When it comes to generating traffic, the majority of people just focus on Google. There are good reasons to do this. After all, 93% of online experiences start with a search engine and Google's global market share is around 80%. So if your goal is to generate traffic, the search giant seems like your best bet.

However, it is far from the only source of traffic. There are many other sources of online traffic available. Many can bring a significant number of visitors. If you know how to take advantage of them.

In this tutorial, we want to look at lesser-known alternatives to Google to bring traffic to your WordPress blog. This will allow you to diversify your traffic sources and make you less dependent on the big Google (in case, you are hit with a penalty or downgraded by an update of Google's algorithm).

The blog comments

Well before, commenting was a way to build backlinks. This was the case when the links in the articles mattered a lot. It is also the reason why anyone who has a WordPress site, is struggling with automated spam comments.

Wordpress spam comment

These days, just about everyone has a nofollow attribute attached to links on comments, so it's no longer a valid traffic source (which doesn't seem to deter spammers though). Even if links have dofollow attributes, comments are not really meaningful in the SEO. In addition, they could even cause you to be penalized if the comment links are the only links to your site.

However, comments have other advantages. When holy, they can help demonstrate your expertise, build your brand, and lead others to your site. Plus, leaving meaningful comments on other blog posts will put you on the radar of other bloggers in your niche. And let you know more about your audience.

While one comment won't make much of a difference, they can have a cumulative effect. Do not believe me? Well, Neil Patel managed to generate $ 25 from 000 comments. Not bad, isn't it?

If you want to try, here's how to make your comments more effective:

be the first - Stay on top of popular blogs in your industry and try to be the first to comment on new blog posts. It gives you a lot of visibility for a lot of people who aren't going to scroll all the way down. And others will be tempted to click on your site.

Be Good - When leaving a review, make sure it adds value. Refer to the points raised in the article and add important information to the discussion. If you have references or relevant data, it will be even better!

Also, be sure to keep an eye out for who is linking to your website. If any of your posts are mentioned elsewhere, be sure to leave a thank you in the comments. Of course, don't forget to reply to comments on your own blog and those made on your own comments on other sites!

The Emails

I admit, e-mail is far from an unknown method of generating traffic. However, in the pursuit of Google satisfaction, many underestimate the power of this source of traffic.

Email is one of the most direct connections to your audience. Anyone who trusts you with their email address is likely to click on the links you send them. Also, there are many more email accounts than there are social media users. This means that starting an email list gives you access to a huge user base.

Wordpress email number

However, to take advantage of this source of traffic, you must first get people to your list. Here's how to do it:

Prepare a bribe - If your content is good, a lot of people will be happy to jump on your newsletter. However, having a bonus in place for the subscription will be an added advantage. It can be an ebook or other items.

Add forms registration for your site. These days, there are lots of ways to capture emails, not just the sidebar with a subscription form. We have slide-ins, popups, a welcome mat and much more at our disposal, including exit-intent technology that displays popups when visitors are about to leave. SumoMe and OptinMonster are great tools for implementing this.

Create a welcome email - Send a welcome email to subscribers. If someone has subscribed to your newsletter, the least you can do is personally welcome them. While you're at it, why not show off what you have to offer? Send them your best content, ask them a few questions and why not try to establish contact?

Image sharing sites

Images are another great way to generate traffic for your website. We have already mentioned how to make them more SEO friendly in this article. Yet again, this is an attempt to get more traffic from Google and other search engines and our explicit goal here is to find alternatives.

However, there is another possibility that images give you to generate traffic: image sharing sites. These are sites that have a lot of users, here are some examples:

  • Instagram - 600 million users
  • Pinterest - 150 million users
  • Flickr - 122 million users
  • Imgur - 150 million users
  • Deviantart - 38 million users

Needless to say, these sites represent a lot of potential traffic and you can link to your site and thus send visitors to your site. Especially if images are part of your content strategy, you should consider investing in these sources of traffic. Here's how to do it:

Include a site link in your bio - When you sign up for a site, be sure to add a link to your site to your bio. These are the best practices for any social media platform, otherwise how are users going to find you?

Use the tools at your fingertips - Different sites allow you to use all kinds of tools to make the images easily findable. For example, Instagram has hashtags and Flickr uses tags, so be sure to include them in your images. Many sites also offer ways to interact with other users. Find out how your platform of choice works to take full advantage of it.

Include links in articles - When you post images (or videos), be sure to include your link as well. First of all in the description, but also maybe inside the pictures. You can create images with text overlay and a call to action to send visitors to your site.

Ask for backlinks – Flickr is often used by people to find images for their own content. One tactic for getting backlinks to your site is to add a call to action to the image description that allows others to use your image but asks for an attribution link to your website. If you upload quality photos, it can really help your SEO.

Document sharing sites

What works for images also works for documents. We've already talked about repurposing your content and what blog posts you can offer in PDFs. This way you can share them on Slideshare and other sites.

Content sharing on slideshares

For example, Ana Hoffman managed to generate over 200k views in 30 days with just nine presentations. Here's how she did it:

Choose a trendy topic - Either find a topic that works well when looking at your old blog posts to see what your visitors are particularly interested in.

Create a plan - Edit your blog to suit the presentation. You want to finish with the bite information for each page.

Include keywords - Keywords are important for so that presentation is found. Include them in the file name, pages, title, description, and labels.

Using images - Images say more than a thousand words and therefore your must have an attractive image. Check out our list of free image sources if you're not sure where to get quality images.

Include a call to action - At the end of the document, be sure to include a CTA and your site address. Otherwise, how will readers get to your site? You can include clickable links and buttons to send them wherever you want. On your site, on a landing page, on social profiles, etc.

Advertising Facebook

Not all sources of online traffic are free - some of them require you to fork out some cash. I understand the preference for free traffic, but depending on your website or business it may be beneficial for you to use a paid source of traffic.

In fact, there are a lot of bloggers who regularly invest in ads on Facebook to stream their extra content. The reason: decreased organic reach for Facebook pages, which fructs more than one.

However, you can adopt it even with moderate expenses. Facebook offers very accurate calibration, and even A / B testing for different copies.