips

Daniel posts daily on his award winning blog Daily Blog Tips, which boasts 53,000+ feedburner subscribers and started in 2005.  His posts vary from simple news posts to detailed instructions and videos.  The main focus of his blog is good blogging and how to make money blogging.  He also has frequent posts containing great tips for bloggers of all kinds.  Here’s what Daniel had to say about generating traffic:

My best tip to generate traffic is an old cliche: write quality content. The reason it became an old cliche is exactly because it works, though. If you write a top notch article that delivers a huge amount of value to potential readers people will come to read it, will link to it, will share it on social media and so on. The result? A lot of traffic.

Maren Kate – Escaping the 9 to 5

Started in 2009, about the same time as Pat Flynn’s blog, Maren Kate’s blog Escaping the 9 to 5 is about how to start a business and escape the traditional “job” lifestyle.  Her posts tend to be lifestyle and business focused, but stress the importance of taking action, staying motivated and outsourcing.  Here’s what Maren Kate has to say about building traffic for your blog:

The best way I know of generating traffic is to write exceptional content and then get out there and make friends in the blogosphere, through commenting on others blogs and through connecting w/ people via twitter or their contact form.

Corbett Barr -Think Traffic and Free Pursuits

Corbett has two popular blogs, ThinkTraffic.net and FreePursuits.com.  The first is focused entirely on building traffic for your website or blog, while the second is focused more on lifestyle design and building a business that supports a free and active lifestyle.  Corbett has been a full time entrepreneur since 2005, and is widely recognized for his blog writing and traffic building skills.  Here’s what Corbett has to say about traffic generation:

Differentiate yourself. Having great writing is just the cost of admission. You need to stand out with a unique point of view and outstanding reader-focused benefits. Being different is the foundation from which you can build solid traffic. Then once you’ve established your uniqueness, work to say things that really matter.

Neil Patel – Quick Sprout

Neil reached the Technorati “100 top bloggers” list by the age of 21.  He runs two successful businesses and his blog Quick Sprout, which features an eclectic mix of internet marketing, entrepreneurial skills, business strategy and more.  Here’s what Neil had to say on the subject of building traffic:

The best way to generate traffic is to write really good content and submit it to the social web. Sites like Facebook, Twitter and Stumbleupon can drive a ton of traffic.

David Risley – DavidRisley.com

David Risley has been a full time blogger for over a decade.  His blog, DavidRisley.com features the full range of topics on blogging, monetization, growth, overcoming fear, and breaking down barriers.  Its a great read – and on my list to watch every day.  Here’s what David has to say about building traffic:

I think people make the subject of traffic generation too difficult for themselves. All of it boils down to simple basics: (1) Make awesome content that is worthy of being shared with friends. (2) Find your market and get in front of them, wherever that happens to be. This could be guest posting, social media, videos, etc. … and (3) Point them to your site.

Andy Beard – AndyBeard.eu

Andy Beard’s blog at AndyBeard.eu focuses on internet marketing and online strategy.  While he does not post often, his posts are usually entertaining and insightful.  He also provided one of the favorite answers to the question I sent him regarding traffic.  Here is Andy’s reply:

I don’t care about traffic, you can always buy it.  Ultimately Conversions are the most important thing.

My Thoughts

Looking over the replies, you can see some clear trends.  Of the 9 responses, six clearly said that writing great content was most important for attracting and sustaining an audience.  Four mentioned that Search Engine Optimization and Social Media were important for spreading the content.  At least two mentioned that posting more frequently generates more traffic, and one said conversions was actually more important – since you can buy traffic as long as you can convert it with a positive return.

While I don’t make a living just from blogging, I have managed to build my various web businesses up to nearly a million unique views this year, so I do have some thoughts on the subject.  I agree that content is critically important.  You simply cannot build a successful web site without great content that is unique, entertaining and valuable for your readers! (unless of course you have a ton of money for paid advertising).

However, I will say that second to content, a good SEO, Social Media and backlink building strategy is also important.  The web is littered with reasonably good blogs that don’t do SEO, engage social media or build backlinks.  Few of these sites ever get beyond a few tens of visitors a day.  If you visit the blogs mentioned above you will see that they all have good page rank, social media links on their site where their authors are active and engaged, and a lot of quality backlinks to their site.  They also have 10′s of thousands of readers.  A coincidence?  I think not!

Do you have your own thoughts on how to build traffic?  Leave me a comment below – and don’t hesitate to subscribe for more great articles!

Have a great week! – Brad Smith

Tagged as: blog, blogging, generation, SEO, site, tips, traffic, web