How to Get Traffic – Quick, Fast, And In a Hurry
By Sujan Patel with 23 Comments
Often, bloggers come to a point in their blogging careers (usually early on) where they sit back and take a serious look at what kind of traffic numbers they are pulling in on a daily basis. A lot of times, rookie bloggers (those that have been blogging for less than six months) get discouraged when they find out through the use of stats tracking programs that they aren’t getting the kind of traffic that they feel they deserve. They may even have some great, “pillar†type articles and regular content updates but are left wondering where everyone is at!
Why aren’t people coming to your blog like they should be?
What I’m about to tell you will answer that question. Whether you’re brand new out of the gate to blogging, or even if you’ve been around for a little while – I want to go over some very basic, but highly effective ways to drive quick traffic to your blog to get that little “spark†that you need to really set the traffic on fire!
1.Take advantage of Social Bookmarking sites. This method alone could provide the boost that you need to grab some loyal readers and subscribers for life. I’m assuming that as a blogger you know what I mean when I talk about Social Bookmarking sites (Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Netscape, Slashdot…etc). These sites are basically lists of internet resources that users find useful/helpful/funny which are free and available to the general public. These sites are where you want your “all-star†articles to be bookmarked and you can accomplish this a couple different ways. The easiest way, obviously, is for you to submit them yourself. This is a matter of clicking a few buttons and sending them in. Same goes for the second way – a lot of times your readers will submit the articles for you, which is also fine and dandy. Now assuming your article is a great one that provides value to someone who reads it, then you’d better hope your hosting company can handle some major bandwidth usage because it’s not unusual to get hundreds or even thousands of hits in the matter of a few hours. Again, that’s assuming that your article is fantastic, which leads me to my next point. Don’t overdo it on submitting to these Social Bookmarking sites! Only submit those articles that you would consider your best work. The last thing you want to do is spam these sites – because eventually people will notice the spammage and won’t “vote†or “tag†your articles anymore. Trust me though, if you submit a hot article at the right time (afternoon time is usually best), your traffic will literally double, triple or even more in a very short period of time.
2. Comment, comment, comment! A highly effective way of driving quick traffic to your blog is to start getting involved in other blogger’s discussions and comments. By now, I’m sure you’ve picked a niche to write about and are probably familiar with the “power-houses†or “A-listers†in your field of expertise. What you want to do is make a list of the blogs that are related to yours that have active discussions, and hop right in! By leaving intelligent, insightful comments on popular blogs, people will want to know more about you so they click through and check out what you have to say on your own blog. Doing this on a regular basis can bring in quite a bit of traffic, and since you’re participating on a related blog, you will not only get increased traffic, but you’ll also probably end up with some loyal readers and subscribers! Spend an hour or so of your internet time commenting on other blogs, and I promise the return in traffic will be well worth your time.
3. Link to other blogs like it’s going out of style. You may be wondering what I mean by this, and why would you want to send away traffic to other blogs? The worst thing you can possibly do as a blogger is to be “link-stingyâ€. By linking to other blogs, even to your competitors, it is almost a given that you’ll get linked back to. You see, the “blogosphere†is built around linking or spreading the “link-love†to other blogs/sites. When you spread the link love, people always return it and link back to you and send visitors your way. It may not be immediate, but trust me, at the very least, sometime down the road they’ll link to you and you’ll be glad they did. Not only does generously linking to others bring more traffic, it will also help boost your Google PageRank because eventually you might get links from the big time blogs/sites that have a higher PR than you, which is golden. I often link back to other blogs very quickly after they link to me, as it falls under “blogger etiquetteâ€. Try it, you won’t be disappointed.
4. Build up quality content on a regular basis. Experts in the blogging field often say, “more content = more trafficâ€. This is a very true statement and it behooves you to post to your blog every day if you are able, as this gives the search engines more pages to index which in turn will bring you tons more traffic. Post to your blog everyday and after 6 months you’ll have, at the very least, 180 pages indexed in the search engines! That’s quite a lot of pages, and will definitely help people find your blog if they happen to be looking for a topic that you write about. Remember – more content = more traffic.
5. Be different, even controversial. This may sound evil, but you have to understand that EVERY niche has tons of different writers, so unless you’re one of the popular ones, you need to do something to stand out. Being controversial can be a very risky and tricky, but potentially very rewarding method to build traffic. In order to stand out from the ever-growing list of bloggers in your niche you need to be different. Most people are more traditional and write about the same thing that everyone else is. Be different! If you spot something on another blog that doesn’t sound right, then call them out on it. Remember the most important aspect of blogging is putting your opinion behind your words. You’re not CNN, you’re you, and you want to offer people your unique opinion. That’s why they read what you write, because they value your opinion on the subject. Be careful when you cross into the field of controversy, because if your facts aren’t straight, you could take a major hit in your credibility. Be sure you have facts and sources to back everything up that you say.
I sincerely hope that the above tips help you in your quest to garner more traffic. If followed correctly, I guarantee that the traffic will flow. You have to understand that while these are quick ways to get more traffic – the ultimate traffic builder is time. Keep posting quality content on a routine basis and the readers will come. I promise you that.
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How To Increase RSS Subscribers
By Sujan Patel with 2 Comments
So you want to increase your RSS subscribers. The best way to increase your subscribers is to give your readers what they want (but not all they want). The following are a few ways to increase your Subscriptions:
1. Choose a Niche
The most important thing about increasing your blogs subscribers is choosing the right niche for you blog and sticking with it. It doesn’t have to be the most popular niche but be sure you have a passion and some expertise for the niche you choose. It is very easy to get off track when you blogging especially if you’re running out of ideas. Here are a few ways to come up with a great idea. Keep on track and turn your visitors into subscribers.
2. Social Media
Submit you blogs best post to sites like Digg, Stumble Upon, Netscape. These sites can generate thousands of visitors and potential subscribers. Here are a few other social bookmarking websites you should submit to:
3. Design
It is important that your blog’s design is professional. The design is often more important than the content. A professional design gives you credibility, it makes you look and sound professional. The design assures the reader that what you are saying has to be accurate or important without them even reading a single word.
4. More!
Leave the reader wanting more. Write pillar articles, split your long post into two parts, keep your post up to date. These are a only a few of the ways to leave your readers wanting more. This will give them a reason to return.
Blog Plan
By Sujan Patel with 10 Comments
Before starting any good business one creates a business plan, just as you should create a blog plan before starting your own blog. A blog plan assures that your blog reaches its full potential.
1. Goal
What do you want out of blogging? The goal is simple. Some people want to make money from blogging, some want to get their name out, or some just want to blog for fun.
2. Research
Who are your competitors? Are there tools that can help you? What blogging platform should you use? Who is the authority in my niche? Research is the key to any marketing campaign. Ask yourself the questions above. Identify who you competitors are (other blogs that are in your niche and other similar niches). See if you can look for any tools that can help make your blogging experience a little easier. Look at other blogs and see what plugins they are using. Plugins will not only make your life easier, they will help optimize your blog for search engines and improve the usability of your blog. Find as much information as you can about blogs in your niche, other niches and read up on how to blog. It is better to have too much information than too little.
3. Audience
Who is your ideal audience? Who is actually going to read your blog? What is the best feature of your blog? What will your audience think of your blog? What does your audience want? These are questions you should ask yourself before you start blogging; unfortunately not all of these questions will be answered initially. Knowing your audience and knowing what they want is the key to having quality content. Once you know who they are and want they want, all that’s left is giving it to them.
4. Purpose
There are 62 million blogs, why should people read yours? What are you offering your audience? Your blog’s purpose is different from your goals. Your blog’s purpose is for your audience while your goal is for you, the blogger. Give your blog a purpose:
Example: I am an SEO and my blog provides information to help market websites. My goal is to get my name out as an SEO specialist. My purpose is to provide bloggers with information about SEO, PPC or blog optimization.
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Increase Traffic by Using Keywords in Title
By Sujan Patel with 1 Comment
Using good keywords in your headline can help increase traffic to your site through search engines. Most blogs receive traffic from social media, however only their latest and greatest posts receive a high volume of traffic. What about the posts that are good, but never receive any traffic because they aren’t caught on by digg or stumble upon? That’s where keywords come into play. Keywords will help drive traffic from search engines to your old posts. Keywords alone won’t do the trick, you have to make sure your blog is optimized for search engines. The first step is spending a few minutes to do keyword research, which doesn’t have to be extensive, just something very top level. I use Overture’s keyword tool,it’s free and easy to use, the only down side is the tool is slow and doesn’t always load. Then search for keywords that best fit your topic and make sure to keep track of these stats (I usually write my blogs in Microsoft Word and have all extra information at the bottom). One thing people should not do is go keyword crazy. Keep the headline catchy and understandable. Check out Copy Blogger for great headline formulas. That’s all there is to it, it’s very easy to do and often overlooked. Remember…search engines are a blog’s best friend.
Example:
On my first blog, I followed all the steps to optimize for the search engines, but really missed the boat when it came to choosing the right keywords. My goal was to have my blog show up for my name, Sujan Patel. After a few months, I realized that no one cares about me (no one searched for my name). So recently, I started using keywords in my headlines and seeing fantastic results.
Keyword: “Instant Snowâ€
Headline: Instant Snow
Putting the keyword in the headline of a properly optimized blog will go a long ways. Notice the keyword appears in three places: the title, URL, and headline (which happens to be an H1 tag). Also notice there is hardly any content, just two sentences and a You Tube video. After 2 days of submitting this post, I ranked number 4 for “instant snow†and I rank number 7 as of today. This drives 10-12 visitors a day, which is not a huge number, however it adds up when you do this for all our posts.
This just shows how important your headline is…so choose wisely (no pressure).
10 Signs You’re Addicted To Blogging
By Sujan Patel with 4 Comments
If you agree with any of the following then you are a blog addict and you need help.
1. You post more than 2 times a day.
2. It brings you great joy when you get a comment on your blog.
3. You have more than one blog.
4. You talk to your significant other your latest blog post.
5. You get your significant other to start blogging.
6. You subscribe to more than 30 blogs.
7. You consider yourself a writer.
8. You ask other men if they have a blog.
9. You dream about blogging.
10. If you laughed while reading this post.
Don’t worry. The first step is admitting you have a problem…Read our 5 step cure to a blogging addiction
