15 Ways to Ethically “Steal” Traffic From Other People

If there’s one thing every website owner wants, it’s more traffic. The good news is that you don’t need to produce it out of thin air.

If you want a lot of highly targeted traffic, one of the easiest ways to get it is by “borrowing” it from other people.
Sound sneaky?

It’s NOT.

And in fact, it’s perfectly ethical when you use one of those 15 methods. Take a look…

1. Guest Blogging

Write up a great article and attach a byline to the article which includes a link back to your site and strong call to action. Then submit this article to other blogs in the niche. Take note that some bloggers require exclusive content, but that’s a small price to pay to land a spot on a popular blog.

2. Joining Blog Discussions

First, find the most popular blogs in your niche. Next, keep an eye out for new posts, especially on popular topics. Then join the discussion, being sure to leave a link back to your site (where allowed).

3. Posting on Forums

If you enjoy blog commenting, then you’ll love joining in on forum discussions. Find the top forums in your niche, create a juicy signature file with a link back to your site, and then start posting thoughtful contributions on the forum.

4. Commenting on Facebook Pages

Still another way to drive traffic back to your site is to join discussions on popular Facebook Pages. If you make clever or useful comments and get a lot of “likes,” then your comment will appear to more people since its popular. That’s more exposure for your link.

5. Participating in Facebook Groups

A second way to siphon off some of Facebook’s traffic for yourself is to join relevant Facebook Groups (which may be public or private). Be sure to read and understand the rules before posting any links.

6. Starting Your Own Facebook Group

A third way to tap into Facebook’s massive traffic numbers is to start your own Facebook Group. Be sure to include relevant keywords in the title of the group (like “dog training” or “weight loss”) so that Facebook users can find it when they search for groups.

7. Posting Videos on YouTube

Another huge source of traffic is YouTube. Your goal is to create engaging content that gets liked and shared. Be sure to use carefully researched keywords in your title and description in order to get search traffic (from both YouTube’s internal traffic as well as external search engine traffic from Google and elsewhere).

8. Joining a Blog Train

This is where a dozen or more bloggers in the same niche get together, create a theme, and then create content around that theme. The train starts on a specific day, and everyone involved promotes the train. Visitors should go from one blog to another to another to read articles and get free resources related to the train’s theme.

9. Swapping Content

Here you get one or more joint venture partners, and then agree to swap content, endorsements or even advertisements on your blogs, via your newsletters and/or on your social media accounts.

10. Creating a Viral Report

First, create a report that’s extraordinarily useful, engaging and unique. Then make it rebrandable, so that other marketers can put their links into it so that they can make money simply by giving away your report. (Hint: you might use a tool like ViralPDF.com.) Finally, get as many other marketers to distribute your report – then watch the viral effect kick in.

11. Offering Rights to a Product

Create a cool text, software, audio or video product, and then give other marketers the resell rights or even giveaway rights to it. They can make money and build their lists with this great product, while you get the advantage of the free traffic.

12. Contributing to a “Swag Bag”

If there’s an industry event coming up (like a trade show or seminar), volunteer to contribute one or more of our products to the swag bag. Alternatively, you can buy advertising specialties like calendars or pens with your URL advertised on the item.

13. Giving a Local Talk

You can do a joint venture with a local business owner or other organization to give a free talk at a store or meeting. For example, you can talk about setting up a blog at a Chamber of Commerce meeting, or offer a free talk on dog training at a groomer’s office. Be sure to hand out flash drives, CDs or even flyers with your website link.

14. Doing a Webinar

First, find someone popular and influential in your niche, and then ask if you can interview them on a webinar or teleconference. The person being interviewed will tell their visitors, customers and subscribers about the webinar, which drives traffic to your site. Plus you can give a copy of the webinar to your guest to give away, which drives traffic for weeks, months or even years to come.

15. Recruiting Affiliate Partners

There are dozens of marketers in your niche who have huge, hungry lists, blog readerships and social media followings. Your job is to find these people and recruit them as affiliate partners. Be sure to offer extremely generous commissions and other perks to entice them.