When building a WordPress website one of the big things that you will be thinking about is website traffic. Without traffic your blog or website can become a deserted platform in amongst this huge Internet jumble.

I can’t think of anyone who would create a website without wanting people to see it. So, anyone with a website or blog needs visitors. What you do with that traffic is up to you, but we can agree that it’s necessary.

I have been trying to get website traffic for years and have tried everything you can imagine. I followed all the amazing new traffic generation methods and in the end it all came down to some very simple ways.

#1. Awesome Content Equals Website Traffic

Many webmasters fail to see that quality content drives traffic. The issue is that everyone understands quality content is essential to compete with millions of other websites. This is why content is often underestimated, and its importance is not fully acknowledged.

As Corbett Barr would say, it’s all about creating epic shit. That’s a simple solution for website traffic.

#2. Get Social

Social media has become a big part of search engine optimization and we do need some social proof on our websites. Not only that, but social media can bring your website traffic to you if people share your content. If you do not install social media buttons on your website or create social media foundations, you’ll be missing out on a steady regular amount of traffic.

The question would be, “why would you do this on purpose?” You clearly know that social media is important so why haven’t you set up that Facebook page, or why haven’t you got a Twitter account?

Social media will not make you rich but it is an important part of your ongoing website traffic. People will follow you and when you post your quality content to these social media sites they will visit to read more.

#3. What Is Your Blogs Thing?

You know, what is your blogs unique selling proposition? What is going to make your blog or website stand out from the thousands or millions of others in the same niche? That is the question.

Which articles get the most comments or interaction on your website? What should you be talking about? These are all questions that you need to ask yourself just so you can figure out your unique selling proposition.

When you figure out what your website is about, make sure you tell people, because then they will love your website even more. This means more website traffic because people will know that you specialize in the information that they are looking for.

This is what it’s all about, finding out what your website visitors want and giving it to them.

#4. Always Gather Ideas

Ideas are the basis for your quality content and you will need to constantly feed your passion for your topic with new ideas. You need to suck up everything that is said on the Internet about your niche and spit it out as your own interpretation.

You cannot create fantastic content unless you are well versed in the world is content. It is only then that you will know what is needed and what is not.

#5. Store Your Content Ideas

Sometimes you have gathered so many ideas that you could not possibly remember all of them. When you are hot you are hot and ideas are precious.

I like to have a Word document with a list of titles that I have come up with while gathering my ideas. Sometimes I write points under these titles and sometimes the articles are even half written because I’m so inspired. If I lose that inspiration, I walk away and choose another article that inspires me again.

Having the content ideas written down in the same place also inspires more and more ideas.

#6. Set Up An E-Mail List

I actually hate e-mail marketing because some people have ruined it for everyone. But you still need to set up an e-mail list and create a newsletter for your subscribers. The thing is, you need to do it in an honest and interesting way. The hard sell e-mails are never going to last and if you want to keep your subscribers signed up, you need to give them something of extreme value.

To set up an e-mail list I would highly recommend starting out with Aweber e-mail marketing service. I started out with Mailchimp and have regretted it ever since. Now I am having trouble moving all my lists over to Aweber.

All you have to do is start creating emails and set them up to send to your list at certain number of days apart. When you study the results, you can then split test your e-mails to improve them. All you have to do is create e-mails that your audience likes. This has the potential to make more sales for your website or just simply bring back your website traffic.

Setting up an e-mail list goes hand in hand with building a website. It is one of those things that you need to do straight from the start as you will regret all of the possible signups that you miss.

traffic exit#7. Take Your Traffic Somewhere

So even if you steer your traffic towards making a connection with you, you will have another chance with this visitor. You might actually want to sell them something that they did not buy at the time, so steering them towards a connection is a great way to bring back your lost website traffic.Many Webmasters get website traffic that takes them nowhere. You need to steer your traffic to your goal or maybe two more content. Either way your website traffic needs direction to travel and also think about making a connection with them so you can bring them back.

#8. Give Them the Gift ASAP

You might get website traffic that will not sign up to your list and probably will not come back to your website, but if you give them a free gift as soon as they land on your page, there is another chance they will come back later. This is all in the master plan for getting website traffic. When people visit your website they really should leave with something to remind them of you.

Just say you gave away a free report like the ones I have in my sidebar, you must make sure that there are links in their leading back to your website. It is even better that you have something that is tempting them to click on those links.

#9. Create Solid Traffic Bases

These kinds of things have been around for years and really started with article marketing. I guess all of this has transformed into guest blogging but the theory is the same. You put out a lot of content with links leading back to your website. People read this content and travel through these links for years to come, therefore providing website traffic almost permanently.

I sometimes have great traffic bases on forums where I have posted amazing information that keeps bringing website traffic over and over. Some of the things I have posted have been from years ago and I am shocked that they still work!

#10. Listen and Take Action

Learning how to create a successful website that rocks is not hard because the information is everywhere on the Internet. On my website alone I tell all and sometimes I wonder why all of my readers are not successful like I am?

One of the reasons could be that people get the information but do not take action with it. I say create quality content but are you really doing that? Do you really understand what quality content is?

I have had people ask me to look at their websites because they are not successful but doing everything that I say to do. Most people are not actually listening to what I am saying. They interpret the meaning of quality content or website promotion in a different way. Even though I explain things very clearly people still think they are taking action when they are really not.

#11. Focusing On Bad Stuff = Less Traffic

People get stuck on the most stupid things and harp on about them forever. This is a waste of time. If you want website traffic then stop fluffing around and just go and write heaps of content and promote your site with a link back to it. How could I make it any simpler than that?

New Webmasters have a problem with some theme design or even choosing a WordPress website theme and waste time on deciding or customizing it. This is not going to generate traffic and make your website successful. Taking action is going to make you successful and bring you website traffic.

#12. Write List Posts

You know all those articles that have 20 of the top performing for 10 of the best or five unknown tips, well these are very popular. Anyone that says these posts are out and over and done with must just be jealous. Seriously these articles that list the top 20 of something or 30 of something other most popular pieces of content on the Internet. People love to read these articles and I even love to read them.

These top 10,20,30 list articles are amazing website traffic generators. In fact Josh Dunlop from Income Diary got 20,293 hits on one top 30 blog post in one week. He still promotes this method as his number one website traffic method. So why aren’t you writing top 10 list articles?

#13. Plan Stuff

Creating website content on-the-fly is not always a great idea. Planning out your content or your strategies for promoting your website can really increase your website traffic. For example you could research keywords that you can use that people are actually searching for. This way you know that people will be interested in the content that you write.

You can also plan your goals and how you are going to provide what your readers want. My planning is in the form of checklists. I have a WordPress website checklist, a social media checklist, website maintenance checklist, a SEO checklist, and many many more. In fact you could say that I am checklist happy.

#14. Suck In Feedback

This is an amazing way to get more website traffic. Actually listen to the feedback that your readers give you. Some people e-mail you out of the blue and some people comment on your website, but make sure you are taking note of what they say. There are some amazing clues in amongst this feedback and it could sometimes be only from one person, but it still counts dramatically.

It is amazing what ordinary website visitors come up with. They can tell you the most obvious things and if you listen you will generate more website traffic guaranteed!

I have done this over and over again. In fact this is how my first website, Tips4pc became so popular. It was simple; I listened to what people were saying and make changes accordingly. If they asked for certain content I provided it. The funny thing is, that later I would find that there would be more than one person wanting the same content.

Creating website traffic is not always about something technical. If you just stop thinking technical for a moment and think about action, you will have loads of website traffic flowing to your site.

Webmaster often consider any back link to be a good link for their website. This is not what I have found to be the case.

When I get a back link to my website from another website that is directly related to my niche, both my website traffic and my sales increase. This is an absolute known fact. I can stop link building right now, watch my sales go down, and then start link building again to watch them go up again. Trust me I have tested this.

Sometimes when you build links it does absolutely nothing to your website traffic all sales, but when you get the right links you will notice your website pumping with action.

#16. Guest Posting Has to be Mentioned

I have to mention guest posting because this is where I get the best back links from that bring in the best traffic. I know everyone knows that guest posting is a great thing to do but I do not see many people doing it?

Why are you sitting back and wondering where your website traffic is when you could be guest posting on sites where your customers are hanging out. For my computer tips website I guest post on other computer tips or tech websites. For my blogging niche website I look for similar sites to guest post on.

That is not the be all and end all of it either. You need to direct the traffic back to your website somehow. By testing your authors bio or away you leave the links in the articles, you will soon figure out the best way to get that website traffic too visit you.

#17. Regular Posting

I hate to say that regular posting on your blog or website does bring in more traffic. I have no argument there but I do have a problem with keeping up with that schedule. If I post an article on my computer tips website every day, the Alexa ranking drops bit by bit, without any outside promotion. So I can just continually post great content to my site and improve my rankings.

It is all about momentum and keeping it. If you want to post every two days, then do it. I think posting once a week is not enough and probably means you would have to do a hell of a lot more promotion to get the right website traffic to your door. If you can find that balance between publishing articles and promotion then you will notice your website traffic continually rising.

We must be careful though, as you can sacrifice reader engagement when your posts flow-through your blog too fast. You need to find the balance that is right for your website.

#18. Save Time on Traffic Generation

As I stated above, posting regularly can see you save time on traffic generation and still give you a decent amount of website visitors.

Another way to do this is to make sure that the content you are creating is content that people want. You can do this by researching what keywords are being searched for, seeing what is popular in your niche, or simply asking your readers what they want.

Providing the right content will definitely save you time on promotion. For example if you write an absolute awesome article and it gets virally shared through social media, your promotion is done for you.

This is the best way to generate traffic for your website. Basically if you can create content around keywords that you know people are searching for and it is awesome content, you will have 70% of your traffic generation job done for you.

#19. SEO is Still Cool

You should never presume that search engine optimization is dead just because of all the recent Google updates. Google is not out to kill SEO, it is out to simply provide the best results in the search engines. All they really want to do is provide what their customers want. How simple is that?

You still have to let the search engines what you have and a great way to do this is to read my article about SEO under the hood of your website. This digs deep and gets you thinking about what you really should be providing to get ranking in the search engines.

#20. Any Old Traffic Will NOT Do!

You can get thousands of website visitors to your website every day but get no sales from it. How does this happen? Well obviously this is the wrong traffic, or you are not doing the right things with your traffic.

If you are sure you have targeted traffic visiting your website then think about what you are doing with it? Don’t let that traffic go, grab them while you can in that once in a lifetime split second.

#21. Information in a Logical Order

You might be fantastic at creating the best content ever, but how do your website visitors find it? Also how do they read it?

Webmasters fail to think about how their website visitors are going to navigate their content and read it. Creating killer content involves formatting your content in an easy to read way. That is one way that people can understand your content better.

Then we need to think about how they actually find the content. They might have found one piece content through the search engines, but what about the rest of it, where is it?

If a person is reading about starting a website, for example, you would have the content linked in a logical order. First you would show them how to start a WordPress website from scratch, then customize the installation, and then maybe install the WordPress theme. You need your content to flow on all your website visitor will not know where to go.

Here are some tips for presenting your content in a logical order

  • Showcase categories or sections in a top menu bar. For example I have a SEO section above.
  • Have your most popular content showing in the sidebar. This will show your website visitors what you can really provide.
  • Create internal links to the next piece of content that follows or is related to the one the person is reading.
  • Create content that has subheadings, bullet points and images.

All of these points make your content easy to find and easy to read. If you can please your website visitors and make it all easy for them, they will return and this will increase your website traffic.

Just remember that the information you are posting on the Internet has probably already been said and done before, therefore it is how you deliver it that makes the difference.

#22. Research Your Competitors

If there are websites in your niche that get a lot of traffic make it your business to research where that traffic is coming from. A great place to start is to visit Alexa.com as they have loads of valuable information available.

You can see what keywords are bringing in the most traffic, you can see where their traffic comes from, and you can see where their traffic is going to.

If you are researching websites that are in your niche and do you see that they are getting a lot of traffic for a certain topic, then you know that this is what your readers want.

#23. Solve Problems

People go to the search engines when they have a problem and want to find answers. If your website can solve these problems then people will know where the answers are and return again later.

If you promise to solve the problem by posting an article that says it has the answers and it doesn’t, you are not doing your website any favors. If your post title promises to solve the problem and you do solve the problem, you create trust.

Just remember that solving the problem is only part of the equation because if you upset the website visitor, even though you heard solve the problem, they might not trust you. For example you might have too much advertising for the website visitor to read the information freely. This will upset the reader and they will most likely search for another answer.

#24. Stand Out In the Crowd

But there is no doubt that standing out in the crowd can bring you amazing amounts of website traffic. There are crazy success stories where people have only been blogging for one year and are making a six-figure income, simply because they stood out. It usually is their content and what they give the people that stands out, but sometimes it is their personality as well.Generating regular website traffic can be as easy as standing out in the crowd. You know the bloggers that have just skyrocketed to the top, they did something that made them stand out in the crowd. Personally I did not use this method as I was too busy creating my websites and taking action in the background.

#25. Use Youtube

I have told people over and over, that Youtube is the best source of traffic I have. It is not only the best source of traffic; it also converts the best because it is extremely targeted. So why are there people that have not posted videos on Youtube?

I have heard all of the excuses in the world, but guess what, even I buy videos to post to my YouTube channel. The problem is I do not have the time to make videos and there are people that will do it for you. Some videos cost five dollars and others more. Surely you can spare five dollars for a video to post to Youtube?

Just think about it. People have searched in Youtube to solve a problem and they find your video. Your video is so good that they click the link under the video to see more information. These people are hungry for this information. If you give them more of what they want you will get what you want.

Conclusion

I know some people were probably looking for some amazing traffic tip that was not so obvious. Unfortunately all of these traffic getting methods are right at your disposal and are the most obvious to everyone. All you have to do is take action and stop fluffing around.

Why does everyone keep looking for the big answer to their website traffic problems when the “writing” is on the wall? Simply create great content to please your website visitors and the search engines will be happy to send the customers your way. If that’s not enough for you, get off your butt and promote that fab content. :)