Steinar Knutsen » drive-website-traffic

Year-to-Date Blog Traffic Sources Analysis Illustrates Content Distribution Strategy

Steinar — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 14:21:39 +0000

I check Google Analytics a lot … probably more than most people … like a couple times a day. It facinates me to see where traffic is coming from and what people are searching for on Google that drives them to my site(s).

My website traffic analyses are typically very in-depth, however I just wanted to share my traffic sources year-to-date for steinarknutsen.com to illustrate a couple points.

Helpful Insights from 1st Quarter 2010 Traffic Sources

No surprise, Google is the 1st source of traffic. I blog regularly and do a lot to drive SEO, so this makes sense. Same goes for image search traffic (#15)
Good mix of social media traffic from Twitter (#3), Facebook (#6) and LinkedIn (#13). I participate in all three of these networks regularly at the same level or mix with which I see incoming traffic. This is by design.
A couple new media based sources, including YoutTube (#4) and podcastingnews (#9). I optimize all my videos and have a couple podcasts on iTunes. Podcastingnews.com picked me up from a video series I did on … podcasting!
I comment on other blogs everyday so that why I’m getting good traffic from industry niche sites like Mashable, Fast Company, and Harvard Business Review.
My newsletter subscriber count is on the rise, but I only just started sharing info with them on a regular basis; hence, Aweber making the list (#14).

So what?

Well, what this tells me is that my strategy is working. The strategy is to create original content in multiple formats that’s convenient for my readers to consume. Not surprisingly, most of my customers come from Google, Twitter and Facebook. And yes, I’ve even met a client on YouTube!

What do your traffic sources look like? Why and what does that tell you about your content distribution strategy?

Tactics to Drive More Targeted Search Engine Traffic to Your Blog

Steinar — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 12:58:05 +0000

If you’re marketing your brand, service, or products online, one of your goals should be to drive more targeted search engine traffic to your blog. An overall increase in traffic is fine, but it really boils down to who is visiting your sight, why they are visiting and what the call to action is once they consume your content.

If you are not speaking to a particular niche, you might find that although overall traffic volume is high, engagement is low.

Here are 5 tactics to drive more targeted search engine traffic:

Use a long-tail keyword strategy when creating your content. Think about what someone might use to find your content in Google and incorporate those phrases into your content. For a more scientific approach use a tool like Google Keyword Search Tool or Market Samurai.
Consistently add new content. Google likes new content and if you publish on a frequent basis, Google tends to index your site more regularly because you’re seen as more relavent. Set up Google Webmaster Tools to monitor the rate with which Google indexes your site.
Add images to your posts and optimize them so Google Images can index them. This not only adds visual interest to your posts but provides the necessary information so people can find your images when searching on Google.
Comment on other blogs and link back to related pages within your blog. Many people make the mistake of only linking back to their home page. Take the extra 10 seconds to link to an individual post instead so that Google has the opportunity to index backlinks to multiple pages throughout your site. Try to comment on blogs that have a high Google PageRank and Follow tags. Again, Market Samurai can help find these blogs.
Leverage your content and RSS feed by submitting posts to Friendfeed, Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon, Technorati and other leading blog indexing sites. Google tends to rank results from these sites higher in search results, thus giving you and edge on the competition.

These aren’t all inclusive, but do you think these tactics would help drive more targeted search engine traffic to your blog?

Leveraging events to drive SEO traffic to your blog (Audio)

Steinar — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:42:23 +0000

Listen or Download

Upcoming events are a great opportunity for you to leverage keywords related to that event and drive SEO traffic to your blog.

If you can, research an event within your niche and identify 2-3 long-tail keyword phrases that a potential reader might use to search for information on Google. Write a few blog posts about the event and use these keywords in your title, post text, meta keywords, and meta description. Follow up your post with a link in Twitter, Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon and your other favorite social media and bookmarking sites.

In my experience, if there is little competition for the event I can usually score a top 3 position in Google if I choose my keywords correctly. There are several tools to conduct keyword research, but I suggest starting with Google Keyword Tool to familiarize yourself on the topic.

Although events come and go, the benefit of optimizing for them is the ability to attract new followers within your niche. Give it a try – it’s actually a bit fun.

What’s your experience leveraging events to drive SEO traffic to your blog? Any success or other tips to share?

Leverage Online Video to Engage Readers, Drive Website Traffic and Differentiate Your Business (Video)

Steinar — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:11:54 +0000

YouTube has been around for years and is without question one of the best video sharing sites. Getting your video message online is a terrific method of engaging readers, driving traffic to your website, and differentiating your business. It takes practice but the payoff can be significant.

Topic Covered:

Test and gain confidence (It’s all about practice)
Use the right tools to shoot, edit, publish, promote
Using Multiple platforms to share videos online
Leveraging the network to reach a broader audience
Engaging with readers unlike text or audio content
Search engine optimization to drive traffic to your site
Mix it up with different approaches to use video.

How can you get started with video today? What holding you back? Have any success or horror stories to share?