You’ve just found out about blogging for a living…
You’re excited.
You’ve got a killer idea for a blog.
So you start it, write some great content and even make your blog look pretty.
You optimize every post you publish for SEO…
And yet, your analytics look something like this:
Here’s the deal:
Waiting and praying, for your SEO to pay off is a recipe for blogging disaster.
You have to use other methods of traffic.
And in this post, I will show you a strategy that got me 2000 views to a blog that wasn’t even getting 50 visits per month.
Twice.
All without Google or expert roundups.
What You Will Learn
- How to increase blog traffic easily
- What this traffic strategy is (plus some proof)
- Why this traffic strategy works
- How I did it and most importantly…how you can do it too
The Traffic Strategy… What is it?
The strategy that I used to get 2K hits to my traffic-less blogs is egobait.
That’s right, egobait.
It’s a list post that features bloggers and influencers in a particular industry.
It is designed to make them look good and get you some of that hot referral and social traffic. Let’s call it an “egobait list post” (ELP for short).
I have used this for traffic on 2 different blogs…AffiliMarketer and Blogging Aid. Both weren’t seeing much traffic at the time.
Here’s a screenshot of AffiliMarketer’s traffic numbers comparing August and September (I published the egobait on September 15th):
And as you can see:
- The sessions went up 482%
- The pageviews went up 1382%
- The users went up 624%
As for the one I did at Blogging Aid on Jan. 10th that featured 50 top blogs, including MatthewWoodward.co.uk, of course…
Here are the traffic numbers to that one:
Please note that Blogging Aid was only a month old.
It also received over 400 shares.
And even a bunch more on Twitter (too bad they removed their share counts).
Some of the people I featured were even sharing it days after the post went live!
It works great for blogs that are struggling to drive traffic and blogs that are practically new.
Why it Works
Their egos. Everybody loves being called the guy who knows what he’s talking about.
I mean, wouldn’t you? If I were to get up on stage and tell everybody that you were the best writer in the world, wouldn’t you feel like a king?
Of course, you would.
So you see, that’s why this works so well…
You [basically] tell the world that these guys are experts, they show it off and share it with their followers and you get the traffic.
So, how can you create your own ELP?
I’ll show you…
How To Increase Blog Traffic With An Ego List Post
If you want to increase blog traffic using an ego list post then there are a few simple steps that you need to follow.
- Create a headline with promise
- Find the experts
- Put it all together
- Reach Out
Let’s take an even closer look at the ego list techniques that’ll attract high volumes of traffic:
Step 1: The Headline
Have you ever seen the “top blogs to follow” blog posts? I’m sure you have. People do them all the time.
And that’s why I didn’t.
I didn’t want to publish just another top X blogs post because there’s a chance that the people I mention would be like “MEH! It’s been done.” You know?
Instead, I went with some “promise”.
Something the reader can benefit from for visiting the blogs that are featured on the list.
Like “become a better blogger” at Blogging Aid and “learn affiliate marketing for free” at Affilimarketer.
Wouldn’t a “top blogs to follow” be much easier?
Of course. But if you go with the “promise approach” you’ll be able to:
- Achieve greater results
- Have a shot at ranking in search for whatever phrase you use eventually
- Number + (industry) blogs/experts + promise/keyword
- 100 SEO Blogs That’ll Help You Get First Page Rankings
- 50 Weight Loss Experts You Can go to For Actionable Advice
- 75 Humour Blogs That’ll Make You Laugh Until You Cry
- 63 Productivity Pros That Always Have the Best Tips
Note: If you’re new to keyword research, check out Matt’s Long Tail Pro review.
Step 2: Finding The Experts
Experts and pro blogs…
They’re practically everywhere. So it shouldn’t be too hard to find them.
So open up a new word doc or spreadsheet and begin.
Here’s how to set it up:
- Name
- Website/Blog URL
- Number of Social Followers
- Notes
The easiest (and obvious) way to find your experts is to do some Google searches.
You can search for posts that are similar to the one you’re about to do. Use these:
- top “industry” blogs
- top “industry” bloggers
- top “industry” experts
- top “industry” influencers
You could even search for something related to your industry.
For example, say you’re in the beginner-blogging niche.
You’d search for terms like:
- how to start a blog
- how to make money blogging
- blogging for beginners
- how to increase blog traffic
- how to write a blog post
Alltop is another great site you can go to for finding your industry’s pros.
How?
First, head over to their homepage and enter your blog topic into the search bar.
Then, it’ll give you some results. Choose the one that is or related to yours.
This will bring up Alltop’s category for that term and all its relevant websites.
Most sites that are submitted to and accepted by Alltop are quality sites. They don’t accept anything spammy. So the ones you choose should be the real deal.
The last way I’ll show you is perhaps the best. Buzzsumo.
Head over to their homepage, enter your blog topic and hit the “Amplifications” link at the top of the page.
This will bring up influencers (experts) in your niche that are doing great on Twitter. 
This is awesome for you.
This means they have a very active and engaged Twitter following you can tap into.
Remember:
You’ll need to find their first/last name, email address and the number of social followers.
How many experts should I feature? you ask.
50 is a great number. So is 75. 100.
10, 20, 25, 30 and 40 are all pretty sweet, too.
I would recommend, though, going with a bigger list. Like the one I did at Blogging Aid that featured 50.
If you’re in a smaller industry/niche, though, then 10 to 25 is fine.
How do you choose who’s in and who’s out?
The key to this is featuring pros who have a large and/or engaged social media following.
To find this out, you’ll simply take a look at their social profiles.
Person in Image: @ZacJohnson
If they’ve got thousands of followers, then that’s awesome.
But say they don’t have a huge following. Maybe they only have 750 followers.
Then you would look at their social posts.
If they get:
- Likes
- Reshares
- Comments
Which means when he shares your post, his followers will be more likely to click through to your post.
So, when you get a good number of people to feature, you’ll have to get to know them a little bit. This is so you’ll know what to write in the next step.
Read their about pages, their start here pages and their popular posts.
You could also find out what their best categories are.
Let’s back it up…
Before you move onto the next step, complete these tasks:
- Find their first and last name – you can find this on their about page, on any of their posts, or their author box
- Find their URLs – easy peasy
- Find their email address – you can find this by subscribing to their email list. Their email address should be in the “From” area
- Find the number of their followers – you can find this out by visiting their profiles
- Find their most popular posts and/or categories – you can find these in their sidebars OR by browsing through their blog pages. Tip: Enter their URL into Buzzsumo (it’ll bring up their most shared content)
- Get to know them a little bit – read some of their posts, the about me page, social profiles and anything where they share details about themselves. You can use this for when you’re writing out your egobait list post
Step 3: Putting It All Together
This is where the fun really starts to begin.
So the first thing to do is to create an outline of your post using an h2 and some h3 subheading tags.
This will make your ELP 10x more easy to write.
For your list, you have 2 options:
- Categorize – if your list is humongous and broad (ex: Robbie Richards’ 80 Online Marketing Experts)
- Alphabetical – if you want an easier time (like what I did)
If you’re going alphabetical, then you’ll only need 1 h2 tag (for where you announce the “top X blogs/experts).
As for the list items (your experts/blogs), they’ll each need:
- A subheading with their name
- A small headshot of the blogger – must be all the same width
- A short summary of the blog/expert – you could also give your opinion
- A link back to their blog OR blog post(s)
Another thing you could add is a small “at a glance” section at the top (right below the subheading and above the short summary).
To even go 1up, you can use the easy-to-use Thrive Content Builder for creating something beautiful.
Step 4: Reaching Out
This step is crucial. It’s a must.
If you don’t reach out to the people featured in your egobait, they’re not going to know about your post.
Which means no shares and no traffic.
So, how do you reach out to the experts?
Well cold call email is much easier than it sounds. So don’t be intimidated.
You have 2 options:
(Remember in step 2 where you searched for their email addresses? Great.
If you couldn’t find it, you can use this tool, their contact forms or scroll down to option 2.)
Option #1: Email Outreach
Start by including the expert’s name in the subject line of the email. You can say something like, “Hey Matt, featured you in my post…”.
Then, the greeting…”Hey Matt,”. And please, always use their first name.
Now, for the body.
You’ll want to make it as short as you can. These are experts. They’re extremely busy people. They got shit to do, alright?
Here’s what I sent to the people I featured:
It’s short. It’s to the point. And you know what, it’s the email that got the most replies.
But try not to copy every word in every email (be yourself).
Note: See this post for more help on writing emails.
Option #2: Social Media Outreach
This one’s a lot easier.
All you do here is share your post on Twitter directly from your post (your share buttons) and @ mention a couple of your experts.
You could also @ mention them in the replies.
Or even tweet them the link or send them a message via chat.
Wrapping It Up
Trying to increase website traffic can be hard. Especially if your blog isn’t that old.
Sometimes you’ll even do everything you’re supposed to, but still…no traffic.
But now you know how to increase blog traffic with the egobait list post traffic strategy, you can drive hundreds of people to your blog in just a few days.
The ELP at a glance…
- Come up with a banging headline.
- Find and choose your experts or pro blogs.
- Create your ELP.
- Reach out to everybody you mentioned.
If you have any questions, I’ll see you in the comments below.
149 Responses
Great tips, i will apply them on my blog right away. Keep up the good work.
Let me know how you get on with that Samuel
This method looks like a lot of fun to do!
Question though? How much of an authority do you think you should be to reach out to bigger people?
I don’t think one could just go out and send a message to guys like Neil Patel, and expect him to see it.
Would you say it might be worth it to go for people who aren’t as influential? I have a feeling it would be somewhat simpler.
Thanks
Well just to get past my filters and into my inbox you need to put together a decent pitch and I would imagine this goes for other high authority guys n gals. I think you should reach out to a range of mid-high authority sites. If your pitch is good you should achieve a good level of success and may get the attention of one of the bigger names which should get the ball rolling.
Thanks For Sharing an inspirational article. Your Blog all Post information is very unique and good for the reader because when I have read your blog looks very impressive for me. thanks for guide me how to generate the traffic on your blog.
Thanks David! Hope you can use these tactics to increase your traffic
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Cheers!
Thanks Iliana!
Simply to say, I love to read comprehensive and informative articles and this website has been a guru for me for a long time.
Thanks for the compliment! Hope you continue to find my blog helpful.
Thanks for sharing a great post.
My pleasure :)
Thanks for sharing
No worries – hope you found it useful.
Awesome Post Realy Help Me Thank You
Glad to hear it Dileep!
Hi Matt, thank you for sharing. This is the best tutorial I’ve ever read pertaining this topic
Awesome feedback, thanks very much!
Thanlyou mathew for seo plugins it great awosome
No problem Nicholas, thanks for reading the article
Hey Matth,
This is a great post. I’m actually suffering from traffic challenges.
I’ve read the post and its to me a killer strategy. Quite believable you know…and soon my blog will benefit from it.
Thanks Matth.
NN.
Perfect, let me know how you get on.
This is great, going to try this myself this week!
Great news Edwin, let me know how it goes.
The article is amazing. But i would recommend one last tool which is https://www.zerobounce.net one of the best email validation service
Thanks for the recommendation Maririta, I’ll check it out.
Nice post, Thanks for sharing tips, For me its best learning tips for blog post.
Thanks very much, I hope you use them
Hi Sir! Thanks for your beautiful help. Your article helped me a lot and clear all my doubts. Your writing style is very impressive and effective. Keep up your good work. Thanks for sharing
Hey, thanks very much, pleased to have helped
this is great article for blogger thank you so much for posting.
No problem, hope you see an increase in your traffic after putting these steps into action
thanks for this useful information
No problem!
thanks dear for the beautiful information
I try my best :)
What are some of challenges that you handle everyday?
Keeping up with blog comments!
Surprised to see your efforts
Glad you enjoy them!
Thats called a wealthy post <3
Haha it is indeed!
Thanks for sharing this post for us regarding how to increase traffic on blog.I always follow your blog and I learned a lot via your post.
Thanks Ayushi!
Really helpful
No problem!
Awesome… really helpful.. thanks
Thanks Yusrul
These seems to be helpful tips for increasing blog traffic. A reputed Internet marketing services provider takes a good care of each minute thing in SEO
so that there should not be any negative effect on traffic as well as ranking in future as Google is already releasing major updates time to time.
It’s not possible to know what Google will do next, no matter how reptured the provider is
Thank you very much for this article. I thinks peoples can get target audience by follow your instruction. Appreciated Matthew. Good Work!
No worrys Zambeel :)
Nice way to increase website traffic you elaborate here for us
Yes it’s a very simple approach!
Hi Matt,
I Loved your article & your writing style. I am still in the begining stage and will implement these as soon as possible. cheers
No problem :)
Yea Matt. Nice post search engin traffic is always targeted traffic. But it’s not easy to get high rank in google easily. But if we proper use our keyword, title etc over time we will get it
Yeah it’s just a matter of time, persistence and selecting the right keywords. Take a look at my SEMRush review if you need help with that.
very useful post for me.
No problem Roshan!
Hi Matthew,
It’s really a long and informative blog post about increasing traffic. There are many new things which I have learned from here.
Thanks for sharing.
I hope you manage to apply it all and put it to good use!
Hello Matt
My husband has been Raving about you and I think he is right too.
Just found you today and I can say ur insight to blogging is amazing. I am a.ultra new to this process and rearing to go
I will implement all your suggestions concerning using ELP and let u know how I get on.many thanks for your great tips
Haha thanks Georgina, I’m happy to help you both :)
This is gold. New share… brand awareness. Priceless!
Thanks Nev :)
Hi Matt
Recantly I was reading one of your posts and I cant find it now ?
It was so helpful you were giveing research about two web sites- some military site , border collie, and some other one there was also how to find ideas for content writteing
pleas send me url of this post
thanks a lot
Aleksandar
Try this http://lmgtfy.com/?q=site%3Amatthewwoodward.co.uk+military
This is a great idea… though for a new blog, with new content and barely any followers not sure if it will be beneficial. Any thoughts? Great article, I love it, specially the instructions. Thanks!
What have you got to lose by trying/learning/failing/experimenting?
Great idea,
I definitely work on this idea for my new blog and wish to tag Mathew Woodward.
Tag away :)
Hi Matt and Julian,
This is such a detail post full of practical tips from you Julian.
Honestly, I have never done anything like experts roundup post of any kind, so this “ego bait” style approach will be something good to start with.
The outreach part if something you made it look simple to follow through, though I use Ninja outreach and think it will sure come handy for this.
Thank Matts, and nice sharing from you Julian.
Glad you enjoyed the article Shamsudeen!
Hi, Julian! and Matt,
Fantastic Article Very Long Post But Helpful Information Increase Blog Traffic Full Guidelines, Thanks a lot For Update, Keep Up the Good Work Buddy,
Have a Nice Day Ahead,
Glad you enjoyed it!
Hi, Matthew
I want to ask, whether headshot of different sizes will affect traffic blogs on a large scale? In addition, if it is valid that, the image size will affect SEO in addition that larger image size will give SEO a bad impact. Is that true?
Regards
Jung
I wouldn’t waste any more time worrying about this, just do what looks right on your blog.
I got useful information about the blog, how to tackle it , how to use it. It is really useful and informative.
Are you going to give it a try?
This is a great idea on how to increase the traffic that comes to your blog. But it seems like there are some industry influencers are not very happy with the term “ego bait” :)
Hahaha no, but it is what it is :)
Thank you Julian… :)
I love this site…
Thank you for visiting :)
Would it be fair to say you need to include the real high end blogs for credibility (with no chance of them sharing it) and then a load of Z listers as the actual targets to share?
Your list seems to be like that… I bet Sugar Rae doesn’t share it and a bunch of those guys I’ve never heard of do.
That is a possibility, although in this example I shared it and so did a lot of the other big guys
I practise a variety of ways to make my blog more seo freindly. I get the new science here. Thanks for the article, I will try and hopefully I get more traffics
No problem misterkibol
this post is really awesome, it is the first time I read this strategy and I believe it will work like magic.
1000 thanks
Glad you enjoyed it :)
Awesome stuff. The only trick is, you’ve gotta have a site that’s worth being mentioned on – even the biggest egomaniac probably won’t care about being mentioned on some random no-name site. You should probably establish a name for yourself before you attempt to do “egobait”, but if you’ve already done that, then you’re good to go!
I should note that you can probably “fake it til you make it” by simply making your site LOOK important [well designed, nice logo, etc] even if it’s not actually well known or important. Oh and be sure to wear a hard hat and an orange vest, apparently that makes you look like you know what you’re doing. ;)
I think Amy Cuddy said that faking it until you make it is the wrong strategy, you should fake it until you become it :)
Hey, Julian – did I miss your author bio in the post?
Also, here’s another side of the coin for this strategy – experts who are getting tired of being asked to write/share posts for other blogs.
I love it how Martin Shervington put it in a blog post at BuzzSumo http://tgcafe.it/1S9iYAJ:
“The tricks people are using to drag people into crowdsourcing content, and then assume they will share it is getting tiring, old. Crowdsource yes, but create content that deserves to be shared far and wide – not lists for the sake of getting it shared.”
Just something to keep in mind – the more people do it, the less valuable this strategy becomes.
I don’t have author bio’s on the blog for reasons I wont explain publicly, feel free to email me though :)
I agree with you about the crowd source content thing, I’ve not taken part in an expert roundup for a long time and find they offer very little value to me as the contributor and my time is better spent elsewhere.
Awesome idea for getting traffic. It is true that everyone have ego and we all should use it. I am trying to replicate your strategy and see what kind of results i will get.
Let us know how you get on Atul!
Great post! I especially appreciate the thinking around outlining the post using h2 and h3 subheading tags. Also, tips on how to structure a post like this along with generating a good title are really helpful.
Keep on hustling Tom!
Hey Julian,
Welcome to Matthew’s blog and I’ve only been by here a few times but wanted to be sure to support you.
Ouch is all I have to say about the “egobait” term. I didn’t share that post where you mentioned me because of my ego, I shared it because you asked me to. BIG difference but we so always appreciate being mentioned, I won’t lie. I also know the reason why I get mentioned a lot in posts like the one you did and what you’re teaching this audience.
I know it’s because you want traffic to your blog and the best way to do that is highlight others who can get your content out in front of a bigger audience. Of course it works but ONLY if it’s a great post. Of course if I think you’re an awesome person I’m going to share your content if you ask me to because I enjoy helping others excel.
This is a great post though, I don’t want to take away what you’ve taught here. The detail you put into this and showing others how to do this as well. Pretty awesome I will say and thanks for using me on the list too! ;-)
Great job and of course I shared it and why did I do that? Because you asked me to!
Hope you both have an amazing week and happy blogging.
~Adrienne
You can also take the one step further and ask each influencer a question as part of the article.
This provides much more value for your audience, and gives the influencer fresh material that they’d love to share with their audience.
I’ve used it on my site and I know many others have, too.
Cheers,
Matt
That is a different strategy entirely (please see https://www.matthewwoodward.co.uk/blogging/content/free-content/ ) that requires those featured to do some actual work, for example its very rare I participate in exert roundups now.
A very informative article Julian. The way you detailed every aspect for outreaching to various industry experts is very appealing. Thanks for sharing your insights.
Thanks very much for sharing this Matthew, great piece of content indeed.
Make sure you put it into action :)
HI Julian,
You have very actionable steps to increase blog traffic.
Everybody would like to be identified as an expert which will make them share your article the moment the post goes live.
Email marketing is another source of traffic that cannot be ignored.
Cheers
~Tony
Yeah man. Email is awesome. One of the best.
I’ve seen many of these strategies before but I didn’t realize how they worked till now. I needed some one to spell it out for me. This is absolutely brilliant Thank you!!
No problem John :)
Hey Julian and Matthew,
Great to see you here on Matthew’s site, Julian! This is a hugely-popular site, so kudos on getting to write for his audience, my friend.
As the owner of the 50 blogs you talked about in your example article, I must commend you on the job you did. Getting more than 400 shares on an article for a site that’s barely a month old is a super accomplishment! Thank you for walking all of us through the process of how you did it.
Off to go tweet this. Hope you and Matthew both have great weekends, Julian. Congrats again.
– @kevinjduncan
I’ve long forgotten what weekends are haha =D
Hey Kevin,
Thanks for stopping by to leave a comment + share.
My weekend was alright BTW. :P
Hi, Julian (and Matthew),
Great post! I use blogger outreach all the time and also teach it to my readers..
Thanks for this terrific article – I’m sending it out to my clients right now.
Sue
Thank you, Sue.
Very interesting concept. I am gonna save the idea for later.
And probably forget about it!
Take action now :)
Hey Julian, great detailed explanation. I actually used this strategy in more or less ways for my blog back in 2014, it worked a real treat.
I made a list of about 25 bloggers that I was connected with and looked up to in my niche, and basically called the post 25 Top Bloggers To Follow To Help You Become A Smarter Blogger.
I will definitely put another one out and this time I’ll be a bit more organised about it and take a few tips away from your post here. Awesome work mate, thanks for reminding me how powerful ELP’s are.
Have a great weekend – Fabrizio
Hey Fabrizio,
Yeah, that’s pretty similar, eh? :)
Cheers.
Absolutely stunning! And despite the apparent uphill track, shall try and follow your advice as faithfully as I can.
Many thanks for now.
No problem Faro, stay committed :)
Really informative article Julian! I saw some of your articles on other websites and it’s clear that you know what you’re talking about. I can’t wait to try and write some similar articles for my website. Thanks a lot for the detailed break-down. I bookmarked this page and shared it on Twitter!
Hey Timothy,
Thanks! :D
Let me know if you’re trying this.
Excellent content Julian and I’m glad you made it up to Matt’s blog.
You shared some hidden tips here man and I’m glad I was able to go through your post thoroughly.
Do have a wonderful weekend, you both
Thanks bro. Appreciate you stopping by.
Hi Julian and Matt,
Yes ego baits and influencer marketing work like heck this days. They are so powerful to get backlinks and traffic like no other.
When I wrote my post on Facebook Marketing, Mari Smith hared it on Facebook and twitter and she crashed my site by the loads of traffic she sent. I had to switch to a different host meanwhile.
This also resulted in backlinks from other blogs and from Mari Smith’s blog as well. :)
Wow. That’s crazy. A crashed site from one influencer.
Congrats on your results there. :D
Hi Matthew ,
Such a great post I have not seen from long.There is big list of pro blogger just heading to their blog. I’m also planning to do same and check how much traffic i will get .
Please come back and let us know how you get on with it :)
Hello Matt and Julian,
that was a great post I saw today.And Matt, after reading your blogs I must say,
“SIR YOU ARE THE GURU” to newbie bloggers.
Hi Julian!!
What a great and powerful strategy! :D
This is a blogging strategy that might take a lot of time and work, but it is damn worth it! … you are living proof of it …
I have seen more and more bloggers implement these type of strategies. I gotta say that it is becoming a popular way to grow your blog online.
Thank you very much for sharing your tips and your case study!
I appreciate that! :)
Keep up the great work!!
No problem, man.
And thanks for your amazing comment.
Nice tips!
Thank you!
I will try to use these methods for increasing traffic for my brand new blog.
I think, I write interesting articles, but unfortunatelly, no traffic from search engines.
Please let us know how you get on Alex!
Traffic from search engines to a brand new blog is nearly impossible.
This strategy could help, though. Let me know if you need help. :)
Hi Matt
This is a brilliant strategy which is so simple but looks to be seriously effective. One of those blindingly obvious with a huge *why didn’t I think of that* moment.
Thanks for the idea – and the resources to do it with.
Hahaha that happens to me all the time :)
Thanks for the guide, I’m seriously going to have to look this over a few times. Reaching out has been the most challenging but you make it sound so simple. Seriously going to try this :)
It just takes a bit of time :)
Hi Vanessa,
Reaching out is so much easier if you help them (like linking out to their content/blog).
This egobait post will also help you get on some influencers’ radars. Which could lead to more opportunities. :)
this blog is great
Thanks
Great post! I am definitely going to plan to try your personal email template for reaching out to people I include in my articles.
Please come back and tell us how you get on Darius!
Hey Darius,
I wish you the best of luck! :D I’m sure that template will give you some inspiration. :)
Hey Matt,
I just wanna say thanks for letting me write a post for the blog.
Great experience! :D
Cheers,
Julian
Thanks for this post Matt,
It really give me an idea to get more visitor on my blog. Since I’ve been experiencing of low site visits on my blog, I will try to use Egobait to improve my blog traffic.
Overall this post is awesome it really helps a lot, I always read all your Post Matt to keep updated and to get more ideas from experts.
Glad you enjoyed it Rogy!
Awesome post Julian! Great tips! Keep up the good work!
Thanks, bro. Cheers.
Nice post