I have had many websites over the years. I have had several clients that I have helped get loads of traffic. One day the game changed, and it was the day that I got involved with a forum in the industry that I was trying to break in to.
I had a little gardening website – http://sarasgardenmarket.com (It’s very neglected at the moment!) And I was doing great posting lost of helpful and interesting articles and running my garden experiments with a small following of loyal readers.
I had my site push to twitter and facebook, and that brought me a lot more traffic.
Nothing will compare to the night I spent having fun posting and commenting and reading other people’s gardening posts on a gardening forum! http://www.gardengirltv.com/
I had a blast. These were great people. I wasn’t really paying attention to my traffic because I wasn’t trying to sell anything. I just went through the motions on some things because I know how and it happens to be my job.
Well, after a certain number of posts I was able to create a signature for the bottom of my comments and threads on that forum. I added my URL to my gardening site and it went BANANAS!
I had more traffic than ever! See – I was actually helping people in my posts and they got curious because I was giving them real information that they needed. I built trust and they wanted to know more.
Long after I stopped updating my gardening site (I’ve lived in an apartment for two years, but I intend to pick it up again when I move to a house in a few months!) and left it neglected the amount of traffic took MONTHS to wind down!
You can stir the pot on twitter and get traffic going for about 48 hours and then you have to stir that pot again. But this method stirs that pot and just keeps stirring it as long as the information you posted is valuable and relevant!
It was by far the most lasting thing I did for that site.
It went in my playbook for my clients. Now not only to I tell them that they have to post to social media, have great SEO, and create new content for their sites – I make them join 1-3 forums in their industry and have them get involved and as soon as they can make a signature with a URL in it DO IT!
The clients that follow through on it get instant gratification of new targeted traffic, and one of the most lasting traffic resources you can create for yourself.
It might sound like a drag but it is so satisfying to see your traffic to crazy, and also know that it is targeted to your primary audience. (Your bounce rate will be the lowest ever.)
I hope this helps you!
Sara