Blog Traffic Strategies 101: 10 Tips – Part I

Having the talent and drive to develop killer content for your blog does not mean that you should not actively seek more traffic for your website. Just because you are great at developing content does not mean people are going to be able to find your posts on the web. As a blogger, it is truly discouraging to not see results from all the hard work you have put in to develop your content. That’s why blog traffic matters. Anybody who tells you otherwise is either not serious about blogging or is not being truthful. There are many advanced traffic strategies that you can use to take your blog to the next level and set it apart from other blogs in your niche. But you’d be surprised to know how many bloggers do not do the basic when it comes to driving traffic to their blogs.

In reality, you do not have to be a genius to be able to drive traffic to your blog. Not when you have great content that people want to read. You just have to treat the process seriously. With that in mind, here are 10 simple ways to take your blog to the next level and get more people to visit your website:

• Post Frequency: we are talking about quality posts here. Don’t assume that you can just report the news in 2 or 3 sentences and improve your blog traffic dramatically. At the same time, don’t underestimate this factor. The more content you put out, the better chance you have of hitting your targets and getting more people to visit your blog. Content is about quality but quantity plays a role as well.
• Search Engine Optimization: a no brainer. If you have not heard of SEO by now, then you are very behind the curve. Fear not, as the industry changes all the times, so you’ll have the time to catch up. Optimize your posts, target the right keywords, gather links for your blog, and you are on your way (that’s not all though!).
• Create a Twitter Account: if you are not on Twitter, you may want to stop reading this post and start your Twitter account right away. It’s that important. Especially if you have a niche blog. If you have multiple blogs, make sure you create a Twitter account for each. Do not spam!
• Facebook: you should not only ask your friends on Facebook to share your content with their networks, you should also add a Facebook button to your blog to make the process easy for your readers. Don’t forget to create a Facebook page for your blog as well.
• Pay attention to social bookmarking: StumbleUpon and Delicious are two great places to be involved in to push your blog posts and gain more traffic for your blog. You want to make sure you have the appropriate buttons available on your blog to give you visitors the chance to help spread the word.
• Participate in other communities: one of the easiest ways to get more people to visit your website is by networking with other bloggers and being involved in their communities. You don’t want to use other blogs to just promote yourself. You want to add some value as well. But if you are active in top communities in your niche, there is no reason you can’t get a decent stream of traffic to your blog.
• Forums: not only you should take the time to start a forum around your niche, you should also be actively involved in third-party boards in your niche. Don’t forget to add a link back to your blog in your signature.
• Keep Track of Trends: writing about topics that are trending on Twitter and other social networking websites could get your website some decent short-term recognition. It really depends on how you play your cards here. Let’s say you own a Mac blog. You are going to get some boost in traffic if you cover iPhone HD comprehensively on your blog.
• Upload and distribute your videos: in case you have not noticed, most top bloggers take the time to add video content to their blogs. ProBlogger is a good example in that regard. You should also take the time to distribute your videos to top video sharing websites to maximize this opportunity.
• Throw Giveaways: this is really a no brainer. How much traffic would you get to your blog if you start giving away a couple of iPads these days? I am not suggesting that you should throw money at your traffic troubles. But giveaways can help spread the word about your top posts. You want to make sure you ask your readers to join you on Twitter, Facebook, and other outposts before giving them the chance to win something. Your goal is not trying to be nice and generous. You want to see some results from your giveaways. So what if you don’t afford to give things away? Simple. Just contact top companies in your niche and let them know why they should throw a giveaway on your blog.

The above steps are only a fraction of things you can do to drive traffic to your blog, which is why there is a second part to this post. I personally focus on guerrilla marketing tactics to generate traffic for my blogs. I have not spent a dime on search engine advertising or paid traffic tactics for years. So stay tuned for the second part of this series as I intend to cover some of those not-so-obvious traffic-building tactics.