Yesterday I talked about how to get sponsors or advertisers for your website/blog. I think I should probably take a step back today and talk about how to get users to your blog in the first place.
Now this is not a definitive guide or anything…. its just my thoughts from my experience writing the site and also feedback from readers over the years on how people came to find shoemoney.com and then what made them stay.
Be active on other blogs.
I can’t stress how important this is. Making good comments on other blogs will not only encourage the blog owner to visit your website but commentators as well. I started reading lots of commentators blogs who make comments on here… I think I could comfortably say I have visited everyone’s site who has ever commented on here… at some point. Just this morning I was checking out commentator SMM Guru’s site about social advertising. Some great articles about making money with Facebook I will be following up on for sure.
Now if you have a advertising/marketing blog and your commenting on Perez Hilton then I doubt your going to get much traffic from there…. but commenting on other blogs in your niche with intelligent comments is a great way to get some traffic.
Also just be honest and don’t try to spam… no matter how creative you think you are your trying to sell ice to eskimo’s – marketing to marketers.
Be active on forums.
When shoemoney.com started 99.9% of the traffic came from forums like forums.digitalpoint.com seo-guy.com. I never got into webmasterworld but its another really good forum. Digitalpoint worked very well because you could put your blog in and it would display your latest blogpost in every post that you made. I even purchased the rights to have other people show my blog posts that had over 10,000 posts or so.
In my case I had a great site that started out with only contextual revenue and then I learned affiliate, donation, and subscription revenue so I would write tips on how to monetize websites in other ways then just contextual based on my experiences. I posted in forums for years before even starting my own blog but was pretty well respected before doing it.
Stick your pecker out there
You have a brain and opinions. They might not always go with the flow… who cares? Be yourself. Stick your pecker out. But know what you are talking about and be genuine.
Well those are the best tips I can give you for getting and retaining visitors to your blog. The cool think is it does not cost you any money… just good content, consistently over time. If you can do that the visitors will gradually come.
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Well I’m not 100% agree with you. We the website owners. When we have a blog site or a social site, we like when our users come, stay and visit all the time. Some users would just visit only once and never come back.
I created my site for my friends, because after high school I was lonely ( I know about facebook and myspace), and I wanted something that belonged to me. I wanted something where I can bring all of them together; my own network.
As a soldier of the US Army and actually enroll in ROTC I’m obviously always busy. Lack of time to create something very decent really killed my objective.
I showed them that I cared about them, which I really do. None of them are interested. It was a subdomain first, then I changed it to a domain just to make it easier to find. They still don’t bother.
The point that I’m trying to make here is when creating a website one should create something unique like this site. I didn’t understand that. I wanted a social/blog network, but I never realized if people already have those.
My site is not the best site at all but it’s much better than it used to be.
Good luck to everyone out there who’s thinking about getting into the business
Great to read your post….I really good Idea
Thank you for the advise on this topic. I completely agree with what you are saying here and it is great advice for bloggers especially.
Well I came here looking for advice on how to get ppl to my site lolz Thanks for the advice, I’ll start putting it into action
Hi Jeremy,
Great to read your post, and know what I’m currently doing is one of the best ways to get traffic
I’ve been clicking around your site, and really like the format and the way you’ve customised it. (Yes I know customised is spelt with a ‘z’ but i’m australian, so i’m sticking with my ’s’ and besides the more s’ the better for the ’shoemoney’ brand right?
Anyhoo,
Happy New Year!
Derrick
(one Month Blogging Newbie)
http://www.TheNetExperiment.com
Yeah I really good Idea, I am trying to get members for my free online mafia game, moblife.co.uk.
I agree with idea number one .. thats a good one .. idea two is yet another classic way to bring in traffic .. idea number three … idea number three … hmmmm … I’m sorry I just can’t run around sticking my pecker out all over Kansas City .. Do you have any clue what could happen to it ????
The fact is that it takes time, commenting on other people’s blogs is a resource consuming thing to do since there are so many blogs you can comment on and each passing day the number of people you contact increases. But it is a good promotion strategy
Was searching for ways to get users and came across this article…good ideas, very informative. In addition to being active on forums, another technique would be to join groups specific to your niche on the different social networking sites and being active on the discussion threads there.
hi
nice tips..thanks
What are your thoughts on paid advertising is it a practical resolution to a modest bloggers budget? Let me know your thoughts guys?
It all seems to simple doesn’t it? Just keep writing and viewers will attend your site….It is true..but very slow. I comment a lot..and try to be honest and find things to comment that are relevant to my topic. The topic is aging at its best and seeking the easiest and best ways to stay healthy..and aging is reality..but getting old does not have to be…carol stanley
Yep, and forums are great for learning new stuff too. Blogs are great for more in depth knowledge, but it takes time to write a post. It doesn’t take long to write a sentence in a forum and share some knowledge so there’s always more to learn there!
Be active on other blogs is a winner!
SMM Rocks…
Wow, lots of comments here
I just think it is cool that we have you here to be so generous with your advice. To me it is not all about the money it is about the people. I read this post hoping to get some support on my weight loss blog http://www.mrmeltdown.com The information you posted is priceless and very useful, did I mention it also makes since. I just have to say thanks dude you rock! I am new to your site but now I am a fan and will continue to support this important blog. Your choice of content is key to keeping us readers locked. You’re the man!! Go Team Shoe Money!!
Hi,
I ran into your blog trying to learn something about marketing on the internet and I found it very useful, I sure will keep reading your posts since I am trying to figure out how to get traffic to my site. My brother (he has vast knowledge in page rank) told me I should get lots of backlinks. The task seems endless for me.
My site is about animated e-cards in english and spanish for a cartoon character I created and hope I can get the word out there so eventually it will become a fulltime job/business for me.
Commenting on blogs, seems more easy and I actually enjoy it, rather than finding forums to post links.
(sorry for my english I live in Mexico)
Anyway, I appreciate your valuable comments
Blanca
http://www.chico-chihuahua.com
Thanks for all the great tips!
This is really interesting
Well i will say that this is really nice .
Shoe- Solid post.
This is my first time on the blog and I’m actually in the process of doing what you are recommending here. I went to the AdAge top 50 of which you are one and I’m reading 1 post from each blog that sticks out to me and commenting on it, intelligently (at least I try, ha).
I had a question about commenting and leaving a URL… I usually write the comment then leave http://ryanagraves.com but sometimes I wonder if that is annoying or like begging for a link click. I like when people leave a site to check out on my blogs comments but I’m not sure what others think about it.
What are you thoughts on the matter? Does my URL annoy you or is a good way to get some pub?
These are exactly true. I tried them very actively sometime and i got a big gift. Now google is enough…
Thank you for the advise on this topic.
You’re welcome on my website
Who earns more, DP or Shoemoney?
I’d have to say Shoemoney. The only way DP really earns is through the adsense ads, and getting webmasters to click on adsense ads is like selling ice to an eskimo.
how can u manage to be active on your own site and active on other people’s sites at the same time?
Stellar Tips Shoemoney, thank you. I am an active participant of Digital Point, but I was unaware that it could drive that much traffic. Purchasing the blog spot on other peoples post is pretty smart.
I have not yet been an active participant of others blogs, but I am starting now. I am certain I will learn a large amount of valuable info that way as well.
I even made a shortcut on my desktop to shoemoney.com. Ctrl + Alt + S loads up shoemoney.com in Firefox.
The forums are a great way to get traffic to your site especially the ones like digitalpoint, sitepoint, and dreamteammoney. You can learn a lot from other blogs too, so giving them quality comments and staying with them is a win win situation.
#1 & 2
i know that already
but sticking with pecker?! why?! is that really important?
I just visited SMM Guru, Wow! What an interesting and informative blog on online marketing!
Wow, nice article. Definitely one of the best in a while, especially coming from someone who no longer has to do things like that.
I found the forum tip very useful. Much like yourself, i used forums as a decent way to start building traffic. Its dificult at first but if you can build yourself up a decent enough rep you will start earning the respect of other members and get more exposure.
This is very good advice. I try to keep good comments in blogs and talk in the forums.
The fact is that it takes time, commenting on other people’s blogs is a resource consuming thing to do since there are so many blogs you can comment on and each passing day the number of people you contact increases. But it is a good promotion strategy.
It’s a great way to get that initial traffic until your readership gets big enough.
I strongly agree about making relevant/useful comments on other blogs. Other than getting extra traffic, it may also help increase your RSS subscribers.
Hey Shoe, sue me for libel! I have no money left, thanks to your advice. You are a lousy pos of a human being. I hope you die of the worse cancer ever devised from our maker.
Dude, like get a life….
You are one of many reasons that search engines suck because of your black hat crap!
Hey Shoe, I will be at your next phony bullshit panel circle jerk to expose you as an ass clown. Bring your attorney!
SHOEMONEY IS LIKE A RUSSAIN COMMY, HE DELETES ANY POST THAT MAY QUESTION ANY THING HE POSTS. THIS IS A SIGN OF A MAN WHO IS INSECURE!
Dear ShoeMoney,
I tried using your contact page but don’t know whether it got through or otherwise. Anyway, just wanted to let you know that your SERPS Tool header link is broken (I think). Maybe you could look into fixing it?
Rgds
great post – I did this with some sites that I own and I get a fair amount of traffic to them by posting on forums
The best thing about this blog is that he says what he wants and it usually the flat out truth. The second best thing is almost every post made is worth reading… thats why I visit!
Great tips, heading off to DP forum, thanks.
Whoops, there’s my Gravatar now. Never mind…lol.
“Stick your pecker out there.” I love it. Sometimes, a little controversy is good…good press, bad press, it’s all press.
By the way, I have a Gravatar but it doesn’t seem to be showing up. Hmm.
Being active on forums really does help, as does getting to know other bloggers or permalinking to good blogs. Finding new products and writing a good review will do wonders, especially if the founders like the review and make mention of it on their site!
Wow.. I feel like an idiot. I regularly visit the Digital Point forum and had never seen the option to show your latest blog entry. Thanks Shoe.. I think I’ll call you Shoe for now on.
my favorite part is when shoe tells all his readers to “stick your pecker out” LOL
Some great advice there. Just keep posting regularly to relevant blogs.
I know I am one of the few regular commentors here that does not list a site in my name. I have many sites that I work on, none of which are a blog and I will start one soon…
the classic approach, awesome!
I think that is a very overlooked aspect…sticking your pecker out there haha. So many people get scared and try to be politically correct, many will find out if they just go with the flow they won’t get any attention at all.
Hope to take advantage of more of these.
Thanks for the tips Shoe I’m working at as hard as I can. I have had a lot of good luck from these even though it starts as a trickle it grows rather well. Another thing I am trying right now is a contest in order to get people to interact with my site and actually register as members, you might have heard something about it ? /wink My biggest hurdle there is having the resources for the prizes, so I have started small and asked other posters to contribute as well as hitting up other bloggers and giving them links.
Will keep you posted on how it goes for the tips as always.
Make something that people like. Don’t make something that sucks.
Just added top commentators to my blog… Check it out
more than certain the activity on your site will be more intense from now…good luck.
great advices. Those are the places with which I also started.
contests, contests and more contests…
that is true that people comes from forums, but what are other blogs like shoemoney? how to post article on shoemoney?
Thanks
to find other blogs like shoemoney.com, just type “make money online blogs” in google. I would have give you some of them I am reading but I don’t want to be flagged as spamming.
This is one of those things I’ve been working on building a habit of. I have pretty limited work time, so it’s kind of tough at times to get enough commenting done. But I do better than in the past, which has to count for something.
I have the same problem. The biggest problem with finding time to comment in blogs and forums (for me) is getting sucked into reading everything… linked articles, all the other comments, other commentors websites….
It usually takes a while before I realize “oh yeah! I’m supposed to be PARTICIPATING” 
Being active in other blogs is a very important thing. On my blog I have seen people writing spammy comments just to get a backlink and they don’t think about their reputation.
Also, in forums like Digital Point many people create threads with a big list of websites in their signatures thinking that they will get tons of visitors by doing that..
I especially like that last point you made Shoe. It’s really easy to “go with the flow” and be just another sheep. You don’t stand out in a crowd, unless you’re a pop star. You stand out by taking another path and voicing a different opinion. Trying to be different really helps in getting visitors to come as while many of them might be coming to flame you, there are also those just curious to see your view. Often, these people turn into subscribers.
I’m trying to learn in the participate in other blogs thing. Regardless if it’s a related blog or not you will more than likely still see some traffic with people just being curious
I’m sure being in the same niche would make so much of a difference though.
Great ideas! And of course, wonderful contests bring traffic to your site too. But you know that!
I’ll do it!
What type of advice would you give if you are in a pretty competitive market and comments from a competitor would generally not be appreciated on other people in your niche’s websites?
Great article and I’m getting ready to research and find some nice forums and blogs within my niche to start a comment campaign on.
What about a niche information blog?
Most of our comments, for now, come from people wanting to win contests. That’s how we offer our contests. Entries are done through comments. That gets a lot of comments period, and occasionally, they’ll find other blog posts to post on, too. It isn’t a perfect method, but it helps!
Good points, I think having a “Top Commentators” widget on the sidebar helps to promote commenting on your blog as well, which in turn keeps people coming back.
The main objective is the creation of the site’s reputation. It will work for you in the future.
Hello,
Forums are a great way to get alot of free traffic to your blog or website.
Thanks for all the great tips!
Steve
Definitely some good points Jeremy. The tough part is sticking it through the long months of slow traffic. Just keep posting quality content and eventually your visitors will pick up.
I’ve dedicated specific days of the week only to promotion of my various blogs and efforts by posting on other blogs and forums. Varying degrees of success though. In some cases, some good traffic and in other cases, zero traffic.
But I just need to post more.
Like I said I dedicate specific days (or really lunches) to promotion.
Hey, Thanks for the plug Jeremy!
Forums and commenting on high traqffic blogs gets me all the traffic..Get Crazy commenting
I definitely agree with the points you’ve made in this post. Nothing like some good tips from the A-lister himself
Thanks for the great ideas! There are alot of bloggers out there that change their minds over and over again to make others happy.
I definitely agree with voicing your opinions and sticking to them even when you’re attacked.
Blogs and forums are good advice for anyone with a website. I help promote a handful of small sites and one of the first lessons I go over with them how to post in blogs/forums and what effect that has on site traffic. Even without direct traffic, you still get the benefit of links and keywords in urls (in most cases).
Commenting has been my major thing so far. I have to find a job still, thats pretty important so I cant spend too much time reading posts. But commenting commenting commenting. Im also starting to get into digitalpoint and sitepoint forums. Should be interesting. Learn some more ways of the internet.
Stay as far away from digitalpoint as you can. If you want real forums go to wickedfire.com trust me… You will learn much more on WF lol
You have to give a little to get a little (or a lot, as the case may be).
I wanted to add one tip to this article:
The LinkedIn Q&A section has been instrumental in driving traffic to my blog. As an expert in certain fields, I answer about two user questions per day. These answers are rated by the individual posting the question. The system is robust and full of other professionals in the field who make outstanding readers.
http://admaven.blogspot.com
I am totally an active commentor on loads of blogs. You will see my face all around. This is a great way to promote yourself. Some blogs send me over 200 uniques per month just for commenting. This is great.
I just found your blog and you can be sure that I will become a regular commentor on this blog. I am subscribing to your feed…….now
be very careful…this blog is addictive. It will be the first website you will go to when opening the browser. Or even worse, you will set it as your homepage.
lol i have it as my mobile browser homepage. I guess i’m as sad as you can get
Is it your homepage “web hosting rebates” ?
Yeah I should really start getting onto forums again. Great tips.
Only post as a normal user and add value to the forum or its a waste of time.
check, it’s next on my todo list…
Uhh… nice post.
Yeah it’s really important to be unique. I mean you’re the one that makes all the difference on your blog. I post on my blog the way I feel it. Sometimes thanks to my articles someone gets offended, I never do that on purpose, but that’s who I am. I’m sometimes rude, I have a great sense of humor, sometimes it’s just black humor and some people don’t get it. Oh well… too bad for them.
And I suggest everyone to do that as well. Don’t be another John Chow, or Shoemoney pretending to be one of them you’ll just help to brand them. Be who you are and brand yourself, not others.
These are all valid points and they can be very good at jump starting a new website however , SEO should be the main concern as it’s more profitable and for a longer term.
Good article. When I stopped actively promoting for a few weeks, and my blogs growth stopped dead in its tracks. Promoting is time consuming, and growth is still slow, but damn if it doesn’t work…
This is great advice for bloggers, but it also works for Website publishers as well. I have found that a lot of people have never even thought of using the comment section of Blogs as a way of getting links to a Site, much less xtra traffic.
Some interesting points, with marketing you have to think outside the box. Look forward to more tips
Be active on forums/blogs, but do not spam!!
You have some great ideas here, might have to try them out.
Some great tips there Shoe. I am learning how this works and am finding good results with the execution of your suggestions. Just today, I have experienced a great victory with the SEs. It’s great when after all the hard work, you finally get to see some good results.
I agree, I stand by my belief that SEO is the way to go!
In many small niches (still to this day), even just basic on-site SEO gets you front page results for quite a few searches. Community activity on blogs and forums gets you a solid lead.
I have to agree here. There are a lot of times where you don’t necessarily need to go after the traffic by posting somewhere else. There are niches that almost come to you with just a little time spent on your own site.
Then again, the hard part is finding those niches…
Forum participation is always helpful
Good post.
As long as its not spamming…its useful
Spot on yet again. You did forget to mention twitter spamming
which is another strategy someone around here employs.
Good call, I always click the link when someone mentions their new blog post on Twitter.
Definitely, participating will bring more traffic..
Great post, this one grabbed me when it came in the inbox, any tips on how you try and get a forum active ? with posting members, apart from the things you have mentioned in this post.
Thanks shoe
Hire forum boosters…and then advertise it while their boosting the forums so it looks active and make sure there is at least a few threads in each section.
Yet again another good quality post. Sometimes i think shall i post some of the crap i spout. Feels kinda like ass kissing
It took me over two months before i even posted here.
Yet i can say that i have almost visited nearly everyone’s site without hesitating.
I’ve also noticed that i’m getting alot of referrels from SM. Even though my niche is sometimes frowned upon people are still curious.
Again i apologise if this added nothing to this post.
Nice post, I keep trying to get more traffic and users to participate in my blog, but these ideas are very helpful, I will try some of them out.
Nice blog you have here, its very inspirational how good you have made this blog and the money you make. Keep up the good work.
I guess I will have to find some good forums in my niche or forums that coudl be related to my blogs to get additional traffic.
Good points. Twitter profiles are also a good source for referrals.
I agree…Twitter and FriendFeed are becoming good sources now.
Shoe,
Re: your forum suggestion – I love it, only most forums in my niche are either 1.) completely over run by negative attitudes or 2.) absoluely selling ice to Eskimos…
Do you think I should start a new forum in my niche to allow for new, more realistic voices to appear? Or… Is it better to try and be the rare voice of reason in a world of chaos and despair?
Scott
Or both… being the sole voice of reason in a world of chaos AND having your own forum would be a good reason for people to check out your forum, I’d say.
and it seems you’re not doing a lot these days shoe that you afford to post a post(informative) everyday..
forums really work… back to the days when i dont really have the money to spend, I use to rely on forum spamming, sorry forum promotions…
forum spamming? posting on a forum with a signature link is how it should be done…not posting your link everywhere or that won’t work.
Also, you can write content that works with social media and utilize social media traffic streams for some decent traffic. What I mean is writing something that will do well with stumbleupon or digg them promoting it via that medium to send traffic
Unfortunately with SU, digg and reddit traffic, a lot of it are just passerby’s (one-time traffic). They hardly ever come back again as is the nature of these web “surfers”.
Im working on some stuff to show people how they can retain SM traffic
Try and get email addresses of people who come to your site.. and give them good info whenever possible…. dont just spam with offers..
Now see, I always thought “stick your pecker out” was meant for males only.
never came to my blog .. LOL. Just joking. But seriously. Come comment. http://www.jtdesigns.com/jtblog
There’s a good way of getting people to come to your blog! No seriously.. it is lol
I am running a blog competition where you can win $50 for being one of the ‘top commentators’. Give an incentive for people to come to your blog and they will come
Absolutely true. Double-true when the incentive is money.
thats really a cool idea
NICEE I LIKEEE
Nice post as per usual Mr Shoe
SMM guru will be happy, great blog
Anyone who gets a mention on this site would be super happy. I would be happy if my site got mentioned…maybe one day
Im with you on that one. That would be a major shot in the arm for me. Did I just say that?
He definitely got a load of traffic from this blog.