zoopmedia » Marketing

How We Increased Our Traffic By 377%

Justin Wright — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:00:30 +0000

It’s no secret that blogging is a great way to share your opinions, stories, and adventures with the world. It’s by far the easiest way to put your content out there for the world to see. However, there are still people out their that wonder what a blog can do for business.

To answer that question, we wanted to show you the traffic graph for our website over the last month:

As you’ll see, we’re sitting on a 377.12% increase in traffic. That’s a HUGE increase in the amount of visitors we are getting to our website. More importantly, more potential clients that are checking out our services and what we offer.

So what did we do?

We did two things that lead to the increase in traffic. Here’s what they were:

1. Website overhaul

We completely redesigned our website in the beginning of June because the old theme did not have a usable blog. It was terrible to look at and was difficult to update since all of our pages we’re technically “posts.” Also, the homepage did not have a sidebar, which was making it difficult to display our most recent blog posts for people to see. And last but not least, did we mention the blog was really, really ugly?

Therefore, our main focus on the redesign was building an awesome blog that fit in with the rest of our site. Luckily, we managed to do just that.

2. We started blogging regularly

Once we completed the redesign, we started using the blog as often as we could. Since then, we’ve published a ton of posts, some of which have received over 500 visitors in one day thanks to various social networks.

We’ve also had a few people that landed on one of our blog posts and then decided to work with us. This was a huge success and exactly what we were hoping to accomplish with the blog.

We’ve also seen a steady increase in subscribers to both our RSS feed as well as our email newsletter.

Proof That Blogging Can HELP Your Business

Overall, we’ve seen over a 377% increase in site traffic. We’ve also noticed that our Alexa rank has increased rapidly and is still improving. If that wasn’t enough, we’ve also gathered up a few new Twitter followers from people retweeting some of our blog posts. It’s amazing how much difference a blog can make for your business.

The most important thing you can do is create unique content that your potential customers or clients will find useful. By giving them this information for free, it not only shows how experienced you are but also that you are willing to go the extra mile to get their business.

Best of all, your blog will greatly increase the amount of content on your website. This will lead to much better search engine results and will make it much easier to attract back links to your website.

So if you haven’t added a blog to your business website yet, we highly recommend it!

Bring Your Old Posts Back To Life

Justin Wright — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 15:07:53 +0000

Do you have a bunch of old posts that readers no longer read? Are they buried in the archives and have never seen light? My guess is that you do…

When I started blogging, it took a long time before I was seeing any traffic. I did not get a single comment for more than a month. And the sad thing was, some of my great posts happened during this time. What a waste I thought to myself.

Link To Your Old Posts

This is why linking back to your old posts is a great way to bring them back. For the last 6 months, I have been trying to include links to older posts in some of my new posts and it has had some great success. Some of the old posts actually received comments as a result of it.

The key is to find relevant posts that can benefit your readers. I recently wrote about my goals for 2008 and linked back to the original post I made months before. Not only does this give my readers more information about my goals, but it was also a great way to get people to read my old post.

The Search Engine Benefits

Besides helping your readers and getting some extra comments, linking back to your old posts can also be good for your search engine optimization. There is a pretty good chance that the search engines are indexing all of your new posts, especially if you have been blogging for awhile. And since most of your Google Pagerank is on your homepage, it’s a great way to send a little back to your old posts.

When linking back to your old posts, I recommend using some good keywords relating to your old post. Don’t just say click here to view a post I wrote awhile back. This will give you the best odds for getting your old post ranked in the search engines.

So Give Yourself Some Link Love

So the next time you sit down and write a post, take a look at your archives and see if any of your old posts relate to the one you are writing. Then put a link in there and see what happens. My guess will be that your readers check out your old post.

Promote Your Blog With Business Cards

Justin Wright — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:02:12 +0000

When it comes to promoting a blog, many people overlook traditional marketing methods. There are tons of ways to promote your blog for little to no cost.

Use Business Cards

Business cards are a great way to get your blog more attention, especially if you meet a lot of people. Whenever I have a meeting with a client or do consulting work, I always make sure to leave a business card. Once in awhile, I will leave one at coffee shops and restaurants. Does it work? Who knows…but it can’t hurt.

How Much Are They?

Business cards have dropped in prices over the last few years and you can get a ton of them for less than 20 dollars. I got the cards above made using VistaPrint.com, which has great prices and quality products. You can also find local printshops that will print them for you. It’s good to shop around and figure out what features you want since some places vary.

What Should They Look Like?

This one is completely up to you. Some people may argue that they should look professional, but it’s not always the best way for people. When I made my cards, I wanted to give off a non-office job type vibe. I wanted it to be unique so that people would remember it and actually take the time to check out my blog.

Regardless of the design you use, just make sure to include your blogs URL and your email so people can contact you. If you want to, you can also put your phone number and address if desired.

Need Design Help?

If you are struggling to come up with a cool design, feel free to contact me. I have designed a lot of business cards in the past and can do some design work for you at a competitive price.

Give It A Shot

So put together a cool design and spend the 20 dollars to get some decent business cards. I promise it will help your blogging efforts and make your blog look more professional.

5 Free Ways To Promote Your Blog

Justin Wright — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 12:14:37 +0000

When it comes to marketing, there are tons of ways to go about promoting your blog. Some things are free while others can be expensive for the average blogger. Below is a list of 5 things you can start doing now for absolutely free.

1. Leave Comments

Leaving comments on blogs is an often overlooked method of getting traffic. Every time you leave a comment on a blog, your name becomes a hyperlink back to your own blog. Now only does this help your blogs SEO, it can also engage other bloggers to click the link to see more about you.

If you want to learn some in depth strategies on leaving effective comments, sign up for my newsletter and get a copy of my free book, driving traffic with blog comments.

2. Submit To Blog Directories

There are thousands of blog directories on the web that allow you to submit your blog or feed for free. They will then place a link to your blog under the category you choose. It’s a great way to get some backlinks to your blog while also giving potential readers a place to find it.

3. Link Out

By linking to other websites, you are not only giving your readers more resources, but also helping out your own blog. Many bloggers and webmasters monitor their incoming links and often visit the sites linking to them. This is a great way to grab peoples attention and get them to your blog.

4. Offer Guest Posts

A little over a week ago I did a guest post over at Problogger. Once it went live, I immediately started getting more traffic, feed subscribers, and newsletter opt-ins. I was amazed at how well it helped out my blog.

By writing guest posts for other blogs, you are placing yourself in front of a new audience. The key is to write great content that makes readers want to find out more about you.

5. Submit Articles

There are literally hundreds (if not thousands) of free article directories on the internet. These sites allow you to post free articles about any topic you choose. Best of all, many of them allow you to place links within the articles pointing back to your blog. Some popular article directories include Ezine, Squidoo, and Go Articles.

By using these 5 techniques to promote your blog for free, you can start to see more traffic and readers. The harder you work at them, the better the results you will get.