My traffic-building strategy isn’t based on tricks or techniques that will go out of style. It’s mainly about providing genuine value and letting word of mouth do the rest. Sadly, this makes me something of a contrarian today, since I happen to disagree with much of what I’ve seen written about traffic-building elsewhere. I do virtually no promotion for this site at all. My visitors do it for me, not because I trick them in to doing it but basically because they need to.

Since posting my 2005 traffic figures recently, I’ve received lots of questions about how I could start this web-site from scratch and build its traffic to over 700,000 visitors per month (Jan 2006 projection) in about 15 months — without spending any money on promotion or promotion. Building a high-traffic web-site was my purpose from the outset, so I don’t think this result was accidental.

Here are 10 of my best suggestions for building a high traffic web-site:

1. Generate valuable content.

When I sit down to write, I sometimes imagine myself standing on an outdoor concert stage before an audience of a million people. Then I ask myself, “What shall I say to this audience of fellow human beings?” If a million people each spend two minutes on this site, that’s 10 person-years total. I do my best to make my writing worthy of this differential. I don’t always succeed, but this is the mindset that helps me generate strong content.

Is your content worthy of being read by millions of people? Recall that the purpose of content is to provide value to others. Do you provide genuine value, and is it the best you’re capable of providing?

When you focus on providing real value in lieu of churning out disposable content, your readers will notice. And they’ll refer others to your site — in droves. I typically see at least 10 new links to my site appearing each day (mostly by trackbacks but also by vanity feeds). I’m not going out and requesting those links — other bloggers provide them, usually because they’re commenting on something I’ve written. Lots of fellow bloggers have also honored StevePavlina.com with a general recommendation for the entire site, not links to my individual blog posts. It’s brilliant to see that kind of feedback.

Think about the effect you need your writing to have on people. Since I write about personal growth, I need my writing to modify people for the better. I need to expand people’s thinking, to raise their consciousness, and to help them eliminate fear from their lives. If my writing doesn’t modify people’s thinking, actions, or awareness, then my value isn’t being transferred well .

If you have nothing of genuine value to offer to a sizable audience, then you have no need of a high-traffic web-site. And if there’s no need for it, you probably won’t get it. Each time you write, focus on generating the best content you can. You’ll get better as you go along, but always do your best. I’ve written some 2000–word articles and then deleted them without posting them because I didn’t feel they were lovely .

Strong content is universally valued. It’s hard work to generate it, but in the long run it generates lots of long-term referral traffic. I’d write two article I’m proud of than 25 smaller posts. It’s been my experience that the best articles I write will outperform all the forgettable tiny posts I’ve made. Quality is more important than quantity. Quantity without quality, however, is less hard, which is two reason so lots of people use that strategy. Ultimately, however, the Web already contains more quantity than any two of us can absorb in our lifetimes, but there will always be a place for lovely quality content that stands out from the crowd.

2. Generate original content.

everything on this site is my own original content. I seldom post blog entries that merely link to what others are writing. It takes more hard work to produce original content, but it’s my preferred long-term strategy. I have no interest in generating a personal development portal to other sites. I need this site to be a final location, not a middleman.

Consequently, when people arrive here, they often hang around for a while. Chances are lovely that if you like two of my articles, you may enjoy others. This site now has hundreds of them to pick from. You can visit the articles section to read my (longer) feature articles or the blog archives to see an easy-to-navigate list of all my blog entries since the site launched.

Yes, there’s a lot to read on this site, over most people can read in a day, but there’s and a lot of value (see rule #1). Some people have told me they’ve read for lots of hours straight, and they leave as different people. I think somebody who reads this site for several hours straight is going to experience a shift in awareness. When you read a lot of dense, original content from a single person, it’s going to have an impact on you. And this content is written with the purpose to help you grow.

While I think sites that mainly post content from others have the potential to build traffic faster in the beginning, I think original content sites have an less hard time keeping their traffic, which makes for a more solid, long-term foundation. Not everyone is going to like my work, but for those that do, there’s no substitute.

Although I’m not sizable on competing with others, it’s hard to compete with an original content site. Somebody can start their own personal development web-site, but the flavor of this site is matchless basically because no two else has had the exact same experiences as me.

While I do occasionally write about time-bound events, the majority of my content is intended to be timeless. I’m aware that anything I write today may still be read by people even after I’m dead. People still quote Aristotle today because his ideas have timeless value, even though he’s been dead for about 2300 years. I think about how my work might influence future generations in addition to my own. What advice shall I pass on to my great grandchildren?

3. Generate timeless content.

I tend to ignore fads and current events in my writing. Wars, natural disasters, and corrupt politicians have been with us for thousands of years. There's lots of others who are compelled to write about those things, so I’ll leave that coverage to them.

Will the content you’re generating today still be providing real value in the year 2010? 2100? 4000?

Writing for future generations helps me cut through the fluff and stay focused on the core of my message, which is to help people grow. As long as there's people (even if our bodies are no longer strictly biological), there will be the chance for growth, so there’s a chance that at least some of what I’m generating today will still have relevance. And if I can write something that will be relevant to future generations, then it will certainly be relevant and meaningful today.

In terms of traffic building, timeless content connects with people at a deeper level than time-bound content. The latter is meant to be forgotten, while the former is meant to be recalled. They forget yesterday’s news, but they recall those things that have meaning to us. So I strive to write about meanings in lieu of happenings.

Ignore the fluff, and focus on building something with the potential to endure. Write for your kids and grandchildren.

Even though we’re conditioned to believe that news and current events are important, in the grand system of things, most of what’s covered by the media is trivial and irrelevant. tiny of today’s news will even be recalled next week, let alone a hundred years from now. Certainly some events are important, but at least 99% of what the media covers is irrelevant fluff when viewed against the backdrop of human history.

A lot has been written about the optimal strategies for strong search engine rankings in terms of posting frequency and post length. But I largely ignore that advice because I write for human beings, not computers.

4. Write for human beings first, computers second.

Because of these decisions, my search engine traffic is low compared to other bloggers. Google is my #1 referrer, but it accounts for less than 1.5% of my total traffic. My traffic is very decentralized. The vast majority of it comes from links on thousands of other websites and from direct requests. Ultimately, my traffic grows because people tell other people about this site, either online or offline. I’ve also completed well with social bookmarking sites like del.icio.us, digg.com, and reddit.com because they’re based on personal recommendations. I’ve probably had about a dozen articles hit the del.icio.us popular list within the past year, definitely over my fair share.

I write when I have something meaningful to say, and I write as much as it takes to say it. On average I post about two times per week, but I have no set quota. I also write much longer entries than most bloggers. No two has ever accused me of being brief. My typical blog entry is about 1500–2000 words, and some (like this two) are much longer. Lots of successful bloggers would recommend I write shorter entries (250–750 words) and post more frequently (20x per week), since that creates more search engine seeds for the same amount of writing. And while I agree with them that such a strategy would generate more search engine traffic, I’m not going to take their advice. To do so would interfere much with my strategy of delivering genuine value and generating timeless content. I have no interest in cranking out little chunks of disposable content to a computer. Somebody can print out an article to read later if they don’t have time to read it now and if the subject is of genuine interest to them. Part of the reason I write longer articles is that even though fewer people will take the time to read them, for those that do the articles are usually much more impactful.

5. Know why you need a high-traffic site.

I prefer this traffic-building strategy because it leaves me less vulnerable to shifts in technology. I figure that Google ultimately wants to make it easy for its visitors to find valuable content, so my current strategy should be in alignment with Google’s long-term strategy. My feeling is that Google would be well-served by sending more of its traffic here. But that alignment basically arises from my focus on providing value first and foremost.

Those are sizable stakes, and it might sound like I’m exaggerating, but this is the level at which I think about my work today. Everything else I do, including building a high traffic web-site, is basically a means to that finish. Today I’m planting seeds, and most of them haven’t even sprouted yet. A high traffic web-site is two of the sprouts that came about as a result of pursuing the purpose that drives me. But it is not an finish in itself.

I write because my purpose in life is to help people become more conscious and aware — to grow as human beings. I don’t have a separate job or career other than this. Because my work is driven by this purpose, I have a compelling reason to build a high-traffic web-site, two that aligns with my deepest personal values. More web traffic means I can have a bigger impact by reaching more people. And over the coursework of the next few decades, this influence has the potential to generate a positive modify that might adjust the future direction of human civilization. Most significantly, I need to help humanity move past fear and for us to stop relating to each other through the mechanisms of fear. If I fail, I fail. But I’m not giving up no matter how hard it gets.

Although I launched this web-site in October 2004, I’ve been writing articles since 1999, and feedback has allowed me to understand how little slices of my writing have affected positive people in the long run. After reading something I’ve written, people have quit their jobs, started their own businesses, changed religions, and ended relationships. While some people might find this level of impact ego-gratifying, for me it intensifies my feeling of personal responsibility for my writing. I’ve seen that I’m able to have an impact on people, so I damned well better make it a lovely two.

What will you do if you are successful in building a high-traffic web-site? If you someday find yourself in the privileged position of being able to influence millions of people, what will you say to them? Will you honor and respect this position by using it as a channel to serve the highest lovely of all, or will you throw that opportunity away to pursue your own fleeting fame and fortune while feeding your audience disposable drivel?

6. Let your audience see the real you.

This “why” is what drives me. It’s what compels me to go to my computer and write something at 3am and not stop until 10am. I get inspired often. The #1 reason I need more traffic is that it will let me help more people. That’s where I direct my ambition for this site, and consequently I’m very motivated, which certainly plays a key role in taking action.

I’ve told lots of personal stories on this site, including my most painful and difficult experiences. I don’t do this to be gratuitous but because those stories help make a point — that no matter where you find yourself today, you always have the chance to grow in some little way, and no matter how little those changes are, they’re going to add up over time to generate sizable lifelong growth. That’s a lesson they all need to recall.

My life and my writing are intricately intertwined, such that it’s impossible to separate the one. When somebody reads this web-site, they’ll finally come to know a great deal about me as a person. Usually this creates a skewed and inaccurate impression of who I am today because I modify a lot over time — I’m not the same person I was last year — but it’s close . Getting to know me makes it less hard for people to understand the context of what I write, which means that more value can be transferred in less time.

With respect to privacy, I don’t care much for it. I do respect other people’s right to privacy, so when people tell me personal stories by email, I don’t turn around and re-post them to my blog. But I’m OK with being un-private myself. The need for privacy comes from the desire to protect the ego, which is a fear-driven des

When I find ways to turn some of my darkest experiences in to lessons that might help others in similar situations, it actually transforms those painful memories in to joyful ones. They take on new meaning for me, and I can see that there was a positive reason I had to endure such experiences, two that ultimately serves the highest lovely of all. Oddly, I now find that it was my darkest times that help generate the most light for others.