Driving Traffic To My Website

[Swifthawk]

I would like some feedback on my site from the community here. I have been getting pretty serious with the whole thing but still am seeing variable numbers in traffic.

If you guys have any tips I would be extremely grateful.

I am also exploring writing guest blogs for other sites. I have sent a few out there but to no avail.

Are there any other routes I can take to make it grow?

Enduring Learner

and here is my most popular article.

Learning To Love The Daily Grind | Enduring Learner

[awaqas1]

Hi,
Great site, I acutally read through some of the aritcle. Some well thought out stuff there like, how twitter has ruined your brain, work and love, etc.

One of the things i Noticed was i felt like the site was a bit cluttered, some repeated information, and it just does not seem really cohesive. As a well orgnized homepage should help user get a direction of where to go. Steve's website is a really good example of that and his blog has nothing that is distracting the viewer from his latest article post title.

With best wishes,
Waqas

[Swifthawk]

Originally Posted by awaqas1

Hi,
Great site, I acutally read through some of the aritcle. Some well thought out stuff there like, how twitter has ruined your brain, work and love, etc.

One of the things i Noticed was i felt like the site was a bit cluttered, some repeated information, and it just does not seem really cohesive. As a well orgnized homepage should help user get a direction of where to go. Steve's website is a really good example of that and his blog has nothing that is distracting the viewer from his latest article post title.

With best wishes,
Waqas

Thanks for the review. You should have seen my old header image haha. It was way too busy. I had to tone it down a bit. As for cohesiveness, I dont feel like I have found my direct "niche" yet and am still exploring different areas. Its a task that will take time but I really do need to focus on a few key areas.

The main page has some issues but I still like the template. I'm still trying to code everything to the exact way I want it so things arent running into eachother.

Thanks so much for taking a look at it. Your feedback was really helpful!

[Johnny Metal]

What sites have you sent your articles to for guest blogging?

What are your traffic figures?

How can you drive your website to the traffic that would benefit from your articles?

[Swifthawk]

Originally Posted by Johnny Metal

What sites have you sent your articles to for guest blogging?

What are your traffic figures?

How can you drive your website to the traffic that would benefit from your articles?

My traffic is pretty dismal. A high estimate would be 20 visitors a day. Just posting it on this site gave me my highest trafficked day of the month as sad as that is.

I am pretty horrible at marketing my ideas. I have sent guest posts to Dumb Little Man and Change your thoughts, change your life but have not heard back from either.

I advertised the site to my friends on Facebook but that only helped a small amount. What really helps is when people take advantage of liking me on StumbleUpon. That seems to be my best traffic source as of late.

Search engine wise I am trying and the terms searched are getting better but I still have a long ways to go.

[Johnny Metal]

It sounds that you're sad about the situation, which is totally understandable. But not to worry, there are people like you and me who figured it out, so it's at least possible, and as long as you persist, you will figure it out too.

I would suggest you keep on sending the posts you've written to other sites that accept guest blogging. You can only get rejected so many times before you get a yes.

By the way, what have you used to make Facebook Like, SU, Tweet buttons display the stats near the button? Have you used a plugin, or have you added the code manually? I have used AddToAny code, but I have yet to figure how to make it display the number near the button like you did.

(I'm talking about the buttons below the article:
How Twitter Has Ruined Your Mind | Enduring Learner )

[Swifthawk]

Originally Posted by Johnny Metal

It sounds that you're sad about the situation, which is totally understandable. But not to worry, there are people like you and me who figured it out, so it's at least possible, and as long as you persist, you will figure it out too.

I would suggest you keep on sending the posts you've written to other sites that accept guest blogging. You can only get rejected so many times before you get a yes.

By the way, what have you used to make Facebook Like, SU, Tweet buttons display the stats near the button? Have you used a plugin, or have you added the code manually? I have used AddToAny code, but I have yet to figure how to make it display the number near the button like you did.

(I'm talking about the buttons below the article:
How Twitter Has Ruined Your Mind | Enduring Learner )

I'm currently using wordpress for my website and right now I have a Woothemes theme. There is a specific option I have under the settings menu called "Sharing" where I am able to control what buttons I want at the bottom of each article. I'm not sure if its a product of the woothemes theme or comes default with the wordpress package itself.

It really is handy. I tried initially to code it all myself but that was just too much work.

Thanks for the feedback again.

[Clint Cora]

I cover some tools and programs to help me drive traffic to my various websites. It's part of a page full of the website tools I personally use.

[EternalOne]

We have similar websites (mine is Wake Up World and was started just over 2 months ago ) and I quite like the look of your site. I have found most of my traffic comes from facebook. I have had 2 or 3 articles that got shared around 8000 times each which was amazing. I have gone from 0 likes to around 900 in just over 2 months.and has sent me over 9000 unique visitors. I have just liked for FB page and from my short experience putting in some time and effort to gain FB "likers" is well worth the effort. I have put in the same amount of effort into twitter, but for some reason twitter has only sent me 137 visitors.
Here is a link to a site that has 21 ways to increase your FB traffic. link But do a google search and there is heaps of info out there. Hope this may help in some small way

[Johnny Metal]

Site Information for wakeup-world.com
Alexa Traffic Rank: 373,091

Impressive work, specially considering that the site is only 3 month old. What is your traffic history? Could you share a little more detail about what made the difference for you personally when it comes to "putting in some time and effort to gain FB "likers""?

[Peterw]

I just experimented with getting a few jobs on fiverr for driving traffic to my facebook page, building some backlinks, submitting my RSS feed and submitting to some directories.

For $5 a go it seems too good to be true - and probably is. But I'll wait until the results are in - or not...

The facebook likes and Twitter followers thing isn't an ongoing strategy, more of an initial boost. Nothing can take the place of quality content.

[nzmegs]

Your website sounds a bit like mine - pretty dismal numbers and my enthusiasm is waning.

That being said, I know that i haven't tried everything yet and that I actually have some pretty good information on my site - it is aimed at people who want to be freelance writers.

My problem is the whole facebook thing. I don't like facebook. I hate the lack of privacy and the just the nature of something which wants to suck up the whole world. But it does sem as though it is a great way to get traffic. maybe i need to rethink it.

Keep us informed of what you do to improve your traffic. I'd really like to know!

[Swifthawk]

Originally Posted by nzmegs

Your website sounds a bit like mine - pretty dismal numbers and my enthusiasm is waning.

That being said, I know that i haven't tried everything yet and that I actually have some pretty good information on my site - it is aimed at people who want to be freelance writers.

My problem is the whole facebook thing. I don't like facebook. I hate the lack of privacy and the just the nature of something which wants to suck up the whole world. But it does sem as though it is a great way to get traffic. maybe i need to rethink it.

Keep us informed of what you do to improve your traffic. I'd really like to know!

Right now I'm really trying to hone in on the theme of website, which is about lifelong learning. I want to be able to connect to the readers who feel the same way. I just updated my About page to try to reflect this idea.

I'm also trying to get a lot more articles up.

My goal is to balance my best content with smaller articles which have a short and narrow focus.

That way I can have content for the casual google searcher and for the dedicated reader of the site.

Finally, I'm trying to find similar sites like mine and see if we could perhaps partner up in some way, like exchanging articles, links, etc.

Hopefully I can keep it up. To have a great website has always been a goal of mine and i'm really trying to bring it to fruition.

I hope you are able to keep your enthusiasm and push through!

[Mcoroklo]

I actually made an onscreen video, but since I updated to the new Mac operating system, my onscreen program failed! Sorry!

But, my keypoints:

• You have very few links. You should get more to compete in the search engines (visit my site in the signature for more information)
• Your descriptions in Google were really bad
• I have NO idea what you site is about
• The site is really messy - Too much stuff

I liked the articles a lot though.. I just had no idea what your overall target group is!

[EternalOne]

Originally Posted by Johnny Metal

Site Information for wakeup-world.com
Alexa Traffic Rank: 373,091

Impressive work, specially considering that the site is only 3 month old. What is your traffic history? Could you share a little more detail about what made the difference for you personally when it comes to "putting in some time and effort to gain FB "likers""?

I am amazed with how it is going. Traffic history is not constant and depends on how well received an article is, though each week beats the last . I have had a few articles shared over 8000 each on FB which brings in some followers. Making sure that an iFrame on my site for people to instantly like my FB page helps a lot. Also I find other FB pages in my niche, befriend them and then let word of mouth do its thing. Having the wibiya toolbar at the bottom of my site also helped to keep people on my page and increases my page view rate. I think if you have unique content that people want to read then it spreads very fast. Just need 26 more FB followers to get to 1000. It has surpassed my wildest expectations

[Swifthawk]

Originally Posted by Mcoroklo

I actually made an onscreen video, but since I updated to the new Mac operating system, my onscreen program failed! Sorry!

But, my keypoints:

• You have very few links. You should get more to compete in the search engines (visit my site in the signature for more information)
• Your descriptions in Google were really bad
• I have NO idea what you site is about
• The site is really messy - Too much stuff

I liked the articles a lot though.. I just had no idea what your overall target group is!

Yeah, I think I have fallen into a mistake of trying to write about everything haha. But I am still trying to find my voice for the website and really hone in on my niche.

I just revamped my about page to explain the "mission" of the site a little better. I believe my overall goal is to write on a wide array of topics, but from a different perspective, such as not just how to make money, but how to use money.

I feel I'm more interested in the value questions that are involved with making decisions.

I'm also trying to design the website to flow a little smoother and also make the main page more "inviting."

Thanks for the feedback.

[ChrisGinsburg]

Originally Posted by Clint Cora

I cover some tools and programs to help me drive traffic to my various websites. It's part of a page full of the website tools I personally use.

Clint you sly dog you. Grabbing some traffic to your site while simultaneously helping him. To the OP, that's the kind of inventive thinking Clint did here that you need to think about.

[Alex Barboza]

I like the content in your site. I have some suggestions for you:

1. Get an autoresponder account and place an optin form. That way you can turn your subscribers into returning visitors.

2. Guest blogging works wonders for personal development related sites. Here you can find a very comprehensive list of blogs accepting guest bloggers in your niche :Submit Self-Help/Self Improvement Content Ready Aim CONTENT Reports

3. Participate a lot in this forum and place a signature link.

4. Do article marketing. You can send your current (already published) content to article directories. That's called article distribution and it works. (just in case somebody wants to mention duplicate content penalty, which does not apply here). Article directories that give me visits and links: EzineArticles Submission - Submit Your Best Quality Original Articles For Massive Exposure, Ezine Publishers Get 25 Free Article Reprints and Free Articles Directory | Submit Articles - ArticlesBase.com. Don't waste your time with the rest.

5. Repurpose your content (turn articles into videos and send them to Youtube, turn them into pdf and send them to Scribd and Docstoc)

6. When you have a budget outsource link building.

I have some experience regarding internet marketing so if you have more questions just let me know.

[pduchatellierjr]

Does anyone have a good understand of how/and by what means, can I drive traffic to my website. I am starting to go in to the affiliate marketing realm and I can't say I have been very successful in understanding how to bring in visitors.

[Swifthawk]

Originally Posted by Alex Barboza

I like the content in your site. I have some suggestions for you:

1. Get an autoresponder account and place an optin form. That way you can turn your subscribers into returning visitors.

2. Guest blogging works wonders for personal development related sites. Here you can find a very comprehensive list of blogs accepting guest bloggers in your niche :Submit Self-Help/Self Improvement Content Ready Aim CONTENT Reports

3. Participate a lot in this forum and place a signature link.

4. Do article marketing. You can send your current (already published) content to article directories. That's called article distribution and it works. (just in case somebody wants to mention duplicate content penalty, which does not apply here). Article directories that give me visits and links: EzineArticles Submission - Submit Your Best Quality Original Articles For Massive Exposure, Ezine Publishers Get 25 Free Article Reprints and Free Articles Directory | Submit Articles - ArticlesBase.com. Don't waste your time with the rest.

5. Repurpose your content (turn articles into videos and send them to Youtube, turn them into pdf and send them to Scribd and Docstoc)

6. When you have a budget outsource link building.

I have some experience regarding internet marketing so if you have more questions just let me know.

I know what I will be working on this upcoming week.

I already have an authorship at Ezine Articles so I will definitely work on getting my articles out there.

Thank you for all of the tips. I'm going to work on every one. I will let you know if I have more questions.

[Clint Cora]

Originally Posted by ChrisGinsburg

Clint you sly dog you. Grabbing some traffic to your site while simultaneously helping him. To the OP, that's the kind of inventive thinking Clint did here that you need to think about.

Thanks Chris. But those tools I mention in that page are the ones I'm currently using. Some are specifically for traffic too.

[Swifthawk]

Alright, I've been working extensively on trying to get my SEO working well, but it just seems that I'm still not ranking well for search engines.

Does anyone know or have links to articles that set out certain strategies to use when making the site?

I just downloaded traffic travis and am just horrified at how well my stuff ranks. It is pretty frustrating actually.

[Alex Barboza]

SEO is not my favorite game at all. I suggest you keep your focus on writing content and distributing it as I explained before. When you have a lot of content start doing guest blogging so that you can drive targeted visitors to your site without the need of SEO.

Originally Posted by Swifthawk

Alright, I've been working extensively on trying to get my SEO working well, but it just seems that I'm still not ranking well for search engines.

Does anyone know or have links to articles that set out certain strategies to use when making the site?

I just downloaded traffic travis and am just horrified at how well my stuff ranks. It is pretty frustrating actually.