With blogs now being so easy to set up there are so many competing for attention. Alongside good quality content, certain free methods can increase readership when used effectively. Promotion is a skill and knowing how to use the web in a way to increase traffic can create a successful website.
Create a Reader Friendly Website
Make it easy for blog visitors to bookmark and link to the website in their browser. Use easy to read fonts and ensure the background is not distracting, a professional looking design is important to create a good image. Easy navigation means a reader is likely to read more and recommend the site to others, so ensure content is organised and simple to find. Highlight the most popular posts, and use good keywords in post titles to get more traffic via Google. Use Google Analytics to identify where traffic is coming from to understand which traffic-increasing methods are successful.
Social Networking to Build Reader Relations
Sites like Facebook, MyBlogLog and Twitter are powerful tools in generating interest in a blog. Blog posts should be linked immediately on Facebook and Twitter and this gives people a chance to comment on the post and have the opportunity to discuss it with the blog owner. Facebook Fan pages are a good way to generate publicity and inbuilt forums are useful in creating a community of readers. Submit posts to multiple social bookmarking sites using OnlyWire. It is important for visitors to be able to submit a blog post to social bookmarking sites.
Posting in Related Forums
Posting in a forum is a good way to attract readers to a blog. This tends to work best when a relationship is first built with targeted users and trust is built. It is best to visit forums in a related niche. Keep the blog URL in the signature line of each post to increase web site traffic quickly. Often people in forums do not seek out information and ask questions so be sure to answer questions when possible. Making friends in a forum is likely to lead to more regular blog readers.
Send Out Email Newsletters
Creating an email list means subscribers can be informed about the blog and any offers. Many find email is an invaluable way of building a relationship with readers and some bloggers use it as a way to get feedback to further improve their blogs. Successful blogger John Chow has been quoted as saying that email is one of his most effective ways of promoting his products. Reply to any questions from readers by email and try to be as helpful as possible to gain their interest.
Promote the Blog Everywhere
Answering questions on forums and Yahoo Answers related to the niche with a link to a blog post that answers the question. Attract readers by commenting on other people's posts, and often the most effective way is to make friends that are interested in a similar topic. Word of mouth is very effective, so tell friends and family about the blog and encourage them to tell others. Here are some other ways of promoting the blog:
- Publish videos on YouTube with the blog URL at the beginning and end of the video.
- Put the blog URL on everything from business cards, to mailing labels.
- Join writing sites such as Hubpages and Squidoo and post links to the blog from articles.
- Provide Wikipedia articles with any relevant links to the blog.
- Submit the site to free website review sites such as Cool Site of the Day.
- Ensure that the post title and URL is submitted to blog directories such as BlogCatalog.
- Participating in blog carnivals is a good way of getting publicity.
Increasing traffic to a website or blog involves getting attention and developing a relationship with readers whether via social networking, forums or directories. The key is strong content with good keywords and links- and then making sure that people can find the content via search engines and directories.
Source:
DailyBlogTips.com Blog Project: 30 Traffic Generation Tips (Accessed July 5, 2010).
Priya Chauhan - A designer, topic editor and feature writer (for Hinduism) and all round experimenter of healthy living; Priya enjoys being creative, and ...
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