Blog traffic - without it, the whole exercise of blogging becomes somewhat self-indulgent and pointless, doesn't it? Whether you are blogging to make money online, or just to reach a wider audience with your wit and wisdom, you can't achieve your aim unless you get traffic to your blog - and not just any traffic. You want blog traffic which translates into readers.
It may seem a little frustrating to those of you who are impatiently scanning for "the gold", but before I get started on the many and varied roads to blogging success and bucketloads of blog traffic pouring to your domain, it's actually important to check that you have a blog worth reading.
It doesn't matter if you know everything about how to get traffic to your blog. No amount of fancy promotional activity will compensate for poorly-written content.
Now, when I say poorly-written, I don't mean that every post must have flawless spelling and grammar - although it really is better if they do. (Leaving aside the gnarly question of which spelling conventions to choose when writing for a global market, of course.)
1. Blog About Something
A blog about nothing (aka the "what I had for breakfast" blog) is worth nothing.
Conversely, a blog filled with posts on everything from tuna recipes to Renaissance architecture will find it difficult to attract attention and hold readers for return visits. Specialise, and stick to your specialty. If you have two burning passions, start two blogs.
2. Well Written Blog Posts
a. Each post should be about a single idea.
b. The post should introduce the idea, provide some evidence or examples of the idea, and then be wrapped up with a concluding thought of some kind.
c. The post should contain some original thought. (This advice only applies, of course, to a blog you want people to actually read. If you view your posts as "filler" to make the ads look right on the page and you don't want it distracting people too much from clicking on the ads, then by all means produce - or buy, borrow, or steal - dull drivelly pap to pour into the otherwise blank hole in the center of the page.)
3. An Attractive Blog Appearance
Once you have satisfied yourself that your blog posts are well-written, you need to consider the appearance of your blog. Human beings are visual animals, and the immediate first impression of your blog will have a big impact on the number of people who stay, read even one post, and then return for later visits.
Choose an attractive theme, one with lots of "breathing space", and don't clutter up the page with lots of widgets and advertising. This applies even if you are seriously trying to make money from blogging. Carefully selected, carefully placed advertising will work better for you in the long run than plastering your site with moving banners, pop-up windows, and those horrible double-underlined text links that "pop" when you mouse over them - shudder!
If this is your entire audience while you are blogging, you have some work to do to build your blog traffic!
4. A Credible URL
I can't say it any better than this:
Having a weblog address ending in blogspot.com, typepad.com, etc. will soon be the equivalent of having an @aol.com email address or a Geocities website: the mark of a naïve beginner who shouldn't be taken too seriously. Letting somebody else own your name means that they own your destiny on the internet. They can degrade the service quality as much as they want. They can increase the price as much as they want. They can add atop your content as many pop-ups, blinking banners, or other user-repelling advertising techniques as they want. They can promote your competitor's offers on your pages. Yes, you can walk, but at the cost of your loyal readers, links you've attracted from other sites, and your search engine ranking.
The longer you stay at someone else's domain name the higher the cost of going independent. Yes, it's tempting to start a new weblog on one of the services that offer free accounts. It's easy, it's quick, and it's obviously cheap. But it only costs $8 per year to get your personal domain name and own your own future. As soon as you realize you're serious about blogging, move it away from a domain name that's controlled by somebody else. The longer you delay, the more pain you'll feel when you finally make the move.
Now there are other reasons why you may wish to blog at some of these sites, but they souldn't be your main blog. Think of these sites as being more like place to put billboards to capture people and lead them to your real blog.
5. Be Real - Identify Yourself And Be Contactable
Make sure your name, a brief description, and preferably a photo or at least an avatar are on your blog. Readers should be able to contact you with at most one single click.
- FlickrStorm. Search on Flickr with some Magic
An easy way to search Flickr - choose "advanced" and select "Creative Commons commercial use with attribution"
6. Use images
Within each post, if you can find a relevant image for the post then absolutely do include it at the top right of your post. The instant first impression for visitors will always be more positive than being confronted with a "wall of words" effect.
It should go without saying, but apparently it doesn't, so I'll say it - make sure you have the right to use the images. Search Flickr for images which have a Creative Commons licence for commercial use. There are a number of other image sites which also carry images you can use without having to pay a fee. There is no need to steal an image, ever!
And do the right thing - attribute the image. If you have a Flickr account, you can log in and post a comment on the photo, including the URL of the blog post featuring the photo. That in itself can generate you some traffic, right there.
There is a pitfall to using images, if you don't use them well.
As the old adage goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. But you should no more insert a random image into your writing than you would insert a thousand random words into your writing. I don't care how beautiful your photographs are, it's a terrible, irresponsible practice that distracts and harms readability.
And those of you sitting there smugly, with your stock photo library and your peripherally, tangentially, almost-but-not-quite related images that you use to break up your text, don't think I'm not talking about you, either. Because I am. Think about that the next time you read an article about a "web 2.0 bubble" accompanied by-- you guessed it-- a stock photo of a child blowing a bubble.
Images are not glorified paragraph breaks. Images should contribute to the content and meaning of the article in a substantive way. And if they don't, they should be cut. Mercilessly.
Is your computer getting lonely ....?
7. Blog regularly
Nothing kills your blog traffic faster than a period of time with no posts. Most blog software will allow you to create posts in advance and set a timer to release them on schedule. Make use of it to cover times when you are away, and always have a few generic posts "on the spike" in draft form in case you are suddenly taken ill or ambushed by a family drama.
Posting every day is apparently ideal, and once a week is the minimum recommended frequency to maintain readership.
8. Create "linkbait"
Linkbait is a term used by bloggers to refer to blog posts which attract attention and links from other places.
You can write something controversial and link to others who are likely to disagree with you, but there are nicer ways to create linkbait. Evergreen content - lists, definitions, how tos - and a touch of humor are really all it takes. You will have to publicise your linkbait, however.
By now, you should have the makings of a viable blog. You have your own domain, you have installed an attractive theme, filled in your bio, uploaded a photo, and started adding quality content on a regular schedule.
What Next?
1. Tell people about it.
2. Write articles which link back to your blog posts. Not just articles in article directories, but also Squidoo lenses, Hubs, Gather pages, Ning pages, Multiply pages, Google pages ....
4. Get active on social bookmarking sites, and add a link to the blog on all of your social networking profiles.
5. Visit the blogs of other people who write on similar topics and leave thoughtful comments there. With links.
6. If you're on Facebook or LinkedIn, you can pull in an RSS feed from your blog to your profile.
7. Add a link to the blog on your email signature.
8. Put your blog URL on your usiness cards. If you don't have business cards, get business cards.
9. Locate forums where people are discussing the topic of your blog, put your blog URL in your signature, and make intelligent, helpful comments in the forum.
10. Write a press release about something newsworthy and tie it in with your blog topic. (Note - don't write a press release ABOUT your blog - that won't work.)
11. Give away your writing. Do guest blogging on the sites of others.
12. Do "link love" posts every so often. These are posts that many bloggers are doing these days which are simply lists of some of the other posts that they are reading around the web, with links to them. This helps to get the attention of the people that you are linking to, and helps you to develop relationships with them.
13. Highlight your blog on your Squidoo lens, Hub, Ning page, or Multiply page about the topic, using RSS feeds.
14. Promote your blog anywhere else in the Web 2.0 world (that doesn't have RSS capability) by linking directly to your best individual posts.
15. Sign up with Technorati and make use of Technorati tags in your posts.
16. Write Search Engine Optimised blog posts. Every post is a page. Read up on SEO and follow the guidelines.
17. Submit your blog to directories. Here is the best list I've found of places to submit your feed or blog, compiled by Luigi Canali De Rossi, who writes under the pseudonym Robin Good.
Best Blog Directory And RSS Submission Sites
18. Add a link to the blog on your bio whenever you publish it or send it to someone.
19. Ping your blog. Use blogging software that can be set up to do that automatically. Wordpress is an example, but not the only one.
20. Subnit your blog to search engines.
This Is What A Blog RSS Feed Looks Like
- Focus Marketing Seminars UK Event
Focus Marketing Seminars UK Event: Sean Roach and Pat Lovell, at the Focus Marketing Seminar in Washington, DC, have just announced that the Focus Marketing Seminars UK Event is open for bookings. - 6 months ago
- Always Compare FHA Lender Mortgage Rates And Closing Costs
It is important to compare FHA lender mortgage rates and closing costs, because each lender will have different terms and conditions, and mortgage interest rates may vary considerably. - 6 months ago
- Steps To Refinancing A Mortgage
While the steps to refinancing a mortgage in general are pretty much the same for everybody, there are always little differences, depending on who your new mortgage lender is, and the lender or lenders who will be paid out of yout current loans. As a borrower, it is very important that you understand the steps [...] - 7 months ago
21. Write to other bloggers suggesting a link trade or a guest post trade.
22. Put up a link list of your favorite blogs and let those bloggers know about it. They might just reciprocate.
23. Reply to comments. If people see that you read and reply to comments, they will read more and comment more.
24. Create a video about your topic and upload it to YouTube. Include your blog URL in the video and on your YouTube profile.
25. Rinse and repeat for other video sites.
26. Use Craigslist (more details here)
• The community section, located in the top left corner of the main Craigslist screen, provides many opportunities for publicizing your blog. Post in the community section most appropriate to your topic, and provide interesting information, with a link to the full article on your blog. (You can also find guest bloggers for your blog through the "volunteers" section there.)
• Classes. Hold an online class about a topic related to your blog, and advertise it in the Craigslist "classes" section.
• Barter. You can offer link exchanges in the parter section, but you can get a lot more creative than that. Post something along the lines of "I have a blog about xyz and am seeking someone to promote it for me in a creative way. Send me an email with your promotional idea and what you'd like in exchange."
• Services. If you offer services in any way related to the topic of your blog, or writing services in general, post in this section with a link to your blog as evidence of your expertise.
• Forums. As with any other forum, good quality posts containing your link can translate to blog traffic.
27. Write an eBook or white paper. If you know enough to blog about a topic then you know enough to write an eBook or white paper. You can promote it through different channels where you can't promote a blog - including places like Clickbank, where you can sell it for actual money! Include your link on all of that promotional material, and in the eBook or report itself, and blog traffic will roll in.
28. Offer to write expert columns in offline traditional publications, and include a link to your blog in the offer. Even if they don't take you up on the offer, they may reference a blog post of yours in an article by one of their regular contributors.
29. Encourage your readers to subscribe to your blog via RSS.
30. Collect email addresses from your readers - even if you have to bribe then with a free coopy of your eBook or white paper to get them - and offer an email update service, so they can be notified when you have made a new post.
31. Start blogs on platforms like Wordpress, Blogger, Typepad, and Xanga. Post summary versions of your best blog posts there at least once a month, and in between those summary posts, post a linklove post linking to all your new blog posts on your main blog for the month, plus all the summary posts on the other blogs in your blog network.
And it doesn't end there. Marketing and promotion are a constant activity in any business, and generally you should plan to spend at least a third of your time on marketing and promotion - and make that half your time if you don't have a product or service to deliver.
Don't just social bookmark your blog posts (on the sites which allow such a thing) - social bookmark your articles about your blog posts, your Hubs and lenses and Multiply pages, every profile which contains a link to your blog, and any blog post you find elsewhere which is linking back to your blog.
A note about links back to your blog - the anchor text is crucial. Do some keyword research to find out what searches people are doing on your topic. Choose the best half a dozen search phrases, and make sure that any link you create to your blog uses some of those words as the anchor text. So, for example, I wouldn't put "Click here to read my blog" as a link to my blog - I would put "Click here to find out How to get traffic to your blog".
Blog traffic really comes down to backlinks. Assuming you have done your job well in creating good quality, readable content, your success as a blogger will come down to how many backlinks you can get, because those backlinks will lift your blog posts up the search engine listing for your chosen keywords. Search engine traffic is the Holy Grail of blog traffic.
You can build blog traffic without having much visiblity on the search engines, but the process is slow and involves building very strong relationships with other bloggers in your niche. If you want to create blog traffic fast, you need to woo the search engines.
The study of how to get traffic to your blog is really a life's work. There is so much to learn, and new resources are becoming available every day. The secret to blog traffic is really no secret at all - it's the age-old challenge for any business. Marketing and promotion. It's easy enough to say, runs off the tongue without much effort, but you will actually have to exert quite a bit of effort if you want to attract a decent amount of blog traffic in a reasonable timeframe
Posts
0 comments: on "_______ Blog Traffic - Increase Blog Traffic _______"
Post a Comment