Never heard of Slideshare? You aren't alone! Even those who have heard of it often overlook it because it doesn't seem to offer much value, but that kind of thinking is a mistake. Slideshare may be the perfect tool to give you that boost in traffic that you need right now.

If you've been struggling to generate traffic for your blog, take a deep breath and relax. There are still other avenues for you to explore — Slideshare is one of them. Here's our crash course on using Slideshare to bring web traffic in your direction. Get ready to take down some notes!

What is Slideshare, Anyway?

The first step to making use of Slideshare is understanding exactly what it is. Very simply: Slideshare is a website for uploading and sharing presentations in PowerPoint, PDF, Keynote, OpenDocument, and various video formats. Uploaded presentations can be private or public.

In other words, you can think of it as "YouTube for slideshows".

Just like with YouTube videos, Slideshare presentations can fulfill a vast array of purposes: archiving, education, entertainment, experimentation, solicitation, advertising, etc. Presentations can be rated, commented on, and shared across social media by users.

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Another great feature of Slideshare is the Zipcast. Any user can launch a presentation as a web meeting that other users can join. The presenter leads the meeting with video and audio so viewers can watch and listen, but viewers are given the freedom to explore the presentation slides at their own pace.

Slideshare receives over 60 million unique visitors every month, which puts it somewhere in the top 120 most-visited websites in the world. Here's a platform that essentially grants you the opportunity to advertise for free (using carefully constructed presentations) to a massive audience.

Isn't it about time that you took advantage of that?

8 Slideshare Tips for Generating Traffic

Create a dedicated Slideshare profile. Similar to when you create a dedicated YouTube channel, your Slideshare profile is your Slideshare identity. Start with a professional profile picture (whether it's a logo or a headshot) and make sure to fill out as many details as you can.

Fortunately, Slideshare allows you to add a website link to your profile, so feel free to link back to your blog. Every person who visits your Slideshare profile has the potential to become a loyal reader.

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Upload relevant presentations only. Just as your blog is part of your brand, your Slideshare is also part of your brand. When someone looks through your Slideshare presentations, they're expecting coherence. Your presentations should all be related somehow. Anything less than that will seem amateur.

Who is your target audience? Your answer to that will dictate the type of presentations you should create and upload. Entertainment blogs can have fun and hip presentations while technical blogs should probably focus on information density. Not a single presentation should feel disjointed or out of place.

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Design each presentation deliberately. At the end of the day, Slideshare presentations are little more than glorified slideshows. If you want to WOW! your audience, you'll need to adhere to several design guidelines that will help propel your presentation to the next level.

The most important consideration is that presentations are primarily visual. Of course, traditional presentations are meant to supplement actual speakers and Slideshare presentations must stand alone, so they can be a bit wordier than usual. You still need to get your ideas across, after all.

But if you're just going to make a slideshow of paragraphs, that's really no different than writing a blog post. It's going to put your audience to sleep in no time, so you may as well quit while you're ahead.

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Think visual. Use graphs, charts, images, and basic color theory whenever possible. Think formatting. Use bullet points, multiple font faces, and multiple font sizes. Elements of kinetic typography can really help here. Think beautiful. Try applying these principles of graphic design to cross over from amateur to professional.

Don't forget to include a link to your blog on every slide.

Lastly, each presentation should have enough content to stand on its own. It should be a complete package. Anything less and your audience will be unimpressed and unsatisfied. Create good content and the traffic will follow.

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End with a call-to-action slide. The call-to-action is one of the simplest yet most powerful marketing "tricks" you can employ. Simply put, you tell the audience what you want them to do. You're calling them to action. That's it.

To put it in more practical terms, the last slide of every uploaded presentation should include an imperative statement. For example:

  • "Visit my blog for more advice on..."
  • "Found this slideshow helpful? Please share on Twitter..."
  • "Learn more in my book, which you can purchase at..."

Without a call-to-action, viewers will likely reach the last slide and close the window. Keep the momentum going by telling them to check out your blog!

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Convert blog posts into presentations. If you don't know what kind of content to put up, consider repurposing your blog content as presentations for Slideshare. At the very least, try turning your blog posts into PDFs (though presentations would still be better).

The goal is to reach an untapped audience, so use your best content as "bait" to hook viewers, then use calls-to-action to bring them to your blog. Better yet, include links to relevant blog posts within the actual presentation slides. If the links prove helpful, viewers will definitely appreciate it.

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Take advantage of upload fields. Every time you upload onto Slideshare, you're given the chance to fill out a few details: title, description, tags, and category. The title is most important since a strong title will attract the most attention from viewers.

And while the title is important, don't neglect the description. This is where you can link back to your blog (starting to see a pattern here?), but it's also where you can insert a few choice keywords to improve search engine optimization. If you can't think of any, try using these free keyword tools.

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Maximize the chance of going viral. Every blogger looks forward to the day when their next post spreads across social media like fire. When your Slideshare presentations go viral, they'll indirectly bring in a ton of traffic to your blog. So, do everything you can to make your presentations easy to share.

For the most part, that means enabling the public to print, download, share, and embed your presentations. Don't worry about people "stealing" your content. If you inserted links to your blog within the presentation itself, every share is just increased potential for more clicks.

Nobody has the perfect recipe for virality yet, but here are some tips for making a viral video. The concepts are also applicable to Slideshare presentations.

Slideshare Your Way to Success

Hopefully it's now clear how Slideshare can provide a big boost to your blog. Just think of it as a social network in the same vein as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc. It doesn't have to be your primary mode of content delivery; rather, use it as a way to fish for new visitors.

Do you use Slideshare? If so, what kind of tips and tricks can you share with us? If not, what's keeping you from trying it? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!

Image Credits: Zipcast Via IdeaGirlMedia