1.) Blog frequently
Most newbies dislike hearing this. Trust me when I say that the struggle for content is ongoing. New bloggers, however, feel like it’s just happening to them. The truth is, don’t get a blog just to have a blog. Get it and keep it updated. It’s the quickest way to gaining traffic.
How often should you blog? Three times a week.
The best days to blog? Some studies have shown that Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are key days for blogging. However, more importantly I think it’s being consistent on the days you do pick to post.
2.) Stay on point
Stay on point, stay on topic. Why? Because if you don’t you’ll lose readership. Once someone commits to your blog they want to keep reading relevant information on your niche. So don’t blog about Aunt Ethel’s pot roast recipe unless it relates to your niche.
3.) Plan your blogs
While spontaneity is the catalyst for creativity, planning is a good way to stay on track. Start to map out key dates that you want to blog about that have some relation to your topic – this way when you’re at a loss for topics, you can always pick one from your list of planned out blogs.
4.) Invite comments on your blog!
This is really important! The more folks you can get commenting, the quicker your blog will get passed around. If you have a “no comment” feature on your blog, remove it! You want people to be able to comment and give feedback. In fact, at the end of every blog, why not invite readers to comment? If you start getting a lot of responses to this, begin featuring your favorite comments in future blog posts!
5.) Comment on hot topics in the news
The quickest way to get traffic is to get your website featured on a high-traffic site. But how can you do this? By commenting on news stories. Most major news sites have a feature that will list blogs that are talking about the various news stories. Not all websites get featured but: a) iif your topic is related to the story they’ve featured; and b) you’ve written an insightful post on the topic, you’ll likely get listed.
6.) Digg yourself
Make sure that your website has a social bookmarking feature. Sites like Digg and http://Del.icio.us are great places to get started. You can go there, sign up for an account (very easy to do) and then follow their instructions for bookmarking your individual posts. This is important! You don’t want to bookmark the blog but rather, the posts. The posts will then show up in these sites and, hopefully, other folks will bookmark them as well. Even if no one else bookmarks your posts, it doesn’t matter. You can still get traffic by being positioned on these sites. Super simple to do, go ahead, give it a shot!
7.) Twitter and Facebook your posts
Have something to say? Sign up and start posting your messages with links back to your posts. You can also post from your smart phone. You can not only use it to promote your posts but whatever you want. It might sound like a “who cares” idea, but it can generate traffic.
8.) Syndicate yourself
Using simple RSS feeds through http://www.FeedBurner.com you can syndicate yourself and let folks subscribe to your blog. If they don’t have a way to subscribe to your blog, they may forget you altogether. Once someone subscribes, every time you post new content it will notify them. And the best part? Your messages won’t get stuck in someone’s spam filter. They’ll get the notification, head to your blog and voila! Your readership stays engaged and growing.
It doesn’t take much to grow a blog, just a little dedication and creativity. Happy blogging!
Feel free to leave any tips you might have to generate more traffic to your website below in the comments.
Hello and welcome, my name is Jay. Over the past 10+ years I have built thousands of websites and I want to share everything you need to know about building and running Niche Websites.