This article is part of a 4 part series on generating more traffic and revenue with your blog. 

Part I: How to Build Blog Traffic: Smart People Use These 3 Strategies While Everyone Else Struggles (you are here)

Part II: How To Turn Blog Readers into Customers Step by Step 

Part III: Multiple Streams of Blog Income: Because One Just Won’t Do 

Part IV: How to Scale Your Blog Business

Did you hear that?

It’s the far-away sound of a blogger weeping because no one is reading their blog.

If that sound is coming from your laptop, don’t worry because today is the beginning of the end of your “no traffic” days.

But, that’s only if you listen and implement the three tips that I’ll share below on how to drive traffic to your blog.

If you just love to write, even when no one is watching, then it may not matter. But… if you’re like me then you need someone to read your words before you quit! LOL.

How to Build Blog Traffic

This process actually works for any website, but I’m speaking specifically to bloggers today.

Let’s jump right in.

There are three ways to drive readers to your blog. Each of the three has its pros and cons and we’ll cover each one below.

The three ways to build blog traffic are by:

• BUILDING IT
• BORROWING IT
• BUYING IT

Let’s break them down one by one.

BUILDING TRAFFIC:

The first way to build blog traffic is what most new bloggers do.

When you’re building traffic this way, it’s all about the dirty work. Establishing a one-on-one connection between you and your reader.

The key with this method is that it’s about organic growth.

Tell your friends and family about the new blog post you released that you think they will love. Ask your inner circle to share your content on their social media pages.

If your kids play sports during the week, pass out a few fliers for your blog to the other parents.

Optimize your blog posts for SEO.

Leave comments in forums and on other similar blogs.

Develop and implement a social media strategy.

Building organic traffic is the Internet version of the word of mouth, hand to hand way of building an audience.

PROS: The great thing about building your traffic is that it creates a tight knit community. People will promote your blog by word of mouth and feel good about being in your inner circle and these are your real ride or die readers.

These are the people that will remember the blog post you wrote two years ago that touched their life. They’re the ones who will show up for meetups when you come to their city rain or shine.

CONS: The drawback of building organic traffic to your blog is that it takes TIME.  And that’s time that you may not have, if you’re still working a 9-5, raising kids, following your dreams and trying to grow your blog at the same time!

Slow and steady may eventually win the race, but I have two more ways to get you to the finish line quicker.

BORROWING TRAFFIC:

The second way to build blog traffic is by borrowing traffic.

Don’t work harder, work smarter!

When you borrow traffic, you leverage someone else’s audience. They’ve already put in the groundwork, now this is your opportunity to tap into that. But there is a way to do it that makes sense.

When I talk about borrowing traffic, I’m talking about strategies like content partnerships. You get someone who reaches the same demographic as you to promote your content to their audience.

Some of the ways you can do this are:

• They email your content with a link back to your blog
• They promote your content on social media i.e. Facebook posts or Tweets
• They post your blog content on their blog with a link back to yours

But before you reach out to potential partners, you need to think about what YOU will bring to the table.

In some cases great content alone may be enough.

Larger sites are always looking for more content because they have to turn it around so quickly.

If you have a sizeable social media platform, you may be able to leverage that and agree to cross promote content via social media.

You can do the same thing via email as well.

Comedian Chris Rock told a great story about his road to success a while back. He said, “I used to have horrible cars, because I never had money, so I’d always end up broken down on the highway. When I stood there trying to flag someone down, nobody stopped. But when I pushed my own car, other drivers would get out and push with me. If you want help, help yourself—people like to see that”. In short, don’t just ask for a handout. Bring your supply.

PROS: Borrowing traffic will grow your audience faster than organically building it. It will also give you the ability to leverage the audience size and goodwill that others have already built with their tribes.

CONS: To make the most of borrowing traffic,  you have to be willing to network and build relationships. You may hear no or even no response at all often. And even when you do get a response these partnerships need to be continually nurtured or they can easily fall apart.

BUYING TRAFFIC:

The third way to build blog traffic is by buying traffic.

People are normally not in a hurry to spend their hard earned money but in this case, it’s the fastest way to get an audience to your blog.

You will be the first at the finish line with this method.

My favorite way to buy traffic right now is through social media. Through paid social media advertising, you can tap into innovative ways to reach your potential audience.

My favorite social media platform to currently use for buying traffic is Facebook because I can get so granular with who I’m targeting. This allows me to ensure I reach the right people, at the right time, with the right message.

If you have great content, you can literally turn on the traffic at any time and as much as you’d like, or at least can afford.

Other social media platforms that offer paid advertising include LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest just to name a few.

Google AdWords is still a force to be reckoned with in regards to online advertising and don’t forget to explore offline advertising opportunities as well.

Just make sure whichever method you try can be tracked and measured.

PROS: Buying traffic can instantly flood your site with new readers and potential community members.

CONS: If you don’t have a plan you can waste money. Before you begin spending money to buy traffic you should know exactly who your perfect blog reader is so you know who to spend money on.

You should also provide content that is representative of what your blog is about. It won’t make sense to get a new reader that doesn’t like any other content on your site.

Since you’ve spent money to get them there, you should also have a way to capture those readers when they land on your site with some type of lead magnet that allows them to opt-in with an email address.

Lastly, if you’re buying traffic you need to have an idea on how you will get a return on your investment. You need to have a plan on how you’ll monetize the new traffic.

If you haven’t already, make sure you download our Six Ways to Make Six Figures Blogging Without Ads Strategy Guide.

The real beauty of the 3B’s is that they are not mutually exclusive. In our businesses, we utilize all 3B’s.

You don’t have to use just one method. You can use all three, borrow and build, build and buy, whatever sequence is right for you and your business.

There’s certain things we do each day to build traffic through blogging like promoting content via social media with Twitter, Facebook and Instagram posts.

We borrow traffic through content partnerships with other sites, other social media platforms and now even a cable TV network.

And we currently buy traffic primarily through Facebook ads.

If you’re new to Facebook Ads start here with Facebook Blueprint.

These tips are proven to generate traffic and get more readers to your blog to build your brand. Hopefully you learned a few strategies that you may not have started using yet.

If this helped you with a new idea or clarity on generating traffic please drop a comment below letting me know it hit the spot.

Also make sure you join our FREE Facebook group called Traffic, Sales & Profit with Lamar Tyler.

Thanks!

-Lamar