Comprehensive Guide on getting Traffic through Facebook

May 2, 2013; a historic day in the life of one of the most used social media sites. On this day, Facebook reached the 1.1 billion mark. In fact, if Facebook was a country, it would have been the third largest country in the world! Researchers and scientists have found out that people who have computers and a working internet connection will have an account on this social networking site.

Even now, one of the most used social media sites is Facebook. Facebook has indeed changed the way social media functions and the repercussions of these are felt everywhere. Facebook can also be of great help to budding bloggers. This is because it becomes easier to Get Traffic through Facebook to your blog.

People love sharing stuff with friends and family. If they find something interesting enough, they would surely like to pass it on to their acquaintances. Also, another thing that plays a huge role in referrals and passing on information is the source of it.

Most people would give it a pass if they see that the source is from a shady site. In this regard, Facebook is a pretty reliable site. According to a recent Simple Research study, 23% of the external traffic that comes to a blog or any such site is from Facebook.

Why Would Someone Read your Blog?

People read all kinds of stuff on the internet. Information is everywhere, but they would only read your blog, if they find something which is ‘Uncommon’ and ‘Interesting’

Most people would be glad to follow a particular blog which would catch their fancy, give them information about a particular subject and also inform them at the same time. It is important to keep in mind the fact that there would be a number of blogs which would be on the same lines, what would make your blog different is how you present the information in your blog. Most people who would visit your blog would come to know something extra, something which they didn’t know. So, the aim of your blog is to give them that nugget of information that they would not get in any other blog.

Facebook is one of the top sources of social referrals that many people use and trust. Hence, a lot of blogs which are promoted through Facebook receive a lot of attention from the people as well as are referred to many others. The traffic in the blog naturally increases when you use Facebook to promote it.

How can Facebook Help?

To Get Traffic through Facebook, you would have to follow some rules. These rules are the sure shot ways of driving the traffic on Facebook to your blog. Making a blog flourish and become popular is not easy. You would have to work for several months before it becomes popular. It has been estimated by users that it takes almost 2 years for a common blogger to make it big.

This means that if the growth is slow, the traffic coming to your site will also be pretty slow. This is where Facebook can play a big role. Facebook can help drive the traffic to your blog without much ado. This is because when you put up your blog’s coordinates on Facebook, a lot of people would be able to see it. If your blog is interesting enough, a lot of users will also be tempted to visit your blog, thus helping you Get Traffic through Facebook.

Facebook’s role in distributing any type of news content is rapidly growing in the world. According to a Pew Research study, the traffic to blogs and other types of websites through Facebook doubled from 2011 to 2012. In 2013, the total referral was seen jumping to almost by 50%. Thus, Facebook plays a very influential role in influencing the public and making them see what is important.

How to get Traffic through Facebook?

Facebook is one of the most popular social networking sites, and when you integrate your blog with Facebook, you will be able to see a jump in the number of viewers

This is a process which would require you to put in some effort and some logistics. Getting traffic through Facebook, once it starts is easy, but you would have to keep several things in mind before you start off.

This section will tell you exactly how to get traffic through Facebook in a step by step manner.

1.Complete your Facebook Profile Strategically: This is the first and foremost step, and also a very important step to increase more traffic to your blog. In order to Get Traffic through Facebook, you would have to establish yourself as a blogger. You need to put forward the information that the people are seeking. You have to answer their queries briefly on Facebook so that they can get further information by going to your blog. Your expertise should be reflected in your profile. It is important to know that there would be hundreds of such sites which would be offering the same; you have to show them how different your blog is. Your photos, interests and videos should also target your topic.

2. Identify your Target Audience: You have to know which the people you are aiming for are. Here is a rundown of what you can aim for in Facebook depending on the kind of people:

• Sexual Preference
• Birthday
• Relationship Status
• Languages
• Interests (What genre of books they like reading, movies they prefer, applications they use, Games they would like to play, as well as their political views and the religion they follow)
• Education
• Workplace
• Age
• Location
• Gender
• Connections (Groups, Pages etc.)

Facebook is has more than 1.1 billion users. In order to make your blog successful, you would have to choose the target audience very carefully

You would be wondering why this is important. It’s important because zoning in to a particular specific target will help you decide whom you would really want on your website. It would also ensure that you have quality visitors on your blog. These would be people who would not just skim through articles on your site, but would actually spend time and read things on your blog. These would be the people who would actually be interested in what you have to offer.

The Facebook Network is huge. You need to find these target audience. The search tool on the site is a very powerful tool which can help you find the intended audience. After you have refined the target list, you can find these people by their interests and then send them friend requests when you see that they can be of help to you.

3. Create a Facebook Page which advertises your blog

Creating a Facebook page is another great tool to get more traffic to your blog. This way a huge audience would be able to reach your blog. You should also become fans of other like-minded pages so that you get similar requests. If you consider your blog as a brand, this can be a valuable addition to your page. Also, you can easily feed your blog’s content to the Facebook pages. This is a sure shot way to put in interesting bits of information and also help to keep the conversation going.

4. Link other social contacts to Facebook Profile and Page

It is very important to link your blog’s RSS feeds to the Facebook Profile or the Page. Other social accounts like twitter and LinkedIn could also be added so that all your statuses can appear on these social accounts. It becomes a lot easier to use the account in such a way and also help people know more stuff. Linking all the different social media sites will help readers see how much effort you have put in your blog and also help them know all the relevant information on the social media sites.

5. Promotion is the Key

Don’t be afraid to promote your blog. In fact, the more you promote, the more will you be able to garner a fan base! So, go on, shout out your blog!

When you want to Get Traffic through Facebook, you can’t afford to be shy. You have to promote and highlight your blog like anything. Even on your blog, you will need to have a side tab which will include your Facebook link. This will encourage readers to connect to the blogger via Facebook too.

You will be able to grow a loyal fan base only when you are giving your readers a chance at good stories. You should not take your fans and your readers for granted. They are intelligent and they will see through if you put up mundane and boring stuff. Unique visual posts can always work wonders. Thus, make sure you are able to engage your readers and also help them continue a proper dialogue.

6. Be Active on the Facebook Page as Well As the Blog

It is important that once you make the Facebook page and the blog, you will have to be active to keep your fans or your followers in your loop. You will need to actively share content and interesting nuggets of information. You will only be followed if you reciprocate. Or else, there would be no activity from the users’ side.

7. Add ‘Like’ and ‘Share’ to your Website:

Have these buttons very prominently on your blog to make sharing a breeze. Most users would love to share your thoughts, but they would need buttons to do so. These are your saviors!

If you are trying to promote your blog, then you have seen how important it is to use Facebook. Since it is one of the most important sites for referrals, a lot of people will believe that your site is genuine and offers the best information. When you add the ‘like’ or ‘share’ button on the tabs in your blog, you will see that your website becomes extremely powerful. This integration is one of the prime reasons why a lot of blogs tend to get popular.

When you add a ‘like’ button, you will be able to help your readers feel about the article you just posted. They will be able to show the appreciation to the site and also help other like-minded people see that the article is good enough to be shared and read. Thus, the ‘like’ button can be a very powerful tool on your blog’s profile.

Similarly, another popular way to help your blog reach other people is including the ‘Share’ button on your blog. Once the people have liked it, they would also like their friends, family and peers enjoy the same. This is why the share button can prove to be of great use on your blog.

8. Optimize Your Blog for use by Mobile Devices as well:

Most users have now gone mobile. You should try and make your blog not heavy on mobile devices. Optimize it for use on smaller devices as well

Nowadays, a lot of people are migrating from using their computers. They have started using mobile devices. Again, according to a Pew Research more than 47% of the people today use cell phones to get their information from the net. You should also be able to take advantage of this trend.

Most people in the United States of America use the iPhone. In fact, it has been seen that people also read blogs on their mobile devices. Which is why, you should have the share option for iOS devices like many blogs do.

This is an incredible tool which will make sharing the easiest thing possible through the iPhone or the mobile device. Make sure you use developers who will be making the share option available to android users as well.

Even though the US may have a lot of iPhone users, there are a lot of other countries where the android devices are more popular than the rest.

9. Don’t be drab, publish compelling stories which will stir up people:

Facebook can be an amazing way to share stuff. But in order to get traffic through Facebook, you will have to share stories which have amazing stats. For instance, a lot of people are drawn by catchy, intelligent headlines. Similarly, a picture as they say can speak a thousand words. So, you would have to use catchy pictures while sharing things for your blog. This will ensure that people will come in again and try and catch the full story. So Bam! You will have traffic on your blog just like that!

10. Make your images big

Someone great had said ‘a picture can speak a thousand words’. Needless to say, the human nature is such that anyone would be attracted to pictures first rather than scores and scores of text. Research has shown that Facebook posts which have images get 120% more views than those which do not have images in them. Keep a variety when you are posting something related to the blog.

Sometimes just put an image which will describe everything and link the story to your blog. On other days, put a picture, and write some text as well. Keeping the variety will work well with your readers and they will also not be bored with the same text and posts on Facebook and the blog.

Always upload an image which is visually appealing. Refrain from using racist and gory images. These are big turn-offs and a No for your blog or the Facebook page. To analyses the success of your full-sized image, check the Facebook and blog site metrics.

11. Keep it Short And Simple

This is the mantra that you should follow when you are promoting a new blog post on Facebook. People would not like the whole story to be told in the post itself, instead they would love it if there is some sort of mystery in it. Your blog will have the same texts, and you wouldn’t need to do the same thing again on the Facebook post as well. Instead, have a short, witty one-liner or kicker which would be enticing enough for the readers to read the whole blog post.

Try and follow Twitters 140 characters code. This will discipline the way you write a teaser and will also help you introduce mystery advertisement for your blog. Also, keep in mind that a huge number of your reader base will be doing so through their mobiles. So you should be able to get into their psyche instead of beating around the bush with a long post which wouldn’t even fit on their mobile screens!

12. Questions, and more Questions

It’s in human nature. If you ask a question to a group of people, it will stimulate some kind of definite response. Some might give an answer, some might wonder and some might try to find a solution. Either way you are engaging your readers in a conversation which would help them fill in their views. Asking a question to your readers will generate more curiosity in their midst and they would also try and answer the query. Use questions which are succinct, curiosity-invoking and like and comment on the answers that they generate. Involving you readers is the best possible way to engage more of them.

13. Pick out an interesting quote from your blog

If you have taken somebody’s interview or talked to someone big in the industry, you can pick out their quote and put it on your Facebook page. This is a way of giving your blog readers a taste of what is to come. It is like a trailer to the movie. Once your readers find it interesting enough, they might want to read the whole thing. What’s more, people love sharing quotes and the chances are, an interesting quote may be shared endlessly on Facebook, thus promoting your blog as well as your interviewee!

The Advantages of trying to get Traffic through Facebook:

1. Creating and Increasing Interaction with other Bloggers always help

This is a golden rule which gives a lot of advantage to your blog. When you are starting a new blog, you will see that a lot of people talk about your blog, but talking is not the only thing which would work. You would have to put in efforts which would drive your Facebook friends or fans to your blog. Here is how you can get traffic through Facebook.

• Interaction with other like-minded bloggers
• Reading their content, commenting on them
• Sharing their blog posts, so that in return, they would share them too
• Connecting with the fans and talking to them about the different web posts etc.

2. Twitter integration also helps to increase traffic through your blog

Integrate all three of them to drive more traffic to your blog. The number of twitter flowers is also increasing, so you should tap its potential as well

Just like Facebook, twitter is another social media website which is popular with a number of net savvy people. With Twitter and Facebook integration, you would be able to give your readers a chance to see in how many different ways the statuses can be posted and interesting things can be put up. In other words, this will also give a chance to the bloggers to interact with the readers.

1. Using Facebook groups is also helpful

Needless to say, Facebook being one of the most popular types of social networking sites will give your readers a chance to also see how your blog works on Facebook. So, once you make a Facebook group, you will be able to boost your blog posts here as well. Plus, the advantage of being a group member for a reader will give them an unlikely boost. They would have more insight on your blogs, plus you would also be able or interact with them one on one.

The results once you integrate Facebook and your blog will be stupendous. Thus, once you are making your blog, make sure that you integrate it with Facebook and if possible other social media sites as well in order to get traffic through Facebook.

How would you build a Huge Fan Base through Facebook?

• After you have created a fan page for your blog on Facebook, make sure you put interesting bits of information out here.
• Try to keep it different from the blog posts that you would be putting up. This would ensure that there is no monotony in what you put up
• Interaction, as mentioned earlier is one of the most important parts of running a blog successfully. So, interact as much as possible with your users and readers
• Incentives work very well. For instance, if you are writing a blog on fashion and beauty, make sure you give up some perks for your readers. A beauty box or some free samples to regular readers will surely perk up your readership base.
• Creativity is the key. Make sure you write creative stuff which people won’t find easily. This will ensure that your blog is most followed among all the same type of peers.

Thus, you have learnt how to drive traffic through Facebook. And if you keep the above points and ways in mind, pretty soon your blog will reach stellar heights and will also have a very good fan following. It’s not difficult if you keep a few points in mind, and this article gives you an insight on how exactly you can do that!