Haven’t heard of Reddit? That’s ok. Reddit is one of the most underrated social sharing platforms that most people overlook. When used correctly, it can be a cutting edge weapon that will give you the upper hand over your competitors and help generate traffic views to your blog. As a blogger this is how I use reddit to bring traffic to my blog.
Here’s a screenshot of how I went from 20 users per day to 174 with Reddit in a single day. This doesn’t seem like much- but it’s non- negligible for small websites when you’re just getting started. Just image the amount of traffic you get by repeating this process. I explain how I do it below.
What is reddit?
Reddit is a social sharing platform and discussion board where users can vote on content.
What are Subreddits (subs)?
There are hundreds of eclectic communities called subreddits on pretty much anything from Disney movies to personal finance. Subreddits can be composed of serious people who love serious topics or less serious people who are looking for fun interaction like meme subreddits.
The community names have an r/ prefix which stands for Reddit then the name of the community.
r/
Reddit Voting: upvotes and downvotes
When you visit Reddit, you’ll see a couple of threads and posts with up and down arrows for you to vote. If you upvote something it goes to the top of the page, and you get karma. If you don’t like or disagree with something, downvoting will make it go at the bottom of the page and you lose karma.
Keep in mind: the earlier you add a comment to a reddit thread after it’s created, the more likely it will appear on top (given you don’t get downvoted).
A comment with more karma that was posted later than another comment with less karma can appear (score) above it.
Reddit can be a weird mishmash of trolls hiding behind their keyboards vs truly wonderful people who will take the time to be helpful in their responses.
What is Karma?
Reddit karma is like a user score based off of their total contribution: upvotes and downvotes.
Karma is like reputation. If you have a higher karma score it means your posts and comments are well liked and have a greater authority within the community.
If you have a low karma score it means your interactions have offended folks and you can be associated with being a spammer, troll, bot or just an annoying person.
Karma can be divided into 2 types: link and comment karma. By starting new threads, you can earn “link karma” (sometimes known as submission karma. To get comment karma, on the other hand, you need to comment and get people to upvote you.
How to Use Reddit to Promote Your Blog
Signing Up in Reddit
First off you need to sign up and create an account. Pretty basic so far. I recommend creating at least 2 accounts, in case one backfires you will at least have another that is a few months old and won’t have to start from scratch.
After creating your avatar and choosing your appearance. For one of the accounts go ahead and link your blog to your profile.
How to Get Karma on Reddit if you can’t Post?
Now you’ve created the account you’re probably eager to share your first post in a thread. After hitting that enter key, you get a message along the lines of: “hello! unfortunately since your account has a non-positive karma score, your submission was automatically removed.” You’re probably now wondering; I can’t post because I don’t have karma and I can’t get karma so how can I post?
Here’s what I did to earn 501 karma easily overnight
Although you can’t post you can leave comments. This is key.
When I first started reddit I was also confused. I started doing my own research and stumbled on a youtube video recommending to join cat subreddits and posting comments there like ‘so cute’ and ‘so fluffy’ to get tons of karma.
Needless to say I may have shamelessly tried it.
Verdict: it didn’t really work. I got 1-2 karma tops.
Here’s what I did instead that got me 501 karma overnight.
I made a few comments, went to bed, didn’t make much of it and woke up to 250 karma. Wild right?
One of the posts I had commented on had gone viral. This number later went up to 501 karma.
Here is how I did it and how you can too:
The thread was: What’s the most European thing ever?
I didn’t really think much of it when I made the comment and wasn’t expecting so many responses.
Method 1: Post in a General Subreddit
Join the askreddit subreddit. This is what I use. It’s a general forum with a lot of people (thousands online), exactly what you need.
Select the three dots and filter by ‘rising’.
These are posts that are rising in popularity.
Choose a thread and leave a comment. I rule out any posts that were posted more than an hour ago and typically won’t post. Post under a thread with a lot of comments.
The last three below look promising.
The best way to get lots of karma is to make a funny or witty comment if- if you do these are the best (of course it depends on the subreddit). Or provide a helpful response or share your personal experience. Make sure to read the room first to see what others are posting.
Avoid leaving short unhelpful answers like “Yes” “Not really”.
Comment on at least 15-20 posts. You gotta sprinkle out your chances for your post.
In my case, I commented on 15-20 posts and out of those one became viral. You never really know what is going to work. It can be random that way.
Also from my experience, the best time to post comments that seemed to work was weekend nights around 7 pm- 12 am EDT.
This is How I Grew my Karma from 0 to 500
Method 2: Piggybacking
A second method to get karma easily is piggybacking. I know it’s not exactly the most upfront way. It’s kind of the lazy way. But you know what they say “Work hard play hard”. You’re basically going to be riding on the success of an already made comment.
First off, filter by ‘hot’
Here’s a thread:
What TV series was actually good through its entire run?
This thread has 2,000 upvotes and 5.3k comments.
Look at how smooth this redditor’s comment is to the main comment above it.
As a result they got 86 karma very easily.
Top tip: When doing this choose threads that are freshly posted. Don’t bother with anything that’s too old, for example 22 hours. Threads will become irrelevant after 24 hours so at 22 hours that’s considered the end of a thread’s life, and no one will be there to upvote your comment.
After using the method above you should have enough karma to start using reddit.
However, I do not recommend promoting your blog right away!
You need to build reddit credibility and legitimacy.
Remember in reddit you need to blend in with your shades and become a redditor not a salesman. Because people can smell that marketing stench fast and hate spam.
What I Did to Grow My Blog Traffic on Reddit
I was able to get 174 visits in a day to my website, by posting a recipe. I first researched recipe subreddits. Read the RULES carefully, and posted my recipe to 5-6 subreddits.
Issues I Ran Into
Even when I did that my post got rejected for one of the biggest recipe post subreddits. I got an automatic message saying my post was rejected and I had to wait 30 days to repost to the group.
I did include the word “best” in the post and I think they mentioned to keep the title neutral. So I thought it was because of that. I couldn’t wait 30 days and had to find out. So I contacted the mod asking why to better understand- and they basically said I was promoting my blog.
To be fair I had shared that recipe in my profile too many times, so I see how it made my profile appear spammy (and that was not what they’re after in their group. Fair enough. I did learn my lesson.
Guys, try not to submit the same recipe/post too many times to different subreddits. It does look spammy on your profile. Fortunately, there was no issue with the other subreddits.
In hindsight, don’t do what I did and only choose 1 max. 2 subreddits to post the SAME post to. If you can add a random thread between them, even better.
Do’s and Don’ts of Reddit
Do Have At Least 500 Comment Karma.
Make sure your account has at least 500 comment karma before promoting your blog. Build up your account so it’s at least 1 month old. The older the better it will appear not as spam.
Do Start Posting Organic Content Without Promotional Content
Your end goal is to create a relationship of trust and blend in with redditors. To do this, in the beginning you need to build up that rapport and credibility by posting to threads related to your niche. Participate in threads by giving other Redditors an upvote and responding to their comments. The more engagement and activity in a thread the more popular it will become.
Don’t Make Your First, Second, or Third Post Promotional
This will make you appear spammy. Remember to build credibility first and BLEND in with everyone else. There used to be a 9:1 Retiquette (non- official) that for every 1 post of your promotional content, you should post 9 non promotional posts. This ratio was used by some moderators to weed out spammers. This just shows you the importance of not-spamming and gives you an idea of how much to advertise your blog versus other content.
Do Join Subreddits Associated with your Blog Niche
Make sure to find and join relevant subreddits that are connected to your blog.
Selecting the appropriate subreddit can be challenging for the following reasons:
Choose a subreddit that has enough users’ redditors but isn’t too busy for your thread to be lost in the noise.
Remember if your primary goal on reddit is to grow traffic to your blog, make sure you’re in the places that your target audience are in. Know what they want, understand their needs, interact with them, build a rapport of trust. Comment on their posts.
Double Check the rules of your subreddit
When you are ready to promote, always check the rules of the subreddit. Each subreddit has different rules. Everyone is concerned here: both experienced redditors and newbies. Many experienced redditors also fall into this trap and forget to read the rules until it’s too late. It takes less than a minute. “Just do it”- Nike swoosh.
Don’t Use one Reddit Account to Upvote the Other
It won’t work to consistently use different accounts to upvote your own posts. Even if you use a VPN or another security measure, Reddit will flag such activity. Both accounts might be suspended if your account upvotes the specific account too frequently (even more if both accounts have a low karma score and are new to reddit). So just don’t do it.
Don’t Bother Conserving Posts that are Getting Downvoted
If a post you made is heavily downvoted- just delete it. If you keep it, it will keep harming your karma and hurt your repetition. Ain’t no one gonna know nor care.
Don’t Take Downvotes Personally
Do not take downvotes to heart- just move on. There can be a group mentality where a downvoted post encourages others to downgrade as well. If you’re new, just avoid commenting on controversial subjects until you’ve mustered enough karma and you should be good.
Do Have a Cocktail of Promotional Content- that’s not limited to just yours
When you reach the promotion stage, don’t just promote your own blog, but also sprinkle in some other websites that may be helpful and add value to your target audience. This way you don’t appear too spammy, pushing only your content. For promoting others, in most cases you can just mention without directly linking.
Join Subreddits that Allow Promotion
Research subreddits that are flexible and allow promotion links in your niche. To check this, the best way is to read the rules and scroll down the subreddit to see what people are actually posting. Is there promotional content? How are people posting it? As a direct link or more low-key?
Do not Expect
Ask for nothing. Expect nothing. Most people get annoyed if you’re very salesy about promotional content.
Make a Submission in the Subreddit
If you don’t see any promotional content or the subreddit doesn’t accept links sometimes you can make a submission to the moderator of the subreddit directly. Reddit is very hands off- and is a pretty small sized structure. The people who regulate are only a few moderators and are typically volunteers. Each subreddit has a moderator and each subreddit has different rules.
Only do this if you’re sure you have really great content that you know will be useful. Make sure to emphasise that when you make a submission. Pitch your post link to them in the most persuasive manner you can and emphasise value. Mention a problem that people are having and how your post helps and provides value.
Now let’s say you have followed all the rules above, have grown your reddit account and have established trust.
How do you promote your blog on Reddit?
Make Sure to Post Your Best Quality Content
Don’t promote all of your blog content. Choose only your best, most valuable quality content that people will find helpful. The kind that people will bother to comment under your post ‘thanking you’.
Share a personal story from your own experience with Redditors if you want them to read your post (stuff about success and failures works well when posting in your niche)
Don’t Use Your Company Name in Posts
Instead of using “the company” when describing a project, use “I” and “we” pronouns. This makes it appear more personal and legit.
Copycat Your Competition
If you get no activity on your posts, STUDY the top posts in your subreddit. Of course, do not copy they’re content but get INSPIRED and actually look at what they are doing and what is working. See exactly what they’re doing and try to replicate it.
Skip the Link
Sometimes it can be strategic to indirectly promote. If you are promoting a product or service. Add the name of your blog without a link. Use “Sprinkle Digital” instead of “sprinkledigital.com” for instance. This will give the impression that you just casually mentioned it not to advertise the brand but recommended it for the benefit of other users. Anybody who is interested enough in your brand will now look it up, and you won’t appear spammy.
Link Always At the End
If you want to include a link, never add your promotional link in the beginning of a thread or comment, nor in the title. Always place it in the end.
And don’t just throw it there.
If you are answering a question with your blog article. Actually answer parts of their questions THEN add your link.
This redditor does it very smartly.
And don’t just add it any way. When you add a link click on ‘title of link’
Use it.
Don’t just write “my blog” or “my website” which comes off as major spam fam desperado.
Actually include a title that answers their question and links to your blog article subject. This looks like the link is not yours and you actually spent the time to research and help the user.
In this second comment they included the town’s name as the title link and redirect the user to their blog posts on Edirne.
Another way is to answer a question normally then mention:
“I’ll add a link later if I find one”.
Then when you want to update it add:
“Edit: insert link”
Now it actually appears more genuine and organic like you posted a comment then couldn’t remember then went back to include a link
Remember give redditors VALUE in your post if you want them to interact with it.
FAQ
Is getting traffic from reddit possible for all blog niches?
Yes, if you do it smartly. It also depends on your niche and the subreddit. Some niches will have it a lot easier than others to promote (like food) while others are a lot more difficult to get in (like tech and finance). Although, it is possible.
At the end of the day, your success in promoting your blog depends on your niche, how well you manage to participate in that community and build trust, be a redditor not a salesman, and how smoothly and organically you promote your content.
Is Reddit a Blog?
No, Reddit isn’t a blog. Reddit is more of a social site for sharing and discussing content in topic-based communities (subreddits). Blogs are more like personal or company websites for posting articles.
Takeaway
Remember the only way to promote or bring up something is to first establish trust. You want to be a redditor not a salesman.
I hope this was more helpful than leaving kitty comments (disclaimer: cats are awesome). Let me know if you get success with this.
What are your tips for easy karma? What methods do you use to grow your blog in reddit? Share in the comments.
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