MN Interactive

12 Easy Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Blog

You’ve set up your blog; your friends and family have visited and commented on it, and now you’re waiting for the ‘real’ traffic to show up. But having to compete with millions of sites is no mean feat. And waiting is not going to get you an audience. Begin to build traffic by proactively seeking it, using some of the following methods.

1. Harness the power of social networking sites: Visibility is the key to Internet marketing and once you’ve signed up to sites like twitter and Facebook, you need to build brand awareness. This can be done by providing regular content via tweets, short posts, or even links. You will also need to visit other social networkers on their networking sites, blogs, or websites and interact with them meaningfully. By this I mean write valuable comments, send messages, and offer your help in any which way you can. It is time consuming, but well worth the effort.

2. Be consistent: Setting up a blog is simple (after all, blogs like WordPress and blogger are free to set up and easy to manage). Once set up though, you need to maintain your blog by providing regular content. There is no point in trying to build up an audience if you manage to post only once every two weeks. Set yourself a weekly target of the number of posts you’ll write, and stick to this number. If you find writing your own content difficult, advertise on sites like Craigslist or Elance to find professional content writers.

3. SEO is important: Search Engine Optimization is what drives traffic to your site. Use paid tools like Keywordspy, wordtracker, and seokeywordranking to find and track your keywords and those of your competitors. Or you can use free tools like Google’s Adword to do the same.

4. Set up an RSS feed to allow people easy access to your site: RSS refers to Rich Site Summary and is a document which allows posts and articles to be syndicated. These documents or feeds can  be read using ‘news readers’ which are free downloadable widgets.

5. Read and comment: Visit other sites and forums and read their posts. Do be sure to comment on them. In fact, it’s a great idea to set up a 15 minute slot each day to spend browsing and commenting on relevant sites. Most people on whose site you’ve commented or visited, will return the favor. Remember however that spamming will not win you any friends (or customers) and can in fact get you banned from a site or forum.

6. Join blog directories: It’s important to submit your site to blog directories. Search for the ones which draw high traffic to your competitor sites, and be sure you add your blog’s name there. Some sites to check out include Blogcatalog, Blogarama, and Technorati. You can install widgets from these sites which will which allow visitors to post reviews, leave messages, and promote your site.

7. Submit to article directories: Free ezine directories such as goarticle.com and ezinearticles.com are also a great way to get your blog’s name noticed. You can post free articles here which others can use, and advertise your blog to an audience interested in what you have to offer. Isnare offers a similar paid service.

8. Promote your link: If you have a website, business cards, newsletters, brochures or other offline advertising, be sure to add your blog’s link to it.  The same holds true for all emails you send- make sure your blog’s link is in every signature line.

9. Use a blogroll: You can crosslink with other blog owners to add your name to their blogroll (and theirs to yours) to build cross traffic.

10. Use Ping Services: Whenever you post a new blog post, you need to use ping services. If your blog is on WordPress, chances are it automatically pings all your posts for you. If you use a service like blogger.com, you will need to add a widget such as this to your blog.

11. Create an opt-in list: This is the list which will build traffic for you, by allowing you to capture your visitor’s name and address, or any other contact information you believe is relevant. It’s best to start with a simple opt-in list, so your audience does not have to spend much time filling out forms. And always remember to provide an opt-out option.

12. Review your blog design: Does it fall into the correct category based on the clients/audience you’re trying to attract? What is the design layout you’ve selected? Is it easy to read and scroll through. Do your posts have highlighted headings, easy to download graphics, and visually pleasing colors? Look at the widgets you’ve elected to install. Keep only the ones that are of value to your site. By overcrowding your site with ads and widgets, real content is lost.

And finally, remember to at all times keep the ‘human’ element in your blog. Visitors to your site will be more tempted to return if they can understand and identify with your tone of voice. So introduce humor where relevant, and facts and figures when called for; but above all, be true to yourself and your fans will follow.