Convenience Big Store: Blogging Tip #2: How to get tons of traffic to your blog

Hey ConvenienceBigs,

It's easy to look at big travel blogs out there and think, "I'll never be able to reach as many people as they do." However, every blog starts with the same number of readers: zero.

No matter the blog you read, we all started with nothing.

The ones that keep growing simply know how to keep gaining readers.

Today I'm here to give you specific tips on how to actually grow your website's reach and get more traffic.These tricks have gotten me to over one million readers per month.

It didn't happen overnight — and it won't for you either, but if you focus on these core techniques and combine them with the strategies talked about in the previous emails, I promise you'll succeed!

1. Use social media

Social media is the key to getting your blog read, right? Everyone knows that. But with so much noise these, how do you actually grow on these services? Here is some advice:

Twitter - If you want to gain followers, just tweet about what you love. People with similar interests will follow you. Follow other people who tweet about your passions — they will follow you back. If you post interesting articles, people will retweet them and you will see increased traffic on your blog. Twitter is about communicating and engaging with people — not spamming them with links and shamelessly self-promoting.
Pinterest - Pinterest is a website that allows people to "pin" webpages to a virtual bulletin board and share them with friends. It's used heavily by women as a way to find travel, design, home décor, and fashion advice. To succeed on Pinterest, have Pinterest-friendly images, make it easy for people to pin, be active on Pinterest, and promote your pins.
Facebook - Facebook pages are a great source of traffic. Facebook fans are great readers. They tend to stay on your site for a long time and view multiple pages. After all, they liked your page for a reason! Be consistent in your postings. The more consistent you are, the more people will share your page, and the more followers you will build. Facebook rewards pages that are updated frequently by showing them more often in people's newsfeeds. The more interactions and shares your post gets, the higher Facebook will rank it in newsfeeds and the more people will see it.
Instagram - Instagram isn't a good way to monetize your website, but it is a good way to keep your brand top of mind. Post one photo every day, use lots of hashtags, and do lots of stories, so you stay at the top of people's feeds. There are so many polished accounts on the service that people are really looking for something more authentic and natural. Post pictures of yourself. Post pictures of you doing things. Reply to your readership. Show stories about your life and your thoughts on travel. This service is one of the best ways to build a connection with your readership.

2. Get media attention

To get media, first look at major newspapers. See who edits and writes in the travel/finance/gardening section. Follow them, read their articles and bios, and really get to know them so you can create personalized emails to them. If their email isn't listed, Google their name plus the word "email." If that doesn't work, find an email address for someone else in their organization and use that format to email the person who you actually want to connect with. Most organizations follow the same email pattern (i.e., first name and last initial, like sams@abc.com).

Next, be sure to follow and interact with journalists on Twitter. I've found many contacts (and good friends) from Twitter. It builds your relationships with them and gets you to the front of their mind. I got my first major break by responding to a tweet from the New York Times. It brought in so much traffic, it crashed my site and brought me to the attention of a lot of other journalists. All because of a single tweet!

Finally, sign up for the HARO (Help a Reporter Out) newsletter so you can be alerted when your expertise might be needed. Journalists use this website to submit calls for experts and authority figures they need for articles they are researching. This email will get sent to you three times a day. I've used it to get into newspapers and online media sites many, many times!

3. Guest Post

Guest-writing is the steroid of the blogging world. I've guest-posted on many sites larger than mine, and they have all led to new readers and more traffic. I wrote a post for I Will Teach You to Be Rich that brought over 5,000 visitors to my site in one day. My best guest post was one on Thought Catalog that brought over 10,000 visitors in a single day!

Asking bloggers for the opportunity to write guest posts can be difficult — you have to ask the right way, or else you won't get a response. If they have a guide to writing a guest post, follow it exactly. Don't send an email without following their rules; doing so will result in your email being deleted right away.

Remember to also reach outside your niche. Expand your horizons. What are some fields related to your niche topic? I often blog on finance websites because budget travel appeals to people who like to save money. I also blog on consumer websites about finding travel deals. Think of ways that your niche topic can apply to websites that focus on a seemingly unrelated topic.

4. Do interviews

Finally, always say "yes" to interviews. They are not only a great way to get exposure but also a great way to get links and help your search rankings! Doing interviews allows you to help other bloggers as they start out (always help others!) and reach as many people as possible. Out of many little things, big things happen! Plus, most of the time, people ask the same questions, so you can save your answers to use as templates for future interviews.

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That's it for today! If you have any questions, email me. I'm happy to help.

Best,

Nomadic Matt

Quick Note #1 - If you're looking for more tips on how to stand out in the blogging world, I've created an in-depth blogging course to help you start your blog, make money, crush it in Google, and get heard above the noise! This course will teach you everything you need to know to succeed in blogging! It has all my tips and tricks! (Use the code 10off to get 10% off as a thank you for signing up for this newsletter!)

Quick Note #2 - If you haven't downloaded the free PDF on how to start your blog, just click here and download it now! If you have any trouble, let me know. We really are here to help!