An often overlooked traffic driver to your blog or website is Facebook. I originally started out using Facebook as a strictly social tool, but soon came to realize the potential it had for driving a decent amount of traffic to my blog. I started off by changing my status whenever something newsworthy happened on my site, whether it is a new post, the launch of a new eBook, contest, etc.
Within a month I had received a few hundred new unique visitors. I soon realized that with a large audience of interested people who spend a fair bit of their online time on Facebook, I could write about things that they would be interested in learning or reading about. When Wikipedia went down on March 24th I quickly wrote a quick post, and made sure to change my status on my Facebook account, and immediately started a flow of visitors to my site minutes later. One of the keys to making your blog successful is by “breaking” news, try to keep your finger on the pulse of what’s happening, and be ready to write about it as quickly as possible, then share it with your audience and enjoy the traffic that comes in from it.
One way to optimize your traffic is by finding people who are interested your particular type of blog, or website. Two of my main interests are Internet Marketing, and all that comes with it, e.g. Social media, affiliate marketing, private label rights, working from home, as well as bodybuilding, working out, power lifting, etc. So my friends list is comprised largely of people who are either into one of these two fields, or interested in one of these two fields. I am continually seeking out friends related to either of these two fields, and also join groups related to these as well. One of the things I try and do when joining a group for the first time, is introduce myself, say hello, and invite the group members to come visit my site. Since these groups are related to my topic, many of them come by to visit, and possibly stay to become regular visitors to my site.
If you’re like many, and looking for an ever increasing stream of visitors, it’s important to look into where your existing visitors are coming from, and expanding on those sources. Regardless of whether or not Facebook is sending you 20 visitors a month, or 2000 visitors a month, with a little bit of effort, and perhaps some tweaking, you can usually manage to get an extra 20 to 80 percent, by simply delving into the source, and applying a little bit of technique.
Incoming search terms for the article:
- websites using facebook (3)
- facebook traffic plr (1)
- plr on facebook traffic (1)
- using facebook to direct traffic to a website (1)
About Warren
I love it. Your advice is spot on. I’m experiencing the same thing, realizing that done well (as you outline), social media platforms really can attract the right kind of visitors to your site.
I’d add one more thing, which you probably already do. You mentioned signing up for other groups and letting people know you are there. Staying active, and consistently participating in those groups can be hugely beneficial for your reputation (which drives traffic, of course). I get a lot of your updates and I genuinely want them because you aren’t all about “me, me, me.” But other people don’t understand that as much – they join groups, post about themselves (hoping to get traffic) then leave.
Taking the genuine, long-term approach (as you do) ensure that these things will keep building over time.
Thank you for this article. I have been using Twitter for this purpose which is going very well. I am on Facebook for personal use but have been procrastinating really developing a Facebook page for The Warm Milk JOurnal. I also think I need to look at Linked In too. I guess there are only so many hours in the day and I have been choosing to spend them on Twitter.
Do you use Twitter and Linked In too?
Have a wonderful day.
Debra : )
Hi Debra, it’s really nice to meet you.
Yes, I use twitter in a big way, it is my 3rd largest traffic source after Google, and Direct traffic.
Facebook isn’t going to be a magic source of tons of traffic, but it is another source of contact that you should be using to reach out to a larger audience.
I’d head over and grab your fan page, and start adding some content to it. You can integrate your twitter feed into it easily, as well as your blog posts so that the content is updating regularly. Then when you start building your Fan base, you can start interacting with them.
Linkedin, while I’m on it, I’m not taking advantage of it i’m sure. Probably something I should spend some time on in the future.
One step at a time, right?
Warren