How to increase your blogs traffic -part1
ADVERTISEMENTSIt’s the dream of every blogger to get a lot of traffic, but something first time bloggers often don’t realize is that just publishing a few posts will not get them regular readers. I am no expert in getting traffic, but I have been working on a few things which has increased my traffic a lot.
When I first started this blog I used to get only about 10-20 visitors a day. After the first few months, I started getting traffic from Google and other search engines and my unique visitors increased to about 100 a day. Now for the past few weeks I have been getting about 550 visitors a day.
The sudden increase in traffic I had from about 100-500 visitors was mainly because my recent posts were linked back from many sites. So yes, linking can get you traffic depending on which sites link to you. Links can be thought of as the currency of blogs.
I received a lot of emails (even while writing this) from bloggers asking how they can get more traffic, I hope this helps…
Blog Design
A good design won’t bring you traffic but it will get your visitors to stay longer. No one will stay on your blog too long if the layout or navigation annoys them. So the first thing to do is to select a good theme for your blog and then design your own header. The goal is to have a unique blog that stands out from all other blogs (making your visitors want to come back again and again).
Often bloggers select a theme and forget about the design. The problem here is that your blog will look similar to hundreds of blogs that use the same theme.
Your design should allow your visitors to access the main pages of your blog and to contact you easily. Your blog should have an about page and an author photo. The more a reader knows about you, the more they trust your content. You can find more info on this on my recent post - Common Weblogging Mistakes.
Quality Content
Your blog should have good content inorder to keep your visitors coming back. By good content I mean well written posts that are unique and useful at the same time. Writing original content is definitely the key.
Do not copy-paste contents directly from other blogs to your blog. Re-blogging is a bad thing and will kill your traffic. The solution here is to write that content in your own words adding your own unique ideas to it. And don’t forget to link to the original post.
The more engaged you are with your content, the more interesting it will be.
Get Links
The more links you have the more traffic you get. Like I said before links are the currency of blogs. So how do you go about getting links to your blog?
Well written posts are often linked back by many sites. You are lucky if you get linked by heavily trafficked sites.
Another way is to get links from other bloggers. Link to their blogs and ask them politely to do the same for you. Also visit the ‘links’ section of a blog (if they have one) and check for a link exchange form. If there is, submit your blog after linking to theirs.
You may also take part in other link exchanging programs.
Join Conversations
Most of my first visitors came to my blog because I left a comment on theirs. When you comment on a blog leave your blog address. Often people like to know who is reading their blog and will come visiting you.Readers of that blog will also pay a visit to your blog.But do not comment just for the sake of it. Make genuine comments that relate with the post. In the process you will not only get visitors to your blog but might also make friends.
Take part in Blog Top Sites
Submitting your blog to Blog Top Sites like topblogsites.net, blogtopsites.com and top100bloggers.com is another way to get more traffic. These networks make your blog easier to find and search for as well. After you sign up for an account on their website, you just need to copy a bit of code and paste it somewhere on your blog.
You can also take part in blog traffic exchange communities like BlogExplosion and BlogClicker.
To join these blog traffic exchange communities - visit the site, sign up, confirm your account, add your blog to the member directory and then start visiting other member’s blogs.
Basically, you need to earn ‘credits’ in order to get blog traffic exposure. These credits are often gained by visiting other member’s blogs. When you have enough credits, your blog becomes eligible for promotion. Usually, a link or graphic to your blog will be shown on the main site or in fellow member’s blogs. This is how other people find your blog.
Of course, the more members there are in the community, the more potential visitors. So, if you are part of a blog traffic community, it’s good to promote the communities you belong to as well. Besides, when you promote the community through a referral system, you get more credits too.
Tag Technorati
Technorati is one of the best traffic providers for bloggers. People find your blogs easily when people search by technorati tags. Technorati will rank your blog based on the number of links from other websites.The higher your rank the easier your blog is to find when people search for things.
If you do not have a Technorati account, signup here. After you have setup the main settings, such as your profile, you need to claim your blog.
Make good use of Technorati tags by tagging every keyword in each of your posts. If you use WordPress, I recommend Ultimate Tag Warrior (UTW) which makes tagging Technorati a lot easier.
By tagging your post effectively you will get a lot of quality traffic to your blog.
Here’s the link to the different parts of this series:
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Posted on March 24th, 2006 | Category: Blogging |
Mike
March 24, 2006 at 5:48 pm
Very Informative…Are there any ways to make readers stay longer on my blog?
johntp
March 24, 2006 at 6:05 pm
I have noticed many times that readers stay longer when there are comments to a post. Also you should post frequently and interact with your readers.
Make your blog more interactive by adding polls and discussion forums
Sam
March 24, 2006 at 6:18 pm
With RSS becoming more popular, it is almost a requirement that you make a feed available for your site. It makes it easier for returning readers to keep track of new content, and will get you more readers that are dedicated in the long run.
is a great tool for this, as it makes it easy to track how many people are subcribed to your feed and it is compatible with many types of feed.
Shivaranjan Bhoopathy
March 24, 2006 at 6:40 pm
Good post man… Hope I get to increase traffic in my site…
What is this feed burner all about???? I have seen this in many blogs….
Madhur Kapoor
March 24, 2006 at 8:34 pm
Nice work dude . Keep em coming . Going to register for the blog sites you mentioned .
johntp
March 25, 2006 at 1:45 am
Shiva- I will explain all about burning your feeds tonight
Madhur- Gonna unblock some of your past comments that were blocked by Akismet
And if you guys liked this post Digg it
Sam
March 25, 2006 at 2:05 am
I say it’s a good idea to put your site as a signarure in Forums
karthiksn
March 25, 2006 at 4:27 pm
hey really nice and informative
johntp
March 25, 2006 at 6:11 pm
Thanks. Check out Part 2 also.
SimonE
March 25, 2006 at 11:59 pm
Interesting article, what blogs actually lack is a link page so you can place all your links to other sites and vice-versa.
Shivaranjan Bhoopathy
March 26, 2006 at 9:48 am
John pls post regarding feedburner and how it is useful….
jagsy
March 26, 2006 at 3:22 pm
gr8 yaar ,i read ur post abt increasing traffic and really impressed by tht ,n ll definetelt go for linkXchange wid ur site
johntp
March 29, 2006 at 12:36 pm
Shiva- Check part2 for more on Feedburner
Jagsy- Thanks, I have linked to your site
Jack
May 27, 2006 at 2:01 am
By far the best traffic exchange (if you are going to use one) is Hit Pulse. I get hits immediately when I have credits in my account. I run out of credits very quickly!
johntp
May 27, 2006 at 11:25 am
Jack- Blog traffic exchange sites give you hits but not regular readers
Pierre Lourens
July 22, 2006 at 12:40 am
Thanks for the tips! Personally, I think technorati is a blogger’s best friend. The way I got more traffic was to comment on people’s sites, and link back when I got stories. If someone sees a trackback or comment, then it’s another chance for me to gain more readers. This is what I did since I launched my blog on July 19th, 2006… and I’ve already got 19 feedreaders!
Pierre Lourens
July 22, 2006 at 12:40 am
Excuse me, that would be 18, typo
Oliver Clews
August 6, 2006 at 4:19 pm
Hello, thanks for this great article it was a very interesing read and also a very helpful one. This is really going to help me with my blog.
Oliver
Fitz
August 29, 2006 at 8:50 am
Thank you for this easy to read article.I will be back to see you guys again.
Jesse
September 8, 2006 at 12:29 am
actually i hit your page by searching for how to increase page rank of my blog but i read about how to increase blog traffic… anyhow its very informative
Christer Edwards
October 2, 2006 at 3:26 am
You’re right. I found this post via a link posted on a forum. Someone found your content helpful & marketed your blog (more specifically the post) for you.
Thanks for the tips. I’m always on the lookout for improvement, as we all are (or should be). As far as I’m concerned the bottom line tip for blog traffic is unique. original. content.
Nida
October 2, 2006 at 9:10 am
very nice thanks for it..Inofrmative too.
omeg
October 8, 2006 at 12:31 am
Thank you. This post has really helped me alot. I am gonna do some of the stuff you advised
Vincent Chow
November 10, 2006 at 4:23 pm
Traffic exchange programs may not be a good idea if you are Google AdSense user. I received a warning email once for using them, they defined it as invalid impressions.