7 Methods to Build a High-Traffic Website (or Blog)
Website DIVISIONS (Over 600 articles to help you to grow in every facet of your life)
Written by Jimmie Burroughs – Email this article to a friend
It has not been my primary objective to build traffic by using the various SEO techniques. Of course, I realize that traffic is important; otherwise, what you write would be in vain. My primary motivation, however, is writing articles that will help others to deal with fear and anxiety and all the other life issues that hinder personal growth, and then help them to live a better life on this earth. In so doing I have managed to build a high traffic website in a short space of time that has little to do with the regular SEO techniques.
I take opposition to many of the techniques used on the Internet for generating traffic, and marketing that traffic with the sole purpose of monetizing. While I agree that a workman is deserving of their pay and that earning money is needed to pay expenses, I also believe that it is not to be the motivating factor in what we do on the Internet, or anywhere else as a matter of fact.
I have a different approach to building traffic; in fact, my approach is to let it build itself. I do not believe in using tricks or schemes that have to be continually updated. While I do appreciate all the help I get from search engines who send traffic to my website, that is not what I depend on to keep people coming to my site and reading the articles. I have discovered if I try to do my best to provide value to others, they will continue to return and will bring their friends with them, and this is the best of the best when it comes to build traffic. Word of mouth is the fastest way to build your website traffic. People tell others about your website not because you ask them to do it but because they want to.
Here are my 10 methods to build a high traffic website or blog:
1. Offer value to your readers
If your content does not give value to the lives of your readers, why should you be wasting your time and why should they be wasting their time? When you choose a nitch, it is always best to choose one that you know something about and one in which you are interested in learning more. That way you will have value to offer. You cannot offer value if you do not know what you are writing about.
I take my writing very seriously; it is my only occupation in life. When I write, I want it to be the very best I can offer, worthy of the time others will invest in reading it. Think about the value of time invested in reading your article. For instance, if 1,000 people read your article today, and it takes 10 minutes each, it has used up 10,000 minutes of precious life. That is over four 40-hour workweeks; depending on the pay scale that could be $4,000 or more. In addition, if your article is useless that means $4,000 down the drain and four workweeks wasted. Keeping that in mind enables me to write strong content.
If you are writing about fishing, your goal should be to help your readers become the best fishermen possible and not just to sell them the latest fishing gear. I write on personal development, so I want my writing to help people change the way they look at life. I want it to help them to overcome the issues that are holding them back. If I do offer products, I want them to be useful and needed products and not something to waste money. If my writing is not reaching that objective, then I am not communicating the message well enough.
The only purpose for having a lot of traffic to your site is if you have something of value to share with others that will enhance their lives. Sometimes I will go over my article a dozen or more times to check for errors or changes that need to be made to make it the best I can. They still are not perfect, but they are at least the best I can make them. If they are good enough to give the answers folks are looking for, then people will come looking for what you write about and the traffic will build itself.
2. Post only unique or original content
Search engines only recognize unique content when ranking it. Most every article I post is one I have written. I like to provide the information others are searching for without the need to go anywhere else. However, quality articles by other authors posted on your blog can be a help in generating traffic. I just enjoy writing my own articles even though I know it is not the best SEO compared to having more articles more frequently.
There are over 600 articles on my website on personal development or things that complement personal development. That is a lot of information. I think it is helpful when you can find an author who will provide you a lot of information in one original vein of thought; it can help tremendously in one’s personal growth and produce it faster. My entire list of articles can be found on the site map located on the navigational bar or the divisions of the website found either also on the navigational bar or at the top of most articles.
The articles are designed with the reader in mind and with the intention to help them grow. You will discover that there is no marketing pitches to bring you to some sort of closure in the end to get you to purchase something. Occasionally there may be an imbedded link that leads to a product, but they also are infrequent. I am not against marketing, but it is not my primary goal. I think it is best to bring people to the point of making a decision on how to improve their life rather than the purpose of marketing a certain product to them.
Much of what I write about is unique to my own experiences, so you are not likely to find it other places on the Internet unless it has been copied. I do not usually withhold things based on my own personal privacy although I highly honor the right of other’s privacy. I believe that by sharing highly personal experiences, it can help others to deal with something they are going through. I also believe in writing as many words as necessary to get the message across, which is in opposition to what is recommended by SEO experts.
My articles usually range from 1,000 to 2,000 words, while it is recommended to write articles in the 300 to 700 range. That way you can get the attention of the search engines more often by writing and posting short article more often. I guess one way of putting it is I had rather write for humans than for a computer or search engines.
3. Optimize but write for humans first
I understand that using good search engine optimization makes sense, but if it requires writing just for that purpose, I would rather not. I never intentionally include extra keywords; they must fall naturally into the subject matter. I may reiterate the title once, but that is usually all. Many of the articles I write find their way to the first listing regardless of the number of entries, which is another thing I do not consider when I select a title. Some of the keywords I choose have over a billion entries on the topic. I like to use a title that describes the content as near as possible and one that gains attention.
Sometimes I have to search for ideas for articles but mostly they come to mind. For example, the pastor mentioned Tim Teabow at church Sunday; the idea came to mind writing an article about Tim, and so I did that very afternoon. I think this ability increases with experience. All of us constantly see or hear things that give ideas for our articles. I like to write when I think that I have something important to say. Ordinarily that is 5 to 7 posts per week, and I also have syndicated some articles, so different versions may appear on hundreds of other websites.
For me at least, it takes more than a couple hundred words to say something that I consider to be important, so I just forget about the length and write until I am finished. I understand that today most people do not want to take the time to read a long article, but if not they can read parts and return later, or print it out for later. I think it is far more important to create content that interests people in general, and they usually will take the time to read it. I know if I chop the articles up into short snippets that it will generate more traffic, but that is not the way I want to do it, so I just ignore the rules of SEO and write to convey the message I have on my heart.
4. Build a relationship with your readers
Treating your readers like you would want to be treated and like they are real human beings is the only decent approach and the only way to build a lasting relationship with them. You may never talk with them in person, but they will feel like they know you. There is definitely a connection between my readers and myself that I feel when I am writing. I must write as if there was an ongoing conversation. It makes me want to contribute my best.
I have been a public speaker and have spoken before good size crowds. I used to have a reoccurring dream that I was speaking before a crowd of people and could not think of what to say; that has never happened, but I guess there was a subconscious fear that it would. Therefore, I spend hours preparing when I’m invited to speak to make sure that I know what I am going to say and always have something to say.
When you write, if you consider yourself to be speaking before a large crowd, it will make you more concerned to write something that makes sense. Actually, you will be speaking to a large crowd if your website has a lot of traffic. The greatest motivation for being a good blogger is a heartfelt desire to help people. That will do more for improving your writing skills than anything else. I had rather make friends and have people like me, but I write what I think instead. Sometimes people like it and sometimes they don’t. Nevertheless, my desire remains the same, to help people overcome the fears in their life and to achieve their potential through personal growth.
I believe that my readers and I have a lot in common. I have experienced some of the same fears they are going through; had some of the same doubts they have; experienced failures; had disappointments as they have had, so I can write in their interest. At my present age, I have had more than my share of all kinds of experiences from the lowest to the highest. Through my extensive travels, I’ve seen a lot also. I believe that folks would like to have a better, happier and more peaceful life, and I think I can help them to find it, and it will be free of charge.
I work hard to write as much original content as possible (I have over 600 articles presently and add new at the rate of about one per day), and I give it all away free in order to help as many as possible. My prayer is, God let me live to finish my work. It is when you value another’s life and what they have to go through that you are really motivated to do your very best to help.
I don’t have much to sell on my website and what I do sell I firmly believe in and use it myself. But that is not my objective, and I never manipulate anyone to buy anything, especially something on little value. Selling truly is not my primary purpose. Keeping money in the right perspective is necessary if you are to build relationships. All trust is lost the moment a person feels that they are only being used and manipulated as a means to make money. I value relationships above money. I live pretty well; I can walk a few feet and look out over the ocean and I have all my daily needs met, so it doesn’t make sense to me ever to place money ahead of people?
I realize that as much as I want to help people grow, I can’t force them. All I can do is offer the best help that I can and then leave it to each to decide for himself or herself what they want to use. But I know this: building traffic is all about offering value that will help another human being to be able to make today just a little better than yesterday or the day before.
5. Write on subject matter that has unchanging value
One of the things I find so attractive about my particular nitch, and one of the reasons I love it so much is that it has unchanging value. The precepts I write about today will still be relevant 10 years from now or a 100 years from now. There always will be those who understand the value of personal growth. It is greatly gratifying to know that what I’m laboring over today will still be read many years after I’m dead and gone.
I receive much help from fellow bloggers for which I’m ever so grateful, who elect to include versions of my articles on their websites with thousands of backlinks back to my website. I don’t say this to boast, but sometime different versions of my posts have occupied the entire first page of Google. The thousands of feedback I’ve gotten from my readers also has been a great encouragement to do my best.
I started on the Internet writing about time-bound events until one day it dawned on me that there was a far better way to go, and that was writing on those things, which will never be replaced by technology or the latest fad. There are times when I may write an article based on the present event, but that is rare.
Not most all the things that make the news, the politics, the wars, and the market are in my interest to write about; there are plenty who want to write about those things already. Many of the precepts I write about concerning personal growth come from the Bible, which has been around for thousands of years and is still as relevant today as when it was written.
I think folks today are looking past the fluff and the shallow content and searching for those things that will affect their lives for the good, and I want to try at least to provide that sort of content.
6. Be your real self
My writing is my life to a large degree. To read what I write is to know me for who I am. I certainly don’t claim to be the best writer, but I’m the best I can be, at least for the present. I desire to become the best I can. I don’t mind for you to see me as I am. The only thing is I’m continually changing as I grow so the way I appear today my be different from how I appear latter. Personal growth is a lifelong journey that only ends at the grave. No one ever knows everything about anything; it is all a matter of growing a little each day.
I want my readers to know me because in so doing I’m able to communicate much clearer to them and hopefully be able to help them more. Getting to know someone also builds trust, which is essential for good communication. I have read today that someone set out to try to find some way that Tim Teabow might be a hypocrite, and they were able to find absolutely nothing. He is what he seems to be. Personal growth is doing away with facades and replacing them with our authentic self even if though the rough edges do show a little.
I like Tim, not because he is a great UFL football quarterback, because he is a genuine person. My favorite entertainer is Taylor Swift, although I’m not a fan of her music; I’m a fan of the kind of person she is. There is so much that is phony in the athletic world, the entertainment world, and all of life, and when someone comes along and breaks the mold and is different from all the rest it re-establishes faith in humanity.
A big ego and the desire to be seen as perfect are like building your house upon the sand; the first storm will tear it down. We have seen our share of stars that have fallen to the ground. There is never a better way than just being you, warts and all; none is perfect. When we place ourselves on the same level as others and communicate as friends and equals, it is going to be a lot more desirable.
7. Stay true to yourself
Stand behind what you write and write what you stand behind. I don’t try to write what is politically correct but what I know and believe to be true. This is not a popularity contest, but a test on what is true and has meaning and purpose to the lives of individuals. Someone asked me if telling a lie was ever right even to protect someone, you love. The answer has to be no because to say or do otherwise would be to controvert the truth which is that lying is never a right, but always a wrong.
When you start to write things that are so neutral that they never upset anyone, then you have lost your effectiveness. It is okay if people think I’m radical or a fanatic as long as I know I’m standing on that which is right. They can make fun of me if they please and say what they please; I’m not trying to protect a phony ego.
I’m able to live with what I write because I stand on the truth of it. It is true to what I am and what I believe, not as determined by someone else but as I have arrived at through my own discoveries and convictions. Bold honesty is not cheap; it often comes with a high price. History is filled with those who died standing on the truth. Even if it is a rare attribute among humans, it still is honored by many and that is why it is a traffic builder for a website. Even if people disagree, they are awed by it.
Although I believe all I write, I don’t intend to waste my time trying to convince anyone. I write my feelings and others can agree or disagree. I have but one goal, and that is to write on topics that stimulate the conscious of people and cause them to want to be better people and live lives that are more productive. That is why I have no desire to conform to the politically correct ideas of the diplomats who feel they need to walk on eggshells to avoid offending someone.
The word transparency is often used to describe genuineness and nothing better confirms it than bold honesty. People may ridicule you for what you believe and write, but they cannot deny the purity of you goals and purpose. Even if they don’t necessary like you, they can’t help but respect you for your bold stand.
Conclusion
Perhaps you don’t agree with all I’ve said and that is all right. But there is one thing I think most of us can agree on, even if you don’t want to consider any of the 7 suggestions given above, and that is when we are genuinely concerned about helping people in any way, we are indeed on the right course, whether it is on the Internet or in our everyday life.
About the author: Jimmie Burroughs is a motivational speaker and author who has been involved in teaching Christian Personal Development for more than 30 years. There are hundreds of articles to help you on this website (Website Contents) in your personal growth.
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