Getting Web Site Traffic the Old School Way
Here’s a proven old school way to get traffic to your web site or blog. I personally used this method when I started DevArticles – and it helped me get the site up to 20,000 unique visitors a day before selling it.
This method is simple, boring but extremely effective. All of the computer hardware review websites still use this technique as their number one way to drum up traffic, so that should be enough to get you to consider using it.
Here’s how it works:
- Use Technorati to find 20-100 blogs that are similar to yours in that they post about the same or complimentary topics that you do.
- Visit each blog and find the first name and email address of the person who runs the site.
- You can either use your normal email client (Outlook, Thunderbird, Hotmail, etc) or a professional email marketing tool (such as SendStudio) to send out a list of emails. I wouldn’t recommend using your normal email client because you want to send 20-100 emails at a time, and there’s only so many emails you can stuff into your BCC and CC fields.
- What you want to do is send each of the bloggers a brief email every time you add a relevant, interesting post to your blog. Something like this:
Hi [First Name],
Just thought I’d shoot you a quick email about a post I just made on my blog. It’s called “Getting Website Traffic the Old School Way” and you can read it here.
Thanks,
Mitch - I really recommend using each of the bloggers first names in your email if you’re going to do a mass mailing. You don’t want your emails to sound like spam. I also recommend sending your emails as text to avoid formatting problems in web-based email clients which a lot of bloggers use.
There are a few gray spots with this technique – mainly that you’re sending emails to people who haven’t asked to receive them – so if you can, before you start sending out your emails get to know each of the bloggers by sending them an introductory email or by leaving useful comments on their blog. You can also include an unsubscribe link at the bottom of your emails but that makes them seem robotic.
There’s a fine line between sharing a useful blog post and pissing someone off, so keep that in mind if you do decide to use this technique. I’m currently building up my list of emails and getting to know each of the bloggers I will be sending the emails to before I put this technique into action on my blog.
This post was “guest blogged” my me, Mitchell Harper. I also run my own blog where I focus on tips to increase your website traffic to your blog. I have been online for over 10 years and run a successful software company called Interspire.
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- Daily Links | Stock Trading 101 - March 23, 2007 at 6:30 am
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That’s a lot of posts in one day!
It’s only seven today.
Haha, beware of the number 1 reason why bloggers unsubscribe! (I read about it on your site)
I was also reading that Google is begining to penalize bloggers who post too often!
Where was that steve?
One of my top commentators ran an article on it.
I’ve read that Google Blogsearch will also be penalizing bloggers who post at predictable times too.
Kumiko
Well thats an easy one to overcome…
I dont think the happy SEO times for blogs will last for ever… I think at either SE’s will look to redress the balance back in favour of conventional sites, or conventional sites / CMS will raise their game.
Why would they penalize bloggers for posting at predictable times???
Penalize for posting too much? LOL I doubt that. Google loves content and loves sites that keeps adding content. If they penalize sites for posting too much then sites like Engadget and NYTimes.com are in big trouble.
I agree. What’s with the logic of posting at predictable times too? It aren’t a crime to do that too, isn’t it? Just doesn’t make sense if it’s true.
Google is becoming more selective in what they index. So there is some variable that keeps track of how many pages on your site they will index. If you add more pages than this, some won’t make it in the index.
But I don’t think you’ll run into it as a blogger. If you start posting 500 posts every day, it might be an issue.
Where some people run into trouble is if their CMS creates a separate page for every comment. In that case you might not get your important pages in the index…or if the CMS produces a bunch of duplicate content (listings under multiple keywords, etc)
You can solve these issues easily with robots.txt
I agree with you lyndonmaxewell. there are blogs, where the webmaster for instance only can post at 07pm. Will he be penalized for that? That’s a strange one…! If the content is good and unique, i doubt that predictable times will be penalized.
Predictable times could be a sign of an automated site or splog running a cron to update.
I would hope being predictable is not the only reason and that there are other flags.
Of course it wouldn’t be the only flag. You’re right though. If a blog is updated at 7:37 every day…it’s pretty obvious there’s something a little fishy..
Kumiko
Yeah, but John is evil like that.
John, post away man. It isn’t like your content is comprised of one liners stating how the sky is blue and your mailman said hi to you today. I find it funny how everyone immediately starts to give you warnings as if the sky is falling, “BEWARE JOHN CHOW!!”
Hush people, let’s not forget John is EVIL!!
John, you should do an experiment and see how many posts you can do in a day, and then post that you do xx posts, and see how many people respond with, “CAREFUL JOHN CHOW” in their comments. 
I’ve heard this before, but it’s something I simply can’t bring myself to do. I think I have some “extreme modesty” issue where I just want to sit in a corner and be discovered if I’m good enough.
Stephanie, this is my very problem. I feel really uncomfortable too. I need to get over my shyness in this department.
I really think that you have to be careful with this technique – you need to build a rapport with the webmaster or they’ll disregard you… I would.
Looks like Sam is back!
There are two problems with this:
1) Spam as discussed
2) Mail addresses are hidden behind PHP forms
Networking is a good idea, but this post is aimed primarily at plugging Mitch’s software … again….
If you are going to the trouble of contacting a site owner via a PHP form (to get their mail address) you mail as well try and do some real networking with them, as opposed to spamming them out for the next 12 months.
You get far better results through networking and getting to know the other webmasters.
Indeed, you have to bear in mind that little appears on JC without there being some sort of angle / spin put on it.
In this case Mitch wants to sell his mailing software.
In this case I think $$$ has been put before an objective overview…
It would not be the first time John used his “how to make money” blog for… making money!
Actually Jez did you read the article? I mentioned SendStudio once as an example of a mailing program you can use. I also mention that this is a it of a gray area when it comes to sending the emails AND that you should get to know the bloggers before emailing them. It’s all in my post.
Well, then I don’t really get the point of sending the mail out; if you already got to know the author, chances are he /she already knows about your website, making it unnecessary to point them at your website
I’d personally rather use Technorati to find some people who are willing to write an article about your website for a link in return, suggesting that by email seems way less like ‘check out this cool m0rtgag3 site now!11′ to me
Yes mitch I did read the article and thought it was good, but, to a point it was written with your software in mind.
You dont need an industrial strengh mail program to network with other bloggers, but as HMTK points out this is a commercial blog….
Hi Jez. Do you not agree that in order for me spending half an hour writing the post, it’s fair that I include a link back to one of my products? I think it is… Sorry if I have offended or mislead you. That was not my intention
Hi Mitch, I do not feel mislead, good luck selling your program, it does look pretty cool ….
The trick is to start with sites that are in your class. So if you get 1000 visitors per day, don’t immediately start with a site that gets 100,000. Look for another site that gets 1,000 to 5,000 visitors today AND (this is important) posts a lot of links.
If they already post a bunch of links and your article is related, they are much more likely to see you as providing help.
In many cases, they are very thankful to get the tip from you. This is especially true for sites that advertise a “tips” email address specifically for sending them stories.
The thing most people don’t realize is that many of the larger sites feed off of the smaller ones. So for example:
I emailed dumblittleman one of my articles. They liked it and ran a story on it with a link. Lifehacker.com saw their story and ran their own with a link back to my site.
You can work your way up the chain over time, but start with people who are in a similar class where you can easily have a mutually beneficial relationship.
Also it doesn’t hurt to have a link on your site to them already.
The TechZone news release list has over 1000 addresses. This is something we’ve been doing for years. It’s one of the secrets to our traffic.
Time to do some research to find out which ~650 addresses I’m still missing
I can’t believe I forgot to ask you if you do it for TTZ John – I knew you would. I designed the TweakTown.com website YEARS ago and I know Cameron (the owner) uses it and it works REALLY well.
P.S. I’m giving a few thousand dollars to Ronald McDonald House over the weekend. For everyone that leaves a comment on this post on my blog:
http://www.harpzon.com/articles/97/1/Post-a-Comment-and-Ill-Donate-10-For-You/Page1.html
I’ll donate $10 on your behalf
50 people have commented already. I want to get it to 100…
Are you building a mailing list
Probably, but you can always tag it as spam
I think this is a nice touch, $10 is a generous donation for a comment, and an expensive way to harvest mail addresses.
As I mention below, a far more genuine scheme than the scrounger JC plugged who was offering $1 for a keyworded backlink to raise money for “charity”
I get really annoyed every time I think about that idiot, I cant believe people fall for that kind of bull, how naive can bloggers really be????
And I cant believe JC plugged it for him….
Yeah, that was pretty bad…
Yeah John, why did you plug that scheme?
Did he pay you for that plug??
No I am NOT building a mailing list. You don’t even enter your email address to comment on my site so what am I going to build an email list with? Your first name? Jez, take a chill pill and go lie down.
Hi Mitch,
Yes Ill take a chill pill.
I wasnt suggesting you were, I was replying to someone that did, and said that even if you were that $10 was still generous.. Anyway sorry if ive upset anyone
Ok the other guy didnt suggest that at all and I said you probably were,… sorry
My comment was thus:
Good idea Mitch,
much better than that tosser on JohnChow trying to get 500 backlinks by giving $1 to “charity” for each link.
That was a disgrace, I cant belive JC plugged it for him….
I work in Public Relations and do a whole lot of pitching to try and get the company I work for media coverage and a lot of that pitching is via emails to people I’ve never contacted before, which can have some interesting results at times.
I’ve been doing this for nearly a year now and keeping it simple, like the example, seems to be the most effective way to get generate a response or interest. Pitching the media is a lot different than pitching blogs and I do both on a regular basis. It’s really all a matter of trial and error and sticking to what you notice works. Most of the time you won’t even get a response, but you may end up with a mention or shout out anyways.
By far the most important part of this all is what you title your email. It has to be short, catchy and make the reader want to open it and go further. If you’re title isn’t good enough, no one will bother to open or read your email and you’ll get no where.
Cheers,
Soultrance
I didn’t realize this was a formal method, I just thought people with some sense would connect the dots. I’ve come to find that many things that we started out doing by brainstorming methods have been methods many bloggers have used for a long time. That’s why the importance of networking with bloggers is so important. It brings a different perspective to the way you do things.
Thanks for this Mitch!
This really does seem like an easy method, you just need to be careful not to come off as a spammer!
That is why you become a part of the community before you contact them.
very true!
Exactly. NEVER spam without getting to know the bloggers or it’ll backfire.
I would approach it a little differently, target the top blogs in your field and sending them a note telling them who you are, what you do and asking if there is a way to partner up. That way you make them feel as if it’s there idea and if you have good content, most will want to do something.
Jane May…After joining their community, I think your idea is the most effective in the long-run.
Joining the community is the best option but it is also time consuming.
Hi Jane,
I agree, I think you have to do the networking though, Mitch implies you just grab the mail addresses and set your automation… that alone wont win you any friends IMO….
I suppose it depends a lot on the value of the mail also, if it helps them genereate easy content and is considered a benefit, then that would work ok, but as I say, merely grabbing addresses and firing self promotional mail shots off is not a good plan…
You also need to allow them to unsubscribe….
You’re right Jez, I would be annoyed at this method. I think creating that relationship first is important. I think that’s why so many bloggers don’t make it past the first few months, because they don’t establish those relationships.
Personally I wouldnt entertain the idea of a mail shot, I suppose its different if you have products you want reviewed, as is the case for both JC and Mitch…
Again, re-read the post Jez. That is NOT what I suggest.
Yes I did,
“I wouldn’t recommend using your normal email client because you want to send 20-100 emails at a time….
I really recommend using each of the bloggers first names in your email if you’re going to do a mass mailing”
What myself and a couple of others moved on to talking about was networking that went beyond getting a name and mail address and adding it to a mail shot…
Definitely seems very common sense.
I agree that it is very tricky balancing between informative and spam. And to join a community (or to appear as so) is very time consuming, but probably the best method in the long term
I think it is really a cool idea to generate traffic in this way. It do take a bit of time but I think it is worth it.
John Tan
SmallReportFortune
It’s surely worth it!
If you’re looking forward to a long-term relationship with your fellow bloggers,
this is one way to do it.
Yeah, relationships are key with fellow bloggers!
Only if you do it properly and maintain good standards….
High Standards shows integrity.
Generating traffic with mails is not easy.
Spam has a conversion rate to sale of 1 in a million. I know were not discussing spam as such, but, unless mails are high quality and very targetted its a complete waste of time… unless you send millions of them
i agree with Culture Shiok!
I get this type of email all the time. They go directly into my spam box
Absolutely! I’ve noticed a lot of generic viagra companies do the same whenever they release a new product or have a sale. Do I really need viagra???
Just because you’ve visited the site and left a left a comment doesn’t give you the right to start sending unsolicited e-mail. You can call it “sharing a useful blog post” but I call it S-P-A-M!
But hey, I’ll give it a try…Mitch is in my niche so I’ll send Mitch an e-mail every time I post to my blog (they’re all useful!). I may even direct my readers to this post so they can send him an e-mail every time they write something too!
Kumiko
xo
Kumiko
Using Gmail, their spam filter is so good that I read anything that goes into my Inbox with 80% confidence that it is not spam. If I were to get something like this, I would most likely at least give it a glance over
I love my gmail for that!
Yeah Gmail is pretty good, as long as you dont mind them scanning your mails for marketting opps
I would mark it as spam as well, that’s why it’s important to build a rapport with the webmaster first!
Yep, join the community, leave comments, etc…
And, make sure you check back on the site frequently as well to build on the rapport. It just does take a day for it to happen!
Like I said, the mails have to add value for the recipient, if the do then some will make it past the spam filter, I have to say though, all such mails go to spam in my case also…
This is definitely a proven method. I don’t think I’ve had found many sites if not for this very method.
I didn’t even realize this was a guest blog until I got near the end… then again, the grammar and spelling are much better than what we normally expect from John
But yes, I see this method used every day. I get countless emails from the PR people at Pantech and other companies, hoping that I pick up a story to write about on Mobile Magazine.
Well, I guess they know who to pick on as well.
They don’t just go about picking anyone that they come across, Michael. So in a way, you are lucky to be picked.
I didn’t notice either! I was wondering why Mitch was mentioned!
I didn’t realize it wasn’t John until you pointed it out! I was wondering why the e-mail was signed -Mitch ….
LOL John’s not the only one who can use evil promotion and marketing techniques to promote their blog
Agreed, it was a good post but I get a deja vu feeling reading it… John, didn’t you cover this topic before?
I covered it a bit in the how to start a tech site article.
Great post guys! This used to be a part of my repitoire, but I just got too busy. It is absolutely worth doing to attract new users!
Interesting advice. However, the question that comes to my mind is since there’s no ‘preexisting business relationship’ between you and the webmaster you’re mailing, doesn’t this fall under the prohibition of CAN SPAM? I like your suggestion re supercustomization/superpersonalization of the email. This might take some of the edge off.
Most spam mail generalize the people that they are sending to, and disregard names. By including names, the reader is taking a deeper interest on this particular stranger who seems to ‘know’ him.
Yep! That’s why I get I get e-mails that read. “Hi Kumiko. Do you have erection problems?”
Kumiko
xo
Its great that you are so open about your problems, all this time I thought you were a girl but it seems that you just did it so people would click on your profile.
“Yep! That’s why I get I get e-mails that read. “Hi Kumiko. Do you have erection problems?”
Classic Spam tactics, they havent caught my name yet, they may do in time…
Jez
Well, I guess that’s just plain stupidness on their part then. *Grins. Can’t they tell names apart?
That sounds like seriously hard work.
Not if you want to increase your PageRank, Alexa and Technorati ranks!
It may not have any effect on your Alexa rankings.
Heck, 5 friends running Alexa can get you in the top 40K of websites!
Where do you get the number 5 from BTW??
I have tested it out on some blog sites Jez.
I hate Alexa and that damn toolbar
Sorry, a little bitter
I use FF with an Alexa plug in, its very discrete and has some useful SEO tools bundled with it, and of course it gives a lift to any sites you visit, including your own
I use Alexa hits as an incentive for my top commentators.
Amen, Jane.
well, I guess one really does have to know the person that you are sending too, or else the reader might mis-regard it as spam. Personally, I tend to ignore mails by total strangers too.
Sending mass emails seems a little too “grey” for me… Commenting on popular blogs in your niche is more “fair”.
Yup thats a far better method, but hard to automate
Well, hard to get the comments posted automatically….
I agree with you, this may be why it’s an “old” method.
I checked my AWeber account and had alomst 1000 subscribers. Guess I should have been keeping my eye on that a little closer.
With an open rate of 15%, sending out 200 emails as you mentioned will only generate 30 opens. Of those opens how many will actually click the link? Looks like my stats show 40%. So lets say 200 emails generate 20 visits.
Michael
AWeber looks interesting, I’ve never heard of it – will have to look into it thanks!
stubsy, from my own experience, it is hard work but it works. When I launched http://www.topbloglists.com in mid-Dec ‘06, I tried this method because I wasn’t really aware of another low-cost solution. I call it “online cold calling,” which is similar to work I did at ASU’s telefund during me college days…calling alums! How fun — NOT! Downside was that I got burnt out around mid-Jan ‘07. Frankly speaking, I was very hesitant about using this method but no one was joining the dang site. Why? It was practically empty (exception: my two blogs) and the header was very tacky (Frankenstein header—ugly was the word my kids used). But on a positive note, my blogs were always ranked #1 and #2.
But on a serious note, here’s what I did to get the initial signups. I found the top blogs and then I created a message similar to Mitch’s and used the blogger’s first name if it was available on his/her site. Believe it or not, I did this task serially and I had to type in most of their email addresses (e.g. images of email addresses or word variations such as username AT domain dot com). I had some bloggers write back and snub their noses at me by telling me the top site was too new or empty to add their listing to it. I thought to myself, yeah, I know. In all fairness, I can understand their point. The blogger didn’t know me and may have been concerned that I was one of the many scammers out there and just wanted to “harvest” their email addresses. I just wanted their darn listing! 
Scamming someone for their email address is definitely not my style and not worth my time–I like my freedom and I don’t like paying penalties. 
By the way, I don’t sell email addresses to anyone. At any rate, I wrote back and thank them for their consideration and to please consider me in the future. So far, I’ve sent out a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year greeting to all the members via email, and I’ve received some very polite responses. As you know, providing a free service (ranking and providing daily, weekly and monthly stats) is a powerful tool. Now I’m getting 3-5 legitimate signups per day. Even with captcha enabled, persistent spammers will try to post 40-50 listings on some days, but I moderate and they are promptly deleted. I know 3-5 signups is not a lot, but I didn’t have to personally drum them up. I probably visited over 300-400 blogs during this period…actually learned a few things too. Some of those bloggers who rejected me in the beginning have since joined and I didn’t have to solicit. The site’s last and current Google PR is 5 but I do have few more grey hairs because of it. Regards, Roy Wood
I signed up with your topbloglists and prompty fell out of the top ten…
I thought we had a “deal” ???
So did I Steve!
Bust a deal, face the wheel!
Oh yeah, ever heard of a “carriage return” ???
You’re worse than the second graders over at Yellow Pole!
“\n”
Actually Steve, I had cut/paste from my Notepad utility.
Nice article John.
I think the best way to not come off as a spammer is to keep it real. Don’t be afraid to use smiley’s in your email (not too many though). Smiley’s show emtions. Emotions show humanity.
PS. I’m sorry if i come off as some kind of hippie.
It is spam as far as it is unsolicited mail but how else do you make content with others? At some point along the line you and all of your “friends” were strangers.
I think this is a good method of bridging the gap.
Just send them an e-mail personally and write more than just their name to show them that it’s personal. I get a lot that use my name but are obviously duplicated 1000 times. If the mail actually says something specific to myself or the site, I know that it’s probably genuine. Or just a really hard working spammer!
Kumiko
Send them a personal mail first, get to know them a bit and ask if they want to be added to the list…
regards a comment above regarding
“online cold calling,”
Thats spam in my book
I guess if you never try, you’ll never know. Don’t go overboard, that’s all I can say.
I wouldn’t exactly call this an old school tactic (how long has Technorati been around?…but it is a good idea. I think becoming a regular commentator on their site would help build rapport first. (Plus you might get some people visiting your site from the link in your comments in the meantime
It’s certainly worked for me. It’s definitely worked some Top Commentators I know. I’ve even seen a couple of blogs that are maybe a few months old that have blown by me in Technorati rank by commenting on big blogs daily…and often.
I have tried this method too…it works to some extend..but i prefer giving that time to other better techniques i know…check them out on my blog..
Looks like you’re trying the technique here already!
Kumiko
I agree with Kumiko. You are ‘trying’ it again here once more!
Building a relationship is key before you send out spam e-mails like that. If I don’t know you, then your e-mail will get deleted.
Also, DevArticles has the exact same template as Seochat.com. Strange coincidence?
Funny you say that. I posted a little blurb on Shoemoney’s site in his comments, and sent him an email. He was included in the first Bloggers Tournament, but he got kinda pissed. He insisted I was spamming. A little understandable, but not my intention. Definitely be careful; don’t get a bad rep on your first impression.
Good info John.
Just an FYI: in point #5 you have, “which a lot of bloggers users.”
You probably meant, “which a lot of bloggers use.”
Hi John, any chance we could get a general range of the sale price for your DevArticles site sale? I’m trying to gather generalized data of website sales based on unique visitors. That would be super helpful!
Hi Joel. I actually write this post and DevArticles was my site. I sold it somewhere in the 6 figure region but back then it was a decent site. Not covered in 5000 ads. I actually posted useful content too.
Great post, Mitch. I’ve used this once before to no avail. Well, not much avail. Things have changed since I included some of those Top 100 in the 2007 Bloggers Tournament. *shameless plug*
Do a high percentage of the people that receive these ‘new post’ emails get annoyed or do they generally take it well. I think it could well depend on the kind of blog you run could it not?
Im just getting into trying to make money online and will be documenting the entire process on my blog – I would appreciate any comments, support and suggestions. I will of course be reading as much advice as possible on here and alos over at problogger which I like. Its not just advice here its an inspiration.
Jeez, sounds like a lot of hard and possibly wasted work. I have to agree with Jane May and others that I personally would be a little annoyed if somebody started spamming me with updates to their blog. One contact e-mail, maybe I could excuse but any more and I would be reporting the individual – there are laws here in Europe/Ireland that can fine people for these e-mails up to Euro 1000 that’s roughly US $1300 per e-mail. I wouldn’t try it…
The fine is a lot, but how about getting spammed by those from overseas? How does the spam law extend to reach there?
Hi ketyung,
Sadly the law doesn’t extend to those outside of the EU. I say sadly due to the volume of spam that I have to clear out every day.
Someday there’ll be a world where spammers get fined by the thought police before they can send any. 
Those are some great tips! Thanks John Chow!
This may work out, but email is def. old school.
This has proven quite effective for me in the past, even if a couple of the sites you email link back its worth the time for the amount of referrals you will receive
Jeff – http://wallpapers.jeffreymunro.com
I am not sure about this technique because you are talking to people that are quite possibly you competition. I would find relevant blogs but not similar. I prefer becoming an influential person on the blogs you like and that will have a nice result by impressing the blog owners.
Exactly…starting relationships, bridging gaps, and creating common fields of interest/experience. Old school rocks; paired with diligence it rocks even harder.