Four Simple Ways to Get More Traffic to Your Blog
Without traffic, even the best-written and well-planned blog will not bring you results in terms of list-building or earning potential. We’ll look at four different strategies to bring readers to your blog. While you may emphasize one way in preference to the others, for best results, you should employ a combination of these approaches, which include article marketing, social bookmarking, SEO and posting to forums and other blogs.
Article Marketing
Article marketing is a time-tested way to get your site–blog or otherwise–noticed.
You’ll need to compose several articles that are relevant to your site’s main topic and submit them to the most popular article compilation services. Two of the most popular are Ezine Articles and Go Articles .
Your article will be available for other site owners to use as content for their own sites, and will also appear in the search engines in return to search queries. You’ll be allowed to include a link to your site as part of your author’s biography. Be sure to include a blurb that piques your readers’ interest so they will want to check out your site!
If you are not an experienced writer, you can hire someone to write your articles ( Elance is a popular site to find qualified prospects), or you may purchase Private Label Rights articles that you will be allowed to use as your own. It’s always best to customize them so that they are unique to your site, though–a simple and quick process, if you invest in quality PLR products.
Social Bookmarking
Sites such as Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon and del.icio.us allow you to share links to your articles and blog posts. This will get your site in front of hundreds of potential site visitors. You should sign up to these sites (all include simple instructions on how to do this) and regularly submit your best posts.
SEO
SEO (search engine optimization) is achieved by including your main keywords in your posts. By including these in your title, first paragraph and at a rate of about 2 uses per every 100 words, you will increase the probability that your site ranks well within the search results. A higher ranking will achieve a lot more traffic, of course.
Just be certain that you do not over work your key phrases–the text should flow naturally around them. A good rule of thumb is that you must always write to appeal to human readers, not to try to attract the search engine spiders!
For best results, don’t forget to include your keyword in the pages’ meta tags whenever possible. (You’ll specify these behind-the-scenes, in your site administration panel.)
Forums and Other Blogs
You can (and should) also visit forums and blogs that are related to or compatible with your niche topic. Join the conversations, get acquainted with other members, contribute your insights and opinions and offer help whenever possible. As you grow relationships on these sites, it will help you grow your readership as you learn more about your topic and online enterprise in general.
Most forums and blogs will allow you to include your name and site URL (address) with each post. This will give you a link back to your site that will help you increase your SEO efforts, even as it gets your site in front of the other members and visitors that read your comments. HOWEVER: rules vary from site to site–ALWAYS read the rules before you post!
Additionally, be certain that you add value to the conversation. Never spam! It will aggravate the other members and guests, and can get you banned from participation on the site.
To locate forums related to your niche, simply type in the word “forums” after your niche topic, such as “Blogging forums.”
An example is shown below:
A general rule of thumb is to visit and post to 5 such sites daily. Your site will be getting a lot of exposure, and you will learn a lot in the process.
Since this is a new site, I am going to be using these techniques and reporting back on the results.
Please leave your comments and questions below!
Susie
PS Don’t forget to check the resources page to see what’s new and exciting!