Six Unconventional Methods to get Extra Traffic to your Blog, Website, or Articles

Everyone wants to get extra traffic to their hubs - increased traffic usually leads to an increase in earnings. But for some people, the standard strategies of backlinking and sharing just doesn't bring in enough traffic. If you think that you have quality content, but are lacking the readership that you want, then perhaps it's time to try one of these unconventional methods to increase your traffic.

If you are serious about making money online, you should treat it like a business endeavor complete with a business plan and business cards. By getting business cards made with your URL or link on it, you can quickly begin to spread your message to every person that you meet. Don't feel like investing the funds into getting some business cards professionally printed? You can download a template here and print them out at home. Not only will business cards help you see an increase in traffic, they will help to establish yourself as a professional blogger, article marketer, and/or web entrepreneur.

This method works really well if you like to travel and take pictures. Essentially all you need to do is upload some great photographs with your copyright information and a link on it to Panoramio and wait for Google to approve it for viewing in Google Earth. Many of my photographs get 100+ views per day; I'm sure you can see the value in adding a small link to your photographs. If you want to take this method to the next level, you can even write relevant hubs about a specific location or object and link to that hub with an image in Google Earth.

To avoid breaking the Panoramio/Google Earth photo policy, make sure that your copyright notice/link is very small and discreet. By using a small font and a shortened URL, place the text in the lower right or lower left hand corner of the image. Remember, Panoramio and Google Earth isn't intended to be a way for people to advertise their site, so use this strategy wisely.

I originally got this idea from Bendo13, but have since improved upon it slightly. Essentially what you need to do is create an "advertisement" for one of your hubs or articles and post it on a free classified site such as Craigslist. The idea is to entice readers to come to your page by offering them something free, such as knowledge, how-to articles, and tips to help them improve their life. Sites like Craigslist only allow you to place three ads per day, but over time you could potentially have hundreds of ads in hundreds of cities all pointing people back to your high quality articles and blogs. In addition to placing classified ads, you can post your links in the discussion boards available in each city's section. This strategy probably won't work for every hub that you have written or website that you own, but it can still be a very productive method to increase your traffic if done ethically and correctly.

Sometimes going back to the basics and mailing people advertisements is a good way to get traffic to your site. This strategy does require a substantial investment, but if done right the rewards could be well worth your time. To begin using this method you need to create a unique advertisement that is both eyecatching and informative. Make sure to include enough information to entice potential readers to go to your website or blog to read more. Don't forget to stress the great things that you have to offer them either (free stuff of course).

Once you have made an advertisement, you need to get a mailing list and start sending them out. Fortunately for you, addresses are a public record and shouldn't be too hard to find. For example, most cities and counties these days have online databases filled with thousands of addresses just waiting for the arrival of your mail. Also, don't forget to keep your marketing legal by paying for postage.

Due to the heavy investment of this strategy, I recommend waiting until you have a substantial amount of articles to offer potential readers before sending out any mailers. I would also recommend weighing the economics of this strategy as you may end up spending more money in postage than you would make in revenues from increased traffic.

Simply put, controversial content gets more readers. If you can manage to write something that is controversial, readers will likely share it with others. In addition to this, many people will feel the need to voice their opinion on the subject. What ever subject you write about, creating controversial content is sure to stir up the pot and bring in a boat load of traffic. For example, the most popular controversial topic on HubPages has to be the never ending debate about evolution versus creationism.

However, I must warn you to tread lightly when it comes to controversial subjects. If you take this strategy too far, it could backfire and cause you to lose all your readership in the long run. Therefore, make sure that your controversial articles are well written, thoroughly researched, and filled with strong fact-based information.

This method will take some time to implement and it's something that I don't necessarily recommend (as a fellow hubber pointed out, this could violate the Google Adsense TOS). All you need to do is set your URL as the homepage on every public computer that you use. You could go to your local library or college campus and change all of the browser's homepages to load to your site. If you are a blogger or avid user of HubPages, you could direct people to your profile or even a landing page. Most likely your efforts will be thwarted by the head of IT, but before they undo your changes, you will definitely see an increase the amount of traffic to your website or blog.