5 Ways to drive traffic to your blog

When I first started my blog I had no idea how much work it was going to take to get
myself noticed. However, I knew what I had to do to figure it out! I learn best by seeing what works well for others, learning from it and using it in my own way. I took to Pinterest (google for bloggers, am I right?) to figure that out. So now I am going to take what I’ve learned and help you with it! I will break down four different methods I use to drive traffic to my blog. 

The very first thing that stood out to me were Link Parties!

Link Parties

Link parties are put on by an owner of a blog who (usually) has a number of hosts to post a weekly “party” on their blogs. The “party” is a place you can link your recent blog posts to their website and view other bloggers posts. This opens your blog up to SO MANY different people. The whole idea is to leave your link and find a few other people to comment on and like, you know – build relationships! 
A lot of times the hosts will always choose someone to feature on the next weeks link up – this is a major key! I had this happen to me a few times bringing me a ton of viewers!

With that said, you want to make sure you are searching for link parties in your niche. There are so many out there so make sure you read the rules and find the right place to link up! 

Now, the times they go live depends on the person hosting it and once you get the hang of it you’ll probably join tons and tons of link parties. So, I suggest creating some type of list, or add in your calendar the times your fave link parties go live so you can be one of the first people to link up! 

A few personal fave Link Parties are:

Chelc @ Inside the Fox Den – Merry Monday. 
Kerryanne @ Shabby Art Boutique – Shabbilicious Friday
Hannah @ Eat, Drink, and Save Money – Share The Wealth Sunday
* I would like to create a link-up directory. If you would like to be added to the directly please shoot me an email letting me know: tiffany@arrowsandawe.com

Pinterest Community boards:

I LOVE INTEREST COMMUNITY BOARDS. No, I seriously love them. First, Pinterest is my no. 1 source of traffic. Hands down. Second, I owe (most) of it to community boards. 

I do have a Community board I am accepting contributors for! If you want to be apart of this please follow me on Pinterest and either comment on one of my pins on the board or shoot me an email: tiffany@arrowsandawe.com

Click here to see Awe-Inspired Bloggers Community Board 

Another thing about Pinterest is SCHEDULE YOUR PINS! Currently, Pinterest is my no.1 source of traffic. I use Board Booster to set my pins on their looping feature. I customize mine to go through specific boards and repin my pins from oldest to newest. This is an amazing feature because you literally set it and forget it.. It also repins them at the highest traffic time. I loved it so much that I signed up for the paid version, which is more reasonable than many scheduling companies.

Seriously, I work full time and blog, so by scheduling my pins to automatically pin is a life and time saver! It helps you be more visible to people, get more pins, drive traffic back to your blog and GAIN FOLLOWERS… This is my net follower growth in the past 30 days…. 672 people! 

And, yes! It also keeps track of some analytics for you.

Instagram groups

This is something fairly new to me, but I am so happy I found out about it! It is a group of people who get together and create a group message via Instagram to comment on each others posts. Basically, you go to the chat, you post an emoji and that tells the other people in the chat that you just posted a picture and need some love on it! They will then go and give it likes and most importantly, comments! Comments are the money makers. They, along with hashtags, are what helps your pictures get into the Top Posts! I am so happy to say I have FINALLY made it to top posts on trending hashtags a few times! 

Another big thing about Instagram is QUALITY! I finally purchased a tripod, set a self timer and posed my little heart out! The picture I took of myself with my DSLR camera is the first picture I actually got into the Top post! So, I highly recommend picking up a tripod like this one for $10! (Seriously ten dollars and I began transforming my Insta.) 

Quality + Instagram groups + Hashtag Optimization = Glory! 

Seriously, genius!

Facebook groups

Facebook groups are a great tool to get noticed, network and learn! Find Facebook groups in your niche and click on Join Group. Most of the time they are closed groups that only people accepted can get into and post in.

How it works is, depending on the group, you can either post your content on specific days or be part of a thread. Then, there is a rule for reach post. For example, if you leave your link on an “Instagram Follow” the Admin may have made a rule that you need to follow 5 others.

That’s how we network and help each other out!Personally, I like to participate in the Blog Comment threads. It is a win win! You get comments AND views on your page!

Twitter Chats

This has been pretty helpful for me to connect with others bloggers and to gain some like-minded followers. I don’t use this option as much as the other options, however every Saturday morning I participate in SITS Blogging twitter chat! This allows me to ask questions, speak with other bloggers, post my recent posts and build relationships!
As you can see there are so many different ways to drive in traffic to your blog! It’s just a matter of figuring it out and finding what works for you!
These are all great ways to market yourself and get viewers to various social medias, turn them into clients and drive them back to your blog time and time again.

Build those relationships!

More Blogger Resources:

Start a Self-Hosted Blog via WordPress

Monetizing: Becoming Affiliated

How to Use Instagram to Market Your Blog

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Some links are affiliate links, but all thoughts are my own! 🙂