28 Days Later… (Not Zombies, Dude. TRAFFIC.)

Well, Howdy Steppers!

All Hail the Queen of Traffic

All Hail the Queen of Traffic..!

In today’s post I’m writing about the results of the four-week challenge I took, using Ana Hoffman’s free traffic building techniques. I was s’posed to start on August 12 but got delayed a bit. So from August 16 to yesterday is where I made my measurements.

My initial post, How I’m Promotiing the “ISH” OUtta My Blog…FREE! would be a good place to start if’n you’re tuning into this channel late.

Ana Hoffman of Traffic Generation Cafe: Guru or Hoaxster?

Did I DOUBLE my traffic for free, as Ana claims is possible?

Strictly speaking… no. Doubling would be a 100% increase.

I only had an 89% increase in traffic.ana traffic increase

For free.

How disappointing.

WHAAA..? No, that’s freakin’ AWESOME!

Seriously, when you consider that during this time I had some serious problems with my mom-and-pop hosting… one total blackout when they changed servers without telling me… and another debacle when I tried to upload a plugin and my site reverted to July 22…

… an 89% bump up in traffic with no paid traffic at all is downright amazing.

I’m still reeling from the impact a bit, but I know I can do even better. In fact, I’ll be surprised if my traffic doesn’t have another comparable level-up again over the next 30 days with Ana’s techniques.

What I Learned from Doing this Free Traffic Challenge

First of all, I learned that I need to ditch the less-than-professional web host that I had been using. That was a REALLY stressful ordeal.

If only doubling your traffic free was as easy as breaking 100 bricks in 20.5 seconds...

What’s easier, doubling your traffic free, or breaking 100 bricks in 20.5 seconds…

I learned that it’s important to seek quality alliances rather than to simply comment for a link’s sake.

I learned that being more organized and purposeful with blog promotion really makes a hella difference.

I came up with a simple idea for systemizing my blog commenting approach as well…. watch this space for a post on that soon.

I also learned that my mentor in this particular endeavor, Ana Hoffman… really knows her, um, ISH.

Visit the post that inspired this challenge that brought me an 89% bump in my traffic for free at
http://www.trafficgenerationcafe.com/how-to-promote-your-blog/

 A Slew of Benefits from Increasing my Traffic Free

It was nice to see more peoples on my page. But I also got a 57.5% bump in engagement… that is, more of the folks that came to the blog also commented there on the blog, or hit me up on Facebook/Twitter/Email/Google+.

This engagement, besides being rewarding added credibility, while adding to the conversation.

As my Twitter friend Brooke Ballard of B Squared Media puts it, “Think Conversation, Not Campaign.”

You might know from my epic post How YOUR Comments Create Value 😉 … value is created at least SIXTEEN ways by blog comments. Value for the readers, value for the commenter, value for ME.

Not the least of which was making new relationships with other bloggers, mentors, and potential customers.

It also encouraged me to improve my writing. After all..! If more peoples are coming, I’d better put out the good linens ‘n’ china.

Finally, I got a coaching client. I’ll letcha know how her business grows with the addition of the Shoestring101 Principles.

What’s Next for the Free Traffic Challenge?

Well, I’m obviously going to keep going with this amazing traffic-building challenge. Truth be told, I only actually executed about half of the techniques that Ana lays out, because of time constraints. The bottom of the page… content LEVERAGING… looks to be a veritable goldmine of free traffic.

“Content leveraging” is something that I’ve used before in my other businesses; essentially you repurpose content from one kind of platform to another. A blog post becomes a Powerpoint. A Powerpoint becomes a video or SlideShare. A video becomes a podcast, or vice versa.

The best part of the content leveraging is that you get all the joy and fulfillment (oh, and FREE TRAFFIC..!) that a brand new piece of content gives you, but the work is cut by more than half. Because the really hard part… creating the first draft in the first place… is out of the way already.

I’ve got a boatload of posts on this site. Mostly it’s rambling; about ten percent is pure gold that the readers have liked. Now the good ones just need more of an audience!

You can bet your sweet li’l bippy that after proving Ana’s other techniques for myself,  “content leveraging” will be applied to every single winning post I’ve done.

But enough about me... let's talk about what YOU think of me.

But enough about me… let’s talk about what YOU think of me.

What about YOU, my darling dearest reader? Has this success story given you the inspiration to try out those free blog post promoting strategies for yourself?

What if you only do half as well, and add 45% to your readership? Would that be worth the one-time setup that takes around an hour, and the fifteen extra minutes or so that you tack on to each post after that to see an increase of 45% in 28 days?

Well, if ya think maybe it might, let me link you out one more time to the Queen of Traffic, Ana Hoffman.  And her EPIC post about promoting your blog for free.

Steppers, let me know who’d like to take the challenge. Leave your comments about my challenge and what you think YOU’d like to do about it. I’ll pay ya in coffee if you beat MY numbers… $25 in SBUX… and I don’t think it’ll be that particularly hard to do if you can follow simple instructions.

Keep Stepping,

Kurt

Comments

  1. Hey Kurt,

    Told you I was going to follow up to see how you did. Wow, 89% is fabulous my friend and who the heck wouldn’t want those results. And you even admitted that you hadn’t done everything that she shared.

    Okay, now I have to take some time to go read that one too. I’ve had a few bumpy months actually but I think I’m on the home stretch now. I’m not going to commit to anything until I read that entire post because reading what you’ve shared already I know it’s a heck of a lot of work. But, I sure would love to see even more traffic to my blog so off I go.

    Glad you got the results you wanted and once again, thanks for sharing these with us.

    Good luck!

    ~Adrienne
    Adrienne recently posted…7 Ways To Run An Unsuccessful Mobile Email CampaignMy Profile

    • kurtf
      Twitter:
      says:

      Yes, I have not yet used the content leveraging. I have since used the interlinking and some of the other techniques that I hadn’t used yet at the time of that writing and my traffic has steadily grown.

      Since you already have a goodly amount of content on your site, it may make sense to do those linking strategies and more advanced stuff like the content leveraging.

      Keep Stepping!

      Kurt
      kurtf recently posted…Just Because You Don’t Own Something Doesn’t Mean You Can’t Sell ItMy Profile

  2. Wow, sounds amazing! I definitely have to check Ana’s site. Well done on your growth! I wonder if it’s possible to keep the momentum for the following month as well.
    Vita recently posted…Get To Know Me TagMy Profile

    • kurtf
      Twitter:
      says:

      Thanks Vita. I’m currently at 39.34% higher hits in September than in August.

      Keep in mind that I BEGAN late in August so that throws the results a little. From the 28-day period BEFORE Ana’s methods, comparing the next 28 days yields a whopping 89% increase!

      Also, the really juicy things that Ana teaches, like “content leveraging” and social share buttons, I’ve either not been able to do (yet) because of time constraints, or I’ve had all kinds of roadblocks implementing because of problems with my host company.

      SO the 89% boost is based on only doing SOME of Ana’s techniques. I am continuing to implement them and intend to do them even better as time goes on. Do yourself three great big favors and:

      1) Go to http://www.trafficgenerationcafe.com/blog and look to your left. Pick up Ana’s free Traffic Report
      2) While you are there, read thru several blog posts to see Ana’s no-nonsense, just the facts ma’am approach to writing
      3) PRINT, read, re-read, and then re-re-read Ana’s EPIC blog promotion post, How to Promote Your Blog: Ten Steps to Ultimate Blog Post Promotion [My Personal Cheat Sheet]

      Also, if you are in the mood to spend a little cash which will guarantee a disproprotionate return, click on the Kristi Hines’ Blog Post Promotion course that Ana name-drops at the end.

      Keep Stepping!

      Kurt
      kurtf recently posted…Reaching Out: Blog Commenting, ON PURPOSEMy Profile

  3. Iain
    Twitter:
    says:

    Content leveraging is amazing if you can do it regularly. However, it adds one more thing to the list of things to do. If it’s effective, then that’s awesome.

    Also, 89% increase is pretty sweet. It’s all about maintaining momentum though right.

    Great to see that you found Ana’s methods so effective. It comes down to taking action right.
    Iain recently posted…Celebrate the small wins and warm the cockles of your heartMy Profile

    • kurtf
      Twitter:
      says:

      Yes, taking action and taking it CONSISTENTLY. For example, after the 28 days I kinda slowed down. Traffic trailed off a bit. It’s still up from “Pre-Ana” but has certainly settled down because of my break from actively promoting.

      Guess that settles whether it was coincidence or not 😉

      Monday I’ll be posting and promoting again. Looking forward to seeing yo here again Iain!

      Keep Stepping,

      Kurt
      kurtf recently posted…28 Days Later… (Not Zombies, Dude. TRAFFIC.)My Profile

  4. 89%? Not bad. Not bad at all. It’s actually impressive. Guess I should start following Ana Hoffman’s techniques.
    Christopher James recently posted…This is review3My Profile

  5. Hey Kurt! It’s exited to see such a cool program working out for you! I might have to take notes and test some things out myself. 🙂

    And, of course, thanks so much for the shout to B Squared! We LOVE our tagline so much. But, we’re biased. Glad to know it resonates with you, too.

    • kurtf
      Twitter:
      says:

      Yeah all of the stuff I see posted at http://www.trafficgenerationcafe.com are pretty amazing. One of Ana’s giveaway products sez, “All you need to know about traffic, and nothing you don’t”. That pretty well describes her blogging style. No fluff, ALL useful content. Yet she still manages to entertain. When I grow up I’ll be more like her 😉

      Yup, that tagline captures, then delivers the very essence of social media marketing. I dig it very much. Props.

      Keep Stepping,

      Kurt
      kurtf recently posted…28 Days Later… (Not Zombies, Dude. TRAFFIC.)My Profile

  6. Hey Kurt, that’s super exciting. I’m glad to hear you found great value in Ana’s traffic strategies. Ana is the real deal and she truly walks the walk. I’ve been a fan of Ana’s for a while and you couldn’t have chosen a better mentor. It sounds like you can relate to her and that’s important.

    I also love thirty days challenges; I do one myself every month. I didn’t share it on my blog but those following me on G+ know that last month my challenge was to listen to every one of Pat Flynn’s podcasts and it really made a huge difference on my way of thinking and the way I’m moving forward with our blog. I’m new here so I apologize if I missed it but, other than continuing with the traffic-building challenge, what’s your next big challenge?
    Brian Hawkins recently posted…Pretty Link The Smart Way – Know What Links Are Clicked And From WhereMy Profile

Trackbacks

  1. […] 9. Write about other bloggers best posts. […]

  2. […] 9. Write about other bloggers’ best posts. […]

Speak Your Mind

*

CommentLuv badge