- Mar 17, 2018
- 1,117
- 1,291
I noticed a lot of people don't exactly understand how Reddit works, and think of it as this magical place where you can never get traffic or sales when in fact it's the opposite.
Unlike Instagram or Twitter, Reddit is community driven and these communities are called subreddits, most people there are very protective of their communities and can smell marketing attempts from a mile away. So what can you do to leverage Reddit for profit?
First, you need to understand the following:
1. Subreddit rules. Each subreddit has different rules such as no selling, no politics, on-topic posts only, etc. You can see those on the subreddit sidebar.
2. Understand Reddiquit, or "Reddit etiquette", and the Self-Promotion guidlines. Main points are the 1 to 10 rule, meaning only 1 out of 10 posts you make can be a self-promotion, and to quote "It's perfectly fine to be a redditor with a website, it's not okay to be a website with a Reddit account."
3. Post in the right subreddit, every subreddit is different, find the one that suites your niche best. Reddit is a deep sea with a lot of weird stuff, whatever your niche is, you can find the appropriate subreddit for it.
4. Spam filters and posting requirements. Each subreddit has spam filters, and mods can choose how strict these filters are, these filters rely heavily on account age, karma, and comment karma (Karma you get not from posts but from comments), and most likely proxy/IP quality as well.
You can only find out how strict a subreddits filters are by trying to post. If your posts on a certain subreddit gets removed no matter what, that means filters are set to highest, and each post will need to be approved by a mod.
5. Not all moderators are the same. Some subreddits are barely moderated while others are controlled like a prison. For example check this post on the subreddit r/worldpolitics which has barely any active mods, while if you try something like that on a tightly moderated subreddit such as r/AntiMLM, you'll be banned in a split second.
How to get karma:
Getting karma can be pretty easy if you can be a little patient.
The easiest way is to, first pick a subreddit and go find their top content of the year, find something that is more than 3 months old and repost it, just don't claim it's yours, and make sure it's not against the rules of the subreddit as some don't allow this.
The second way would be to sort by new and find a post that looks like it'll get a lot of upvotes, comment the first thing that pops in your head and hope people upvote it, obviously this won't be as effective but you'll get some comment karma that'll make your account more trustworthy.
If you have multiple Reddit accounts, you can use these to upvote one another, however be very careful as Reddit is trying hard to stop any type of such vote manipulation, so make sure you leave minimum footprint.
You can also use an up-vote service; however, I doubt this will be worth it, as these aren't exactly cheap.
Using Reddit for backlinks
Being one of the most popular websites on the internet, backlinks from reedit can be very valuable.
Reddit changes how it handles links very often, so if you're reading this a couple of weeks after it's posted, I suggest you go check to see if the information here is still correct.
You can get a do-follow link from Reddit by posts, comments or subreddit sidebar.
If you only want the link juice, find posts on the front page that have more than 5K comments, and comment there, you'll get your do-follow link, and since it's buried no one would be able to see it, just don't over do it, or your account will be banned, you can do the same for abandoned subreddits, just search for your keyword and find a subreddit that hasn't had a post in 60 days or so. Make sure you don't do any of this on your main account, and expect to be banned a couple times.
To create a subreddit I believe you need 100 karma and 30 day old account (something close to that, I'm not 100% sure), and you can put your link in the sidebar.
Using Reddit for traffic
To get traffic from Reddit, the main thing you need is quality content. If your content quality is shit, expect your post to be deleted in 10 minutes, or downvoted to oblivion. Same for your website quality, if it loads too slow, doesn't have perfect grammar, or has any type of annoying or pop ads.
Engage and create value. Don't just post a link and hope it gets a million upvotes. Engage in conversation with the subreddit members, ask questions in your posts, include pictures, reply to comments, etc. whenever you post the mods will be looking at your post and comment history and if the first thing you post in a subreddit is a self promotion then expect the post to be deleted.
Check this out for example
https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/ad7zjd/35kmonth_selling_vintage_lights/
If your posts aren't getting any engagement, you can use one of the upvote services here in marketplace; however, sometimes you'll get caught and banned, especially if your content is low quality.
Using Reddit for sales
Redditors can smell a selling attempt from miles away, and they will not be happy about it. Unless it's a specific selling subreddit such as r/flipping or r/gamedeals so you need to be discreet about it.
For example if you're selling t-shirts, post the design using 1 account with a caption like "Anyone know where I can get this?" wait a couple minutes and post the link in a comment using a different unrelated account, or make a post with account 1, ask where to get it with account 2, and reply to account 2 with account 3.
This won't work every time as some subreddit don't allow links to any ecom store, and try to be more creative than that as moderators are starting to cache up to these tricks, plus most will be able to tell if you share an affiliate link. Try to stick to smaller subreddits where mods are usually less experienced and/or less active.
Reddit has blocked most link shorteners, however you can create your own by forwarding from a different domain, or using a link shortener WP plugin.
Using Reddit for content
IMO, this is where Reddit shines the brightest, as it's the holy grail of OC.
To find the most engaging content (GIFs, pics, videos, memes, etc.) go to your niche’s subreddit, and change the option in the top from "Hot" to "Top", and you can select a period, this shows you the most upvoted post of the period you selected. You can use the link in scrapers such as RipMe.
Also, Reddit is where BuzzFeed and similar blogs get most of their content. Keep up with subreddits related to your niche, and you will not be disappointed.
Use Reddit to find new niches
Many niches I've worked with I discovered randomly while browsing Reddit, specifically, untapped subniches in Adult, Nutra, Beauty etc. Search for your niche and you'll find many related results.
If you can be creative and put a twist on things you can find a plethora of untapped niches.
Be creative and you'll be successful. Good luck with your business everyone
Unlike Instagram or Twitter, Reddit is community driven and these communities are called subreddits, most people there are very protective of their communities and can smell marketing attempts from a mile away. So what can you do to leverage Reddit for profit?
First, you need to understand the following:
1. Subreddit rules. Each subreddit has different rules such as no selling, no politics, on-topic posts only, etc. You can see those on the subreddit sidebar.
2. Understand Reddiquit, or "Reddit etiquette", and the Self-Promotion guidlines. Main points are the 1 to 10 rule, meaning only 1 out of 10 posts you make can be a self-promotion, and to quote "It's perfectly fine to be a redditor with a website, it's not okay to be a website with a Reddit account."
3. Post in the right subreddit, every subreddit is different, find the one that suites your niche best. Reddit is a deep sea with a lot of weird stuff, whatever your niche is, you can find the appropriate subreddit for it.
4. Spam filters and posting requirements. Each subreddit has spam filters, and mods can choose how strict these filters are, these filters rely heavily on account age, karma, and comment karma (Karma you get not from posts but from comments), and most likely proxy/IP quality as well.
You can only find out how strict a subreddits filters are by trying to post. If your posts on a certain subreddit gets removed no matter what, that means filters are set to highest, and each post will need to be approved by a mod.
5. Not all moderators are the same. Some subreddits are barely moderated while others are controlled like a prison. For example check this post on the subreddit r/worldpolitics which has barely any active mods, while if you try something like that on a tightly moderated subreddit such as r/AntiMLM, you'll be banned in a split second.
How to get karma:
Getting karma can be pretty easy if you can be a little patient.
The easiest way is to, first pick a subreddit and go find their top content of the year, find something that is more than 3 months old and repost it, just don't claim it's yours, and make sure it's not against the rules of the subreddit as some don't allow this.
The second way would be to sort by new and find a post that looks like it'll get a lot of upvotes, comment the first thing that pops in your head and hope people upvote it, obviously this won't be as effective but you'll get some comment karma that'll make your account more trustworthy.
If you have multiple Reddit accounts, you can use these to upvote one another, however be very careful as Reddit is trying hard to stop any type of such vote manipulation, so make sure you leave minimum footprint.
You can also use an up-vote service; however, I doubt this will be worth it, as these aren't exactly cheap.
Using Reddit for backlinks
Being one of the most popular websites on the internet, backlinks from reedit can be very valuable.
Reddit changes how it handles links very often, so if you're reading this a couple of weeks after it's posted, I suggest you go check to see if the information here is still correct.
You can get a do-follow link from Reddit by posts, comments or subreddit sidebar.
If you only want the link juice, find posts on the front page that have more than 5K comments, and comment there, you'll get your do-follow link, and since it's buried no one would be able to see it, just don't over do it, or your account will be banned, you can do the same for abandoned subreddits, just search for your keyword and find a subreddit that hasn't had a post in 60 days or so. Make sure you don't do any of this on your main account, and expect to be banned a couple times.
To create a subreddit I believe you need 100 karma and 30 day old account (something close to that, I'm not 100% sure), and you can put your link in the sidebar.
Using Reddit for traffic
To get traffic from Reddit, the main thing you need is quality content. If your content quality is shit, expect your post to be deleted in 10 minutes, or downvoted to oblivion. Same for your website quality, if it loads too slow, doesn't have perfect grammar, or has any type of annoying or pop ads.
Engage and create value. Don't just post a link and hope it gets a million upvotes. Engage in conversation with the subreddit members, ask questions in your posts, include pictures, reply to comments, etc. whenever you post the mods will be looking at your post and comment history and if the first thing you post in a subreddit is a self promotion then expect the post to be deleted.
Check this out for example
https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/ad7zjd/35kmonth_selling_vintage_lights/
If your posts aren't getting any engagement, you can use one of the upvote services here in marketplace; however, sometimes you'll get caught and banned, especially if your content is low quality.
Using Reddit for sales
Redditors can smell a selling attempt from miles away, and they will not be happy about it. Unless it's a specific selling subreddit such as r/flipping or r/gamedeals so you need to be discreet about it.
For example if you're selling t-shirts, post the design using 1 account with a caption like "Anyone know where I can get this?" wait a couple minutes and post the link in a comment using a different unrelated account, or make a post with account 1, ask where to get it with account 2, and reply to account 2 with account 3.
This won't work every time as some subreddit don't allow links to any ecom store, and try to be more creative than that as moderators are starting to cache up to these tricks, plus most will be able to tell if you share an affiliate link. Try to stick to smaller subreddits where mods are usually less experienced and/or less active.
Reddit has blocked most link shorteners, however you can create your own by forwarding from a different domain, or using a link shortener WP plugin.
Using Reddit for content
IMO, this is where Reddit shines the brightest, as it's the holy grail of OC.
To find the most engaging content (GIFs, pics, videos, memes, etc.) go to your niche’s subreddit, and change the option in the top from "Hot" to "Top", and you can select a period, this shows you the most upvoted post of the period you selected. You can use the link in scrapers such as RipMe.
Also, Reddit is where BuzzFeed and similar blogs get most of their content. Keep up with subreddits related to your niche, and you will not be disappointed.
Use Reddit to find new niches
Many niches I've worked with I discovered randomly while browsing Reddit, specifically, untapped subniches in Adult, Nutra, Beauty etc. Search for your niche and you'll find many related results.
If you can be creative and put a twist on things you can find a plethora of untapped niches.
Be creative and you'll be successful. Good luck with your business everyone
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