One of the most frustrating things that I’ve EVER experienced is trying to get people to read my blog. It’s maddening.

You spend hours and hours writing a killer article. You pour your heart and soul into the blog post. It’s so rich with content and compelling writing, that you can’t wait for the world to see it.

Finally, you publish it and… no one reads it. No one checks it out. No one comments.

All that work and no one can bother to read what you are sharing (for free) with the world.

Crazy, right?

Today, I’m going to show you how to obliterate this problem. By using these proven techniques for getting traffic to your blog, you’ll make it so that you instantly get an audience the second you hit “publish.”

Just think how it would feel to never have to worry about this again.

If you follow these techniques, you’ll get consistent, regular traffic to your blog articles, and everyone will wonder how you did it!

1. A Special Facebook Group Posting Strategy…

I know you’ve probably heard before that you can “share blog posts” in Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+ groups.

If you haven’t already, then you should start doing that. It’s basically FREE traffic.

For me, this worked for a little while, but soon, people started to tune out social media groups. They weren’t really that novel any more.

I realized that I had to do something to dramatically stand out from everyone else out there who’s sharing content in different Facebook groups.

At first, I struggled with this. I tried cool titles, teasing the posts, and even getting my friends to like them. These worked in minor ways, but it didn’t significantly impact the traffic I got from Facebook.

Then… I stumbled on a completely new way to share blog posts in Facebook groups. Once I started using the strategy, I saw a huge jump in email subscribers.

You’re probably wondering what this “magic technique” is right?

Well, I’ve put together a training video for you showing you step-by-step how you can do the exact same thing. You can watch the video below.

2. Get Free Organic Traffic (From Google) With SEO Optimization

I hate that term “SEO Optimization.” Every time I hear it, I think “yada yada yada.”

I think most people know the importance of SEO Optimization, but when they hear those words, their eyes just kind of glaze over.

Free traffic from Google is elusive for most. They’ll follow everything that these SEO people tell them, but they don’t see much in the way of real results.

The only reason that I started to see results from search engine optimization is because I read an entire book on SEO.

This book went through the various ranking signals that Google uses to determine whether or not they should include your website in search results.

It was very enlightening. About 3 months after I started applying these new strategies, I began to see a massive surge in the amount of traffic that I was getting from Google.

A proven way for getting more traffic to your blog is to begin to consciously work on the domain authority of your website.

I’m talking about actively working to get backlinks from other websites. I’m also referring to writing keyword optimized articles that include terms that people are already searching for on Google.

Here are a few simple ways that you can boost the domain authority of your website:

• Include keywords in the titles of your articles
• Make sure the permalink of your post is optimized
• Actively work to get backlinks from other websites.
• Write both list-style articles and comprehensive 2,000+ posts
• Link to websites that are similar to your blog’s subject. It gives more indications to Google regarding what your website is about.

3. Implement an “Excuse to Share” Strategy to Boost Your Virality

Here’s a question for you… how can you get other bloggers and influencers to share your post?

Let me tell you a story.

When I was 23/24, I started a podcast called Crowdfunding Demystified. This podcast has gone on to do more than 100,000 downloads.

The format was simple. I’d have guests on my show and we’d talk about crowdfunding. I’d ask questions to see what kinds of tips they had for my audience.

I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I made almost every mistake in the book when it came to podcasting. However, I did do one thing right.

Every time I published an episode, I would email the guest and ask them to share it with their network.

Since they were in the episode and it showed off their expertise, they were more than willing to share the show on their social media networks and with their following.

I saw an instant boost in the number of people listening to that episode of my podcast.

Thinking back, I actually did the same thing in the early days of my blog, CrowdCrux. I would write articles, linking to resources and experts in the industry. Then, I would email those websites and let them know that I wrote about them.

People are willing to share your blog posts when they are featured in them!

You don’t have to write an article entirely about them or their website. You can just link to them, mention them, or include them in part of the article.

This gives you an “excuse” to email them and let them know about this reference. Then, you can ask them to also share the article on social media.

4. Turn Your Email List into Instant Traffic

Logically, you probably know that if you were to focus on building an email list, you could use that list to get traffic to your blog posts, right?

You can intellectually know something, but at the same time, fail to take action on that knowledge. That is very, very common when it comes to business and life.

I can’t tell you the number of bloggers that I’ve spoken with who have built up an email list from their blog, but fail to use it!

They don’t announce new articles to that email list for fear of “backlash” or that people might unsubscribe.

You should be sending out emails to your email list once per week. You can deliver them consistent value with new articles or resources.

Over time, as you build up your email list, you’ll cultivate a close relationship with your readers, which will make them more likely to invest in your products and services.

Your email list will become a dependable source of INSTANT traffic that you control.

It’s pretty powerful?

Don’t have an email list yet?

You can use software like Aweber to collect subscribers and send out emails to your readers. This tool is used by many bloggers to manage their email list.

The other cool thing about Aweber is that you can use it to get analytics regarding your emails. You’ll easily be able to see things like open rates and click through rates. In other words, how many of your subscribers are actually reading your messages?

5. Your Homepage and After-Post Section

I never truly believed that the design of your website could influence how many people read your blog posts. It sounded kind of hokey.

It’s kind of weird to think of the “visitors” to your website as being actual human beings… but they are. I’m not sure why it’s so hard to realize that, but it was difficult for me to wrap my head around it.

Once I started to adopt this perspective, I began to ask myself, “okay, what is drawing my attention on this page? Is the text easy, or hard to read?”

I realized that my homepage was NOT optimized. It really didn’t showcase what I wanted my blog visitors to do… which was to opt into my email list and read my existing articles.

I also wanted someone who read an article to be presented with OTHER articles that they might also like.

Finally, at the end of the article, there should be another call-to-action message inviting people to join my email list for more quality content.

I knew that something had to be done, but I was busy with my business and didn’t have time to hire a designer.

So, I checked out this website called Themeforest. This site has TONS of low cost premium WordPress themes that you can use to improve the design of your website.

I found a theme that I like and that has all of the functionality I wanted, including:

• A call-to-action on the homepage
• Vibrating and easy-to-read text
• Multiple call-to-actions in the sidebar and at the end of the article
• A professional-looking design.

It was easy to find on Themeforest and super simple to implement on my website. I just clicked install!

I’m happy to announce that this redesign has allowed more people to easily discover content on my website AND I saw a jump in email subscribers.

In fact, I’ve already made the money back that I invested in the theme with one affiliate commission check from Bluehost.

If you’re not familiar, Bluehost is an AMAZING hosting provider that you can use to set up a WordPress blog. I actually wrote a simple step-by-step tutorial as to how to start a WordPress website.

6. Grow Your Social Media Accounts Automatically

I don’t mind working hard, but I am a big believer in working SMART.

What does it mean to work smart?

I define it as spending no more time on a task than is required. I don’t want to spend my valuable time doing something if I can outsource it, assign it to an employee, or find a software tool that will do the same thing.

In the early days, I had a BIG EGO and I thought that by doing EVERYTHING, I was showing people that I was a “boss” at life. I could handle anything, work long hours, and get the job done.

This isn’t “cool.” It’s just stupidity. But, I was young, haha!

Not only was it inefficient, but it also led to me getting burned out. I was spending all my time on menial tasks and ignoring the bigger issues I had to deal with.

Around this time, I started to automate the majority of my social media. I’m not talking about replies, just posting. I developed a posting schedule and pre-scheduled content weeks in advance to go out on my accounts.

This saved me time, headache, and made it so that I only had to spend 30 minutes on social media every month.

If you want to do the same thing, you’re going to need to sign up with a social media management software solution, like Buffer, Hootsuite, or Edgar.

This software tool will take all of the frustration and time out of having to schedule posts to go out on your social media accounts. It’s a godsend!

If you do nothing else, do this. I promise you, this is going to save you SO MUCH time going forward. You’ll thank me later.

The more content that you pump out on a consistent basis, the larger your following will grow.

7. Massive Guest Posting and Outreach Strategy

There is one way that you can kill two birds with one stone. Not only can you use this to get more traffic to your blog, but you can also gain valuable backlinks, which improves the domain authority of your website.

Yes, I’m talking about “guest posting.” This simply refers to writing blog posts for other blogs in exchange for a back link to your own.

I’ve seen this strategy used extremely effectively by many of my female friends who write in the fashion, design, and personal development niches.

It’s also worked for other bloggers that follow my work in the business and marketing categories.

All that you have to do is approach a blogger who has an audience that is similar to yours. You offer to write a completely original article for their blog. Make no mistake, you need to underscore the value that this article will bring to their blog.

Finally, you say that the only thing you want in return is an opportunity to link back to your blog somewhere in the article and to be credited as the author. No biggie.

This does two things. One, it gives people an easy way to discover your website. This means you’re going to see an influx of traffic from he article. Second, it bumps up the authority of your blog, because you’re getting a backlink from a reputable source .

Most bloggers will do this once or twice over the course of 6 months, which is great. However, I’m advocating something much more intense.

I’m talking about contributing a guest blog post every single month (if not more). This is a proven strategy to grow your influence online. Go hard on it!

You can also reach out to other influencers via Instagram, YouTube, or those that host podcast shows and pitch them on your expertise. You can show them that you have valuable tips that you’d be happy to share with their audience .

If they say yes, you’ll instantly gain access to an entirely new community, which will send more traffic to your blog.

Are You Ready to Get Your Own Domain and Professional Blog?

The hallmark of a professional blog is a private domain name and quality hosting. Amateur bloggers might start out with Medium, LinkedIn, or a subdomain, but eventually they’ll transition their work onto their own website.

If you want to get serious about blogging, you gotta do the same. You NEED your own website.

I’ve put together a step-by-step guide showing you exactly how to set up a WordPress website quickly and cheaply.

You can literally do this in 15 minutes!

Just follow the steps, and boom! You’ll have your very own domain name and website for less than $2.95 per month.