How to Get Free Traffic from Rockstar Finance Without Getting Featured

Note: This post details how to get free traffic from Rockstar Finance. If you're interested in additional ways to drive traffic to your site, you might want to check out the Rockstar Finance VIB Program. Most people in the personal finance blogging space are familiar with the Rockstar Finance feature. It's affectionately known as "being Rockstar'd" and is a great feeling to see a couple thousand people descend upon your website when you receive one. But these features are few and far between. With almost 1,800 blogs in the Rockstar Finance directory and several hundred new posts published each week, if a site is featured more than once every other year it's a pretty good accomplishment. Plus there's not much you can do to get one. Sure, you can write Rockstar content but that still doesn't guarantee a feature. There are simply too many factors that go into selecting the features -- even awesome posts are often left behind in favor of other great posts. Historically, the feature was the only way to get traffic from Rockstar Finance. But we want to expand the site's mission from simply "sharing top posts every week day" to "providing a variety of ways for money bloggers to get traffic." That's why we've created several new options for getting traffic from Rockstar Finance. Like the feature, these are completely free. But unlike the feature, you can take active steps to participate in most of these. Since many reading this may not know what these options are, I thought I'd take some time and highlight them. Here's the list in no particular order...

Blog Share Monday

Every first and third Monday each month a Blog Share Monday post goes up in the Rockstar Finance forums (here's an example). [Note: You will need access to the private Blogger Lounge to view this. If you don't have access, you can request it and it's free.] The concept is simple: you leave a post of yours that you want shared and you share posts from others on social media. Usually 75-100 bloggers participate and the impact can be quite nice, even for a sizeable blog. It's very nice to have 100 bloggers with thousands of followers on social media sharing your posts a couple times a month. It's such a great deal that I'm a regular participant. I even set a reminder on my to-do list so I don't miss these. After all, who doesn't like free traffic?

Rockstar Finance Syndication

Have you ever written what you considered to be a great post and no one read it? If you've been blogging for more than two minutes the answer has to be "yes." This is why we started syndicating posts on Rockstar Finance -- to share great content with our audience in a different (and additional) format from the features. Here's how it works:

  • We posted in the forums asking bloggers to submit their posts for consideration. You can find that thread here. (BTW, it's still active, so submit there if you like.)
  • Bloggers share their links on that post.
  • We select the best of the best options.
  • We put the post on the Rockstar Finance site using the same process that sites like CNBC and Marketwatch use in their syndication programs: listing the author at the top, leaving in links to the original site, noting and linking to the original post at the end, and tagging each article so Google knows that the original site's post is the one to be indexed.
  • We then give that post a bonus feature on Rockstar Finance (we have normally had three, now we have four with one usually being a syndicated piece) to call attention to it.

This is a simple and easy way for great content that may have been missed the first time to get extra exposure.

Guest Posts

In addition to syndicated content, we offer guest posts on Rockstar Finance that we often include as the fourth feature post (we don't run a syndicated piece that day). If you're interested in writing a guest post, here are our guidelines:

  • The offer is for legitimate money bloggers only. If you "represent" a site as a "professional writer" in a paid attempt to get links for them and influence key word search, you do not qualify.
  • Send ideas to us at "team @ rockstar finance (dot) com" that fit with the site (if you're wondering what those might be, read the site). Generally we look for new and unique spins on money issues.
  • If we approve the subject, you can then begin writing the post. In it you can link to three of your posts as long as they are relevant to what's being covered and are not ad/affiliate programs.
  • We will need a bio of you which we'll use to intro the piece. This will include an additional link to your homepage.
  • Posts need to be at least 1,000 words but we prefer 2,000 or more. The longer, the better.
  • Articles must be written for an American audience (terminology, spelling, references, etc.)
  • Be sure to cover the basics: spellcheck your work, use proper punctuation, etc.
  • Any submitted guest post needs to be awesome content or 1) it won't be accepted and 2) no one reading it will visit your site -- a loss for us both.

If you have an idea you think might fit, please send it on to us.

Special Rockstar Finance Series

We announce special series at Rockstar Finance now and then. These series often center on opportunities for bloggers to get noticed. A good example of this is our recent Money Match-Up series that featured two bloggers debating a money topic. Again with this sort of effort we generally use the fourth feature slot to call attention to the post. We will be offering several new options in the months to come, so watch the Rockstar Finance forums for details.

Rockstar Finance Directory

If you're not in the Rockstar Finance directory you're losing out on free traffic. It's easy to sign up which then lists all your blog posts for readers to see. In addition, the feeds page of the directory is one of the main sources we use to select feature posts, so if you're not there you are significantly hurting your chances of getting a Rockstar Finance feature.

Rockstar Rumble

In January we hosted the first year of the Rockstar Rumble, an NCAA basketball-like tournament pitting blog posts against each other to ultimately crown a champion. The feedback was almost unanimous: people loved the traffic generated from it. They also had some suggestions for improvement, though these were often mixed. Like "I would like to see fewer than 128 posts in the competition but if it means I won't get in I'm ok with more." Haha! Right. Anyway, the Rumble will be back again in the first part of 2019. It's a great way to get free traffic and have fun promoting some great posts. And if you keep winning, the traffic keeps coming. :)

Guest Curators

As you may have noticed, Rockstar Finance has been featuring guest curators every other week or so. We tested this program for a few months with several trusted friends, then expanded it to our VIB partners. In the future we will be offering the opportunity to bloggers on an invitation-only basis. It's a fairly serious commitment and we generally reserve the spots for more-experienced bloggers as well as those who have been active in the forums or involved in other Rockstar Finance efforts. Guest curators get a bio (including a link to their site) on the Rockstar Finance homepage as well as in our daily emails for the week they curate. Stay tuned to see how this program develops.

Quote of the Day

Each weekday we send an email to our list sharing feature and noteworthy posts. In addition we share inspirational money quotes at the top of each daily email (and share them on Twitter too). Money bloggers can submit their great quotes to be considered for inclusion in both the Rockstar Daily Digest email and to be tweeted out to Rockstar’s Twitter followers. You can finds details on the program here. [Also need access to the private forums to see.]

There's More Planned Plus an Updated VIB

In addition to these, we have many more opportunities planned. Several of them will be extended to our VIB partners first, then made available more broadly once they have had their chance. Separately, you may be interested in focusing more on moving your site from a hobby to a business. If so, the Rockstar Finance VIB program may be for you. We've learned a lot about what works best over the first several months of the program and have re-vamped it to reflect out learnings. You can see details on it here. Space is limited, so apply soon if you are interested.