21 proven tactics that increase traffic & leads

Once you have a basic traffic system in place, you can start experimenting with additional tactics to boost traffic and leads. Remember that these tactics are meant to be used in addition to your overarching content & promotion strategy! Here are 21 of my favorite tried & true traffic tactics that can boost your traffic and get more email subscribers.

1. ASK READERS TO SHARE: In your newsletter and blog posts, explicitly include a “call to action” (CTA) to share your content via email and social media (Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, etc.).
    
2. ADD A LIGHTBOX POP-UP: Lightboxes are proven to increase email opt-in rates. Contrary to popular belief, these don’t negatively impact the user experience—as long as you have truly remarkable content on the other side.
    
3. CREATE A RESOURCES PAGE: Once you have enough articles written up on a particular topic, create a “resources” page and add links to your most useful or popular posts. This makes it easy to showcase your most popular and insightful material. For an example, check out one of Derek Halpern’s resource pages.
    
4. ADD A LINK iN YOUR EMAIL SIGNATURE: Adding a link to your site in your email signature lets you promote yourself without being spammy. One of my students, Chris, got multiple consulting and job offers from trying this tactic alone.
    
5. WRITE SOMEONE A TESTIMONIAL: If you’ve had success from following someone’s advice, then let them know! Create a post or video describing your results, and then send it to them. (Be sure to include a link to your site).
    
6. BEFRIEND THE MAIN PLAYERS IN YOUR SPACE: Leave comments on their websites, share their Facebook posts, and otherwise add value to the people you like and admire. Do this genuinely—don’t just leave some BS comment hoping to get clicks back to your site (we can tell).
    
7. CREATE AN INFOGRAPHIC: Try creating and sharing an infographic, like I did in this post about the 3 ways to earn more. In this case, I worked with a designer, but you can create these yourself if you have the skills.
    
8. GET INTERVIEWED: Find podcasts or interview sites in your field, and use a modified version of my guest post email pitch (see the How To Guest Post for High-Traffic Bloggers PDF in the vault) to land an interview. At the very least, try to form a relationship with the interviewer as they’re great connectors and can introduce you to well-established people.
    
9. WRITE ABOUT OTHERS: Mention bigger websites and people in your article, and then email them that you mentioned them. If they like it, they can share it with their community. (See examples in our 26 Examples of Remarkable Content That Get Traffic PDF in our vault).
    
10. CREATE AN OPT-IN “CARROT”: As a bonus for signing up to your email list, give your readers a free ebook, video, series of valuable emails, or anything of immediate value. If it’s really amazing, promote the heck out of it like I did with this free Dream Job ebook.
     
11. OFFER YOUR EXPERTISE: If you come across a site and find something that you can help with, offer to help out for free. This could be specific advice or even an offer to rewrite some copy—just be creative! In return, request that they give you a shoutout to their community.
     
12. ADD EMAIL OPT-IN FORMS TO THE BOTTOM OF YOUR ARTICLES AND ABOUT PAGES: The people who read your material all the way to the end will likely want to subscribe to your newsletter—especially if you give them a compelling and relevant reason why.
     
13. EXPAND TO NEW CONTENT FORMATS, LIKE AUDIO OR VIDEO: Different audiences respond to different content formats, so experiment! Do a video series on YouTube (remember to point them back to your site), or start a regular podcast. Make it valuable—then tell them why it’s valuable! Teach them to revere the hard work you put into your content.
     
14. DO A CHALLENGE: Challenges have the potential to snowball into high amounts of traffic. Do this only when you have at least 1,000 visitors/day, no fewer. (See examples in our 26 Examples of Remarkable Content That Get Traffic PDF.)
     
15. ATTEND OR HOST EVENTS: The connections you make at events can lead to getting new subscribers, guest posts, and even partnerships. Use Meetup.com to attend or organize events in your field.
     
16. GET IDEAS FROM YOUR SUBSCRIBERS: Individually ask your email subscribers about themselves. Who are they and what do they do? What other websites do they like? Use their responses to help you find more people like them.
     
17. DO A GIVEAWAY OR CONTEST: This one is a bit advanced, but if you have something you can give away (especially if it’s something that doesn’t cost you much), throw a contest for everyone who signs up for your list. AppSumo used this to grow their list tremendously in a short amount of time.
     
18. TRACK YOUR COMPETITORS: Look at what others in your space are talking about. Which of their posts are getting tons of comments? You can use this information to write your next piece—even better if you respond directly to a hot topic post. Set up Google Alerts and subscribe to your competitor’s newsletters to stay on top of new trends and topics.
     
19. CO-HOST A WEBINAR: Partner with someone in your space to do a free live webinar on a topic that adds value to both of your audiences. This is a great way to expose yourself to new audiences, especially early on.
     
20. BECOME A REGULAR ON FORUMS: Helping people out on forums is a good way to build credibility. Remember to add a link back to your site in your signature. One of my students, Primoz, started his consulting business by writing massive posts on poker forums.
     
21. HELP YOUR SUBSCRIBERS 1 ON 1: Offer to personally consult your subscribers with their biggest problems or most pressing questions. You can even turn these into case studies and position them as free email opt-in offers or product content.