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Writer's pictureMaida Barrientos

3 Secrets to Generate Traffic For Your Site this 2020 and beyond

Putting up a company would of course require a lot of things, to get straight to the point, you need a capital. To make money requires money as well. But of course, with the versatility the internet offers, there are many ways you could find that could help optimize the potential of your site or business in generating traffic.

While there are ways to jumpstart your traffic flows, many sites don’t have the resources that others have to generate more traffic for your site. Well, you don’t have to spend a cent; all you need is the proper mindset and a lot of eagerness. You also must have the drive and perseverance to do hard work and research to generate more traffic for your site.

How sweet it is to have more traffic for your site without spending a single cent. Now it’s a sure thing that many sites have articles that offer tips and guidelines in how to generate traffic using only free methods. Because it is possible, you don’t need to speed a single cent, it may take time, to say honestly, I’m not going to beat around the bush with you. You get better chances by paying for your advertisements, but at least you get a fighting chance with some of these free methods I’m about to tell you.

Take advantage of online forums and online communities.

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The great thing about forums and online communities is that you can target a certain group that fits the certain demographic that you are looking for. You can discuss about lots of things about the niche that you represent or offer. Another great advantage is that you know what you are getting into and you will be prepared.

1. Facebook Groups

When promoting your content, Khris Steven of Khrisdigital recommends using industry-related Facebook Groups “because it helps in positioning you as an expert and at the same time driving targeted traffic to your website.”

In fact, Facebook Groups have been voted the most-used community for promoting content:

However, Steven adds: “Posting a link that addresses or solves a particular situation is the rule here and not just dropping links that are uncalled for. This also helps to boost social signal and build brand identity.”

Wealthy Nickel‘s Andrew Herrig also votes for this community: “A lot of people say Facebook groups are dying, but I have found a lot of success with finding niche-specific groups (particularly in blogging circles) that will help promote each other’s content.”

“If you reciprocate and become involved in the community, you can have great success finding a wider audience,” Herrig writes.

Elise Ingram’s team at HireWriters add that Facebook Groups are “well-regulated, active and a goldmine for marketers in many ways.”

“As the members of good Facebook groups are very loyal and remain in the group for a long time, you get to build connections you would not have otherwise. If you’ve shown genuine interest, have earned their trust and interest, you can easily promote your content.”

Ingram continues: “They will be your ambassadors, your source for new topics and feedback. I’ve learned so much from being in these groups, no survey could have accomplished that!”

So, which Facebook Groups can you use for content promotion?

While these Facebook groups for bloggers are listed in order of the number of members at the time of writing, don’t shy away from smaller groups, even those smaller than the groups shared in this post – closer knit groups are sometimes able to offer better visibility than the very large groups.

1. Blogging Boost

With over 21,000 members, Blogging Boost is the largest group on our list, and is very active.

The group offers a platform for supporting one another every day through Q&A threads and celebration threads. One day a week, the group allows self-promotion on the wall. There is a group Pinterest board and a Blogging Boost community on Google+ for additional reach. Also, there is a resource for finding or sharing guest posting opportunities within the group.

2. Bloggers Supporting Bloggers

Bloggers Supporting Bloggers is a very active Facebook group with over 16,000 members. It is a great community for support and discussion, as well as sharing connections that may not be a great fit for you but could benefit someone else, such as a guest poster or a sponsorship offer from a brand.

This group has daily threads members can participate in to promote themselves and others. On Mondays, members can share a recent post. On Tuesdays, they can share a Facebook post they would like engagement on. There is a similar Twitter thread on Thursdays and an Instagram thread on Fridays. On Sundays, there is a coveted feature for “Blogger of the Week,” which group members can apply to be featured for.

3. The SITS Girls Facebook Group

The SITS Girls Facebook Group is another super active Facebook group. It is a collaboration between the blogging agency Massive Sway and The SITS (Secret is in the Sauce) Girls. It is an education-focused group determined to help its members learn best practices and build their reach as influencers. In turn, Massive Sway taps into the group’s nearly 15,000 members for brand partnership opportunities.

4. Bloggers United

Bloggers United is a cross-promotion focused Facebook group with over 12,000 members. There are multiple promotional threads every single day, focused on growing engagement on different platforms, from Facebook to Pinterest to Instagram. There are also tips and knowledge threads, where members can ask questions and share their expertise on different subjects.

5. Inspired Bloggers Network

The Inspired Bloggers Network is the Facebook group associated with Inspired Bloggers University, and has over 11,000 members. This group is a great place to find collaboration opportunities with other bloggers and share brand contacts. Each day there is a new promotional thread for blog posts and social media engagement.

6. Blogging Newbs

As the name suggests, Blogging Newbs welcomes new bloggers, but the 10,000+ members are all at different stages in their blogging careers. This means that they’ve been through many new blogging struggles and can help steer newbies through the process. The group offers a platform for collaboration, asking questions, and once a week in a special thread, self-promotion.

7. Boost Your Blog

Boost Your Blog boasts over 10,000 members and is more open format than the groups above. Instead of daily threads being posted to promote and engage with other users, there are occasional opportunities to share, and questions are welcome anytime on the wall.

8. Grow Your Blog

Grow Your Blog has over 8,000 members and is adding new ones all the time. Like many of the other blogging groups in this list, it offers daily sharing and self-promotion threads for all kinds of different social networks. There are also follow for follow threads and an ongoing open discussion.

9. The Blog Loft

The Blog Loft, with over 7,000 users, is a great place for members to connect to share guest posting opportunities, offer advice, and promote their work. Members are welcome to post new threads to get feedback on their blogs.

10. Blogging 101

With over 7,000 members, Blogging 101 is a great group for new bloggers to connect with others at the same stage and seek advice from those who have already been there. Each day of the week has a theme, from a motivational goals thread, to a collaboration thread, to a feedback thread.

11. Blog Beautiful

Blog Beautiful is the Facebook offshoot of the blog Design Your Own Blog, and has a similar DIY design focus. Its 7,000 members make up a community that loves to provide feedback, help solve design problems, and offer up advice to take its members’ blogs to the next level.

12. GirlBoss Bloggers

GirlBoss Bloggers, with over 6,000 members, is a group for female bloggers to connect over their blogging goals and aspirations. From “Make It Happen Monday,” where members share their goals for the week, to “Flaunt It Friday,” a self-promotional thread, there are daily themes to keep discussion alive.

13. Awesome Bloggers

Awesome Bloggers brings together over 6,000 active members for mutual promotion. Each day of the week has a themed thread that members can join in on, sharing social media profiles or their blog. They then have 48 hours to engage with everyone else. These promotional threads are a great way to get a jolt of engagement on a Facebook update or Pinterest pin.

14. The Blogging Squad

With around 3,000 members, The Blogging Squad is a smaller group as far as this list goes, but that doesn’t make it any less valuable. In fact, in many ways, a smaller group is preferable, as there is a better chance you will start to recognize the members you interact with most frequently. Like other blogging groups, this one features daily promotion threads and offers a space to ask questions and connect with other members.

15. Bloggertunities

Bloggertunities is a group for swapping opportunities, such as guest posts, sponsored opportunities, and roundup features. With just 3,000 members it is a tightly-knit group for seeking advice and promoting your work.1

2. LinkedIn

or marketers that are looking to promote their content, get more engagement and visibility I would recommend LinkedIn Groups,” says Veronica De Borba of OnPoint Internet Marketing.

“LinkedIn Groups are great to promote your content and build your professional branding. Join a group on LinkedIn or create one and share value, help others, answer questions and ask some questions as well. This is all about building relationships.”

De Borba continues: “Once you provided some value to the group, start sharing content on the group or share content on your LinkedIn profile and link your post in your group. This way, the group members will engage with your content.”

“More engagement means more views from different people around the world which will help make you promote your content and be seen for hundreds of people,” De Borba adds.

One Week Website‘s Danny Peavey also recommends “getting your content out on LinkedIn communities <…> because LinkedIn is not totally saturated and we feel the audience is truly there to “listen”.”

3. Twitter

Morgan Lathaen says thumbprint‘s team “are currently part of a group on Twitter called PromoChat. Every Wednesday a group of Promotional Product Suppliers and Distributors come together to discuss the in and outs of the promo industry.”

“Through this content community, we are able to remove the conventional notion of a brand as a distinct entity separate from its customers. Additionally, a content community adds value to your brand because it improves brand visibility,” Lathaen adds.

Wondering whether Twitter is a good option for you? Benjamin Smith of BestCompany.com says: “Yes, it is a fast-moving social platform, but the number of people that use Twitter on a daily basis is truly outstanding.”

Smith explains: “One of the great advantages of Twitter is the ability to retweet your own tweets after some time has passed. Others are also likely to retweet your tweet if they find it interesting and it will continue to circulate over and over again until it loses traction.”

4. Pinterest

Matthew Ross of The Slumber Yard thinks “Pinterest is an underrated community because it’s fairly easy to grab the attention of viewers. Really you just need to design an attractive and eye-catching feature image or thumbnail.”

“Plus, I like that others can add their own content to your board. This usually results in more traffic and thus more eyeballs in and around your own posts,” Ross adds.

5. Quora

“Quora is definitely a great way to share your content online. Just find relevant questions in your industry. Answer the question with an insightful and detailed answer. In your answer, link to your content as well as other relevant resources,” writes Growth Hackers‘ Jonathan Aufray.

Jeremy Cross’ team at Team Building Texas also recommend this community because “Quora users are smart, engaged and write insightful answers which often lead to greater discussions about a topic.”

“If you can get the right content in front of this group, for example, an article or opinion that challenges their ideologies then it can quickly become a large and visible discussion,” Cross notes.

Ready to start using Quora for content promotion? Dot Com Infoway‘s Venkatesh C.R shares five tips to get started:

“Build an authoritative profileFind the best questions to answer in the nicheTry to re-answer questions you’ve answered in your blogProvide links to content that need to be promotedRepurpose the website blog content by starting a Quora blog”

6. Reddit

“Reddit is one of the most popular websites in the world, garnering in well over 200 million in monthly organic search traffic, making it one of the most lucrative marketing sites,” says Maple Holistics‘ Nate Masterson.

“Sites like Reddit can be utilized to post promotions, write content, collect data, and answer questions. If marketers offer their content on the right relevant niches, they can be providing useful information to interested parties.”

Pandog Media‘s Luke Davies also recommends Reddit because “its reputation has improved a lot over the years and for bespoke subreddits like SEO and PPC, it’s perfect for finding informational and commercial-based content ideas.”

However, Ross Simmonds of Foundation Marketing says: “Reddit is a great channel to promote content but you have to do it right. A lot of marketers assume that they can just submit links to every and any subreddit they come across and unlock success. That’s the wrong way of thinking.”

“In fact, this is the most common mistake marketers and Reddit newbies make. They come across a study like the Foundation Reddit Marketing Report and assume that because Redditor’s like links that they need to kick it into overdrive and submit every and any post they can find.”

Simmonds continues: “That’s a huge mistake. Reddit watches your behavior and will look for trends. If you’re submitting the same content source over and over again it’s not hidden. Everyone can see it and you will likely be banned eventually for spamming the site.”

“The best approach is to engage in the comments, submit content from other sources, build 1-1 connections and be human,” Simmonds adds.

Jeromy Sonne of Moonshine Marketing also notes that “the community can be a bit hostile to blatant self-promotion, but if your content is on point and you copy-paste it into a text post with a short link to your blog at the end it can be very well received.”

Your Money Geek‘s Michael Dinich summarizes: “The only way you can be successful is to become an active and engaged member. If you invest the time into answering questions, commenting, and participating, Reddit can drive more traffic than Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.”

7. Medium

“Medium is hands down my favorite and most recommended community for promoting content,” says Sam White of Del Mar Jiu Jitsu Club.

“It’s an amazing collection of thinkers, feelers, and doers. They are great about making the process of submitting content to the site as easy as possible.”

Plus, White adds that Medium “is a high DA site so it can be difficult to get some initial traction but if you come with well thought out, well-written articles, this is the place!”

According to Rochelle Burnside of BestCompany.com, “marketers should see if they can gain any traction on Medium.”

Why? Because “users on Medium don’t see posts in chronological order or in order of popularity; they see curated content that Medium editors believe are the highest quality articles related to a reader’s indicated interests. That means, if what you’re writing is good, you’ll get more engaged pairs of eyes on it.”

8. Slack Groups

Slack is designed to be a workplace collaboration tool. But with over two million people using their software every day, it’s a hidden opportunity for content promotion

In fact, GetVoIP‘s Georgi Todorov recommends the Growth Slack community created by Sujan Patel: “There they have a channel called “Promotion-help”. You post your content, and other members share, re-tweet, leave comments or at least like it. It’s perfect for marketers as most of the audience is marketing specialists.”

9. Growth Hackers

CrazyCall‘s Jakub Kliszczak thinks Growth Hackers “is a great community that loves to share and upvote quality content on digital marketing- and business-related topics.”

Plus, Kliszczak adds that this community “is great for getting early traffic which is crucial when it comes to making your content rank properly. Personally, whenever I post a piece that suits Growth Hackers’ tags, I make sure to share it there.”

But while Edward Dennis of Core dna adds that “the initial traffic spike is OK – not awesome,” the platform “still sends you traffic months after you publish/promote your content there.”

“Plus, the content tends to get picked up by other sites, which means free backlinks with little to no effort,” Dennis says.

Robbie Richards also notes Growth Hackers as his favorite community because “if your article sticks to the top of the feed for a day or so, it has a great chance of getting featured in the Growth Hackers email digest. I’ve received a lot of referral traffic, email subscribers, and a couple of clients from this community in the past.”

10. HackerNews

HackerEarth‘s Rajnish Kumar votes for HackerNews because “there is no such algorithm like LinkedIn or Facebook where you need to build your presence to get your content ahead to the users. Anybody’s content can go viral. It has nothing to do with how old your account is or how active you are in the community. Just make sure that your content is adding value to the community.”

In fact, when Kumar’s team submitted this post, they received “5 upvotes somewhere around 100+ visits, which is not at bad.”

11. Biz Sugar

“BizSugar is a content community that I highly recommend,” says BoardActive‘s Cierra Flythe. “It establishes our content as a source in thought-leadership discussions, provides multiple backlinks, and develops branding in our industry space.”

David Leonhardt of THGM Ghostwriting Services loves the platform “specifically to reach a small business audience. I am active there, as it helps my content reach an interested audience, but also because I get content creation ideas and I get the chance to network a bit with like-minded bloggers.”

However, Leonhardt also adds that “BizSugar is also a networking platform through the Mastermind community. This is a place for free-wheeling discussions, and there are frequent guests invited for “Ask Me Anything” sessions. I’ve asked a few questions and learned quite a bit through this process.”

12. Longreads

“Longreads is the YouTube of long-form content and interesting articles,” writes Search Optimism‘s Corrinn McCauley.

“Their audience is firmly dedicated to keeping well-informed, interesting, and engaging content alive; so you don’t need to worry about people losing interest in the articles or content you submit. This is made clear with slogans like, “Never Pivoting to Video” and “We <3 Fact-Checkers.””

McCauley continues: “When you submit your piece to Longreads and it’s picked by the curators, it’s categorized to help interested readers find your work with ease. Articles are either listed as “highlights” or “features.”

“Features provide the full story on Longreads’ website, but highlights link back to the original source. When you click on a highlight, it will preview the first few paragraphs and display a “read the story” button underneath. That button acts as a link to the full article on your website.”

Summarizing, McCauley says: “Longreads is an extremely credible and authoritative outlet, and the stories they publish meet their exacting standards.”

13. Zest

“Zest is an extension that replaces your Google Chrome browser’s home screen with a content stream. It provides users with a possibility to suggest new content,” Albacross‘ Oksana Chyketa explains.

“The Zest platform helps content marketers to find useful, innovative and actionable data they need to stay on top of their industry. And if your target audience includes online marketers, this is where your content needs to be.”

demandDrive‘s AJ Alonzo thinks Zest is one of the best communities for content marketers because “they do a great job of collecting suggested content, vetting it for quality, and distributing it to their network.”

“As a member, you can set-up tags to get specific content delivered to you on a daily basis, and that means I know the content I’m submitting is being put in front of the people I want to see it,” Alonzo adds.2

With online communities and forums you can build a reputation for your company. Show them what you are made of and wow them with your range of expertise about the subject, with that you can build a reputation and build trust with the people in your expertise and knowledge.

You can also make use of newsletters.

Provide people with a catalog of your products and interesting and entertaining articles. If you make it really interesting and entertaining, more people will sign up for your newsletter and recommend it to other people. The more people who signs up for your newsletter, the more people there will be that will go to your site increasing your traffic.

Subscribe to our newsletter and receive free digital resources!

Link Exchange, Back links

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Another great idea is trading links with other sites. You don’t have to spend a cent. All you have to do is reach an agreement with another webmaster. With exchanging links, the efforts both sites do will benefit both sites. Every traffic that goes to the site could potentially click on the link of your site and visit your site as well. This works well especially when both sites feature the same niche.

Write articles that could pique the attention of people that have interest in your product. Try writing articles that will provide tips and guides to other aficionados. Writing articles that provide good service and knowledge to other people would provide the necessary mileage your traffic flow needs.

Many sites offer free submission and posting of your articles. When people find interest in your articles they have a good chance of following the track by finding out where the article originated. Include a link or a brief description of your company with the article and there’s a great probability that they will go to your site.

Here at Zipsite, you can submit your blog post for consideration. Here's the link.

Write good content for your site. Many search engines track down the keywords and keyword phrases your site uses and how they are used. It is not a requirement that a content should be done by a professional content writer. You could do your on but you have to make content for your site that is entertaining as well as informational. It should provide certain requirements as well as great quality.

Generally, internet users use search engines to find what they are looking for. Search engines in return use keyword searching in aiding their search results. With the right keywords, you could get high rankings in search engine results without the costs.

All of these methods and more will drive more traffic to your site for free. All it takes is a bit of effort and extended man hours. Learn all you can about the methods depicted here and you will soon have a site with a great traffic flow without the usual costs that come with it.

Citations

  1. 15 Best Facebook Groups for WordPress Bloggers to Join | Elegant Themes Blog, https://www.elegantthemes.com/blog/tips-tricks/15-best-facebook-groups-for-wordpress-bloggers-to-join

  2. The 14 Best Online Communities for Promoting Your Content | Databox Blog, https://databox.com/online-communities-for-promoting-your-content#facebook

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