A primer for increasing web traffic to an author's website -- includes basic tips and more.

1. A Few Tips
…for your author’s blog/website

2. While many want to begin as concert pianist…
A better starting point is Do, Re, Me, Fa….

3. Plan ahead, Do no evil
…
Page structure matters…
Keep posting…
Links, links, & more links…
Over the years, I’ve had several pages which came up on page 1…

4. Use shady link farms
People aren’t searching for the
information on your page.
Identify pages with large number
of referring domains…
Identify topics on the page that
are searched for…
Reference: https://ahrefs.com/blog/search-traffic-study/
retrieved on Feb 25, 2019
Do No Evil
Shady links:
Link farms
Unnatural links
bought links
reciprocal links
Cloaked items
Spam everything:
free hosting w/ too much spam
pure spam
Keyword stuffing
--------
Hint: Not more than 3 to
4 links in every 100 to 150 words

5. 0
20,000
40,000
60,000
80,000
100,000
120,000
Nov-16 Mar-17 Jun-17 Sep-17 Dec-17 Apr-18 Jul-18 Oct-18 Feb-19 May-19
Keep Posting 
Serious Illnes --
No longer posting 1-3 X a week
Surgery
reduced weekly posting
a plethora of health....
Keep Posting

6. … Data is from Ahrefs : How long does it take to rank in Google? (A study by Ahrefs)
Pages Ranked in in Google Top Ten
• About 58% were at least 3 yrs old
• About 18% were 2 years
• Only ~ 22% were less than 1 yr old
Keep Posting

7. 91% of webpages don’t show up
in any Google Searches
---------
• 55% of pages: Zero referring
domains…
• 30 % of pages: 1 to 3
• 11% of pages: 4 to 10
Data is from Ahrefs.com
The #1 reason for low ranking in searches?
the page has zero backlinks pointing at the page
Links, Links & More Links

8. Author’s page on
Amazon
Author’s page from
blogs
…from professional
websites
… from guest blogs
From RSS…
…from Directories
Misc
… from University
Low hanging fruit
Author’s page on
Goodreads
… from FB, Twitter
page
… from comments
on others blogs
… from
slideshare.net
… from Youtube
From Gravatar…
From Pininterest…From images…
Links, Links & More Links

9. Back links are long gone…
Page Structure
May or may not help
Better to work into text

10. At least one dominant image,
more may not help
Many top pages have 1800+
words, old suggestion was 250-
400 words
Page Structure

11. Think Key Words!
------
Your Page Must Have the Words You
Think People Will Search For
… especially in your title
Page Structure
The #2 reason for low ranking in searches?
Your page doesn’t have what people are searching for…
Quick Optimization
------
• Use key words in your URL’s
• In the title and headings
• Quality/unique content reflects key words
• Images

12. Author: James Spruell, PhD
Website: Jspruell.com
Bye Now