A Customized Traffic Plan For TecExhaust.com

1. Branding 101

There are a few powerful ways to get your brand out there and generate more traffic. They are:

• Social Media
• Blogging
• Forums
• Blog Commenting/Gravatar

Rome wasn’t built in a day. Neither were 99% of the brands out there in the marketplace. They all started at the same playing field and built their way up the success ladder. Let’s first talk about how to use Social Media to build brand equity.

2. Social Media

There are dozens and dozens of social media platforms that you can use to drive traffic to your blog. Honestly, I recommend sticking with the 3 most popular. Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest comprise of the 3 largest social media sites in the world. Each network varies in their application. With Facebook, you can use their PPC portal to create ads and target your ideal consumer. Click here to see a great reference for getting started with facebook ads.  Ads cost money and if that’s not something you want to get into, then I recommend getting your fans (likes) engaged.

You engage your fans by posting pictures and statuses frequently to your business page. Keep in mind that with more likes, shares and comments, your content will be ranked in the news feed so it can be seen by more people. To get more user engagement, ask compelling questions.

People ask me everyday, “How do I use Twitter to get traffic and sales?” Here is what I teach them:

• Go to twitter.com/search and type in your primary business keyword
• Read the tweets that are returned. Notice that these people are using your desired keyword
• Engage that user by: RT’ing their tweet, following them, and asking them a question. Or add to what they’re already saying.

For Pinterest, keep in mind that this is a picture oriented site. This works well if you create a lot of pictures of your products. Everytime you create a new product, pin the picture to Pinterest so that people can see what your business offers. If the picture isn’t good quality, don’t even bother.

3. Blogging

This whole site is dedicated to teaching people how to blog for their business. In a nutshell, blogging is a great way for you to answer your consumer’s questions, keep in touch with them, and obtain organic traffic from the major search engines. If you want, you can embark on an SEO journey and learn all the crooks and crannies to getting highly ranked content. In the meantime, we recommend that you be blogging daily, if not at least weekly.

If you’re struggling with what to write about, a great place to start is by reading Ashley Edward’s post. She does a great job of helping people find things to write about. Don’t be afraid to act like an expert. I already know you are. Get out there and blog about your expertise.

4. Forums 

Forums have been around since the early days of the Internet and they are still gold mines. People love coming to forums to read what others are asking and answering. Most forums are free to join, but differ in their privileges. Some will let you put a link in your signature, while others will require you achieve some status before you can do so.

Start by taking one of your primary keywords and going to Google and typing in “(Your Keyword) Forums” This will return you hundreds, if not thousands of forums that you can register for and begin connecting with other users.

What not to do in a forum: Hey guys, I’m new! Check out my website.

Please do not do this. Contribute to the existing conversations and add your input. This is great for anyone that’s ready to make connections and share their expertise. Put your website link in your signature if the forum allows you to do so. Over time as you get more and more involved in the forum, you’ll see traffic come to your site.

5. Blog Commenting/Gravatar

This is a hustler strategy. Set up a free Gravatar account and then begin commenting on other people’s blogs. To learn more about Gravatar, click here.  By setting up a Gravatar you ensure that a picture of your choice appears next to every blog comment you make. This picture can either be your personal picture or your brand logo. Your choice.

For whatever reason, people don’t understand the power of commenting on other blogs. It does take work, maybe that’s what it is. Most commenting systems will allow for a link, meaning when you add, “name” it turns your name into a link to the website of your choice. I recommend you use the website you’re trying to promote and build.