Many of us work so hard on our blogs and frankly, it kind of sucks if we don't get the traffic we want. And it's a catch-22you can't get the traffic without the work, but it's tough to justify all the work if you don't get the traffic. Well, here are 11 suggestions to get the traffic you want to your blog.
1. Be Remarkable - This one is number one for a reason. If you do this, most of the rest of this list will come into place and will have lasting effect on the growth of your readership.
Be remarkable by:
* Being informative: Teach your readers what they want and convey the info in a way your audience appreciates. * Entertain - Insert humor, amaze your readersdo what's appropriate to get their attention. * Connect with Your Audience - Understand and speak to their pain, worries and even their dreams and desires. * Be Controversial - Share an opinionnot everyone has to agree with you to find you interesting.
This may be seen as a "build it and they will come" attitude, which is usually advised against in internet marketing, which may be true in some respects. Of course, this doesn't mean giving up manual traffic building, but the more "out there" or a controversial your blog is, the higher the chance is that your efforts become noticed.
2. RSS: Some may say RSS old news, but there are still many blogs that haven't thought to use a feed. If it is not something you have come across, an RSS feed is simply something that allows readers to stay updated without constantly visiting the blog. The RSS feed alerts readers to every new post via their feed reader or e-mail account. Using a service like FeedBurner.com will make this process a lot easier.
3. Ping!: Make sure your blog is set up to ping the various web blogs. Many blog platforms allow you to set this up in your settings. This helps a variety of information/search sites know that you've updated your blog.
4. Blog commenting: Offer to comment or publish content on other blogs or sites related to the same niche. The owner will usually allow you to link back to your own site, providing the comment you have provided is respectful and useful to the site itself. Be as courteous as possible! Make sure your comment is relevant, and don't make it a big advertisement for your own site.
5. Add trackbacks: You can get an automatic link back to your own posts by using trackbacks. If you've written a post and provided a link to a post on another blog, a link to your own post will appear in the comments section on the other blog. If you are doing trackbacks between two WordPress blogs, simply linking to someone else's post will automatically set up the trackback. As mentioned in point 4, be polite! A simple summary of somebody else's post or other garbled nonsense just to get a back link is not following proper blogging etiquette.
6. Keep Your Email List Up-to-Date: You probably already know that your mailing list is a valuable asset. Use this asset to the fullest by sending them to your blog to read the posts you think they will find helpful, enjoy, etc.
#7 Content Distribution: Your content does not have to be 100% contained on the blog. Remember the many other ways there are to distribute content, like article marketing, guest posting on other blogs, audio content and videos. The more content you have out there, the more likely you will be noticed.
#8 Affiliate links: If you have your own in-house affiliate program, and you have enabled the affiliates to link to any page, ask them to link to your blog posts. I personally use a system called QuickSale.com, which is a 1shoppingcart solution. This enables affiliates to link to any blog post they prefer.
Traffic from your affiliates are cookied, so any purchases made on the day or at a later date will be attributed to the affiliates, and commission will be sent. Conversions on blog posts aren't going to be as good as the sales page, but it gives your affiliates the chance to provide great content to their readers, and benefit from any purchases made.
9. Social Networks: You can use various social networks (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace) to drive traffic to a blog. People you connect with socially are likely to be interested in what you have to say on your blog. Make sure you follow proper etiquette and use your common sense. Also, don't overdo it and get lost in your social networks all dayyou've got WORK and other important things to do. Plus, if you are remarkable, those who use social networks will be doing the work for you and talking about you.
10. Online Social Bookmarking: Social bookmarking includes well-known sites like del.icio.us, Stumble Upon and Digg. The site enables you to bookmark your favorite webpages and other content on the Internet. A lot of marketers choose to mark their own sites, but this could be against terms and conditions, so read the rules first. Another idea is to bookmark each other sites, but at the end of the day if you're site's good enough, people will bookmark it on their own accord.
11. Search Engine Optimization (SEO): I've chosen to put SEO at the end of the list, even though I know a lot of people would disagree. If you're trying to find first-time visitors or people who are just browsing, SEO is fine, but if you want the faithful visitors who continuously return, try not to concentrate too much on optimization.
The problem with trying to optimize all your blog pages is that it takes away from you being remarkable. A remarkable blog is written with interesting subject lines (rather than boring keyword phrases) and isn't always on topics that people use a search engine to find. Of course, you can combine the two (SEO and being remarkable) in some ways, but don't let SEO take anything away from the interest and word-of-mouth your blog creates.
1. Be Remarkable - This one is number one for a reason. If you do this, most of the rest of this list will come into place and will have lasting effect on the growth of your readership.
Be remarkable by:
* Being informative: Teach your readers what they want and convey the info in a way your audience appreciates. * Entertain - Insert humor, amaze your readersdo what's appropriate to get their attention. * Connect with Your Audience - Understand and speak to their pain, worries and even their dreams and desires. * Be Controversial - Share an opinionnot everyone has to agree with you to find you interesting.
This may be seen as a "build it and they will come" attitude, which is usually advised against in internet marketing, which may be true in some respects. Of course, this doesn't mean giving up manual traffic building, but the more "out there" or a controversial your blog is, the higher the chance is that your efforts become noticed.
2. RSS: Some may say RSS old news, but there are still many blogs that haven't thought to use a feed. If it is not something you have come across, an RSS feed is simply something that allows readers to stay updated without constantly visiting the blog. The RSS feed alerts readers to every new post via their feed reader or e-mail account. Using a service like FeedBurner.com will make this process a lot easier.
3. Ping!: Make sure your blog is set up to ping the various web blogs. Many blog platforms allow you to set this up in your settings. This helps a variety of information/search sites know that you've updated your blog.
4. Blog commenting: Offer to comment or publish content on other blogs or sites related to the same niche. The owner will usually allow you to link back to your own site, providing the comment you have provided is respectful and useful to the site itself. Be as courteous as possible! Make sure your comment is relevant, and don't make it a big advertisement for your own site.
5. Add trackbacks: You can get an automatic link back to your own posts by using trackbacks. If you've written a post and provided a link to a post on another blog, a link to your own post will appear in the comments section on the other blog. If you are doing trackbacks between two WordPress blogs, simply linking to someone else's post will automatically set up the trackback. As mentioned in point 4, be polite! A simple summary of somebody else's post or other garbled nonsense just to get a back link is not following proper blogging etiquette.
6. Keep Your Email List Up-to-Date: You probably already know that your mailing list is a valuable asset. Use this asset to the fullest by sending them to your blog to read the posts you think they will find helpful, enjoy, etc.
#7 Content Distribution: Your content does not have to be 100% contained on the blog. Remember the many other ways there are to distribute content, like article marketing, guest posting on other blogs, audio content and videos. The more content you have out there, the more likely you will be noticed.
#8 Affiliate links: If you have your own in-house affiliate program, and you have enabled the affiliates to link to any page, ask them to link to your blog posts. I personally use a system called QuickSale.com, which is a 1shoppingcart solution. This enables affiliates to link to any blog post they prefer.
Traffic from your affiliates are cookied, so any purchases made on the day or at a later date will be attributed to the affiliates, and commission will be sent. Conversions on blog posts aren't going to be as good as the sales page, but it gives your affiliates the chance to provide great content to their readers, and benefit from any purchases made.
9. Social Networks: You can use various social networks (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace) to drive traffic to a blog. People you connect with socially are likely to be interested in what you have to say on your blog. Make sure you follow proper etiquette and use your common sense. Also, don't overdo it and get lost in your social networks all dayyou've got WORK and other important things to do. Plus, if you are remarkable, those who use social networks will be doing the work for you and talking about you.
10. Online Social Bookmarking: Social bookmarking includes well-known sites like del.icio.us, Stumble Upon and Digg. The site enables you to bookmark your favorite webpages and other content on the Internet. A lot of marketers choose to mark their own sites, but this could be against terms and conditions, so read the rules first. Another idea is to bookmark each other sites, but at the end of the day if you're site's good enough, people will bookmark it on their own accord.
11. Search Engine Optimization (SEO): I've chosen to put SEO at the end of the list, even though I know a lot of people would disagree. If you're trying to find first-time visitors or people who are just browsing, SEO is fine, but if you want the faithful visitors who continuously return, try not to concentrate too much on optimization.
The problem with trying to optimize all your blog pages is that it takes away from you being remarkable. A remarkable blog is written with interesting subject lines (rather than boring keyword phrases) and isn't always on topics that people use a search engine to find. Of course, you can combine the two (SEO and being remarkable) in some ways, but don't let SEO take anything away from the interest and word-of-mouth your blog creates.
About the Author:
If you're looking to pull more profit out of your business blog, check out the IM Blogging Bootcamp. This 4-week intensive program designed to get you actively and effectively blogging to reach more of your prospects and convert more of them into lifelong customers.
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