Is Google the only source of traffic for our blogs?
I've been writing for quite a while and realized that the only way to get traffic to your blog is when someone runs a Google search and finds your article. What if I am writing something that people aren't searching for but would rather want to read?
Google Discover is one way but it mostly focuses on news articles. It does value evergreen articles but I mostly see clickbaity news articles in my discover feed. Medium and Substack offer recommendations but then you lose control over your content. Medium is rather more strict about adding newsletter links, placing sponsors and such.
I've spent the last 10 days brainstorming ways to get traffic for 300 to 400 word informative micro posts on my blog. I've studied different platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, Medium, Substack, Quora and a few others hoping to move the micro-content on my blog there to get more eyeballs but then I have to give up control and my blog becomes thin on content.
Would like to know your views on this. Are you just relying on Google search or leveraging multiple platforms to get views on your content?
No, there are many sources of traffic for our blog. Some other common sources of traffic include social media platforms, referral traffic from other websites, and direct traffic from people typing the URL directly into their browser or clicking on a bookmark. Additionally, traffic can come from search engines other than Google, such as Bing and DuckDuckGo.
Right. Thanks for the insight.
Google isn't the only way to get traffic.
In fact, tons of successful businesses get traffic from everywhere else BUT Google!
Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit etc. etc.
Where ever your target audience hangs out is a place for you to get traffic from.
Also, don't make the mistake of thinking that you need tons of traffic to generate revenue for your startup - you only need a little with the right approach.
I literally just posted an article about this on here where I describe how I made 4 figures in revenue from one single tweet with less than 100 followers on Twitter - https://www.indiehackers.com/post/steal-the-tweet-that-made-me-4-figures-in-revenue-with-less-than-100-followers-on-twitter-cd1b6afe0b
You might find it useful.
Best
Chris
Agree! I read your blog post, intresting!
Thanks :-) glad you enjoyed it. Feel free to give the article a like and a comment if you can-helps bump it up so others can find it too
This is helpful, Chris. Thanks. It's more about the source that gives you continual traffic like Google search and YouTube. I've tried creating content on Twitter, and LinkedIn in the past and it's like throwing a stone sideways in a lake for fun. You kind of hope it goes far enough before it goes down forever.
Hey no problem.,
You'd be surprised. Posts that you make on Twitter, LinkedIn etc. can also be evergreen content. Posts that I made a while ago still bring in traffic.
The truth is, nothing lasts forever, not even content for Google search. You need to be constantly putting stuff out there - especially in today's saturated markets.
Sharing blog on relevant social media communities drives remarkable traffic. I'm upto writing blogs these days and it works for me.
I love reddit. If your blog posts are really interesting for specific communities, you can share it with them and get great reactions and feedback.
Probably, the best!.
Maybe community... Like Subreddits and Facebook groups. Which is difficult these days
Another option is building a following where your followers are active and interested in what you say. I've seen Tim Urban (Waitbutwhy) post things that won't have gotten engagement if it were someone else. So, I think building a community gradually can help.
My opinion is that you shouldn't rely only on google traffic. Must create social media accounts like facebook, twitter, quora to get traffic from different channels. It'll be more beneficial. I hope you implement this to get good results.
Cheers!
I promote blog a lot but twitter is my primary. I use key words that I think someone would type in on google. My blog is pretty specific so I try to harp in on those keywords and post a couple using it. It's still taking me time to figure it all out. It's been a year with 1000 reads a month on average and going up.
Would you like to share more insights into this? Are you getting continual traffic from Twitter or is it a one-off thing where you post something and it gives you traffic for a day or two?
I do get retention from twitter because they become followers and the blog becomes a reference. I use medium to keep data analytics but actually keep an index of all my blogs here:
https://github.com/Sulstice/Cheminformatics-Teaching-Material
It kind of gives them complete visibility over all the blogs.
I get boosts of traffic on my twitter each time from people in the field that need to see it but some of my boosts have come from me just being myself oddly enough. I've blogged now for 4 years where it's kind of dipped into my personal life and I think it adds an odd touch.
https://medium.com/@sulstice
I would work on sharing your blog posts through other social channels which will enable other to find them later. For example, someone posts a question on reddit which can be answered by a response on your site. If you link them to it, others in the future who visit that question (through google or reddit's search) will be directed to your site :)
This is interesting but lately, I've realized Reddit is getting as toxic as it can be. Some of the users pounce on you like Zombies if they sense you are trying to drive traffic elsewhere :)
Google shouldn't be your only source. You have promote your blog in forum, social media, email marketing and many. Diversify the source when it comes to bring traffic to your website.
Thanks for your reply. I was wondering of something that would give me continual traffic as opposed to being a one-off thing.