Regardless of the type of dropshipping store you own, finding free traffic sources is the goal we all aim to reach. Driving traffic to your online business is one of the most important digital marketing skills you could have as a dropshipper.
Finding a free source of traffic can seem like a daunting task at first, so we wanted to make things easier.
We’ll give you twenty of the best free traffic sources for any dropshipping store. And yes, they’re entirely free, so let’s get going.
20 Best Free Traffic Sources for Dropshipping Stores
We tried to make this list of the best free traffic sources as detailed as possible to help you get more traffic for free and increase your sales and conversion rates.
Blogs and SEO
Search engine optimization entails preparing or optimizing a page of your website to rank as high as possible on search engines. You can do this by providing valuable content with strategic placing of keywords throughout.
One of the most bulletproof methods of driving traffic with the help of SEO is blogging. By having a blog post p on your website, you’ll be able to rank different pages of your website for various keywords.
But don’t think that you can stuff a text with keywords, and the page will immediately rank high. While that might have worked well in the past, it doesn’t anymore. The new Google algorithms have made sure that the content that ranks is valuable to their readers.
Being present on social media platforms that your target audience uses is priceless for any dropshipping store. We’re not saying that you have to be present everywhere.
For instance, if you’re selling mechanical parts to 65+ males, Instagram is probably not the best place for you. Check where you can reach your audience and create a profile on that social media platform.
You’ll learn where your target audience is by creating one or multiple buyer personas. And include as many details as possible – their age, gender, likes and dislikes, etc. We promise that this will give you a much clearer picture of your audience.
Create a Facebook group
One severely underestimated way of driving free traffic to your online store is by creating a Facebook group around your niche. And yes, you have the best chances if you’re the creator and admin of the group.
Dropshipping natural skincare products for acne-prone skin? Create a group on Facebook like “Natural Skincare Routine” or “Acne Help with Natural Skincare.” Dropshipping sunglasses? Create a group around it.
Think of a group that your target audience would find helpful, create it, and start posting valuable content. At first, don’t even mention your product. Just focus on providing value to the other group members, and they’ll soon come asking.
Hashtags are a potent social media tool that we often overlook. They help categorize, search, and find posts in a similar niche. By including hashtags in your posts, you can increase your organic reach and traffic from social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram.
In one word – hashtags make content discoverable organically. They’re an integral part of reaching more people with your posts, regardless if it’s on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
Here’s an example of hashtags you could include in your post if you’re dropshipping T-shirts: #tshirts #customtees #tees #personalized #PoD #printondemand #funnytshirts #fashion #design #style, etc.
Guest blogging
Every niche and industry out there has certain domains or websites that are considered an authority. When we say authority, we mean trustworthy brands that enjoy customer loyalty.
To increase your reach, think of a way you can contribute to that blog, and try your luck at guest blogging. Start by reaching out to them and pitching an idea they can’t refuse.
The beauty of guest blogging is in the possibility of placing backlinks to your store in the guest posts. Some blogs will let you do that, while others will only put your link in your author bio. In any case, this type of content marketing will help you increase free traffic.
Affiliate marketing
Launching an affiliate program is a foolproof way of increasing your traffic and conversion rate. You could do this with influencers or make your program available to the public.
Affiliate marketing works like this: you have so-called affiliates or people that promote, market and sell your product. In return, they get a percentage of the sales. So, essentially, you have other people doing the job for you.
Of course, affiliate marketing isn’t entirely free since you always cut a portion of your profits for your affiliates. However, it’s a way to start dropshipping with no money and increase your traffic.
YouTube channel
As a Google product, YouTube also uses SEO to give visual, video answers to common search queries. A YouTube video that’s well-optimized to answer a question and has a good description and title containing the keyword can rank incredibly well.
To add YouTube to your list of organic traffic sources for your dropshipping store, go ahead and create a YouTube channel in your niche. You can talk about anything and everything that will help your audience.
Regardless of the dropshipping product, there are tons of ideas out there. For instance, you could leverage user-generated content and post product unboxing, customer testimonials, how to use the product, educational videos, product reviews, and more.
Write an eBook
If you have knowledge in a subject and provide some value to your website visitors, writing an eBook is a fantastic way to create trustworthiness and generate leads.
Writing an eBook doesn’t require any funds, only your time and dedication. And no worries, if you have a lot of experience in something but aren’t that good with words, there are tons of freelancers on Upwork or Fiverr that can help you with that.
Of course, writing an eBook won’t be suitable for all online stores, but if it makes sense for you, we encourage you to go ahead and try your luck.
Forum comments
Commenting on forums is very easy, and it’s something anyone can do. Search for forums relevant to your niche and enter a discussion that concerns your dropshipping product. Then, give your opinion or help someone.
The entire idea of commenting on forums is for the users to find value, use your advice, and learn more about you and your business.
When we say forum comments, we don’t mean to post spam comments and promote your products. Instead, build trust and make people want to come to your website to learn more.
Answer on Quora
Quora is a question-and-answer type of social network where people ask all sorts of questions from all areas of life, including product advice, dropshipping, purchasing, etc.
To establish yourself as an authority or an expert in your dropshipping niche:
- Go to Quora and search for a question that you can answer best.
- Try to provide value and answer in detail.
- Be genuine and try to solve the person’s problem.
After you finish writing your answer, feel free to place a link back to your store or tell them that you have something like what they’re looking for. Avoid answering things like “Check this out: {link to your store}.”
Discuss on Reddit
Reddit is free to join, and it’s a social platform where users submit different texts, links, or visuals and enter various “subreddits” and discussions. Then, other users vote for these posts, and the content with the most votes goes on top.
Anyone can join Reddit and start posting valuable content. Users like you vote Reddit’s content, so don’t just spam people – that won’t bring you anything.
Posting on Reddit can be a great way to work on your brand recognition and earn the trust of potential customers.
Write for Medium
If you’re a dropshipper who’s good at writing, blogging on Medium can be an incredible free traffic source that will bring you tons of exposure.
As an online publication that accepts user-submitted articles and blog posts, you can use Medium’s exposure to increase your website visitors.
Write an article in your niche, wait for an editor’s feedback and approval, and if all is good, it will be published. Then, mention your store or place a link in your article or author bio. Repeat the same with another post.
Influencer collaborations
Yes, we know what you think – influencers aren’t free. Of course not, but if you can give or provide something in return, they can be free.
To use influencers as a free source of traffic, you can try one of these techniques:
A free product
Your best bet to convince an influencer to promote your product for free is to offer them a free sample or product. If you sell different products, you can increase your chances by offering them a package of more products.
Of course, your offer has to make sense. Offering a free T-shirt to an influencer with 5M+ followers probably won’t work. If you’re confident in your product, reach out to product reviewers and ask them to give their honest opinion of your product and send them a free sample.
A return shoutout
Suppose you’re an established brand with a following on a specific social media platform. In that case, you can try searching for an influencer account with a similar number of followers and offer to give them a shoutout in return for one from them.
But, again, be realistic. If you have a following of 10K people, reach out to accounts with a similar number instead of accounts with 3M+. The best example of this practice is Instagram Shoutouts.
Website blog comments
With a little bit of Google digging and some light research, you can find tons of authority blogs in your industry that you can use to your advantage.
The best way to do that is to leave a valuable comment regarding the blog or article you just read. But don’t just post “great.” Try to give some real insight or opinion to get the attention of the author.
Somewhere “between the lines” of your insightful comment, feel free to backlink to your website or a great blog post on your website. With this, you turn website commenting into a great free traffic source for your online store.
Email marketing
We’re aware that email marketing isn’t an entirely free method since you still need to find a way to bring people to your website. However, you’d be surprised how many dropshippers don’t collect email addresses while visitors are browsing their shop.
In other words – if you aren’t collecting email addresses and leveraging subscription boxes, you’re missing out on tons of free traffic!
The best way to do this lead generation is to offer something your audience wants in return for their email address. For example, offer them a free eBook with helpful advice on a topic related to your niche, which they can access through their email inbox.
Direct traffic
You might have heard of direct traffic as dark traffic since there’s no traffic source available. Simply put, direct traffic is the website visitors that type your online store URL directly, without ending up there through Facebook or Google.
Why and how the person memorized your URL to type it directly and what caught their interest is unknown in this scenario.
Direct traffic is not a bad thing. If a large portion of your traffic is direct, it probably means that people remember you and often visit your store directly.
If you often share your content on Pinterest, you should already be familiar with the concept of social bookmarking. And, it’s not just Pinterest, but also StumbleUpon, Dribble, Pocket, Reddit, etc.
For instance, create an eye-catching visual for a pin around your product on Pinterest. Then, optimize the title and the meta description to include common keywords of how someone would search for your product.
Once you finish optimizing your pin, publish it. You could do this with all of your product pages or even create different visuals and publish multiple pins for one product page (yes, it’s allowed to link to the same page more than once, as long as the visual is unique).
“Referral-worthy” pillar pages
Pillar pages are a relatively new concept that does wonders for SEO and increases your authority. A pillar page is the main page covering the general or broad topic niche. Typically, there are many sub-categories or products hyperlinked to the pillar page.
In other words, the pillar page is the cluster of pages, the front page, giving an introduction to the main topic or product.
A well-structured pillar page explains a subject clearly, goes into other, more in-depth pages, and is optimized for search engines. These are the types of pages people usually link to, and they can be great for your exposure.
Expert roundup posts
You may be wondering how expert roundup posts can be a free traffic source. Well, let us explain. For instance, let’s say you’re dropshipping orthopedic medical aids like crutches, back braces, etc. You want to write an expert roundup blog for spinal health.
What your first step should be is to reach out to authoritative blogs and ask them to participate in your roundup. Once they accept, ask them a question in their niche to get a quote for your article. Then, once you have your piece ready, share it with every expert you interviewed.
Now, the magic part – all of these experts are featured in the article, so the chances are very high that they’ll share it on their social media accounts, bringing you tons of free exposure! Expert roundup posts can be a great source of free traffic.
Foreign language markets
Our final tip is to have your page translated into a foreign language. If you have no problems dropshipping worldwide, you could increase your reach and exposure by simply having your page in a second or even a third language.
That’s because the competition for English keywords is much bigger than in any other language. Thus, it will be much easier to rank for a keyword in a foreign language.
If you’re missing the logistics to dropship abroad, a dropshipping agent with a worldwide fulfillment center can help you.
FAQs on Free Traffic Sources
Like always, we’ve prepared a list of the most frequently asked questions regarding free traffic sources for dropshipping stores.
What Are Traffic Sources?
Traffic sources refer to the origin of website visitors, or in your case – online store visitors. Every visitor arrived on your website through some source: a social media post, an indexed page on Google, a referral, etc. All of these are different traffic sources.
How Can I Get Free Traffic for Dropshipping?
Above, we provided you with 20 of the best free traffic sources for dropshipping stores (and any other online business).
When speaking in the long run, we consider SEO and genuine social media engagement to be two of the best ways to get free sources of traffic to your dropshipping store.
How Can I Increase Google Traffic?
Free traffic from Google comes thanks to a marketing practice known as search engine optimization or SEO. In short, SEO entails adjusting a page of your website (such as a product page) and optimizing it by adding the right keywords, titles, H1, H2, alt text, etc.
In 2023, Google’s algorithms are more intelligent than ever, which means it isn’t enough to write some filler words and stuff keywords in between. Nope!
Nowadays, Google is all about the best user experience they can give to people. So, content that provides actual value takes the lead and ranks higher.
And let’s not forget that SEO isn’t just about using the right keywords. Google also considers the following things when ranking your store:
- Website speed
- Content quality
- Mobile-friendliness
- Domain authority
- User-friendliness
- Website security
- Linking
- Optimized images and visuals
- Content structure (H1, H2, H3 – headings and subheadings)
How Do I Increase Organic Traffic on Facebook?
Unfortunately, Facebook is the most overcrowded social media platform there is! Due to this, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to reach an audience organically on Facebook.
The best way to increase organic traffic from Facebook to your dropshipping store is to create a group, connect with your audience, write valuable comments, and genuinely help people. Once you build trust and authority, mention your product.
And, of course, don’t forget to use hashtags to increase your reach.
As we mentioned above, the best social media platform you can use as a free traffic source will depend on your target audience.
For instance, Twitter and LinkedIn might be best for business-related products, books, etc. At the same time, Instagram works better for a younger audience, for selling products like T-shirts, canvas, sunglasses, gadgets, jewelry, and other visually appealing products.
How Do I Get Free Traffic on Shopify?
Whether you have a Shopify or WooCommerce store, the techniques of getting free traffic are the same.
For instance, you can optimize your store content for search engines, create your product pages with SEO in mind, use influencers, social media, etc.
How Do I Get Traffic to My Store?
There are two main ways to bring traffic to your online store:
- Organic, unpaid, and free;
- Paid ads;
Above, we’ve given you 20 different organic and unpaid traffic sources. Choose any that fit your dropshipping niche, but at the very minimum, we recommend having social media profiles on several platforms and working on your organic SEO ranking.
How Can I Increase My Website Traffic without SEO?
Ultimately, search engine optimization is the only way to rank high on Google and enjoy their free search traffic. However, that doesn’t mean that your traffic has to come from Google or search engines.
Here’s how you can increase your website traffic without worrying about SEO:
- Paid ads;
- Email marketing;
- Social media engagement;
- Affiliate marketing;
- Influencer outreach;
All of these are different ways to increase your website traffic without the need for SEO. However, these are all temporary solutions that cost time and money.
On the other hand, SEO might take longer to work, but it results in a passive income of free traffic in the long run. So, our advice is to invest in optimizing your content for search engines.
How to Market Your Dropshipping Store?
All of those free traffic sources that we mentioned above are excellent ways to market your dropshipping store. All you could add to the mix is paid advertising on social media or Google.
Of course, take care that whatever you do, you build brand recognition and a loyal community along the way.
How to Analyze the Success of a Free Traffic Source?
One of the best ways to determine the conversion rate and analyze the success of your dropshipping store is to connect it to Google Analytics.
Most online store builders have automated Google Analytics extensions that you can use to monitor what’s happening in your store.
With Google Analytics, you can see what gender buys your products the most, what location they live in, which product pages get clicked most often, etc. These analyses will help you decide what people like and dislike and adjust the content accordingly.
A Final Word
Lastly, we’d like to remind you that even though these free traffic sources are helpful, that alone isn’t enough. Knowing how to bring traffic to your dropshipping store is the first part. The second part is making that traffic take action and purchase a product.
So, don’t just bring traffic to your store, but ensure you have a good conversion rate. Create SEO product descriptions and think of each page as a funnel that slowly convinces and leads the viewer to take action and click buy.
Hopefully, this ultimate list of free traffic sources will help you increase your dropshipping sales without a huge hole in your budget. Know any other free traffic sources? Let us know in the comments – we’d love to hear!
Got more questions about dropshipping? Hit us up!
