Tips for Increasing Traffic to Your Blog

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Blogging offers different promotion opportunities that static website owners do not have simply because of how blogs are structured by default and how frequently they are typically updated.

However, some of these strategies can be applied to static websites as well.

Blog Engage

Blog Engage is a fabulous network for new bloggers because it gives you the opportunity to share your own content, have it reviewed by others, win prizes, establish connections and more. This is a wonderful network for new and seasoned bloggers.

Ileane of Basic Blog Tips speaks very highly of this service on her blog.

Triberr

If you are a new blogger, this is a great site to help get your blog off the ground. Triberr is a unique service that allows you to join the "tribes" of your choice. Members share the love and promote each other's content by tweeting their blog posts.

Learn more about Triberr here.

Guest Posting

This is where you write a post for another blog. Guest posting will introduce you to a new audience and give you the opportunity to attract more followers. This is a fabulous tactic for new bloggers looking to increase their readership.

Ann Smarty wrote a very useful, two-part guest post on my blog.

Write a Response Posts (Use Trackbacks)

Let's say I write an article about SEO and you want to respond to it with your own post, adding your own additional points. In this post, you link to my original article.

If both of us have Trackbacks enabled on our blogs (WordPress) then you can send me a trackback letting me know you've linked to my post. Once I approve the trackback, it will show up in my comments as a link to your response post.

It's a great way to get someone's attention and drive extra traffic to your blog. However, use this wisely. Make sure the article is fresh, unique and interesting. If not, the original blogger may just delete the trackback. Also, not every blog has trackbacks enabled.

Even if the blogger does not accept trackbacks, you can still notify them on social media or e-mail. If the article is interesting enough, they may announce it to their followers. Even better, you may establish a new connection. After all, that's what blogging is really about -- connections.

Write More Problem-Solving Posts

One reason bloggers struggle to get exposure, is they don't write posts that are useful enough. Paraphrasing existing content will not get it done. Identify common problems that your audience faces and write more articles that offer solutions.

When your readers can see that your primary goal is to help them, it creates loyalty, and they are more likely to become repeat visitors, customers and/or buy products you recommend (affiliate marketing).

Set a Rhythm and Automate

My blog's readership increased when I began blogging on a regular schedule. When you do this, people know when to expect your content. Then you can use automation tools like HootSuite or Social Oomph to announce your posts to various social media sites. Both tools allow you to schedule the announcements if you wish.

Just be careful of overdoing the automation. I blogged about that here.

Write Pillar Content

Pillar content is typically a tutorial or how-to article with very practical advice. An example of a pillar article would be "50 Ways to Keep Your Body Healthy." In this post you provide very detailed information for each tip.

According to professional blogger, Yaro Starak, a pillar article could be a resource list, definition article, free report, etc. He goes into great detail about writing Pillar content in his free report, Blog Profits Blueprint.

These kinds of posts are much more likely to be shared and go viral on social media because they are useful and easy to reference. Here's an example of a few pillar posts I wrote that really got a lot of traffic and comments...

7 AdSense Strategies You Should Adopt
42 Fabulous Free Web Tools

Here's a video on writing pillar content.

Use Personal Experiences

One way to connect more with your readers is to inject personal stories related to whatever you're writing about.

If you're blogging about a method to increase traffic, tell a story about how you used that method and show the results. Not only does this add credibility, but it makes for a more interesting post.

Successful blogging is not about anonymity. It's about people connecting with people. And one way to do that is to remind your readers that you are human. Show them that you have personal stories to share that are relevant to the topics you blog about.

I wrote a post back in 2008 called "How I Doubled My Blog Traffic in 2 Months" that illustrates this point. People loved that I provided tips that I actually use instead of just paraphrasing tips from other blogs.

Follow Successful People

It amazes me how many people say they want to make money with their blog, but they don't subscribe and/or follow other successful people.

There are so many bloggers out here who pay it forward by writing outstanding how-to articles, eBooks and reports on how to build a successful blog. Their content is typically laced with helpful advice inspired by their own journeys.

Here are some good marketing blogs to follow: Pro Blogger, Smart Passive Income, CopyBlogger, Entrepreneur's Journey and DavidRisely.com. There are more of course, but these are some of the big players in the game.

Also look for successful people in your niche in social media and Google. You can google something like [your niche] + blogs. It won't be hard to find the popular people. Study their content and watch how they engage and interact with their followers.

Blogging is About Relationships

It is no longer recommended to just sit alone in your corner of the Internet creating content and expect the search engines to find you and bring you loads of traffic. That worked for me in the late 90's and early 2000's, but things are different now. Blogs and social media have changed the game.

Today, it's all about relationships. How well you build relationships with people will have a huge impact on how well your site does... especially if you are a blogger.

Don't forget to subscribe to my blog for more blogging tips!

Try CommentLuv

This is probably one of the coolest WordPress plugins you can use. It automatically grabs a person's latest blog post and adds it below their comment. It's a great way to encourage more people to comment and repeat traffic to your blog.

I recently upgraded to the Premium version of CommentLuv which allows me to offer incentives for people to share my content. For example, if someone retweets or "Likes" my post then they get the option to choose which one of their last 10 blog posts they want to display with their comment.

You can set all kinds of parameters to reward and encourage people to share your content.

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Questions about building traffic? Join me and my friendly community at WebsiteBabble.com. You'll learn a lot and meet others who are also learning to build traffic.

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