Here are the best ways to get traffic for your new website right away.
1. Post on Twitter using hashtags
Twitter is an awesome marketing tool for website owners. One of the best ways to get your content noticed is to use hashtags relevant to your audience.
A handy free tool like Hashtagify allows you to search for hashtags you’re considering using and view popular related hashtags.
From these results, you can find well-known hashtags to add to your tweets – just be careful not to use too many tags. Two to three are best to avoid looking spammy.
If you don’t have time to spend on Twitter, consider using TweetDeck to schedule and plan your social media content for the week ahead.
2. Share links on Facebook groups
There is likely to be at least one active Facebook group related to your topic (use the search field on Facebook). And because they are already focused on a niche, they are a powerful way to build a loyal audience and traffic quickly.
Many groups offer ways to share your content with others, for example, posting links on particular days. If you’re sharing your content, it’s important to be authentic by creating conversation with other members and never just spamming.
Feel free to share your website on my Starting a Website Facebook group.
I also recommend creating your own Facebook group to complement your website. It means you have full control over it, and you'll soon attract new members searching for the topics you cover!
3. Join Pinterest groups
Pinterest is one of the most underrated methods of growing your blog traffic. Engaging with other users is guaranteed to boost your website hits, providing you use the right strategy.
A Pinterest group board is one with several contributors and it normally has a small two-person icon in the bottom right-hand corner. Group boards tend to have more followers than regular boards, meaning more people will re-pin your content and visit your site.
To find groups boards in your niche, take a look at PinGroupie. This free tool reveals how many subscribers and re-pins a board has. If you want to join a group board, you’ll usually need to email the Pinterest account holder to get an invite to pin on that board.
4. Comment on well-known blogs in your niche
While commenting on popular blogs in your niche may seem like an exhausting exercise, it’s still one of the most effective methods for getting traffic to your site.
Instead of spamming other blogs with your website URL, craft thoughtful comments related to the blog content and leave your site link as a by-line – this is a genuine way of attracting new readers to your website.
Set up Google Alerts for related phrases to be emailed to you when blogs post on a topic you can comment on!
5. Facebook Ads
Despite it being a form of paid traffic, Facebook Ads is insanely effective at building you an audience in literally no time. When you create an advert on Facebook, you're able to hone in to reach a very, very specific demographic.
For example, at Save the Student we could target ads towards Facebook users who are at university, live in Manchester, are interested in doughnuts and are single.
Facebook Ad targeting
You can start with as little as $10, but I appreciate most new bloggers aren't in a position to spend right away (unless you're already monetising your site), so this is just something to keep in mind.
Click here to join my Private Facebook Group for new webmasters. Share your website and connect with others!
Generally building social media pages and links to your new website should be your main focus. Not only do they directly send new visitors your way, but they're also the main indicators search engines like Google use to rank websites (SEO). And free Google traffic is the best kind of traffic.
How to make money from your website
Once you have some kind of traffic, your website can then be monetised in dozens of ways.
The most lucrative business opportunities for new websites to make money tend to be:
- Sponsored articles
- Google AdSense
- Product reviews
- Consultancy (or freelance work)
- Email marketing
- Affiliate marketing (the big one!)
Affiliate marketing is earning commission from a company for promoting an online product or service to your website visitors. The retailer or merchant provides you with a unique link that will track any sales which originate from you. The link could be placed within a relevant article, an email or on social media.
This is now a huge industry in itself, which is unsurprising when you consider how many e-commerce websites there are today!
But don't get overwhelmed by the scale of the business opportunities yet.
Sign up to Affiliate Window from day one. They are an established and large affiliate network giving you instant access to thousands of online retailers and services who pay you a commission for any leads. It's just a case of copying the link across and including it within your content.
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For more of an insight into how business websites generally make money, have a look at our guides on making money as a blogger and passive income.
Start today
I started my first site way back in 2002, it wasn't pretty, but honestly it was the best decision I ever made. It ultimately led me to found STS in 2007 and kick-started my career (read about my 10 year journey).
Every week I come across more and more bloggers who have quit their 9-5 job and are making a living from blogging.
Obviously this doesn't happen overnight, but you have to start and take the first step.
That's why I wrote this guide to creating a website, and thankfully today it's MUCH easier to get a site live. You don't need to know a thing about coding or servers - as my own grandma has proven - thanks to Bluehost and WordPress.
If you still haven't created your Bluehost account, click here to take advantage of the limited discount and free domain name.
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