Introduction
10 Old-School Ways to Get Traffic that Work The internet has made it easier than ever to get traffic, but some of the old-school ways still work. Here are ten effective ways to get traffic that are as old as the hills:
Write for a trade publication
Write for a trade publication.
Trade publications are written with the specific industry in mind, and they’re often free or low-cost to publish in. You can get a lot of traffic from them because your content will be relevant to that industry’s audience, which is why it’s important to write about something that you feel knowledgeable about—or at least passionate about!
For example: if your business was located in Los Angeles and you sold high-end furniture, you could write articles on how to choose the right piece of furniture for each room of your home (living room, kitchen) or how not overspending on quality can make all the difference when it comes down to buying new pieces for your home (kitchen table vs coffee table). Either way works!
Offer a freebie
Offering a freebie to your readers is an incredibly effective way to get traffic. The trick is to make sure that the freebie you are offering is something people will actually want, and also ensure that it’s for a limited time only. It’s best not to offer discounts on your other products in this way, as this could backfire if the person who downloads your product doesn’t like it and therefore never buys from you again.
Another option is to give away a valuable resource that will help your audience achieve their goals—but again, only do this if you have created something truly useful and relevant!
Once they’ve downloaded the freebie (or purchased the product), collect their email address so that they can be kept up-to-date on future offerings.
Blog on another site
This is a tried and tested method of getting traffic. If you can write well enough to convince editorial staff that your content is worth sharing, it will be shared by people who visit the site regularly. The best thing about writing for another site is that you’re likely to pick up some new followers and readers in the process—people who may just become regular visitors of your own blog or website! You may find that if you contribute regularly, or even semi-regularly, editors might offer you a permanent position on their team.
If you already have a strong following in one niche market, why not branch out into other related topics? For example: If there are already some popular blogs on health tips then try writing content relating specifically towards dieting instead (or vice versa). This way potential followers from these different niches might stumble across each others’ work through search engines like Google or Bing which makes them far more likely to read each others’ articles too!
Be a guest on a podcast
If you’re looking to build your brand or authority in a particular niche, being a guest on an influential podcast is a great way to get in front of an audience. It’s also an effective way to connect with influencers, build relationships with potential clients and customers, and even promote your business.
To be considered as a guest for most podcasts, all you need is an interesting story or point of view that would add value to their show.
Engage with your network
- Engage with your network. One of the best ways to get traffic is by engaging with your network. Make them an asset, not a liability! Share content that’s relevant to them and engage with people who share your content.
- Offer value in exchange for something in return (like social media followers). That way, you can build up relationships that turn into loyal readers down the road when they need help or inspiration from someone who understands what it takes to grow a business online using time-tested tactics like these ones.
Image SEO
Images are a great way to get traffic. They can help you attract more visitors, engage with them and build trust, increase your ranking in search engines, improve your conversion rate, and improve the brand image of your website.
Image SEO is a type of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) that mainly focuses on optimizing images for search engine crawling and indexing purposes. Things like file names, alt text descriptions, sizes and dimensions are all important considerations when working on image SEO.
Print advertising
Print advertising is still a powerful marketing tool. There are many reasons for this, but one of the main ones is that print ads are still seen as a premium ad format by consumers. When you see an ad in your local newspaper or magazine, it creates the impression that whoever placed it has enough money to afford it, and that they’re confident enough in their product or service to spend money advertising.
This creates two effects: firstly, people tend to trust what they read in the press over what they hear from friends; secondly, people often like supporting local businesses, so if someone sees an ad for an independent coffee shop instead of one from Starbucks or Costa Coffee then they may be more likely to visit there because it supports small businesses around them.
Print ads also work well for lead generation—they can be used alongside other types like display ads on social media platforms like Facebook Ads and Google AdWords (which I’ll talk about later). When combined with these other types of digital marketing strategy then print becomes even more effective at driving traffic towards your website!
Buy ads on other sites
Buy ads on other sites.
Google AdWords, Facebook ads, LinkedIn ads, Twitter ads and Pinterest Ads are all great places to get started. You can even try YouTube if you’re into that kind of thing! The important thing is to try them out and see what works best for your business.
Email marketing
Email marketing is still a viable method of getting traffic to your website, and it’s easier than ever to build an email list. You can get started with a simple email sign up form on your website. Once you have people on your list, send them regular updates about new products, offers and events with the goal of building trust between you and the consumer.
You can also use third-party services such as MailChimp or Aweber for more advanced email marketing features like segmentation options that allow you to target specific groups of people based on their interests or behaviors (or both). For example, if you have a product geared toward men who are looking for a new hairstyle that meshes well with their beard or facial hair style, then having an option in place where these customers can sign up for an upcoming webinar could help generate some buzz about your offering before even launching it.
Use traditional media to amplify
Traditional media is a hugely powerful traffic-driving engine that’s often underutilized. Here are some ways you can use traditional media to drive traffic:
- Promote your content. If you’ve written a great blog post or have a new podcast, get it featured on local radio stations, magazines and newspapers in your area. Then share the article with everyone you know via social channels like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
- Promote your brand. If people don’t know who you are yet, get them acquainted by writing articles that appear in local magazines or newspapers about something related to your business (e.g., how much time do small business owners spend working on their websites? what resources can they use?). Then share those articles with everyone via social channels like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
- Promote a product or service that isn’t even yours! By writing an article or having someone else write an article about one of the products or services that other companies offer—and then sharing the link—you can drive traffic back to those companies without sacrificing any authority for yourself as an expert source on the topic at hand (this works well when talking about specific types of businesses).
Old marketing strategies are still effective.
When it comes to marketing your business, you have a lot of options. You can write blog posts, promote yourself on social media and use email marketing. But there are some traditional methods that still work for businesses today.
- A press release about the latest product or service launch is a tried-and-true way to get traffic from search engines like Google, which is important if you’re trying to attract new customers.
- Search engine optimization (SEO) is another great way to increase visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs). These days SEO practices include using social media sites like Facebook and Twitter as well as blogging platforms like WordPress or Tumblr since they’re considered “credible” sources where people go when they want information on something specific.
- Banner ads are still effective because they attract attention and get people interested enough in what you’re offering that they’ll click through to your website where all the details of what’s being offered will be available for viewing by anyone who wants them – including potential customers!
Conclusion
The most important thing to know about old school ways to get traffic is that they are still effective. These tactics may not be as effective as Google ad words, but they will still give you results for the right audience. There’s no need to spend money on expensive tools or do complicated tasks when there are so many simple things you can do to boost your website traffic.
