Traffic is cheap. If you go to Fiverr, you will find plenty of people willing to drive “unlimited” amounts of it for as little as $5.
The problem is, traffic like that is not targeted, meaning it does not come from people you want on your site. In fact, it rarely comes from people at all! Most of the time, cheap clicks come from bots who will never give you a sale or turn into a customer.
So what do you do if you cannot afford targeted traffic from platforms like Google, where a single click can cost as much as $50? What do you do if you want to look beyond SEO and content marketing — and into other effective ways to reach your audience?
The post below gives you answers; 23 of them, to be precise. Here is how you can drive free, targeted traffic from real people without paying a red cent.
1. Use SlideShare
Many professionals share SlideShare content. If you can make a nice slide deck and share it there, you will get free traffic — especially if the presentation is good.
2. Free Udemy Content
Are you using video content? If the answer is “yes”, turning it into a Udemy course gives you more exposure at no charge!
3. Use Quora
Quora gets over 700,000 unique monthly visitors. Answering their questions will build your authority and get you free page visits, so long as you are earnest about helping.
4. Automated LinkedIn Messages
Send an introductory message to every new LinkedIn connection using a service like Zapier. This will add a personal touch, and increase the likelihood of people clicking to your URL.
5. Get High-Quality Backlinks
Use sites like ahrefs.com to see what kind of content gets found and linked to in your niche. Then start making similar content to get high-quality links.
6. Weekly LinkedIn Digest
Send a weekly digest on LinkedIn and other platforms. You can copy and paste sections of your weekly newsletter to avoid doing unnecessary work.
7. Create Infographics
Blog posts with images get 650% more engagement than straight-up text. Take advantage of this by posting infographics, which combine images with words and have a propensity to go viral. To keep this strategy free, use services like venngage.com; they do not cost anything!
8. Run Webinars
After in-person events, webinars are the most effective B2B strategy. They also perform well in the B2C segment — and if you automate them, they require no man-hours to run.
9. Co-Host a Webinar
Offer to co-create and co-promote a webinar with someone else in your niche. This way, you get exposed to their followers for free and get the usual benefits of a webinar.
10. Blogger Outreach
Ask the bloggers you link to to share your content. Neil Patel has a perfect guide on doing this the right way.
11. Join HARO
HARO, or Help a Reporter Out, is a service that connects journalists with people who can help them out. If you can give a useful interview or recommendation, you will get free coverage and 0-cost page visits.
12. Host Blog Posts
SEOMoz has over 1,500 — and since authors usually promote their posts, you will get lots of free traffic by using the same strategy.
13. Use Facebook Live
Facebook’s streaming service has over 1.7 billion active monthly users. Making content they enjoy and share is not too difficult, considering the platform’s youth — and is an untapped strategy for driving free traffic.
14. Google+ Communities
Despite its bad reputation, Google+ has 300+ million active users, of which 13% are small businesses. Why not show them that you can solve their problem or need — and tell them where to find you? It is free, and it will get you quality page visits.
15. Register on Chrome Web Store
This strategy is not actually free, because you will need to pay $5 in registration fees. Having said that, being featured in Chrome’s Web Store immediately gets people clicking on your website, and costs nothing to maintain.
16. Leverage Your Products
Give away products adjacent to your flagship offer with a can’t-miss deal, and incentivise people to share the deal on social media. This way, you will give people an incentive to spread your offer — and indirectly draw people to your core product.
17. Export Sharers via BuzzSumo
Look for content that is similar to yours, and export the sharers you find via BuzzSumo. Just do not abuse this tactic to the point that it makes you look spammy.
18. Use Google AdWords…
… For Free in the U.K. Google gives new customers £50 to use AdWords. Many other countries have similar offers. See if you can take advantage of this offer where you live, and enjoy paid traffic for free!
19. Register on Google Places
1 in 5 search queries are for local information. Being listed on Google Places is free. Put these two facts together, and you get a massive opportunity to get free traffic by spending a few minutes to get registered.
20. Use Offline Promotion
Carry business cards with you at all times. Tell people in your industry about what you do when you meet them. Do whatever you can to get people you meet in the real world to your online presence.
21. Include Your URL In Your email Signature
Exposure is exposure… And your email signature is prime ad space. Make sure people know where you can be found online by putting your URL there.
22. Do Interviews and Collaborative Projects
Working together with others, whether in the form of an interview or a joint venture, lets you tap into their following. Just make sure to cross-promote after publishing.
23. Offer Deals
Offering discounts through websites like GroupOn and KingSumo will get visitors to your website — especially if the offer is good.
And there you have it! 23 simple strategies that will give you free traffic, increase exposure and maximize your traction with existing website members.
Would you like to know more about turning your website into an organic traffic machine? Would you like to know how you can drive paid traffic that pays for itself, giving you a virtually unlimited marketing budget?
Then get in touch to find out how you can make all this, and so much more, happen for your website!
