How To: Trackback For Traffic

This is post 5 of 5 in a series called, “5 Tips to Increasing Blog Traffic“.

Trackbacks are a blogs response to being linked to. For example, I post a snippet about your blog and in WordPress, I put your trackback URL in the “Trackbacks” field. When I publish my post, my blog will tell your blog that I wrote about you. Your blog will then link back to my blog because I’ve mentioned you in a post.

Here are some basic “How To” trackback guides:

Trackback in Movable Type

Trackback in WordPress (bottom part of page)

So how can this work to get you more traffic? It is easier than comments and surrounding the link can be some great eye candy.

When linking in a trackback, make sure that you follow these 3 simple do’s and don’ts:

1. Don’t state the obvious.

Here is an example of the obvious at a post titled, “Click Distance Matters“:

This guy basically just recapped what he read. Would you click his link and go to his blog? Of course not, it is boring and old information.

Here is one other boring trackback:

In a post titled “Forward Links – Because who you link to matters” we find this:

Thank you Captain Obvious.

2. Do be honest.

Just because someone is well respected and a guru doesn’t mean they are right or that you have to agree with them. Todd Malicoat left a comment (sorry, can’t find the comment) about 2 years ago that I disagreed with and posted my response as a trackback. That trackback earned me a lot of readers and some good traffic.

In the same way, when you agree, post a trackback that creates continued interest in the conversation. For example, “I agree with what Malicoat says about breaking up with clients. I just broke up with my first client and would add to Malicoat’s list by saying, ‘This will be my last bit of contact with you. I wish you well.’ That tells your client that it is over permanently and he can no longer expect a response from you.” By the way, that’s true, I just did that last week.

Remember that you can disagree in a polite way without being offensive and putting a foot in your mouth.

3. Don’t trackback spam.

Trackback spam is one of the fastest ways to make sure nobody reads your blog and that your quality content doesn’t get the respect it deserves.

Before Guy Kawasaki changed his trackbacks, I would get about 300 visitors per month from about 2-3 trackbacks per month. That is just from one site. I left trackbacks for every post I wrote! You can too.

Find someone talking about something similar and leave them a trackback, you’ll get a great relevant link, you’ll create value for their website and possibly acquire a new reader!