Top 5 ways I generate traffic to my Internet marketing blog

Is it really that hard to generate website traffic to an internet marketing blog, even though there are supposedly a gazillion internet marketing blogs out there? Actually it’s not.

I started this blog thinking I was gonna have to claw my way to the top of some Mount Everest type internet marketer’s hierarchy. Oh my gosh, it’s soooooo not even like that. (And thank goodness I don’t listen to all the dumb ca-ca that people say.)

Generating website traffic here is really no different than drumming it for any other niche blog.

If you have a dollop of personality and two and a half tablespoons of writing skills, you can make it happen. None of this happens with having link worthy content.

1) Google search
Approximately 44% of my traffic comes from Google Search. On the days when I’m racking in the sales, I’m happy as a woodchuck chucking wood. And then sometimes, I want to secretly kick my own ass.

When Google is nice, Google is a hottie giving you Swedish massages on demand. But when Google arbitrarily decides you’re a piss ant and takes your fabulous rank away, well, you cry. Then you cry some more. Then you mourn publicly with some of the other Google designated piss ant’s about how cruel the ant eater is.

Oy vey… I don’t do stuff to get on Google’s bad side because I like money way more than I like getting rank using sneaky methods. If I have to take baby steps to get there, just plop me in the walker and I’ll see you when I get there.

To generate said rank, I use a method that I refer to as accidental search engine optimization. I choose a term that’s not too competitive (long tail) and I include it in the title of my blog post and somewhere in the article. Then I write the article.

Unexciting, I know. But somehow it works. Go figure.

2) Press releases

If you’ve been sleeping on press releases, it’s time to wake up and smell the click through’s.

I don’t write press releases for media coverage — though I have gotten one blogger to feature me as a direct result of my press release. (Woot!) I write them to generate website traffic. And generate they do.

Over the past month I’ve only counted one day where I haven’t gotten traffic from at least one of my press releases. And this is despite the fact that I haven’t written one for myself in a couple of weeks. (I’ve been up to my eyeballs writing them for others.)

I write them to promote my blog posts and ebooks. Over the past month I’ve written them for affiliate websites, WordPress plugins, membership sites and ebooks – all other peoples stuff.

One release I wrote generated over 4K pageviews the day it hit the Google News. I watched one authors Amazon rank drop (meaning he was generating sales) as a result of a press release I wrote. On the other hand, I’ve written releases for some sites that got just over 100 pageviews.

If you write press releases consistently, they generate consistent traffic. If you write them occasionally, they generate spurts of traffic. Makes sense, right?

3) Blog Glue
I wrote about Blog Glue a couple of months ago on this post. If you scroll down to the bottom of this post (right before the comments) you’ll notice the Blog Glue section.

I have two bloggers links listed below, and other bloggers have my links featured on their sites. It’s really nothing more than reciprocal linking, blog post style. I don’t do anything to get those links except accept the partner requests. That takes all of 30 seconds.

As a result, I get traffic. This traffic actually has a lower bounce rate than visitors I get from Google, and they go to 2-3 pages per visit. That’s pretty decent for a technique that’s supposedly dead.

4) Twitter
I’ve been totally lame-o about tweeting lately. Yes, I said it. Lame-o. When I say I’ve been writing a lot of press releases, I mean I’ve been writing A LOT of press releases. Every time I think there’s a break coming, 10 more come in. (Though I’m not complaining!)

Ergo my active tweeting has taken a nosedive. But my passive tweeting, keeps the clicks a comin’. Special thanks to my partner in crime – Triberr.

I think I’ve explained Triberr in another post, but it’s definitely worth another public woot. You join Triberr. You team up with other bloggers in your niche (join their tribes or start your own). Whenever you write a new post, the members of your tribe can push your tweet to their followers and vice versa.

So essentially, my blog post titles get tweeted to other peoples followers, which generates TRAFFIC. Sweet, sweet traffic.

5) In post backlinks
These are links I get when other bloggers mention my content in their articles. I’m not talking about spammy “10K links for $5” links. I’m talking about relevant bloggers giving me love because they liked something I wrote.

Like Gabriella Sannino’s guest post on SEOCopywriting.com. (Thank you Gabriella!)

Or Deneil Merritt, who linked to my income report. (Thank you Deneil!)

Or Karen Woodward, who also linked to my income report – and has a really helpful blog if you do fiction writing. (Thank you Karen!)

Or Kristi Hines, who does an awesome Friday mashup of great posts. (Thank you Kristi!)

And I can’t forget Charleen over at BestOfFiverr.com. Her link helped me generate a super client — who hired me for services not shown on Fiverr. (Woot! Thanks again Charleen!)

Even though in post backlinks are in the #5 position, I’d like to push it up to at least #3. Ideally, I’d LOVE to have in post backlinks in the #1 position. And believe me, if I’m talking about it, the cogs are definitely turning to the beat of a Jamiroquai song in my head. (Trust me!)

You’ll see this number rise. I’m channeling my inner Eric Ward every day – and I like it.

So what are your top traffic generating methods? Share your comment cake below…