Traffic is one of the most important parameters for your blog. Most people create a blog in order to be read by others. The more people who find your blog, the people who will read your ideas. This article is about how to increase blog traffic.
1. Create Great Content
Interesting content that can't be found anywhere else is what will keep readers coming back to your site once they get there. If your content isn't unique or compelling, no one will want to visit your blog. Work on writing posts that offer your readers something informative, interesting, or fun that they can't find on other sites.
2. Choose a catchy and descriptive title.
The title of your blog is one of the first things that readers will see and one of the factors that search engines use to determine what your blog is about. The title of your blog should let readers know right away what your blog is about. It should be easy to remember, not too long, and not too similar to another website's name.
3. Make your site easy to use.
Good design won't save bad content, but bad design can keep readers from looking at your site. Make sure your blog is easy to read and that your most important features are easy to find. Recruit a few friends to check out the site and tell you if they have any problems getting around and reading your posts. Depending on what platform you're using, you may have limited control over the design of your blog, but take the time to learn how to customize what you can and make your site as user friendly as possible.
4. Publicize your site.
Tell all your friends that you have a new blog. Ask them to check it out and recommend it to their friends. You can do this by talking directly to your friends, sending instant messages or by putting a link to your blog in your webforum signature.
5. Ask for link exchanges.
Seek out blogs and websites that cover the same material you do in your blog and ask if they would like to exchange links. If they accept, they will put links to your blog on their sites and you will put links to their sites on yours. You can also exchange links with friends, but keep in mind that their websites may not have the same focus as your blog and their readers may not be interested in what you're writing about.
6. Guest post on other blogs.
Most bloggers love getting guest posts from talented writers. Guest posts can help to publicize their blogs and give them a little time off from their own writing. Check blogs with subject matter similar to yours and see if they accept guest posts. Make sure to include a link back to your blog in the post so that readers can find the rest of your work. You'll also want to make a post on your blog directing readers to your guest post. This will allow your regular readers to check out what you've written for the other site and increase traffic on your guest post, making the other site more likely to want you to write for them again.
7. Join blog aggregators.
Make sure that they are informed when you update your blog, whether you do it automatically or manually.
8 Optimize your blog ranking in search engine queries.
Try to get your blog listed on the first page or two for search terms relevant to your content. If your site has a high rank, people can more easily find your blog.
9. Submit your blog site in social bookmarking sites.
Social bookmarking sites list websites and blogs that have been submitted to them. If you have friends or regular readers using these social bookmarking sites, asks them to like or bookmark your blog. This will help your blog to become visible to more people.
10. Blogwalk.
Blogwalking is visiting other blogs using a lost of blogs you enjoy, following links from one blog to the next, or a combination of the two. Many blogs allow their readers to include a website when they comment. So if you leave comments on the articles you read, you will create more links to your site.
11. Post on hot or popular topics.
If there are events or news that people are talking about, try to write about them in your blog. Some bloggers specifically choose controversial topics to attract attention. This may have some unintended consequences both to the popularity of your blog and your SEO techniques.
Tips
Be aware of your "competitors."
Knowing what other blogs about similar subjects have to offer will help you to figure out what will make your blog unique.
Target your "advertising."
Try to promote your blog in places around the internet where people who would be interested in your blog are likely to be. If you write a post you think a friend of yours would particularly enjoy, let him or her know about it. You can even adapt you signature for different forums. If you blog about gardening and post on a forum about roses, put a link in your signature to a category or tag with all of your rose-related articles or a link to your best article about roses.
Though not all bloggers choose to do it, buying your own domain name can make your blog easier to find and help to give it a more professional look. "Sitename.com" is easier to remember than "sitename.hostname.com," so a shorter url could help you to get more traffic.
Try to update regularly. If your readers know they can expect new content, they'll visit your blog more frequently. If you can post once a day, great! If not, try for at least once a week.
Pick a topic to write about that really interests you. It can take a long time for a blog to develop strong regular traffic, so you'll want to pick a subject that you'll be happy to write about even when you aren't getting a lot of feedback. While selecting a popular search term as the basis for your blog can get you a lot of hits initially, traffic will quickly drop off if you don't know your subject and you'll be stuck with a blog with little to no traffic that you aren't interested in writing.
Don't!
Don't spam.
Let people who you think might like your blog know it's out there, but don't constantly bug them to check out your site. If you're asked to stop promoting your site to a particular person or website, stop.
Respect other websites.
People get very annoyed when it's clear that someone is using their website solely to promote a different site. If you're going to blogwalk, make thoughtful comments on articles you found interesting. If you're posting in forums, read the rules and participate in discussions. Don't post just to get another link to your blog out there.
Be very careful about what information you share.
If you discuss your personal life in your blog, Your blog should not include information that could lead to a reader contacting you in person. If you're going to discuss your family and friends on your blog, consider using pseudonyms so that you don't accidentally embarrass anyone.
Never steal content.
What you put on your blog should be your own work. If you use anything that isn't yours, such as a picture of short quote, provide proper credit and ask for permission where appropriate. Stealing content is one of the fastest ways to discredit yourself and lose readers.