Many of us work so hard on our blogs and frankly, it kind of sucks if we don't get the traffic we want. And it's a catch-22you can't get the traffic without the work, but it's tough to justify all the work if you don't get the traffic. Well, here are 11 suggestions to get the traffic you want to your blog.
1. Make your blog remarkable: There is a good reason this is first in the queue, that is because being remarkable can make all the other concerns fall into line. Everything else on a blog could be missing, but with this at its core it could still be a success.
So how on earth do you make yourself remarkable?
* Being informative: Teach your readers what they want and convey the info in a way your audience appreciates. * Entertain - Insert humor, amaze your readersdo what's appropriate to get their attention. * Connect with Your Audience - Understand and speak to their pain, worries and even their dreams and desires. * Be Controversial - Share an opinionnot everyone has to agree with you to find you interesting.
This may be seen as a "build it and they will come" attitude, which is usually advised against in internet marketing, which may be true in some respects. Of course, this doesn't mean giving up manual traffic building, but the more "out there" or a controversial your blog is, the higher the chance is that your efforts become noticed.
# 2 The Power of RSS. It may be obvious to some, but there are thousands of blogs out there that haven't even considered using an RSS feed. If you're not sure what RSS means, it stands for really simple syndication - allowing users to subscribe to your blogs "feed", which alerts them to every new post you make without them having to constantly visit the blog. Unless your viewer audience is overly tech savvy, and consider RSS to be yesterday's news - I'd suggest giving the option to your readers that enables them to subscribe to your RSS feed, letting them view updates through their feed reader or e-mail accounts. Services are available to help the process like feedburner.com.
3. Ping!: Make sure your blog is set up to ping the various web blogs. Many blog platforms allow you to set this up in your settings. This helps a variety of information/search sites know that you've updated your blog.
#4 Comment on Other Blogs: Comment on other blogs in related field to your own. The option of linking back to your own blog is usually available. Make sure you are respectful! I would pay the conditions set by the blog owner, be courteous by offering real information instead of a big advertisement for your own blog. Without this kind of diplomacy, your comments will probably be deleted by admin.
5. Do Trackbacks: Many blogs allow you to make commentary about their posts on your own blog. When you link to their particular blog post, a link to your own blog post appears in the comments area on their blog. For trackbacks between WordPress blogs, all you need to do is link to a blog post and it's automatically set up. BE RESPECTFUL: If you're going to trackback, have something useful to say. Just summarizing and linking to someone's post does NOT add to the discussion.
6# Stay in contact with your list. As every marketer says, the money is in the list. This is definitely true, but the list needs nurturing and updating or you may begin to lose subscribers. Try to send relevant posts and things that you know people on your list to enjoy.
#7 Content Distribution: Your content does not have to be 100% contained on the blog. Remember the many other ways there are to distribute content, like article marketing, guest posting on other blogs, audio content and videos. The more content you have out there, the more likely you will be noticed.
8. Affiliates Link to Your Blog: If your affiliate program allows your affiliates to link to any page on your site, encourage them to link to and write about your various blog posts. The system I use at Quicksales.com (a private-label 1ShoppingCart) allows my affiliates to quickly and easily link to any blog post they want.
Affiliate referrals are cookied when someone follows a link and if that referral eventually buys, they get the commission. Of course, the conversions on blog links aren't going to be as good as linking directly to a sales page, but it gives your affiliates the opportunity to bring value to their own readers (by linking to your AWESOME content) and potential benefit financially.
9. Social Networking: The big named social networks can be a nice boost for traffic, especially MySpace, Twitter and Facebook. If your readers are able to meet you and socialize with you, they will be more interested in the things you talk about your blog. Remember to be polite and to use net etiquette. Try not to get too stuck in when logged into these networks, as you may find time slips away (there's lots of other important work to get on with). Of course, if you are remarkable (or infamous), you would have created enough buzz for people to do their own talking on the social networks.
#10 Social Bookmarking: Social bookmarking is different to social networks. Social bookmarking is a little like bookmarking your favorite websites in your browser, except the list will be published for everybody else to see, including the search engines. Some people bookmark their own sites, but do understand that the networks do not like this and may ban your account for "self promotion", so be sure to read the rules. Another technique is to pay others or work in a cooperative scheme. But again, if you are remarkable enough, your site will be book marked thoroughly by the internet public.
#11 Search Engine Optimization: Perhaps I'm going against the crowd, but I've chosen to put SEO last. I understand most marketers would have this at the top of their list, but if your goal is to make an amazing website that will retain visitors, SEO should take a back seat.
The reason why SEO Shouldn't be such a priority, is the fact that good content needs to come first. Spending hours optimizing each page on your blog may turn out to be a misuse of your time. Text that has been optimized for the search engines and certain key words tends to be less readable and repetitive. If you are skilled enough however, you could combine SEO with outstanding content, and get the best of both worlds. Just try not to create everything solely for the search engines.
1. Make your blog remarkable: There is a good reason this is first in the queue, that is because being remarkable can make all the other concerns fall into line. Everything else on a blog could be missing, but with this at its core it could still be a success.
So how on earth do you make yourself remarkable?
* Being informative: Teach your readers what they want and convey the info in a way your audience appreciates. * Entertain - Insert humor, amaze your readersdo what's appropriate to get their attention. * Connect with Your Audience - Understand and speak to their pain, worries and even their dreams and desires. * Be Controversial - Share an opinionnot everyone has to agree with you to find you interesting.
This may be seen as a "build it and they will come" attitude, which is usually advised against in internet marketing, which may be true in some respects. Of course, this doesn't mean giving up manual traffic building, but the more "out there" or a controversial your blog is, the higher the chance is that your efforts become noticed.
# 2 The Power of RSS. It may be obvious to some, but there are thousands of blogs out there that haven't even considered using an RSS feed. If you're not sure what RSS means, it stands for really simple syndication - allowing users to subscribe to your blogs "feed", which alerts them to every new post you make without them having to constantly visit the blog. Unless your viewer audience is overly tech savvy, and consider RSS to be yesterday's news - I'd suggest giving the option to your readers that enables them to subscribe to your RSS feed, letting them view updates through their feed reader or e-mail accounts. Services are available to help the process like feedburner.com.
3. Ping!: Make sure your blog is set up to ping the various web blogs. Many blog platforms allow you to set this up in your settings. This helps a variety of information/search sites know that you've updated your blog.
#4 Comment on Other Blogs: Comment on other blogs in related field to your own. The option of linking back to your own blog is usually available. Make sure you are respectful! I would pay the conditions set by the blog owner, be courteous by offering real information instead of a big advertisement for your own blog. Without this kind of diplomacy, your comments will probably be deleted by admin.
5. Do Trackbacks: Many blogs allow you to make commentary about their posts on your own blog. When you link to their particular blog post, a link to your own blog post appears in the comments area on their blog. For trackbacks between WordPress blogs, all you need to do is link to a blog post and it's automatically set up. BE RESPECTFUL: If you're going to trackback, have something useful to say. Just summarizing and linking to someone's post does NOT add to the discussion.
6# Stay in contact with your list. As every marketer says, the money is in the list. This is definitely true, but the list needs nurturing and updating or you may begin to lose subscribers. Try to send relevant posts and things that you know people on your list to enjoy.
#7 Content Distribution: Your content does not have to be 100% contained on the blog. Remember the many other ways there are to distribute content, like article marketing, guest posting on other blogs, audio content and videos. The more content you have out there, the more likely you will be noticed.
8. Affiliates Link to Your Blog: If your affiliate program allows your affiliates to link to any page on your site, encourage them to link to and write about your various blog posts. The system I use at Quicksales.com (a private-label 1ShoppingCart) allows my affiliates to quickly and easily link to any blog post they want.
Affiliate referrals are cookied when someone follows a link and if that referral eventually buys, they get the commission. Of course, the conversions on blog links aren't going to be as good as linking directly to a sales page, but it gives your affiliates the opportunity to bring value to their own readers (by linking to your AWESOME content) and potential benefit financially.
9. Social Networking: The big named social networks can be a nice boost for traffic, especially MySpace, Twitter and Facebook. If your readers are able to meet you and socialize with you, they will be more interested in the things you talk about your blog. Remember to be polite and to use net etiquette. Try not to get too stuck in when logged into these networks, as you may find time slips away (there's lots of other important work to get on with). Of course, if you are remarkable (or infamous), you would have created enough buzz for people to do their own talking on the social networks.
#10 Social Bookmarking: Social bookmarking is different to social networks. Social bookmarking is a little like bookmarking your favorite websites in your browser, except the list will be published for everybody else to see, including the search engines. Some people bookmark their own sites, but do understand that the networks do not like this and may ban your account for "self promotion", so be sure to read the rules. Another technique is to pay others or work in a cooperative scheme. But again, if you are remarkable enough, your site will be book marked thoroughly by the internet public.
#11 Search Engine Optimization: Perhaps I'm going against the crowd, but I've chosen to put SEO last. I understand most marketers would have this at the top of their list, but if your goal is to make an amazing website that will retain visitors, SEO should take a back seat.
The reason why SEO Shouldn't be such a priority, is the fact that good content needs to come first. Spending hours optimizing each page on your blog may turn out to be a misuse of your time. Text that has been optimized for the search engines and certain key words tends to be less readable and repetitive. If you are skilled enough however, you could combine SEO with outstanding content, and get the best of both worlds. Just try not to create everything solely for the search engines.
About the Author:
If you're looking to pull more profit out of your business blog, check out the IM Blogging Bootcamp. This 4-week intensive program designed to get you actively and effectively blogging to reach more of your prospects and convert more of them into lifelong customers.
No comments:
Post a Comment