A little while ago I wrote about how you can get your site/blog indexed in Google in a short period of time. However, getting your site indexed is not going to drive traffic to your blog (or your website for that matter). Driving traffic obviously takes time and patience. So what can you do to drive traffic to your blog?
Comment on other posts related to your industry
If you have a blog that deals with sports cars then find other people that talk about sports cars and comment on their posts. It doesn’r hurt to branch out slightly to related industries as well, for example car parts, car accessories either.
Try to get syndicated
When I write a post it immediately gets sent to Marketing.alltop.com, Socialmedia.alltop,com, and social media today. That’s 3 different places that my post appears in addition to appearing on my blog. This helps increase your reach.
Put the URL in your email signature and profiles
I have my blog URL in my email signature. I also have a link going to my blog from my facebook profile, linkedin page, twitter account, etc. Make sure that you make it easy for people to discover your blog.
Use Digg and Stumbleupon
Use these tools judiciously but do use them. Every now and then when I think I have written a solid quality post about an interesting topic I will “stumble” it and post it/and share it on digg.
Share your posts
Whenever I write a post I make sure to distributed it to my twitter followers and facebook friends, that way people that are connected to me will have an easy way of discovering my blog.
Write guest posts
No guest post is too small or too big. If you are given the opportunity to write on someone else’s blog then do it. Don’t be scared to ask to write guest posts either. In addition to writing my own blog I also write on Brian Solis’s Bubblicious blog and for the Blog World Expo Blog. Writing guest posts is one of the best ways to get your name out there. Something is better than nothing so get out there and write where you can.
Write quality and engaging content
This is undoubtedly one of the most important things you can do to drive traffic to your blog. Write something you are passionate about and use your voice when you do it. In a nutshell my passion is people and ideas and that is what I try to write about (marketing, social media, etc, all fall under that general category).
Network online and offline
Try to maintain an active online and offline presence. I try to attend as many events as I can. These events range from tweetups, to technology get togethers, to conferences, to parties. Try to get out there and talk to people. Share your ideas and share your passions whenever you can.
Write Often
As many of you know, I try to write at least once a day, and sometimes more. People like to see new and fresh content. If you start off writing a blog post once a week then chances are that people are not going to “stick” to your site. Try to write as often as you can to keep your readers interested and engaged.
Respond to comments
I respond to every single comment and e-mail I get, even if it’s just a thank you. Don’t be worried if your blog doesn’t get that many comments either. Mashable for example has over 1 millions unique readers a month, yet the comments are sparce at best. Conversation don’t just happen on blogs, so just because you don’t see comments doesn’t mean people aren’t talking about what you wrote.
RSS feeds
Make it easy for your readers to RSS feed your content. I have a link at the end of all of my posts that let’s you receive my posts in the RSS feed platform of your choice. I also have that giant orange RSS feed symbol at the top right of my page. Oftentimes people just read the content straight from their RSS reader without even visiting my site, it’s a convenience. Either way, they are reading what I write, and that’s what counts.
I really hope you find the above tips useful, please feel free to email me with any questions or comments, my email can be found on the about page. Do you have any other tips you would recommend? Did I miss any?
Thanks for reading
Use a title such as “Top 14 power words for email advertising and communications” and get 1,000 visitors in one day.
– I'm struggling with this particular issue you're talking about – I was thinking about trying the digg/stumble upon way. Does it really work? Do you have any advice on how to do it (I'm sure a lot of people are doing exactly that so what makes you visible on top of all the 'noise')
Your stock photography is always really good.
Also, very good post.
By the way. I know this is preferential, but unless the stock photography is actually larger than what you show on the page itself, having a link to the image is distracting. I keep clicking on them thinking they are links to the link itself. Maybe I am just being dumb repeatedly, but still worth mentioning – no link to image is the image is already shown at full size or nearly full size. (please?)
Hi Laurent,
It does work, but you have to do it sparingly. One of the first things I would do on digg is to start adding friends who digg similar things or are in similar categories. then when you digg your posts you share it with all of your friends. you may not get that many diggs but you will still get a few and a few diggs is still better then 0 diggs.
stumbleupon is also great for driving traffic and it helps people discover your site. with stumbleupon you just just select the industry and add your 2 cents and click stumble. It may not provide consistent traffic but every now and then you will large spikes and some of those people will inevitably like what you write about and come back.
one of the mistakes i made early on was trying to digg and stumble every single post i wrote, don't do that as it takes away from your credibility. digg and stumble other posts as well and every now and then throw in one of your own. the digg/stumble method is a great way to get introduced to the blog world, it;'s an easy way to get people to discover your blog.
there are other sites out there such as mixx, reddit, etc. that allow you to submit articles as well. don't go overboard with this but do use it.
@digital
you know i never even paid attention to the fact that the images were links, good point. link removed on the latest post and i will definitely keep that in mind, thanks for letting me know!
Ah, sweet relief
@engago
that’s certainly another way to do it. titles that capture attention are quite important.
thanks for the comment
Thanks, i did feel that there was something wrong with trying to digg every single post we (its a company blog) wrote. We post stuff about our app which i don't think would be good candidate for digg/stumble but we also post thoughts/analysis that have general interest and am thinking that those posts would be good for digg
ya that may not be the best thing to stumble, unless its a new cool app a lot of people are going to go after. try reaching out to other folks in you area of expertise and comment/write for them. im sure u can get out there.
Thanks, i did feel that there was something wrong with trying to digg every single post we (its a company blog) wrote. We post stuff about our app which i don't think would be good candidate for digg/stumble but we also post thoughts/analysis that have general interest and am thinking that those posts would be good for digg
ya that may not be the best thing to stumble, unless its a new cool app a lot of people are going to go after. try reaching out to other folks in you area of expertise and comment/write for them. im sure u can get out there.
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