Frustrating isn’t it?
Everybody told you social media, as well as Google are oh-so-important for generating traffic, so you focused so much of your time and effort building a following on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and SEO or whatever the flavor of the month is today.
But every time you publish one of your blog posts, these sources don’t seem to drive traffic.
Only a small percentage of the following you’ve built seems to click-through to your site.
Well, what if I told you about a social media platform that not only generates mass traffic, but you don’t even need many followers to benefit from it?
If you’re disappointed with your results from traditional social media, start a Flipboard account.
What is Flipboard?
Flipboard is an app and website that allows you to curate content by having to curate and create magazine.
(Few people know it also has great potential as a source of blog traffic. But more on that later. )
The reasons Flipboard is preferable to traditional social media are simple.
- Flipboard is visually appealing.
People like to look at pretty things.
Magazines made on Flipboard have such an aesthetic appeal, people want to read them. - The user is able to create a personalized experience since they are curating articles that appeal to their interests.
And Flipboard also has a mobile app. - Flipboard Emails you articles you indicated you found interesting when you signed up.
When you sign up for Flipboard, it first presents you with a big list of topics.
You select what you’re interested in, and when you’re done, Flipboard will curate and create an online magazine with cover stories from all the topics you selected.
These cover stories are articles selected by other users.
You can personally add articles to your Flipboard as well.
Imagine you find an article on copywriting that you’d like to read, but you don’t have time right at that moment.
You might then add it to your Flipboard (also known as “flipping”), and later, when you do have some time, you can read it (and other articles you’ve flipped) at your leisure.
Flipboard’s format differs from other content curation sites you find on the web.
Instead of presenting the curated content on lists like on StumbleUpon or on boards like on Pinterest, Flipboard enables its users to have a real journalistic feel by collecting users’ content into a magazine-style format.
So you must be wondering, how can this help you get traffic?
How Flipboard Can Benefit You
The potential to bring your site traffic is enormous.
The articles I share to Flipboard bring daily traffic to my blog.
Several bloggers report the same boost of page views from Flipboard.
Jeff Bullas, for example, reported receiving 275 page views in one day to his blog from Flipboard.
Harsh Agrawal showed his referral traffic from Flipboard. He received a jaw-dropping 3,682 hits from Flipboard in just one day.
Also, the site will send your blog posts out for you.
Flipboard sends out your blog posts to people who expressed interest in your article topic.
These perks are not available on traditional social media. But people will tweet about your Flipboard.
It is an easy to use and Flipboard to get traffic to your blog considering it has over 90 million users.
If you just tap a fraction of that, you will have amazing site traffic.
But the question is how?
Well, let’s start at the beginning.
How to Get Started Using Flipboard
Step 1: Set up Your Flipboard Account.
Go to Flipboard.com and make an account.
Select interests that you would like to read articles about.
Flipboard will offer you your choices after you make an account.
Step 2: Make a magazine.
To make a magazine, click your profile picture in the upper right.
Then, click New Magazine, and name and describe your magazine that will contain your own content as well as others’.
Make sure when you describe your magazine, you use topics that others might use to search for your article.
Use the description to provide specific detail about what kind of information the magazine contains.
Describing your magazine is similar to describing a board over at Pinterest.
Speaking of which, I have a Flipboard magazine that’s called Pinterest, which makes a great example.
The description reads: “How bloggers and authors can use Pinterest to promote their content and curate their content.”
This description instantly clarifies to the reader what kind of articles they’ll find in the magazine.
Step 3: Add Stories to Your Magazine:
There are several ways you can add articles to your Flipboard.
The first way is to simply flip articles on Flipboard itself.
You can either use the website or the app that’s available on Android and iOS.
Simply search for an article on a topic that interests you to find articles to put in your magazine.
Do this by clicking the magnifying glass and typing a topic of interest.
For example, if you want to find an article about making money online, you might type in “making money online”.
Many choices will come up.
By reading the magazine name and description, you should be able to narrow your search to articles that will interest you.
When you find some article you like, click the plus sign to flip it into your magazine.
When you hover over the headline, a red plus sign will appear.
Clicking the plus sign will allow me to flip the story into one of my magazines.
I can add it to as many magazines as I want, but only one at a time.
Of course, sometimes you might want to flip an article that you found on the web, rather than on Flipboard.
This is quite easy too.
Some sites will have a Flipboard button, but if they don’t, you need to install the Bookmarklet browser extension which you can get.
(There is also a Chrome Extension.)
Oh, but you also want to have an easy way to add your own articles (and have others add them to their own Flipboards, while you’re at it). So you should install the Flipboard button on your website.
By going to Flipboard.com/tools/, you can get the code to install a “Flipboard” social share button on your site.
When you add an article to your Flipboard, make sure to write a description when Flipboard asks you what was so appealing about the content that you flipped it into your magazine.
That way people who search for your content can find your article.
You can also add your blog’s RSS feed to Flipboard and it will publish each new blog post and get your flipboard traffic automatically.
How to Get the Most Out of Flipboard
Now you got the basics of Flipboard down.
That wasn’t hard, wasn’t it?
But just creating your own magazines and flipping articles will only get you so far.
To get the most cut of Flipboard, you should also do the following:
- Connect with Like-Minded Flippers.
Bring yourself to the attention of other bloggers.
This is always a great way to get attention to your blog.
They will want to check you out since you are a like-minded blogger.
Some will return the favor and like your articles back.
You can find them by searching the topics that interest you.
Click “Add Comment” in order to comment at Flipboard.
Like their articles as well by clicking the heart symbol.
2. Flip Content Without an Expiration Date.
Stick to flipping content that is always relevant.
Some topics are only relevant for a short time or for a specific period each year.
Other topics are relevant all year, every year.
Find articles on these topics to flip.
Such evergreen content will be appealing all year-long and will aid in increasing the traffic you get coming to your site from Flipboard.
[Flipboard works well – both the web version and the Flipboard app.]
3. Flip your best content from the past.
This will establish your brand.
The more Flipboard users are interested in your brand, the greater your potential for Flipboard referral traffic.
Dig through your own blog archives to find your best content, your quality content and flip it into your magazines.
4. Check your analytics regularly.
Agrawal recommends this practice.
5. Make additional magazines.
It is in your best interest to make as many magazines that relate to your content to increase your chances of getting traffic to the articles in those magazines.
For example, my site offers blogging tips.
If I suggest tools to help bloggers, I would flip the article into both my technology magazine and my blogging tips magazine.
6. Be a consistent flipper.
The longer you create content, the more articles you will have at Flipboard to attract readers.
The potential snowball effect is staggering.
Look at this screenshot.
On July 27, Flipboard sent Cresting the Hill more than seventeen thousand page views.
This was not unique.
The screenshot shows Cresting the Hill received mass traffic from Flipboard on other days in July as well.
When asked why she felt she received such impressive stats from Flipboard, the admin blogger, Leanne Le Cras, explained she felt interaction with other bloggers at Flipboard was the cause.
She offered flipping users’ content and commenting on their articles as examples of engaging with other bloggers.
Are You Ready to Make an Account?
Flipboard is growing in momentum as new users discover it and older users discover new uses for it.
Why not get on the bandwagon and try it?
You’ll build relationships with new like-minded bloggers, have a place to store articles for future reference, and you’ll even use it to boost traffic to your site.
Flipboard is easy and therefore quick to use.
Once you select your topics of interest when signing up, Flipboard takes care of the rest by sending you their articles.
Since there are 34,000 interests, its possibilities are endless.
You can even create different magazines and share them on your social networks.
Flipboard is a great way to increase your online exposure and be a source for massive blog traffic.
Flipboard is a fun, easy, and quick to use, and best of all, it’s free.
