1) Turn Shareworthy Quotes Into Images
This is a way to capitalize on the fact that people love to share quotes.
Every now and then I check what images people are sharing from my sites. As I mentioned in an earlier post, you simply log in to Pinterest and go to…
yourdomain.com/source/yoursite.com
Anyway, I just noticed the post I did over the summer called 21 Truths About Earning Online People Ignore got a lot more shares and traffic from Pinterest than most posts do here.
So what did I do differently?
Glad you asked! 🙂
I used the image quote strategy. This is where you take a key point or quote in your post and turn it into an image. Here’s a screenshot of all the quotes that were shared on Pinterest…
You can use sites like ShareAsImage, Quozio or ReciteThis.
To be honest, I didn’t really have Pinterest traffic in mind when I was creating the images. (Even though I should have!)
I was just trying to break up an insanely long post by using more visuals!
In this particular example, many of the quotes weren’t directly related to my business. Some were just inspirational. So to make this even more effective, you would tie the quotes to your site’s topic.
Maybe you have a post that discusses 15 ways to incorporate more veggies into your diet. Each item would have a small image with a tip or quote that summed up the tip.
2) Use ClicktoTweet
ClickToTweet lets you set up a “tweet-able” text link with ease.
I used this tool when I gave away an ebook and it worked really well — even better than the regular Twitter button on the page!
I like the way Nathalie used it in her email strategies post titled Writing Emails That Get Results. She took a key quote from her post and used that for her clicktotweet link…
One reason I believe this works well is there’s a call-to-action that reminds people to share. The other key is to make sure the text is something that is shareworthy.
3) Display Data in Interesting Ways
Darren, one of my loyal forum members, shared this link not too long ago. And thanks to him, I wound up spending waaaaay too much time digging up some of my favorite show episodes, both old and new. (Thanks, Darren!) 😀
The site lets you look up ANY TV show listed in IMDB to view how popular the episodes are in relation to one another. And you can hover over the dots to see what episode is represented. The seasons are color-coded so you can easily tell them apart.
As you can see below, the Cosby show really fell off the radar in the 8th season. Little Rudy was no longer little and I guess people didn’t find Cousin Pam as interesting. 🙂
Anyway, my point is I love how the site found a way to display data in a more interesting way.
Obviously this is an advanced example that requires some database work, but you can do this on a much smaller scale too.
Here’s another example of a blog that lists 74 clever titles that get attention. The visual representation of the headline ideas is much more appealing than a text post with 74 titles written down the page. I guarantee more people shared that post because of the image.
4) Write More Odd-Numbered List Posts!
It never fails. Every time I write a list post that starts with a number, the open and click-thrus are always higher than average.
And if you follow me on social media, you may remember my “odd tip” from a few months ago. Studies show that when you create a list post, use an odd number instead of a round number like 10 or 20.
This article explains that odd numbers suggest the items in the list have been carefully selected by value instead of just adding trivial items to round the article out to 10 or 20 items.
We’ve all been there where we’re trying to add one or two more items on a list just to make it to 10 or 20, right? Well forget it. Just play the odds. 🙂
5) Weigh In on a Hot or Controversial Topic
Did a major player in your niche just make a big move? Is there controversy brewing over something going on?
Write a blog post with your response. People love to weigh in on big news items, especially if there is controversy or shock involved.
A recent example would be Copyblogger’s decision to completely DELETE their Facebook page. So many bloggers decided to weigh in with their own opinions and they really did get people talking in the blogosphere!
Here are a couple of my favorite articles…
Copyblogger Deletes Its Facebook Page, Darren Rowse Creates a Second (What Does This Mean For You?)
What Copyblogger Could Have Done With Its Facebook Page
6) Use a Proven Headline Strategy
I really love studying the psychology of marketing. I find it fascinating.
Courtney Sieter shares 8 headline strategies and explains why they work. I’ve used most of them and agree with her points.
She also mentions another reason why the number strategy works well. It has to do with setting expectations, and I’d never heard that explanation before. Makes sense though!
Click here to be enlightened by her article.
7) Mention & Tag
This is a popular strategy utilized throughout social media, especially in the blogging space. It’s where you mention certain people in a blog post and then tag them when you share the content on social media so they are notified.
Often times those you mention will share the post with their followers too.
This is a good strategy, but make sure your post is actually shareworthy — especially if you’re mentioning people with large followings. Someone like Chris Brogan is not just going to share every post he gets mentioned in.
But if you put some thought into what write and come up with a good headline or response to something they’ve written, you never know what could happen. Also, having a genuine relationship with that person helps too.
It’s always obvious when someone is trying to capitalize on your following, but if you genuinely connect with people regularly, they’re more likely to pay attention to your mentions.
Relationships are the backlinks of today!
Hi, The above post is really nice. I know that it’s been a long time you’ve posted this but still, these steps are really working in 2017.
Still VERY relevant today.
Lisa,
The mention and tag strategy is brilliant. Now I’m going through my older posts and implementing that idea. Thank you. Also thank you for helping me discover Pinterest. I didn’t even know what it was a couple of years back until I read your article. This month my Mother’s Day board is being featured in one of their newsletters and I’m pumped!
A million thanks!
Dorcas Wood
Lisa, I received this email back in November and I’m just now reading it. Today this email was an answer to my prayer and gave me encouragement. I have read the information in this post, and visited the sites mentioned.
Recently, I quitted my great paying job t work from home and to assist my husband in selling his book that was just published. I also help care for our autistic son. So wanting and needing to make money working from home is very important to me. I have a new strategy now. #I is to re-read your past articles and apply them to my blogging situation. I pray that in 6 months, I’ll have great results to report back to you. So, thanks for being in business!!!!!!
Sharron I’m glad you came back to read this. Make it a priority to help others and solve problems for an audience and it’s hard to go wrong with that approach. Be patient because it does take time but more importantly, have fun! I wish you all the best.
Hey Lisa,
Thank u you have given a good light on your Niche, thanks for this article. how u manage to do this? First thing First, i m really frustrated now coz i m failing to get traffic to my website http://www.arkadstv.com, tried most of trick as instructed by you, please suggest.
Best
Akrads
A really informative post Lisa. I will be making my blog site soon, I will really try these tips of yours :).
Wow, I was amazed to learn that creating odd numbers in lists does help that much. Actually I accidentally create numbers 14, 17 for my lists cause I cannot think of adding up to 20 but learning that from you, Lisa, is quite a motivation for me now!
Lisa, You have been a great mentor to be pertaining to my online career.Thank you very much For This lovely article
Nice Lisa……
i am feeling very glad to read your blog. Every time in your articles having more realistic points which helps to improve our goal in SEO Filed. Thank you very much i am waiting for your next article.
I like the idea of choosing hot and controversial topic when writing blog post. I have tried it and most of the time, it has brought more traffic than the others.
I have tried it all Lisa, but nothing seems to be working at all. Your are great, though I will give it try sometime later…
Hi Lisa
Helpful tips thanks.
I often click on “Click to Tweet” boxes in posts – but haven’t yet implemented it on my own blog! Well, to be strictly accurate I tried a similar one, but it kept messing up my posts so I removed it.
I’ll try yours instead 🙂
Images are a bit of a challenge for me, but I’m improving now I’ve found sites like picmonkey, canva and pixlr. Also pixabay.
Have a great week, Joy
I’m a regular reader and fan – even if I don’t comment on every post. I usually find your awesome articles on my social media (such as this one) one or another always catches my attention.
Been meaning to add (Click to Tweet) to my site and will now, since you delightfully mentioned it and reminded me of it. Love the idea on quotes, too. I’ve been slow to truly try this on a regular ongoing basis – but I do love and add quotes mostly on social media than on my blog. A regular feature such as a “weekly quote day” would be ideal, just need to get on it already.
Thanks as always for the great content – love your stuff. Thank you!!! 🙂
Thank you Missy!
Lisa
I have been reading a lot about the “odd number” lists lately. As usual you are right of top of the action
Thanks
Jeff
Thanks Jeff! 🙂
Interesting article, getting traffic to your blog is a difficult task and always seems like an impossible mission, i think i have gained a lot in this article, thks Lisa.
Hey Lisa,
Great post with some great ideas. You know what notice about being a great marketer is that they will make use of every opportunity in order to get more exposure to whatever it is they’re promoting and they can see the little differences it makes. It’s always those things we deem not important that matters the most.
I actually like all of the ideas you presented here, especially the odd number list idea. I never noticed it before, but now that you mentioned it, I’ve notice with some of my blogs with an odd number list it gained more traffic than the even number one’s. I must take note of this.
Now I’m focusing on creating a better headline strategy. I think my headlines are ok, but I want to put a little more pizzazz to them and at the same time make them a bit more attractive to search engines as well as visitors.
Thanks for sharing Lisa! I hope you have a great weekend!
Hi Sherman,
I hear ya on the headlines. I used to never put much thought into them, now I take more time to come up with more interesting ones because I’ve noticed the huge impact they have on email open rates, CTRs, etc. Thanks so much for stopping by.
nice sharing Lisa, my bad, i’m still heavy rely on organic traffic from Google and blogwalking to have traffic at my blog. I’m bad at social traffic too. Ermm maybe I should try additional method to have more traffic source for my log.. 🙂
Hi Lisa,
I vibe with the odd number post tip. All rock and this one stands out. I published a “13 tips” titled post recently. Shares jumped. Odd seems odd. Odd pulls in readers. As noted, odd seems like a better researched post.
Stick with what works. Long posts – broken up with images – work for me. I stick to this strategy. I also feel connecting with leaders boosts your traffic too. I link to pros and many pros link to me. We take care of each others.
I’d add being detached from driving more traffic attracts to you ideas to get more traffic. It’s the great irony; creative folks devote their energies to creating and connecting versus devoting their energy to reach certain outcomes.
Power post Lisa.
Ryan
Great points Ryan! Especially the last one about connecting. 🙂 Good to see ya here again.
Hi Lisa,
I just found you on Adrienne Smith’s blog where you were featured. I love these tips you have shared with us.
I had started making my own pictures and putting quotes on them a while back. It was the most shares I ever received on social media. It did take a bit of time, but I’m always testing things.
Now, I haven’t done this for a while, but thank you for the great reminder because it works so well.
One of my to-do’s is the “click to tweet” but I have several things to do before I implement that one. I love to go to a blog post and click to tweet. I want to do it on my blog to…I will be doing that shortly..
Now when you suggested to write odd number posts, I just had to look back and notice that when I’ve done that I did have a better response than an even number. Now that just confirmed it and it is stuck in my mind..Thank you.
It is a pleasure to be here and meet you,
-Donna
Hi Donna! I actually remember your name because of Ileane Smith. I know I’ve heard your name come out her mouth at some time or another. lol Thanks so much for coming by and glad my post was helpful! Take care. 🙂
i have never thought of writing more odd-numbered list blogs.. really interesting and smart! thank you for sharing your ideas Lisa!
Hey Lisa,
Thank you mentioning my “Copyblogger Deletes Its Facebook Page, Darren Rowse Creates a Second (What Does This Mean For You?)” post! I’m glad you liked it. 🙂
-Kevin
You’re welcome Kevin. Great post!
Hi Lisa,
Thanks again for another great post, and as usual it’s not just one of the everyday post that’s around the internet, but you always bring fresh quality content that’s always in demand and profoundly written. It always brought a new perspective!
Thanks!
Wow Sonia! That means a lot. Thank you. 🙂
Hi Lisa
As always a great inspiration to read your post to learn from the best 🙂
Thank you Thomas!
Hey Lisa,
Now this is a fabulous share and I’ll have to use some of these tips.
I keep forgetting to do the tweets! I even wrote a post teaching my readers how to add them without a plugin but even I keep forgetting to add them myself. I’m just so not use to doing them so I’m going to have to retrain myself.
I don’t use but one imagine in my post mainly because before this I always have such a hard time coming up with a great image to begin with. I’m not very creative in that area so thinking I needed more than just one would have taken me just as long as finding the one. But the quotes I definitely love, I’m a quote fanatic anyway so that’s a great idea.
The headlines, well I’ve been trying my best to do better in this area and some times I kill it while others I go weak. I’ll keep improving though, it’s a process right!
The graphics and odd numbers are great tips too. I think I’ll steer clear of the controversial stuff myself unless something just really pisses me off! LOL!!! Yeah, I’ve been known to have my moments too. 😉
Great share Lisa, thank you so much and you have an awesome week.
~Adrienne
Hi Adrienne! Yes, I see a lot of people using the quote strategy now and there’s a reason for that…. people like to share them. I notice on Twitter, that my quotes often get more interaction than other tweets. Hope you get to try some of these out! Happy testing!
Lisa, you constantly amaze me with the freshness of your ideas, coupled with the interesting takes on old favorites. I think the secret is that you love to experiment! The Pinterest/Quote synergy just makes sense , yet I never see this type of connection until you point it out. 🙂
I love anything that gets folks engaged without having to leave comments. LOL
Cheers,
Mitch
Awww you rock, Mitch. Thank you! That’s exactly why I love Internet marketing. So many different ways to experiment…. especially in this visual world. 🙂
Excellent as always Lisa, especially the odd-number tip, Buzzfeed is a perfect example of this method.
Thank you so much Stephen!
I really like the idea of turning some of your previous contents into quotes. Great idea. I definitely going to use that one. Great post as usual.
Hi Lisa ,
Thank you for the valuable information and advice.
Regard!
Mathew
thanks for sending valuable info…
You’re welcome venkat!
great article and tons of very useful information, i am running to make my new blog post by trying to implement some of your tips…thx again,great stuff
Hi Lisa,
I could not agree more with you. 🙂
I started using that Odd list strategy when I read your previous post. And some of the post I wrote like “21 Best WP Plugins” got a lot of attention.
Also I notice some of my post that involves EMOTIONS like “Hostgator Sinking Like Titanic” and “Blogging Is Not for the Week”….I’m amazed that it created so much engagement and it went viral for some reasons. People kept sharing it on Twitter, Google+, and Facebook.
Anyway, I have Pocketed this post and some of the links you shared here. Thanks for sharing a very invaluable article.
Have a nice week!
Angela
Yes! Yes! I’m so glad you posted about using emotion. That is soooooooooo true. It strikes a chord with people and draws them in. Thanks for chiming in Angela.
Angela, you piqued my curiosity with the Hostgator comment so I went and dug up your article http://angelamccall.com/hostgator-sinking-like-titanic/ I can totally relate to this and this is a great example of the kind of post that often does very well. Not only is it emotion-based but negativity does get people interested.
Plus I think a lot of bloggers could relate to feeling the effects of the EIG takeover. I also left Hostgator because I saw the support going downhill and I was on DEDICATED hosting. I couldn’t believe the support I was getting at the price I was paying.
Anyway, yes this is a great example of a post that often goes viral, especially in our niche.
There’s no better way to expand a conversation than bringing someone knowledgeable into it. That’s why I love the “mention and tag” approach. Thanks for sharing.
You better believe it Luke!
Nice article.