Everyone wants to get more blog traffic and leads so that they can have more sales. And there are thousands of ways to go about doing that, but I’ve got a great example of one of the easiest ways to get more blog traffic and leads.
It’s hidden right under your nose and you see it in every industry regardless of what they sell or how they serve. You will see this clever marketing trick in the grocery store, car dealers, your bank, your kid’s school…virtually and realistically everywhere!
And chances are, if you read a few blogs these past couple of weeks, you saw it there too!
When it’s done right, it can help you to quickly build relationships with your prospects, readers, and followers. It can give you a reason to follow up with your clients and customers. And it’s simple, free, and available to you 365 days a year.
Any guesses?
It is the piggyback marketing method! The piggyback marketing method is a way to leverage seasons, trends, holidays, news events, celebrities, a location, etc. as a way to get more traffic and leads in a short amount of time. An example would be the black Friday marketing you see just before Thanksgiving that promotes the sales you see in stores the day after Thanksgiving.
Ways to use the piggyback marketing method to get more blog traffic and leads:
Write about something that is happening currently. At the time of writing this post, everyone’s hot into new years resolutions. Our health club is marketing no enrollments through January, hardware stores are marketing how to get organized, our bank is marketing loans to help people pay off credit card debt accrued during the holidays. People are looking for new careers, wanting to plan winter get-away vacations, wanting to lose weight after all the holiday parties.
There are ways to take a ride on the piggyback marketing method 356 days a year! And if there isn’t something happening on the calendar or in the news, you can create an event: your kid’s birthday, your anniversary in your business, your new puppy, what’s on Oprah this week! You can piggyback off of just about anything in your online marketing!
- News Event
- Trend
- Movie
- Sporting event
- Location
- Celebrities
- Local Celebrities
- Religious Holiday
- Book/author
- Socially Proven Blog, video, article, podcast content
- Popular bloggers
- Popular marketers
- Top earners in your home based business company
- New products
- Changes in your market
- Upcoming event
- Winter
- Spring
- Summer
- Fall
- Partnerships and Joint Ventures
The disadvantages of using the piggyback marketing method for blog traffic and leads:
When you are marketing online, there is a time and a place to piggyback your content.
The opposite of content that is piggybacking a current event is content that is created to be evergreen. That is content that can be used any day, any time, and it will be relevant. An example of this would be “how to” type blog posts.
When you are using the piggyback marketing method you are creating content that is relevant in the moment but may not be relevant at a later date.
An example of this would be a post I wrote when I first got started blogging:
7 Simple Summertime Marketing Ideas for WAHM Mompreneurs
Although the content can be relevant to mompreneurs or WAHMs at any time, because it’s target for summertime, it won’t “fit” as well in January.
You will want to make sure that you’re balancing your evergreen content and your piggybacked content so you have enough blog traffic and leads to keep you steadily growing your business. Use the piggyback marketing method when you want to get a little boost of blog traffic and leads.
Want a bigger boost to your blog traffic and leads? Combine things in your piggybacked marketing pieces.
I’m a more-is-more type of girl when it comes to blog traffic and leads. So if one piggybacked subject will work well, I figured more would work better. I was right!
I did this past week and my traffic and subscribers shot through the roof! I leveraged a holiday, a trend, and “celebrities” in my niche to double my blog traffic and triple my typical blog subscribers this past week.
- Holiday: New Year’s Eve
- Trend: Reflecting on previous year, dreaming of new year
- Celebrities: My top 5 clever marketers of 2010
4 Home Based Business Mindset Lessons: Reach Your 2011 Goals
5 Home Based Business Marketing Secrets I Learned in 2010
3 WAHM Lessons to Help You Grow a Home Based Business and a Family
Broke Marketers with Big Dreams: 5 Home Based Business Money Lessons
Taking a Leap of Faith with the Top 5 Clever Marketers of 2010
So please leave me a comment and share this post in social media! I’d love to know what other ideas you have for creating piggybacked content to get more blog traffic and leads!
Thanks for reading! I’m excited to have you here and I hope you enjoyed the content. Please let me know what you think in the comments below (this is a dofollow blog!) and connect with me in social media. It’s time to unleash the Clever Marketer in you!
Hi Heather,
You’re so right, piggyback marketing can be powerful when used right. I’ve done it and yes, it’s effective. I’m glad you pointed out that it’s good to have “evergreen” content as well.
It seems I missed one of your recent posts. I’ll have to go back and check it out.
Thanks for the great value you consistently deliver!
Susanna
Susanna Hess@Video Branding recently posted..Traffic On My Blog & A Happy New Year Video!!!
I’ve seen you in piggyback action, Susanna, and you’re right it is effective!
Creating content that is useful 365 days a year is really the priority, but piggybacking on trends and events can definitely give a blog a boost!
Thanks for your constant value adding comments! I appreciate them a bunch!
Heather
Heather since my other job is retail I relate to this post! I never thought about doing it in my business. Thanks for the tip!
Hi Amy,
Retail is huge for piggybacking trends, and I’m excited that I was able to spark an idea for you! Hopefully it helps you grow your blog!
Heather
Hi Heather, these are great ideas for getting more traffic and they’re cool because there’s always something going on in every month that you can piggy back on.
Keeping up with latest current events and news in your industry is also a good idea. People love the latest buzz and working that into your posts works well for getting more blog traffic. One of my business goals is to spend about 10 minutes each doing just that.
Wow, thanks Liz! There is always something fun to piggy back on and I have found it to be effective for me and helping me to give my blog a little boost of traffic!
Great goal to spend 10 minutes staying up on the news in your industry!
Thanks for your comment,
Heather
Ah- the piggyback marketing method is something that I’ve never heard before! Glad to be able to learn a new thing. Could you clarify for me if it’s similar to sort of a linkbait method where you use popular topics/subjects like celebrities on a blog to get more traffic? Interesting idea!
Hi Mandy,
Thanks for your comment and question. Yes, I think it could be a link bait type of post, absolutely.
However, I think of link bait being more of a very detailed post that is well researched and contains so much value that others want to share it with their readers. It could truly be piggybacked content as well, as long as it was piggybacked of something in the industry, a leader, or resource that will stand the test of time.
I think piggybacking off a holiday in a post will not as likely become link bait. Hopefully that makes sense.
Heather
I like how you really were thinking outside the box on this post to help inspire people to come up with a reason to blog. We can all piggyback different things and events we just need to try. Coming up with something unique is never bad.
Jared Holland @ MetroMarketingBlog recently posted..Join a Tribe and Become a Better Blogger in 2011
Hi Jared,
Thanks for your comment! I think that by piggybacking content and things happening in people’s lives helps to keep our content fresh, relevant, and fun. I love seeing someone take something in their lives and relate it to a business principle! It helps me to understand it and remember it all the more!
Happy weekend!
Heather
Hi Heather,
awesome post with good ideas. Chances are you don’t need to change that much on your summertime post in order to make it appropriate for winter, what do you think ? Apart from that, in the southern hemisphere of our planet, it’s summer
I love your attitude of more-is-more, by the way…
Take care
Oliver
Oliver Tausend recently posted..Oliver Tausend’s Blog- Thanks To Top Commentators In December
You’re always such a bright spot in my comments, Oliver!
Duh…I didn’t even think about it being summertime in the southern hemisphere and I have a LOT of blog readers from Australia!
And you’re right, when I was re-reading it as I wrote this post, I was thinking about how a lot of people feel like it’s hard to keep up with their businesses in the winter too! lol
More is more on many levels…like more thanks for your awesome comment?!
Heather
What a great idea Heather!
So does this mean I have to start paying attention to the news again
One of my favourite events of the year is coming up, the Super Bowl, so I am going to see what I can come up with.
Peter
Peter Fuller @ Home Business Solutions recently posted..Top 10 Home Business Predictions for 2011
Of course, Peter, you don’t have to watch the news. I don’t watch it either. I gave that up right after 9/11 and I don’t miss it one bit!
I look forward to your Super Bowl post!
Thanks for your great comment!
Heather
I must say this is a very new approach even to me, Heather.
You are definitely going out of the box here – love it!
Congrats on going below 100K, by the way.
Ana
Ana @ Traffic Generation recently posted..How Expensive PPC Advertising May Payout For Keyword Testing
Ana,
I’m sorry I didn’t reply to this sooner…you were lost in spam. I’m still dealing with GASP spamming some of the good comments, but at least it’s working better than akismet did for me.
Glad you liked the post!
It was a fun one to write, especially with the improvements I saw to my traffic, alexa rank, and subscribers over the series of piggybacked content.
Thanks for stopping by!
Heather
Hey Heather,
Awesome post as usual. Now, that’s a clever marketing trick and it works so well as you have shared your personal experience.
There’s usually something to piggy back on all the time – so no more excuses of not knowing what to write about.
Thanks for sharing your insights.
All the best,
Mavis
Mavis Nong @ Free Marketing Training recently posted..Are You Still Annoying Your Blog Visitors
Thanks Mavis, for your comment!
I’ve found that by piggybacking the leaders in my industry, I’m getting great traffic to my blog, that is ongoing as well as a nice little surge when the post is published.
No excuses…should that be the theme of our challenge maybe? lol!
Have a great weekend! (Rest your typing fingers!!!)
Heather
Hey Heather,
That’s why you’re called the “Clever Marketer”. A great idea. As they say, a trend is your friend and getting on it, contributing to it, adding your own anecdotes to it can really help create some buzz around your marketing.
Take care,
Wayne
Wayne Wu recently posted..Think & Grow Rich Chapter 3 – Faith
Hi Wayne!
Thank you so much for the awesome compliment! I haven’t heard the phrase A Trend is Your Friend before but I love it!
Thanks for sharing,
Heather
Heather C Stephens recently posted..Clever Marketer Prove It! Challenge 2011
Hey Heather,
Thanks for sharing your creativity on marketing. Most individuals hold back on this kind of information. Thanks for being a giver!
Chat with you soon.
Josh
Josh Garcia recently posted..Are You Going to Finish Strong in 2011
Thank you Josh!
I love sharing my best and I totally appreciate your comment!
Good to see you here!
Heather
Heather C Stephens recently posted..Clever Marketer Prove It! Challenge 2011
This is pretty creative. Thank you. As the website name implies, you are a clever marketer.
givejonadollar recently posted..Jons Perfect Girl
Thanks Jon!
Heather C Stephens recently posted..Clever Marketer Prove It! Challenge 2011
Hey Heather,
You’re exactly right about leveraging current trends and interests for traffic gen. There’s always a new holiday, hobby, product and so many other things coming out on a daily basis – it’s almost more difficult to find a focus than to actually write a post about it!
Sure, it may not stay timeless but that’s information anyway. Even pillar posts do become dated as techniques change so you might as well cash in on the current trend rather than letting it die off.
Murlu recently posted..Seemingly Impossible Goals I Plan to Achieve in 2011
Hi Murlu!
Thanks for the great comment! You’re right that there is always something new and choosing what to write about can be difficult when there are so many options. I would recommend choosing something that you can relate nicely to your niche. That way the information is still relevant to your readers, but gives them an interesting twist and perspective to it.
You do bring up a good point that even pillar posts can become out dated with technology changes, but I totally recommend writing pillar content the majority of the time, and filling in the gaps with the piggybacked content.
Thanks for your great comment!
Heather
Great post heather,
I do a lot of post piggy-backing. Depending on the post,these can drive some really big traffic to your site.
But like you say, there is a place and time. Also the trick is to use those topics that you have chosen and to tactfully apply them to you blog niche.
People are often very aware of what’s going on around them. So your post then is brought to the fore.
Also, people search on Google for what ever is popular at that moment, having a blog post that covers those most searched for topics enhances your chances of getting organic traffic via Google.
Hi Robert!
I apologize if this is a duplicate reply. My other one seems to not be showing up on the post here. I love your comment about people being aware of what is going on around them. I hadn’t thought as much about the top of mind awareness with the RAS working in our favor with traffic on a piggy backed post.
Great point.
Thanks for adding value!
Heather
Heather Stephens recently posted..Clever Marketer Prove It! Challenge 2011
Heather… Great post with so much information… I’m so looking forward to coming back here and put some of these tips to work for me with my blog!
I love your tips and ideas and your knowledge… So excited to learn more from you!
Rockin the House,
Christina
Christina recently posted..Personal Branding…Now Is That Like Dragging A Cow Down And Branding Him
Thanks Christina!
I’d love to know how they work for you when you have a chance to implement them.
Good luck!
Heather
Hi Heather,
Thank you.You have just opened my eyes to another way to get traffic. I have heard of this method but never implemented it. I guess keeping an eye on trends in Google and Twitter could help with this.
Thank you again.
Pete
Pete Carr recently posted..I Name This Blog – Rupert!
Thank you for such a wonderful post. You are indeed a clever marketer.
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