15 Tips to Increase Blog Traffic
1. Write Well and Write Often
Frequently updating your blog with useful content is the first step to
building your blog's audience. The content you write is what will keep
readers coming back for more. Make sure you have something meaningful to
say to them and say it often to maintain their interest and keep them
loyal.
Furthermore, post frequently to increase the number of chances you have
for your blog's content to be noticed by search engines such as Google or Technorati.
Get on the radar screen for the popular search engines such as Google and Yahoo! bysubmitting your blog's URL to
them. Most search engines provide a 'Submit' link (or something
similar) to notify the search engine of your new blog, so those search
engines will crawl it and include your pages in their results.
It's important to understand that simply submitting your blog to search
engines doesn't mean your pages will appear at the top of a Google
search results screen, but at least your blog will be included and will
have the chance of being picked up by a search engine.
3. Use and Update Your Blogroll
By adding links to sites you like in your blogroll,
the owners of those blogs will find your blog and will be likely to add
a reciprocal link in their blogrolls. It's an easy way to get the link
to your blog in front of many readers on other blogs. The hope is that
some of those readers will click on the link to your blog on the other
blogs' blogrolls and find your content interesting and enjoyable turning
them into loyal readers.
4. Harness the Power of Comments
Commenting is
a simple and essential tool to increase your blog's traffic. First,
respond to comments left on your blog to show your readers that you
value their opinions and draw them into a two-way conversation. This
will increase reader loyalty.
Second, leave comments on other blogs to drive new traffic. Make sure you leave your blog'sURL in
your comment, so you create a link back to your own blog. Many people
will read the comments left on a blog post. If they read a particularly
interesting comment, they are highly likely to click on the link to
visit the commentor's website. It's important to make sure you leave
meaningful comments that are likely to invite people to click on your
link to read more.
5. Syndicate Your Blog's Content with an RSS Feed
Setting up an RSS feed button on your blog makes it easy for your loyal readers to not just read your blog but also know when you publish new content.
6. Use Links and Trackbacks
Links are
one of the most powerful parts of your blog. Not only are links noticed
by search engines, but they also act as a tap on the shoulder to other
bloggers who can easily identify who is linking to their sites. Linking
helps to get you noticed by other bloggers who are likely to investigate
the sites that are linking to them. This may lead them to become new
readers of your blog or to add links to your blog from theirs.
You can take links to other blogs a step further by leaving a trackback on
the other blog to let them know you've linked to them. Blogs that allow
trackbacks will include a link back to your blog in the comments
section of the post that you originally linked to. People do click on
trackback links!
7. Tag Your Posts
It takes a few extra seconds to add tags to
each of your blog posts, but it's worth the time in terms of the
additional traffic tags can drive to your blog. Tags (like links) are
easily noticed by search engines. They're also key to helping readers
find your blog when they perform searches on popular blog search engines
such as Technorati.
8. Submit Your Posts to Social Bookmarking Sites
Taking the time to submit your best posts to social bookmarking sites such as Digg,StumbleUpon, Reddit and more can be a simple way to quickly boost traffic to your blog.
9. Remember Search Engine Optimization
When you write your blog posts and pages, remember to optimize your pages for search engines to find them. Include relevant keywords and links but don't overload your posts with too many relevant keywords or completely irrelevant keywords. Doing so can be considered spamming and could have negative results such as your blog being removed from Google's search entirely.
10. Don't Forget Images9. Remember Search Engine Optimization
When you write your blog posts and pages, remember to optimize your
pages for search engines to find them. Include relevant keywords and
links but don't overload your posts with too many relevant keywords or
completely irrelevant keywords. Doing so can be considered spamming and
could have negative results such as your blog being removed from
Google's search entirely.
Images don't just make your blog look pretty, they also help people find
you in search engine listings. People often use the image search
options offered by Google, Yahoo! and other search engines, and naming
your images with search engine optimization in mind can easily boost
your traffic.
11. Consider Guest Blogging
Guest blogging can be done when you write a guest post on another
blogger's blog or when another blogger writes a guest post on your blog.
Both methods are likely to increase traffic as your blog will be
exposed to the other blogger's audience. Many of the other blogger's
readers will visit your blog to see what you have to say.
13. Promote Outside Your Blog12. Join Forums, Web Rings or Online Groups
Find online forums, web rings, groups or social networking sites such as Facebook andLinkedIn where
you can share ideas and ask questions of like-minded individuals. Add a
link to your blog in your signature line or profile, so each time you
post on a forum or participate in another online network, you're
indirectly promoting your blog. Chances are many people will click on
that link to learn more about you.
Promoting your blog shouldn't stop when you step outside the
blogosphere. Add your blog's URL to your email signature and business
cards. Talk about it in offline conversations. It's important to get
your name and your blog's URL noticed offline, too.
14. Nominate Yourself and Other Blogs for Blog Awards
There are a number of blog awards given out throughout the year.
Nominating yourself and other blogs and bloggers can draw attention to
your blog and drive traffic to it.
15. Don't Be Shy
The most important part of the blogosphere is its community and much of
your success as a blogger will be tied to your willingness to network
with that community. Don't be afraid to ask questions, join
conversations or just say hi and introduce yourself. Don't sit back and
hope the online world will find you. Speak out and get yourself noticed.
Let the blogosphere know you've arrived and have something to say!
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