“How do I get more visitors to my site?” Whenever I talk with a businessperson and they hear I’ve been working on the net since 1986 that’s the question they almost always ask.
It’s simple, I tell them. Put something new on your website every day.
When most people hear that, they go glassy-eyed and then they start talking about their Google Adwords and how poorly that works for them. It’s too bad. It’s really that simple: just put something new on your site every day. There are no secrets to keywords, metatagging, and SEO black magic. Just put something new on your site every day.
I started this blog on August 17 of last year, the first business day after my last day of full-time employment. At that moment, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do – seek a new job or do something on my own. But I did know one thing: I needed to write about it. I set up a simple WordPress.com template, picked a title that reflected my mindset of looking forward, and made a commitment to write and publish every business day.
I thought it might be useful, but I had no idea how much it would matter. It turned out to be the key to my freelance writing business, bringing me readers, and also clients. In just a few short months, I’m fully booked with multiple clients and on track to earn more independently than I did as a highly paid employee and working for someone else. It’s not even that difficult. I write about what I’m interested in and what I care about. I don’t target my posts to attract visitors. I don’t limit myself to a single topic. I just write as clearly and as passionately as I can.
And it works. On any given day, I have dozens if not hundreds of people reading my current article. But since I also have equal numbers reading past articles as well, some of these articles are taking on lives of their own. I can’t know in advance what will be popular, like the Spend Nothing Game (with over 30,000 readers and growing) or my Writing Assignment series, or just something basic like the Simple Productivity Task Of The Day. Almost everything I’ve written in this past year continues to generate readers and visitors to my site.
I’ve independently verified the Long Tail. And the clients that I write for are also seeing these results. You can do it too. All you have to do is write about what you’re interested in and care about. If you’re passionate about your business and industry and write about it EVERY DAY, your customers, who are also a lot like you, will also be interested. So will people who could be new customers.
And the big secret: the things you’re interested in outside of your business will probably be interesting to them, too. If you’re not a writer, hire one, talk to him or her about your interests, and work with them to publish every day. Over time, you’ll grow an audience, and if you follow through, you’ll grow your business. No secrets - just publish.
How long will it take? If you publish once a week, it will take months. If you publish five times a week, it will happen much faster. And if you open up and use other tools, like Twitter, and let your employees show how passionate and excited they are about your business, it can happen very quickly.
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Great post Randy! Amazing how simple something like “post each day” seems to those of us that do it (or try to, in my case). I keep refining it and trying to have more intention with each most but it’s really pretty simple stuff.
Thanks, Jim
So many are really baffled about the net, but I really do believe it’s just that simple - something new every day and even better if it’s something you’re particularly passionate about.
For those of you that haven’t followed Jim yet, check him out. He’s out there “walking the walk”.
Thanks,
Randy
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