Author Topic: Tips for re-establishing traffic to my Wordpress site?  (Read 2561 times)

naturelover

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Tips for re-establishing traffic to my Wordpress site?
« on: June 26, 2015, 06:27:30 AM »
I have a Wordpress site on the free hosting side (Wordpress.com) that I have had for a little over three years. I recently decided to let my custom url expire (to save money, of course) and go to the "site name".wordpress.com format. I didn't realize this would take my stats to zero! I was up to about 100 visitors a day and it literally went to zero and pretty much stayed there. The site is a little directory for non-profit orgs in my area, and I'm really disappointed that it's no longer being used. Most of the traffic was previously coming through web search terms. I now know that changing a url basically kills the SEO ranking that had been established. I know there are options for pointing an old url to a new one but don't think that's an option since I no longer own the old url.

Any tips for building back my site's traffic? Thanks much!











purplepants

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Re: Tips for re-establishing traffic to my Wordpress site?
« Reply #1 on: June 26, 2015, 08:23:25 AM »
You're probably mostly starting from scratch and will need to build traffic the way you did the first time.

If there are sites that used to link to your old URL, you may want to contact the content managers of those sites and let them know about the updated info. 

Also, depending on how much time you want to put into it, get out there and be social using the new URL - contribute to discourse on related blogs and sites, make sure all your related social media accounts are updated with the current info and actively use them.

reachfield

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Re: Tips for re-establishing traffic to my Wordpress site?
« Reply #2 on: June 26, 2015, 08:27:11 AM »
A domain name costs around $10/year. I'd just repurchase it, and either forward it to the new URL as you said, or continue using it if you do want traffic to your site.

naturelover

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Re: Tips for re-establishing traffic to my Wordpress site?
« Reply #3 on: June 26, 2015, 08:48:48 AM »
You're probably mostly starting from scratch and will need to build traffic the way you did the first time.

If there are sites that used to link to your old URL, you may want to contact the content managers of those sites and let them know about the updated info. 

Also, depending on how much time you want to put into it, get out there and be social using the new URL - contribute to discourse on related blogs and sites, make sure all your related social media accounts are updated with the current info and actively use them.

Thanks for your input. I figured I would have to start over like it's a new site. Was hoping there might be something else without having to go that route. Oh, well. Live and learn.

A domain name costs around $10/year. I'd just repurchase it, and either forward it to the new URL as you said, or continue using it if you do want traffic to your site.


Thanks for your reply. I owned it privately through WP so I was paying upwards of $30/year for the domain. Unfortunately, a company bought it right after expiration and now has it parked and available for $100.

BarkyardBQ

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Re: Tips for re-establishing traffic to my Wordpress site?
« Reply #4 on: June 26, 2015, 10:07:59 AM »
edit: didn't see your last comment. If it's important to you just pay the $100.

You usually have 45 days from expiry to deletion of a domain, you can either talk to the registrar and have them renew it or you can call Godaddy and talk to them. Godaddy is pretty good at re-aquiring deleted domains for a hefty fee.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!