Traffic is a prized commodity in the SEO world. But what’s even more valuable than traffic, is the ability to generate viral traffic for free. Did you know that there are a lot of companies there that are paying top dollars for paid traffic?
Most businesses see no other choice but to give up on 80% of their profit margin just to acquire new clients.
But what if I told you that there are ways to generate traffic while avoiding to pay $20 or more to acquire one client?
Through a lot of trial and error, networking and experimentation, we happen to know about a dozen powerful techniques capable of generating viral traffic. These have helped us immensely so far, and today you can learn about them too.
Lately, we’ve received a lot of questions about the best sources of generating traffic for a website.
You asked we delivered… Well, we severely over-delivered.
This guide will not only walk you through 10 different viral traffic sources but will also let you in on some of the most low-key growth hacking strategies that 6 fig marketers are utilizing.
Source #1 – Facebook
Facebook is one of the most popular ways of driving traffic to a business website.
I personally know a two 7 fig business owners that will credit their success to a few actionable methods of steering Facebook traffic to a business website.
The bad news: Some of the methods that made a lot of people rich back then can no longer be applied to today’s ecosystem.
The good news: There are adjustments you can make to the OG strategies to make them competitive in 2019.
Without further ado, here are several viral traffic strategies for Facebook the will get you ahead of the curve:
Methods of getting Viral Traffic on Facebook:
Organic Reach
Even though it’s clear that Facebook is slowly becoming pay to Play, there are still some methods that will bring you organic reach.
Over the last 2 years, brands experienced a 50% drop in exposure.
However, sharing native video content is now a very effective method of getting viral traffic. So, if you want to get clients without paying for ads, you need to start focusing on engaging videos that are ultimately sharable.
Smart brands like Socialbakers switched the focus to videos and experienced a 100%+ increases in their Facebook organic reach.
Here’s an article about the deterioration of organic reach:
https://blog.bufferapp.com/social-media-organic-reach
Facebook Ads
Facebook ads are obviously an option since it’s the most stable form of traffic. But you don’t necessarily have to use them like everyone else.
If you want to be truly effective, start tapping into recent purchasing behaviors
of your targeted users and give them exactly what they want.
Let me tell you right now that Facebook is an absolute gem for smart marketers. You can use incredibly detailed data to get to the segment that brings you the best conversions.
Group Posts
Facebook groups typically hold the core audience of each business niche. In here, you’ll find the people that are most likely to engage with whatever you’re selling. Because of this, a good viral traffic strategy is to join every group related to your niche and start networking. But don’t do it aggressively by doing promotion posts. Instead, start by being friendly and make casual mentions about what your business does.
You’ll eventually grow an authority that will encourage the members to engage with your products/services. Just be patient and pick your moments right.
Viral Facebook Videos
Video is now officially the hottest media content. If you manage to release a video that goes just a little bit viral, your business will go through the roof.
Here are a few tips that will boost your video’s chances of becoming viral:
- Create a video that also works without sound.
- Upload videos directly to Facebook to maximize reach.
- Feature your videos in the About section of your page.
- Create a drawing thumbnail.
- Keep the length of the video short.
Share buttons on pages
Another very important aspect is to include the Facebook share button on all the pages of your business website. You want that social media juice.
Aside from drawing more clients, you will also send Google the right signals since their crawlers will see social media traffic as proof that you’re featuring quality content.
Scheduling Posts
Scheduling posts (blog posts, social media posts, etc) is an extremely important skill to master.
Since it’s very important for SEO to post regularly, you might as well use a scheduling tool that will allow you to free yourself from having to interrupt your work every time you need to post something.
Here’s a list with scheduling tools that you can use to schedule your posts:
- Hootsuite
- Buffer
- Sprout Social
- MeetEdgar
Cross promoting other pages
The great thing about cross-promotion is that it doesn’t require any investment. Even more, partners can help each other to expand on social channels.
If you manage to establish the right connections with the right people, you will
gain organic traffic without investing a single dollar.
Here’s a great article about cross promoting on Facebook and the likes:
https://www.elegantthemes.com/blog/tips-tricks/5-ways-to-cross-promote-so cial-media-posts
Facebook Tools:
Source #2 – Pinterest
I can tell you right now that there are a lot of business owners that are getting steady streams of traffic from Pinterest. Heck, we tried this with over 10 firms in our local area and it worked every time.
Below you’ll discover some of the most reliable methods that we personally used to generate viral traffic.
Methods of getting Viral Traffic on Pinterest:
Photo badges
This trick involves creating appealing photo badges and use them as the featured image at the top of your blog post.
Here are a few general guidelines for your photo badges:
- Use real photos – pins that use real photos as a background will get more traction than ones that use text over a plain background
- Use light and visually appealing colors (think light blue, pink, or yellow) rather than neutrals or dark colors
- Keep your pins under 5000 pixels high – the taller the pin is, the harder it is for pinners to repin it
The better your blog post title is, the better this technique will work.
Pinning new Stuff consistently
If you want to go viral on Pinterest, you need to pin new and original content in a consistent matter – there’s no other way around this.
Based on our personal experienced, allocating the time to pin just one piece of content daily is usually a surefire way of gaining new followers consistently.
And remember – The bigger your Pinterest platform is, the more people will click on your links leading to your business website.
Don’t over pin your own content
Pinterest is not the kind of place where you can afford to do plain promotion. You either do it naturally, or you don’t do it at all.
You might be tempted to create whole boards featuring your products only, but it’s very important to resist this urge!
I can guarantee you that you won’t see a consistent flow of targeted traffic if that’s what you’re looking for.
Pinterest Tools:
Source #3 – PBN Blogs
A Private Blog Network (PBN) is a network of websites that are used to build links to the main website for the purpose of ranking higher in Google’s search engine.
Although this is considered against Google’s guidelines and Google announced that it is beginning a private blog network purge (back in 2014), the reality is people are still building private blog networks and ranking just as easily!
Here’s a great introductory lesson to PBN: https://lionzeal.com/blog/pbn-guide/
The deal with PBN is that there are both advantages and disadvantages of using this technique. Depending on what you want your business to be about, see if the advantages are outweighing the disadvantages
Advantages
- Control offer your rank – There is no other link building strategy that will allow you this much freedom – You can dictate the anchor texts, the links and test extensively to see what works and what doesn’t.
- Instant authority – The amount of authority that you’re leveraging with a PBN is incredible. The chances of getting the same types of links naturally are very, very slim.
- No need to outreach – If you build your own PVN, there’s no need to spend time reaching out to peers with the hope of building relationships. This isn’t necessarily a good thing, but it saves you valuable time to put the focus elsewhere.
Disadvantages
- Not an evergreen technique – No matter how safe you play your cards, there will always be a risk of getting a manual penalty. Being reckless with your attempts might turn your investment into nothing.
- Finding the right domains is very hard – The hardest part in the process of building PBNs is finding qualified domains. Only about 10% of expired domains are qualified to serve as a PBNS, so you’ll have to do expensive research.
- PBNs aren’t cheap – One of the biggest disadvantages of building a private blog network is the cost. Expect to pay over $100 dollars for every domain that you manage to secure.
Source #4 – Twitter
Twitter has the potential to drive real, consistent traffic to any website, but it needs careful planning and a lot of patience.
The good news is that Twitter is still a widely misunderstood social network. A lot of business owners don’t see the point of maintaining an active Twitter account.
That’s good news for you because we have four actionable twitter tips that will drive viral traffic to your website.
Methods of getting Viral Traffic on Twitter:
Using Hashtags
Keep in mind that using hashtags on Twitter can increase engagement by up to 200%. With this in mind, don’t even think about posting something without a single hashtag.
Here’s a great guide on finding the right Twitter hashtags for your posts:
https://www.sendible.com/insights/twitter-hashtags
Sharable visuals
Sharable visual posts are guaranteed to bring you significantly more engagement. This ultimately translates into more, retweets, favorites mentions and shares.
Here are some statistics on the impact of using visuals with your Twitter posts:
- Tweets with images received 89% more favorites
- Tweets with images received 18% more clicks than those without
- Tweets with images received 150% more retweets
Visual types to consider:
- Infographics
- Image containing quotes
- Visually striking images
- Unusual imaging
Consistent Tweeting
This is one of the most important things that you must keep track of when you’re starting out on Twitter. Studies show that just by posting daily you can get the following benefits:
- Increased traffic by 30%
- Increased engagement by 90%
Mentioning influencers
Using @mentions will allow you to get attention from the top influencers in your business niche. But you have to be smart about why you’re calling them into the conversation so it doesn’t backfire.
You can use any of the following tools to identify the top influencers of your business niche:
Twitter Tools:
Source #5 – LinkedIn
Did you know that 80% of all B2B leads come from LinkedIn? This pretty much means that if you don’t engage with your audience on LinkedIn, you’re missing out on a lot of potential leads for your business.
But the trick with LinkedIn is that there’s only a thin line that you need to walk in order to make your content perform well.
Here are a few techniques that will get you viral traffic on LinkedIn:
Methods of getting Viral Traffic on LinkedIn:
Great content only
Since Linked-In is considered a premium social network, there is little to none engagement on content that isn’t viral worthy.
Since you’re presenting yourself to a group comprised of other professionals, you need to create catered content for LinkedIn.
What we’ve noticed with this network is that only professionally-branded posts have the chance of bringing viral traffic.
Automation
Automating your content management can be the missing link that will allow you to remain focused on what really matters on this platform.
A good practice is to schedule posts in advance while keeping in mind the hours that your audience is most responsive to. A great tool for this is Agorapulse.
Consistent posting
On LinkedIn, it’s not enough to post daily. You’ll have to do it multiple times a day and remain consistent with the direction of your posts.
But keep in mind that you don’t have to post only original content. Great,
semi-viral content can also be shared with the same result.
LinkedIn tools:
Source #6 – Instagram
2018 has been a year of change for a lot of Instagram – countless updates with new features have been periodically implemented.
This is a good thing for us since we’ve been able to discover a couple of new viral traffic strategies that are killing it on Instagram in 2019.
And even if you don’t see Instagram typically associated with SEO, let me tell you that the two are linked. We have proved it for ourselves that using the right strategies on Instagram will end up increasing the search engine capital.
Methods of getting Viral Traffic on Instagram:
Focusing on lifestyle specific narrative
One of the best ways to ensure you’ll have long-lasting results is to focus on something that your audience is most interest in.
Let’s take Neil Patel for example. Now, he’s one of the biggest SEO guys out there. But he was mediocre on Instagram until he decided to only publish content associated with success and prestige.
He got this big on Instagram because his content and portrayed lifestyle resonated to a certain crowd of people: entrepreneurs and CEOs.
Here’s what you should do:
- Identify your target audience.
- Decide on the narrative.
- Only publish content that aligns with your previously established narrative.
Get in touch with micro-influencers
Influencers dominate social media, and this is absolutely true on Instagram,
Content is crucial on Instagram, but who says it is what really makes a difference between a viral brand and an average business. This is by far one of the most efficient ways to grow quickly on Instagram.
Sure, you can try to win some major influencers over by sliding into their DMs, but I can tell you right now that they won’t do anything for free.
The best approach is to partner yourself with micro-influencers that are a close fit with what your business is all about. Here’s a great article about finding the right influencers for your type of business:
https://marketingoo.com/how-to-find-the-local-influencers-for-your-small-bu siness/
Using Branded hashtags
You can’t really make yourself noticed on Instagram unless you come up with a solid hashtag play. Why?
Because the right hashtag in the right situation can be only viral traffic strategy you’ll ever need. Even more, hashtags are known to grant brand permanence to those that know how to use them on Instagram.
Once you begin to build an audience, you can ask users to create content with your hashtag and distribute it within their own networks. It works great.
Optimizing the Instagram profile for search
There are some factors that will actually make a difference on your Google rankings. Engagement, traffic, and links are all intricate parts of the whole process.
Here’s an infographic that ranks the metrics that Google takes into consideration.
Here are some tips that will help you optimize your Instagram profile:
- Geottaging your posts
- Ensuring that your profile information is complete
- Use keywords in your profile information & in your posts
- Continuously encourage social sharing.
Instagram Tools:
Source #7 – Google My Business
Keep in mind that Google My Business has a staggering market share of over 73%.
Given the fact that it’s by far the biggest listing out there and it’s owned by the same tech giant that holds the reigns over search traffic, you’d be a fool to think that GMB optimization and SEO don’t go hand-in-hand.
We are currently deploying a number of GMB viral strategies that are proven to work time and time again.
Check this screenshot out:
Of all the top results, more than half of them are results for our newest product, Mapify360.
Methods of getting Viral Traffic on GMB:
Getting reviews
There’s a reason why top SEO guys around the world are referring to reviews as the lifeblood of local search. Here’s the only equation that you need to know: reviews = sales.
The importance of reviews is increasing with each passing year, and Google is adapting its algorithm to reflect what the people ask for.
One sure way of sending the right signals to Google’s algorithm is to encourage your clients to leave reviews on your services/products on GMB.
Once you start getting reviews, take the time to respond to each of them – good, bad or neutral.
Use GMB posts for business updates
Since they have a lot of exposure in Google search, GMB posts are a great way of getting your business content visible to search.
Google Posts will allow you to add text, photos, gifs and even call-to-action buttons for Buy, Sign Up, Learn more, Reserve, Get Offer. You don’t have to be overly creative to realize the potential that this feature has.
Here are a few pointers to keep in mind when using GMB posts:
- Avoid using jargon from your industry. Instead, speak directly to your audience to maximize engagement.
- Use images that put your business in a good light. For the best results, stick to images with a 4:3 ratio (400x 300 pixels)
- You only have 300 words per post, but only 60 – 70 characters will show up on mobile if you include a call to action button.
Using GMB Insights
The biggest advice that anyone can objectively give you is to learn how to measure the impact of your posts. This will help you identify the approach that generates the most amount of engagement.
Fortunately, GMB has a built-in tool that will enable you to do just that. Here are a few important metrics that you should always monitor with GMB Insights:
- How many phone calls you receive from GMB and why your customers are calling.
- Where your audience is living (generated from direction queries)
- What are the most popular actions that your customers are taking on your GMB listing
- How are the customers finding the GMB listing (Search vs Maps)
Unserstading these specifics will allow you to prioritize the content that your audience craves, which will generate viral traffic.
Source #8 – Voice Optimization for Google
Keep in mind that by 2020, more than 50% of the total search activity will be conducted through voice search. As a business owner, you should be prepared and actively optimize for voice search in order to get ahead of the curve.
I can guarantee that in just a couple of years, generating viral traffic from search will be a lot harder than it is today.
Methods of getting Viral Traffic with Voice SEO:
Speeding up your website
Speed is one of the most instrumental metrics on voice search, mainly because
most users are expecting immediate results when searching for something.
If you take a look at the contents of Google’s speed update, you’ll understand that there’s a clear direction in prioritizing the fastest websites for voice search.
Because of this, ensure that you’re using every tool at your disposal to shave off the average loading times as much as possible.
Focusing on questions (voicified keywords)
Since searching through Google Now, Alexa or Siri feels like talking to a friend, people are asking genuine questions rather than spelling traditional search queries.
Because of this, you need to focus on using conversational, long-tail keyword phrases rather than keywords. Oh, and try to aim for the natural language keyword phrases that your audience is most likely to ask.
Provide answers
Keep in mind that over 40% of voice search answers come from featured snippets. Because of this, you’ll need to follow a set of guidelines that will ensure you remain relevant for voice search:
- Create content that answers questions & ensure that you’re writing them at an easy reading level (9th-grade reading level is best).
- Update your content often to send the right signals to Google.
- Create compelling questions about your services. This will help with driving conversions.
Source #9 – Image Optimization for Google
We always joke around at the office about this, saying that images are really the unsung heroes of traffic generation.
The point is, images are very important, and some business owners seem to forget that images should be an essential part of every content marketing effort.
Not a lot of people know this, but you can actually use some methods that will essentially allow you to hack Google Image search into sending more visitors to your website.
Methods of getting Viral Traffic on GMB:
Optimizing images for Image Search
If you leave the technicalities out of the equation, images rank much as sites do. Just like on a regular Google search, the first position is the best (the equivalent of the first page of the SERPs)
Google designed the results page for image results in a way that encourages the user to scroll through a lot of images quickly.
This means that you’ll need to do some optimizing in order to ensure that the results from your pages stand out from your competitors. Here’s what to do:
- Edit your file names to reflect the content – None of your images should be named 35292282903.jpg. Instead, try to use descriptive names that will allow Google’s crawlers to understand what the content is all about.
- Add alt tags to your images – Another great way of making your images clearer to the search engines is to use Alt tags. Aside from helping Google rank your images better, you will also get a tiny SEO improvement from it.
Using compression
So, the best possible result you can get is to feature high-quality images that take up as little storage as possible.
This is no easy feat, but it’s achievable with the right compression tool.
To ensure that you maximize your chance of attracting viral traffic, the following tools to minimize storage size while retaining image quality:
Source #10 – Quora
Quora has one of the most engaged user base out there. It’s a question and answer platform (very similar to the now deceased Yahoo answers) where users post questions and others answer.
The potential reach on Quora is huge – just by answering questions and asking the right ones, you can reach up to 3 million people worldwide (without having to pay anything.
Methods of getting Viral Traffic on Quora
Create a traffic-optimized profile
Don’t be lazy and take the time to fill out all the information related to your profile. Every popular quora profile has a traffic-optimized profile bio.
With this in mind, devote all your resources into writing a killer bio ‘headline’ – this will appear beneath your name and will make you stand out from thousands of other profiles on Quora.
Note: Any links you put inside your bio will not be clickable, so leave the website link for your profile summary.
Making full use of the Profile Summary
Directly under your bio, you’ll find the profile summary – this is where you can provide more information about yourself and what you do.
Feel free to make use of rich formatting (bold, italic, underline) and blockquotes to make the truly important information to stand out.
Another important aspect is that web addresses are clickable inside the Profile Summary, so this is the place to leave the link to your business website.
Claim your Core topics and write custom Bios for each one
A great viral strategy is to add specific topics to your profile and provide bios for each entry. These custom bios will end up overriding your main bio when any of the core topics that you chose.
Doing this will allow you to highlight the most relevant of your business experience. Do this to help establish yourself as a leading industry expert on whatever field you’re active in.
Growth Hacking strategies & how to use them
Before we leave you to get to work on generating viral traffic with the sources that we just talked about, let’s talk a little about growth hacking.
Growth hacking refers to the practice of accelerating the growth of a business
by using out of the box marketing experiments. It involves combining
unconventional marketing strategies capable of resulting in acquiring more customers and increasing revenue.
The growth hacking plan will depend on your particular business and it’s specifics, but there are still some standard practices that need to be followed.
Since this is a broad topic, we will be releasing a guide that will explain the whole process in detail.
Until then, please take the time to read the resources below to acquire some knowledge onto the basics of growth hacking (we’ll get to the advanced stuff soon enough):
