As I usually do about once a month, I was checking my Google Analytic statistics on one of my sites to see what I can do to improve traffic building, and saw that I was receiving a good deal of referral traffic from a resource link placed after a Q&A at a wiki website: http://wiki.answers.com
If you pop on over to this and some other wiki sites, you can see that people may ask a question, and then someone leaves an answer. There is also a space that allows you to link to a reference after that answer.
Now while I did not answer this particular question (it was an absolute bonus that someone answered a question and used an article on one of my sites as a reference), I totally have been “sold” on why I should probably spend a bit more energy going to this type of site and getting involved as someone who does give answers on my topic. It’s a fantastic way to build traffic!
This one link was the 5th top referral source of traffic to my website. So imagine if I actually put some effort into this and created a few more links on this wiki? That is what I am planning on doing and I think you should too. These are just a few things I think you should keep in mind when pursuing this type of article link love…
1. Truly Contribute To The Wiki Community
No one likes a Wiki spammer. The point is to create information or write answers to questions that are informative, helpful, and educational. Don’t do this just for the sake of doing it, because it would be a wasted effort. People can smell “junk” a mile away and would not click on the referral link. The person that referred to my article, wrote an insightful answer to a question on the wiki website.
2. Link To Your Article’s URL, Not A Main URL
It’s on a wiki where you can start to do a lot of that deep linking that I am always talking about. Link to articles that are deep into your site. The search engines will LOVE you for it because it creates a much more natural linking structure. Plus, you want to send the person who needs the answer straight to the information they need, not the front page of your site or an article directory website.
3. Use Keywords In Your Link Anchor Text
Again, here is another great opportunity to improve and build traffic by using keywords as your linking text. Don’t just use “click here” or “get more information”. Use your keywords such as “Article Marketing“.
4. Refer Other People In Related Niches
A great way to build partnerships with people with businesses in related niches to yours is to recommend them. A wiki is a great place to refer another person’s service or product, because it is an authoritative source of information. Don’t be shy either, once you have made the referral, let them know that you did!
Lisa , thanks for the great tips about wiki. I've not used them in a couple yrs! Gary
No problem Gary:) I still like 'em.