As of this month, Google had almost 75% of the search engine market share, which means that far more people are looking for information on Google than on any other search engine.
So, if you have a new website, you should be putting most of your energy into ranking on Google, right?
Well, let’s look at it this way:
If you were traveling from the East Coast to the West Coast, would you only take a single road?
What would you do if there was construction? Or, what if someone built a newer, better, and more direct highway?
Would you insist on staying on the same route?
I bet you wouldn’t.
You’d be willing to switch to a different route, and then maybe you would switch to another one later. You’d keep taking different routes until you finally arrived at your destination.
There’s no question that Google is a great road to take. It’s wide, it’s clear, and it’s direct.
And if you use AdWords, it’s a little like taking a superhighway to your destination – a superhighway with a lot of tolls.
The problem is that Google makes changes to that highway all the time by changing its algorithms (an estimated 500-600 times a year).
Sometimes, those changes can leave you stranded on the side of the road (think Panda 4.1 in 2014).
You may have spent a lot of money on that trip.
If you put all your eggs in the Google basket, you could easily end up with no eggs and an empty wallet.
So, you shouldn’t put all or most of your energy into chasing Google and AdWords when you have a new website.
But how do you get website traffic without relying on Google? Believe it or not, it’s possible.
And you can even do it for free.
I’m going to tell you how.
You can’t ignore Facebook
You might have heard that Facebook organic reach is dead or users are fleeing from Facebook.
But don’t worry. Even if new Facebook sign-ups have leveled off or user number are going down, Facebook still has 1.8 billion monthly users worldwide.
That’s a lot of people.
Even if Facebook loses a couple of million users, it still has a lot of people.
So, if it makes sense for your business to be on Facebook, be there. But be there for more than just the socializing.
Use Facebook and other social media networks as hubs that you can link to your website from.
From Facebook, you can link to a blog, e-book, consultation offer, or somewhere else on your site.
Facebook lists your website right there for everyone to see. And when someone clicks on a post, it takes them directly there.
It’s true: Facebook’s organic reach is down. But it certainly isn’t gone.
Look at it this way: If you have 1,000 followers and a mere 2% of them see your posts, that’s still 20 people. 20 people may not sound like a lot, but any one of them could still buy from you.
The important thing is to remember the social part of social media.
Treat your page followers like you would treat people if you were networking IRL: Respond to concerns, answer questions, and engage on a regular basis.
For example, look at this example from MailChimp:
People like working with people they like.
A good place to start that relationship is on social media.
SlideShare is a hidden gem
SlideShare is an information-sharing site that LinkedIn owns. Think of it as PowerPoint with a purpose.
The content on the site comprises some 18 million uploads of slide presentations and infographics in 40 content categories.
You can find information about anything that anyone could ever want to know on SlideShare in the format of a PowerPoint, PDF, Keynote, or OpenDocument presentations. And when you make a presentation, you can make it public or private.
Some 80% of SlideShare’s 80 million visitors come through organic search. That’s proof that it can be a useful tool for driving traffic to your website.
The great thing about SlideShare is that you can use your existing content to create killer presentations.
You can take an old blog, update it, and format it for a slideshow. Or, you can break down an e-book you’ve published and create a new presentation.
Search Engine Journal uploads their webinar presentations to SlideShare.
If you’ve recently given a presentation at a conference, upload it to SlideShare and give the content a second life.
Matthew Darby from HubSpot does this, too.
The results might surprise you.
Traffic Generation Café’s Ana Hoffman chronicled how she got 200,000 views, 400 new Facebook fans, and 1,400 clicks to her website by publishing nine presentations over 30 days.
SlideShare, she says, is now her second-largest referral traffic source.
Only 19% of B2B marketers use SlideShare, which presents a big opportunity for you to make use of the network before everyone else is using it.
You must be a LinkedIn member to use SlideShare. If you’re not a member now, you definitely should be. Start by signing up for a free account.
Once you’re a LinkedIn member, you can use SlideShare.
Now, you can upload your own presentations.
Once you’ve uploaded a presentation, be sure to share it on Facebook, LinkedIn, your blog, and everywhere else.
SlideShare includes analytics, so you can look at your stats and see which decks get the best results.
LinkedIn publishing will get you noticed
You know LinkedIn as a valuable business network. But did you know that, by using the publishing tool on LinkedIn, you can drive more traffic to your website?
You’ve probably seen the influencer posts on your LinkedIn feed, but the people like Richard Branson aren’t the only ones who can publish on LinkedIn to get noticed. You can, too.
A lot of people publish on LinkedIn, so it can be hard to get noticed. The key is to post valuable, relevant content.
If people like what you have to say, they’ll want more. That will drive traffic to your website.
Remember: You’re not trying to sell something or promote yourself. You’re trying to provide useful information that will help someone solve a problem.
If you’ve ever posted on a blog, publishing to LinkedIn is pretty intuitive.
Even if you’re publishing for the first time, the process is straightforward.
There’s a space right at the top of your feed where you can post something to your newsfeed.
Or you can choose to write an article.
The interface is simple. There’s a space for a header image and an area where you can start writing.
There are a few important things you’ll want to remember. Write an attractive and enticing headline, include images, and use h1 and h2 heads like you would on a blog.
Just take a look at some of LinkedIn’s key influencers like Bill Gates.
Larry Kim is also a great example.
Follow in the footsteps of influencers like these to gain a following with LinkedIn.
Join the conversation in Facebook groups
Relevant groups on Facebook give you a chance to contribute to conversations in your area of expertise.
Think of it as networking online.
Do it naturally like you would at a dinner party: politely join in when you have something relevant to add.
Don’t talk only about yourself and don’t try to sell.
Groups are for people with similar interests who want to share ideas and information.
Genuinely engaging in this way will give you more visibility. You’ll build relationships and drive traffic to your website.
If you’re going to engage with groups, follow the rules of polite discussion: Be kind, don’t be disagreeable, and use common sense before hitting “send.”
You can find Facebook groups on your Facebook page by clicking on the down arrow in the upper right-hand corner.
You’ll find several categories where you can start your search:
Browse the categories, then click on a category you like to get some suggestions.
Choose a group and click “+ Join.”
Some groups will allow you to simply click to join. Others may ask you some questions before allowing you to join.
There are public and closed groups.
Snapchat News and Education is a public group for people to learn and share tips about Snapchat. Vincent Orleck, the social media director at AtticSalt, created it and runs it.
https://blog.kissmetrics.com/get-traffic-without-google/
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