How To Get Traffic Outside Search Engines and Social Media

Anyone can start blogging about a specific topic or a variety of topics. Companies and startups that launch blogs are more transparent in their industries.

However, this is not clear where to get traffic in case you don't have a big following in social media, and in the first 1-6 months, your site isn't showing in search engines.

One easy way is buying ads and getting a paid traffic, but that's clearly not for everyone, especially if you're bootstrapping or testing your idea.

What if I tell you that there are other ways of promoting your blog or site? And in most of the case, this is completely free or require a small one-time fee.

Here is why social media and search engines are not the best sources of traffic initially.

• There are fewer people on social media than there are browsing the web.
• Queries are more precise in search engines than in social media, where relevancy depends too much on likes and shares but not the quality of the content itself.
• Although search engines have algorithms similar to social media platforms and lots of key factors like site rank.
• The main goal of social media is sharing something with your audience, not searching for relevant content.
• Social media became very restrictive in sharing content and being found if you do that without using ads.

Even tho this is a good idea to pay attention to SEO from the start. You need to make sure your content will be properly shown in search results.

On the other hand, you might want to get visits at the start. Also, it would be great to diversify the way you get traffic rather than relying on search engines and social media.

I've done my research and built an extensive list of resources that you can use to get backlinks on the start.

Before you use these resources, make sure you've published some of your content, and your site or blog is not empty. Also, it might be a good idea to think about conversion before you get an influx of traffic.

Web directories

The base content of web directories is usually around other resources. Think about it as a catalog of websites.

Also, web directories are usually narrowed around one topic or niche, or they split topics into different sections, but usually, directories like this are too broad. Meaning, the traffic cannot be that good in your case.

They usually have different submission rules, and sometimes you only can submit your site if you pay a fee. You can get better traffic from paid submissions. So it's up to you whether you're willing to invest in it or if it can be done later. In any case, even free submissions are better than no traffic at all. So it's worth trying it.

Some websites allow you to create a profile page. Once your business profile is created make sure you add a detailed description about your business and add your website link.

Blog directories

• Blog-search — blog search engine and directory.
• Blogarama — positions itself as the oldest blog directory with 154,340 active and moderated blogs.
• Blog Search Engine — a blog search engine and website which features blogs from all over the web.
• Blogging Fusion — reasonably priced (has one-time offers) blog directory.

Content listing sites

• AllTop — a collection of best topics and posts all around the web.
• Flip Board — you can post content and link it to your blog posts.
• Refind — relevant links from around the web, reading list, collections, and more.
• PRLog — free press release distribution service.

Link listing sites

• Ontoplist — offers free link submissions but asks to place a badge on your site (for free accounts).
• All free things — submit your link if you have any free items you can offer.
• ProLinkDirectory
• Marketing Internet Directory
• Link Pedia

Web directories examples

• GoodFirms — a platform for software and IT companies.
• Sell Growth — self-improvement resources.
• G2 — tech marketplace.
• Index by TNW — one of the biggest company directories.

Review sites

• Trustpilot
• Crowd Reviews
• Clutch

Marketplaces and creative sites

• CreativeMarket
• Envato
• Dribbble
• Etsy

Image galleries

You can submit infographics, photos, and images if you create any for your blog and company activity. This should be original content related to your blog or site.

• Unsplash  — a database with high-quality photos where you can create your profile and add a link to your website.
• Pexels  — a great site with royalty-free images that allows you to insert a link in the submission process.
• Behance  — good for showcasing creative work, whether graphic design, illustrations, photography, 3D, etc.

Blogs and Online Publications

There are many popular online publications with extremely high authority, but it's not easy to get published on those. However, everything is possible. And it might be a great idea to do so at some point. Definitely, not when you're just starting unless you have a sensational story that will easily go viral and that's interests, high-profile journalists.

Blogs are great tools for communication. Some authors and companies allow guest posting.

Guest posts

Guest posting is one of the best ways to promote your work. Especially if you don't have a lot of traffic on your new website, it's definitely not an easy task, but results can be rewarding.

Comments

Most blogs allow follow-up comments for discussion. This is a great opportunity to participate in the discussion and get some exposure at the same time.

Forums

It's a place with a vast array of discussions, which are usually organized by topics. Any member of the forum can begin a new discussion.

Forums can be highly moderated by an administrator of a group of moderators.

Companies often deploy forums as a customer service and technical support tool. It works like a database of all questions and answers that's been asked in the past, and a visitor can always find answers before he even asks a question, which is very convenient for both sides.

Forum and similar resource examples

• LiveJournal — not really a blog and more like an online journalling platform where people share their life stories.
• Slashdot — a news platform for nerds where you can submit your story.
• Folkd — social bookmarking service.

Quora

What you can do is to submit your question to various groups on Quora, and if participation is high, you might get some traffic from it.

Quora might not get you a lot of traffic, but some people noticed that the visitors seem much more engaged than from social media.

A quick strategy here is writing a lot of answers with relevant links. You shouldn't spend too much of your time. Just book 10-20 min a day to do so and see what happens.

Tumblr

It might be a good idea to re-post some of your content in Tumblr as mini-posts, but people say it's not the best way to create backlinks and, in some cases, can be considered as a black hat practice. I'm leaving it here like a review, but probably I'll be testing this method and updating this section in the future.

Final words

Even though many websites and resources are highly moderated, you still can post there and get some exposure simply because the posting format is not always good for long-form content or very different from the format you have on your blog. This is a great idea re-purposing your content and sharing it on other sites that allow that.

It's also a good idea to share your content in other places rather than solely rely on search engines and social media platforms. This kind of diversification makes you less dependent on other platforms and corporations that are constantly changing rules and algorithms.

Hopefully, this post with resources where you can get some decent backlinks will help you. It should be easier to get your content in front of the eyes of your visitors and send good signals to search engines as a bonus.