Generating traffic
Related entries in SEO, Blogging Basics, Making Money with Blogs, Professional BloggingNot too long ago, I had a spike in traffic on b5. And the other b5 bloggers wanted to know how to get the same spikes, and also to maintain a steady growth incline. So, I shared some tips, and I thought I should share them here too:
-Write 25-40% original content. For some blogs this will mean reading news feeds, as well as other blogs, to catch news first. You can also consider non-RSS content research to find items or to connect the dots between topics.
-Use pictures. They draw the eye. Look on Flickr or Google Images. Take what is Creative Commons, but be liberal with your link of thanks. Ask when unsure.
-Know your area bloggers and link to them. Make sure to comment too.
-Send emails to big blogs in your area. Pitch a story, write something interesting about your blog, and make that link prominent.
-Break up paragraphs and use text effects - bolding, underline, etc.
-Use comments to start new threads.
Have fun!
October 18th, 2005 at 5:15 am
Hi Arieanna, thanks for the post.
How would you go about finding blogs in your area. I am actually struggling to find non-splog niche sites in one area, but I can’t really believe that I’m unique.
Any tips?
October 18th, 2005 at 5:38 am
Some nice tips.
To be honest, it always amazes me how a single link can explode traffic as I’m sure you saw from your My Yahoo experience.
October 18th, 2005 at 6:21 am
The issue of using pictures in blog entries seem tricky to me. It’s not usually clear whether something is Creative Commons or not. Even with attribution, I’m not sure most people would appreciate having their pics lifted for use in blogs. Because of that, I usually don’t use pictures in my entries unless the pics are mine or from places where it explicitly states free usage.
October 18th, 2005 at 7:12 am
I’m of the same mind as Lei in regards to pictures. I’m very careful in using them. Your other ideas are on target.
October 18th, 2005 at 9:30 am
Yeah, it can be tough. Sometimes you need to be creative. All you need is just one, then links and blogrolls can help.
I usually start with technorati - first a tag search, then a blog search. Blog pulse is good here too. If you cannot find a blog just like yours, find posts and they should lead you to a blog. Subscribing to a tag, despite high volume, usually helps out after a couple of weeks.
October 18th, 2005 at 9:34 am
Pictures can be tricky. I usually start my search in Flickr for this reason. However, if you have the time, a quick email to the author doesn’t hurt.
October 18th, 2005 at 11:36 am
Arieanna,
I asked a question about traffic in a post on 09 Oct and I believe you have answered it better than anyone so far.
O offered a prize awaiting the Top 5 answers and I’d say you’re at the top of the list.
October 18th, 2005 at 2:51 pm
Another excellent source for pics is stock.xchng (http://sxc.hu/). All except one of my pics on my QR blogs (www.qwertyrash.com) came off there. The large majority are high quality and free.
On my portable entertainment blog (www.goplayav.com), since it’s about products, I use images from the manufacturer’s site. Altho it may not technically be legal, I figure they won’t mind since I’m helping promote their product. And I’ve so many other product blogs do the same.
Of course, one other way we all know to get more traffic to your site… leave comments (genuine ones!) on like minded blogs.
October 18th, 2005 at 3:36 pm
[…] What does this save me? Well, it saves me time searching blogs for information. Saves me going directly to Amazon in another tab of my browser. Gives me that “new” information that is so valuable to traffic generation. And saves me worrying about looking for pictures - they’re given right to me! […]
October 18th, 2005 at 3:37 pm
Thanks chris. I actually posted up something new on pictures - affiliate programs. It never clicked before today, but I use them a lot for my pictures, especially recently when it became part of my workflow for Cooking Gadgets.
October 18th, 2005 at 4:37 pm
> How would you go about finding blogs in your area?
Not a problem in San Diego,
www.sandiegobloggers.com
October 20th, 2005 at 9:42 pm
Good tips, Arieanna, thank you. Another avenue to consider is link sites such as Linkswarm(http://www.linkswarm.com), Linkfilter(http://linkfilter.net), Metafilter(http://www.metafilter.com), etc. I’d advise that you poke around a bit first to make sure your topic or theme mesh with what is currently popular on those sites. Once your relatively certain that your material will “fit in”, give it a shot, and watch your traffic grow.
November 16th, 2005 at 6:53 am
Great tips, Arieanna, it is complementary to some articles I did over my own blog (http://roho2003.blogspot.com/2005/10/improving-traffic-to-your-blog.html)
Regarding pictures I have a simple rule: I only use my own. Be creative with a digital camera or some graphics package.
November 21st, 2005 at 10:53 pm
These are some decent tips, however for the most part obvious to most seasoned bloggers. The hard part is finding those golden links and finding trade partners. No one likes competing blogs which makes traffic and links difficult to come by.
December 7th, 2005 at 1:59 pm
On the contrary, Danny, I welcome competition.
One, it helps the market to grow.
Two, I think people like to get second opinions.
Three, reciprocity: you scratch my back, I scratch yours, and everybody’s happy.
December 7th, 2005 at 2:01 pm
Oops, I guess I gave the url for my feed in the previous comment. Here’s my main url, for those who are interested.
http://see-the-world.blogspot.com/
February 3rd, 2006 at 8:06 am
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http://spaces.msn.com/ms-gep/
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
March 29th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
[…] Generating traffic I don´t know, how you have come to this site, but the fact you are reading this is some kind of proof-of-concept. Any of my measures to increase the traffic on this site must have been some kind of successful. Arieanna has collected some useful tipps for anyone new to generating traffic. If you like to spend more time on reading about this subject, have a look at Steve Pavlina´s Article on how to build a high traffic website or blog. It is really long, but you can easily print it out for later use. […]
April 4th, 2008 at 8:54 am
Thanks for sharing. Good information shared. Much appreciated.