How to promote a website for free - 9 ways

Website development is just the beginning. It makes no sense to invest so much effort in him if no one sees him.

Website promotion can also seem confusing and intimidating, not to mention expensive. Not everyone can afford to allocate large budgets for advertising campaigns and sponsor events.

But there is good news. In this article, I will show you some tried-and-tested methods for promoting a site and increasing traffic  and explain in detail how to apply them.

Plus, it's all free!

Do you like video format more? Watch this video (there are some additional tips that are not in the article):

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We are Ahrefs , a toolkit for SEO . Our bread and butter is driving traffic. And our case is ourselves. Here's how organic traffic has grown on our blog  over the past 2 years:

You are in good hands, so sit back in a chair and enjoy the journey!

1. Guest blogging

Guest blogging is a great universal way to become recognizable in your niche, build a link profile and make connections in your industry. In the long run, all this plays a big role in website promotion.

How it works in short: you write for other blogs.
When you write for sites that are well known in your niche, you post content in the best places possible and the right people will see it. Those who have an interest in your topic. They will like your content and they will look for more. I will translate: you will have more traffic!

FROM THE EDITOR

Although guest blogging is undoubtedly a good method for link building, it is not well suited to receive a steady stream of traffic. Our marketing director Tim wrote on this topic volumetric post: the ROI is a guest post: Evidence from 273 guest post  (eng.)

Understand me correctly, most likely using this method you can get some traffic. But it will not be stable or regular.

Here's how to do it.

Step 1: Find Goals

Remember: you need to be placed in the right places for the right people.

Let's start by looking for the best blogs you can post. You will need to search a little and make a list of well-known blogs that are relevant to your subject. If you post on non-thematic sites, then traffic will definitely not increase.

For this, you can use the Ahrefs Content Explorer  - a fairly convenient tool for such purposes. Just enter a phrase relevant to your niche and get a list of the most popular sites that publish articles on your topic. Select «One page per domain» ( One page per domain ), and then, filter by language and organic traffic (we took from 1000 and more). Next, just upload the list and get ready to write!

Step 2: Pitch

Do not spam. There are several ways to get a positive response from a stranger on the Internet. Spam with a template drawn up in three minutes does not apply to them.

Learn more about the blog and the editor you write. Take some time and effort to familiarize yourself with the content of the blog and look at what topics were written in other guest posts.

Use this information to make your letters more personal, use common sense to attract the attention of the editor and you will see a huge difference in the answers. (A more detailed guide on how to do this can be found in our outreach article  .

Step 3: write a guest post

Always try to follow the style and design of the blog you are writing for. If their articles use a lot of headings and bold, do the same. If each article has at least 3,000 words and a bunch of screenshots, repeat the style. Do you understand me.

Each blog has a different editor before publishing, so follow the editor’s instructions. Be polite and kind!

When linking to your site, be sure to also link to existing content on this blog. This makes your post less advertising and more useful for the blog itself. For more recommendations and tips on how to write wildly popular guest posts  , read our article.

2. Search Engine Optimization ( SEO )

Search engine optimization, or SEO for short - is the process of achieving high positions in search engines such as Google. Think about it: if you were selling flowers, and your site took first place for “flower delivery”, how much traffic would you receive?

The best part is that such a strategy allows passively attracting constant traffic. And it doesn’t just seem so to me. Here's what traffic looks like with proper SEO organization :

And here is what it looks like if other methods are used:

In the field of SEO, such a schedule is known as a “spike of hope”, which plummets into a “straight line of hope” (Flatline of nope). I’ll explain: when the post is first published and promoted, you see a sharp jump in traffic, after which the referral traffic is on the decline ... forcing you to look for additional time and resources to maintain.

Yes, SEO can be tricky. But here is how it is done.

Step 1: Create content on a topic that drives organic traffic

Work begins even before the creation of content. Keyword selection is a must for SEO success . This is necessary to understand if there is anyone to create content for. Traffic begins to grow when content is ranked by a variety of popular search queries.

There is no one universal way to find the right keywords. Because everyone has different goals, resources, time frames, competition, etc.

Instead, there is a reliable method of keyword analysis that can be tailored to your needs. You may be wondering how to find the most competitive keywords .

Step 2: Optimize Your Content

Whether you are creating new content, or working on existing posts, you need to optimize them for ranking on Google. This includes finding information, writing texts, and many other factors.

Believe me, there is room to go deeper, but now we don’t have enough space to write about it. Want to know more? Go to the step-by-step guide to driving organic search traffic.

Step 3: Get the Links

A backlink is simply a link that from another page is put back to yours (hence the name). It is seen as an indicator of how important your content is or useful to search engines. In other words, having links is an important factor in ranking.

When you already have great content, it's time to build links to it. There are tons of ways to do this. Choose any of the techniques and methods for beginners  or learn the advanced methods of extracting competitor links .

3. Reddit

The "main page of the Internet" has enormous potential. But only if you know how to implement it. If anyone does not know, Reddit is a place where you can share and discuss with millions of users almost any topic that does not contradict the rules.

Reddit differs in that “head-on” ads do not work here. The users here are extremely smart and skeptical. They learn advertising a mile away and ban you.

When trying to advance on Reddit, think ahead. Before you say anything, make sure it's worth it.

Here's how to do it.

Step 1: Identify a Niche

In the case of Reddit, this will be a subreddit - a niche forum with its own rules and moderators.

A simple search on Google site: reddit.com <your niche> -inurl: "comments" will show several options for forums where your target audience is talking to meet.

Step 2: Become One Of Them

It's time to become part of the community! Focus on building reputation, relationships and karma in thematic communities.

Each subreddit is special, so be careful what works for different audiences. Do they like to have fun and use gifs and memes? Do they like long texts? Act according to these observations. Your approach means a lot and determines how quickly you become yours in the community. Post thoughtful, helpful comments, and others will start treating you the same way.

And of course, do not forget about the rules of each community and follow them implicitly.

Step 3: Promote, But Carefully

When you have spent a certain amount of time to give something useful to the community and make friends, you can start to mention your site.

And even then try not to make explicit advertising. Ask for an opinion and mention the site as a useful source of information that may interest the community.

4. Quora

Despite the fact that Quora is also considered a forum, it is a completely different world, not like Reddit. In short, this is a site of questions and answers. As a Quora user, you can both ask and answer questions.

Think of Quora as a knowledge market: this is a great place to answer questions related to your niche, build credibility and generate traffic. This strategy can be time consuming and requires diligence and ingenuity, but it is worth it.

At first, marketing on Quora may seem confusing. Therefore, a brief guide does not hurt.

Step 1: Choose the Right Questions

It will be easier for you if you treat this method as a guest posting. It all depends on the strategic placement of content: the right channel, the right audience.

The easiest way to start is to search on the platform itself. Quora allows you to make general queries within certain topics.

Further, it all depends on the choice of issues in which you can confidently position yourself as an authoritative source.

The next step? Find the most popular questions. To do this, after authorization, pay attention to the sidebar on the right.

The screenshot shows that the question has about 129 thousand views. Good potential!

At the very end, it's worth looking at the latest answers to each question. If they also have enough views, that's good. On the other hand, if the answer from 2014 has only 8 thousand views, and the three-month response received 40 views, this is most likely a dead topic. Search further.

Step 2: Get Referral Traffic

Post good answers to every question and, if possible, leave a link to the site. The key is relevance. Only answer if you can give a better answer, and not just to leave a link. Be concise and focus on benefiting.

You can also use images to complement the answers, and a good introduction (if your answer goes to the Quora mailing list, it will be cropped and you will need to hook the audience as quickly as possible).

Best of all, if your link leads to a page that reveals the subject of the answer in more detail. Keep in mind: if no one likes your answers, then no one will follow the link to “learn more.”

5. Facebook

We are all a little familiar with social networks. But as you might have guessed, being a regular user and doing promotion are two different things.

There are two approaches to marketing on social networks: “organic” (work on the community) and paid, through advertising (relatively quickly set up and guaranteed to get results). Since we are only interested in the first option, we will proceed to it.

No need to tell what Facebook is. It is huge, billions of people use it. Most of those you know have accounts there. You only need to know how to find and attract the perfect audience.

And this is how it is done.

Step 1: Create a Facebook Page

The page is created absolutely free. Thus, you get the brand’s presence on the social network, which allows you to immediately interact with millions of users.

Fill in the information about the page and ask to leave a “like”. Create a content plan and stick to it. Be active and show that you are working on your brand.

In updates relevant to your niche, it will not be difficult to leave a link to the site. The more interested users view your content and page, the more traffic will increase.

Step 2: Post in Groups on Facebook

Facebook groups were created to bring together people with similar interests. The good thing about them is that they are different: for any topic that you can come up with, there is a group (and how many more that you couldn't even think of!) By joining these groups, you get access to your ideal audience.

The promotion strategy in Facebook groups is very similar to the promotion in forums: when you join, read the rules and devote some time to get to know the group better. Pay attention to how the group members communicate, leave useful comments under the posts of other members.

When you stay a bit in the community and gain a good reputation, you can ask the admins if you can leave links to the site.

6. Twitter

Twitter is known as a one-stop shop for business goals. It can be used to generate leads, promote a site, increase brand awareness, use it for customer support needs, etc.

It is especially good for finding a new audience and tracking mentions of yourself. There are some tips and tricks for promoting your site using Twitter.

There are a few steps to take.

Step 1: Publish content that you will actively interact with and share
The best thing about Twitter is its accessibility and how quickly everything spreads there. This is why hashtags have become so popular. By the way, never forget to use relevant hashtags so that your tweet is shown during a search on a topic.

Twitter content is usually published with a link to the page. To collect more retweets, try to make your message as entertaining, informative as possible, or, if necessary, provocative.

One more tip: to make links to your site look as good as possible, check out Open Graph or Twitter Cards markup . When paired with a good image, this can greatly improve clickability.

Step 2: Promise something for a retweet, or start a prize draw
Here, the line between “free” and “paid” methods is slightly blurred. Technically, you don’t spend the budget ...

By asking for retweets, you will increase the reach of the message. The more people see a tweet, the more they will want to see a profile and go to the site.

But make sure your offer is really worth the number of retweets you are asking for. And you must fulfill what you promised.

When conducting a prize draw, make mention of the brand a prerequisite for participation. Thus, it will be easier for users who want to know what is being played out to your profile and website (everyone loves a freebie!)

You can also add a thematic hashtag. So it will be clearer what it is about and it will become easier to check the participants in the contest.

7. Outreach

Outreach is a strategy in which you show content to bloggers and opinion leaders in your niche and try to encourage them to discuss and link to it.

In its simplest form, this is an appeal and a request to leave a link to your site. But a good outreach is not just a request for a link. Let me tell you in more detail how this is done.

Step 1: Find Who to Contact

The decision to link to you is made by the person, not the machine. Therefore, outreach is primarily communication. Effective communication. You need patience, research skills and, to some extent, social acumen and sales skills. You need to close the deal. And the deal in this case is a link to your site.

Do a little research. By this time, you should already know that your goal is relevant sites.

Therefore, make a list of sites  and find the person you need to contact. Find out as much as possible about them: position in the company, whether they have recently published articles that can be mentioned. And of course, don't forget to find their email .

Step 2: Work through and submit your appeal

We've put together the best tips on how to do outreach  . Starting with what kind of people you need to look for and when they better write, and ending with how to work out a template for outreach writing, which is easy to personalize.

8. Create a free resource

The essence of this strategy is to create valuable unique content that is ideally built around your brand or product, and then give it away for free.

Whether it’s a PDF manual or a series of lessons on YouTube , focus on being useful to your audience and you will see the magical power of word of mouth in action.

As always, the main thing is quality! Non-original content of low quality cannot be promoted, no matter how free it may be.

Here are some tips to get you started.

Step 1: Decide What Content You Will Create

Content should be thematic, otherwise do not expect high-quality traffic.

There is one interesting way to find an idea: spy on competitors. Using the Ahrefs “Best Pages by Links” report, you can track which and what type of content attracts the most attention and links.

Step 2: Make It Easy To Share

Remove unnecessary actions that are needed to send content to a friend. Make your resource as simple as possible for distribution.

This can be achieved by transforming the content into small pieces of useful information. For example, you can make simple infographics in which to summarize key information.

One more tip: Use one-click tweet links to help distribute content so more people see it.

Thus, you yourself can control the text that your readers will tweet, while simplifying the distribution process. Both you feel good and comfortable!

9. Respond to comments and engage in dialogue.

This method brings us back to the basics. Sometimes the best way to build relationships with people and arouse the interest of your sites is the easiest: start a conversation.

Be always aware of discussions in your niche and about your brand, and if possible, join the discussion.

Here's how to do it.

Step 1: Set up Mention Notifications

It’s hard to get into conversations that you don’t know about. Fortunately, there is an excellent solution to this problem in the form of Google Alerts , Talkwalker  or our   Ahrefs Alerts .

In short, these tools send you notifications when a keyword is mentioned on the Internet. Thus, you can easily track what they say on the network about your topic.

A few ideas for keywords:

1. Own brand
2. Competitor brand
3. Keywords that apply to your niche

When your keywords are mentioned on the Internet, you will receive an email notification. Next, just follow the links to the articles and scroll to the comments.

Step 2: Fit Where You Can Benefit

I'm afraid to sound like a broken record, but don’t spam. Only answer if you can add something useful. Knowledge, advice, or at least a link to a source that can help.

Try not to insert the link to your site very often. Only where it really relates to the topic. The meaning of the method is to build relationships and share knowledge, and not just leave a link to the site wherever possible.

Finally

Of course, in addition to the mentioned methods of promotion, there are many others. Which strategy ultimately turns out to be the most effective for you, largely depends on the competition and the resources that you have: time frames, skills, team size, etc.

We still adhere to our position that SEO is the best long-term method of  attracting traffic. It can be used with a minimal budget (or without it) and it gives a passive, measurable result. While other methods are disposable and require constant effort.

What do you think of it? Did you manage to successfully apply any of these strategies? Or did some other method work for you?

I will be glad to know your story in the comments.

Translated from http://ahrefs.com/blog/ru/prodvizhenie-saita/