A few months ago, I didn't know anything about websites and still don't but I am a big believer that the best way to learn is to get your feet wet and by doing it
I managed to drove over 100k readers to my blog in only 6 months and 15 posts.
Screenshot of traffic to my blog:
At the beginning 99% of my traffic came from the following three sources:
- 2 separate Reddit posts that hit the #1 spot on /r/entrepreneur
- Writing long form answers on Quora. I went from 0 followers and less than 1k views to more than 1M views and almost 1k followers in 6 months).
Answers are shortened version of my main blog post, with a read more link to my blog.
- Google (I don't know how I made it but Google is now the main source of traffic to my blog). Probably from Reddit because I noticed that links from text post with lots of upvotes are becoming ******** links.
I didn't do any guest posting, run any ads, build backlinks or even SEO optimize my page. Like I said, I have no clue what I'm doing and I’m not a good writer, so I try and make my posts as useful as possible. People don’t care about grammar and bad spelling if they get some value out of the post. Fact is, one of my readers did Proofreading of my articles. He sent an email something like this: Your article provides tremendous value, and to show my appreciation, I have attached the blog article with the corrections I made!
Promoting on Reddit
Determine target audience. (Subreddit)
Be active in a community.
Only post your best content.
Submit a text post, don't spam with direct links to your blog. I also like Reddit and I like to read on Reddit, not on someones blog.
Share a useful case study or other items of great value.
Include additional value via links to your own blog.
Result: Google juice and other Redditors shared my content in other relevant subreddits.
Promoting on Quora
Choose relevant topics with lots of followers.
Inside a particularly popular topic, you want to choose questions that also have lots of followers. It doesn’t matter how many other people have answered the question.
Capture attention with first lines of your answer.
Write 200-250 words answers and include pictures.
Provide unique value.
Call to action. Include a link with more rad to your blog.
Things I learned:
- Copy what every other successful website is doing, and being unique
- Focus on getting good content, there's no substitute for real value
- Put it in the right place. Ask, "Who is my target audience?"
- Be genuine and human. People respond to people
If you are interested to start a blog here you can read step by step tutorial:
The Beginner’s Guide On How To Start A Blog And Make It Profitable