Posted: 3:20 pm by tom in
Blog,
Blogging
After being very pleased with my blogs traffic for the first few days I thought ‘why keep my techniques a secret?’ I’m always keen to learn promotion tips from other bloggers, especially if they are original and creative.
The difference between this post and most other ‘boost your traffic’ posts is that I’m going to be using this website as a real-life example, and go into some real detail. Far too many bloggers repeat the ‘post great content’ kind of tips over and over, when these kind of go without saying. So without further ado, here are my top tips for promoting my blog, and hopefully increasing YOUR traffic:
1. Post frequently. This may class as one of the obvious points, but it seems to be doing the trick for Push Standards so far, seeing growing return visitor rates. The great part is that I enjoy posting, and this is what’s key. Your visitors will know if you’re posting simply to get traffic, you should WANT to post quality, helpful content.
2. Join niche forums. As well as posting in larger webmaster forums consider joining forums specifically for bloggers. You will find that your visitors suddenly become much more targeted. (In a recent post I mentioned growing blogging community Blogussion.com)
3. Ask for website reviews. This is pretty standard, but always proves invaluable to me when launching my websites. Whilst the traffic is nice, the real value in doing this is to receive feedback from other webmasters. Don’t simply post a review in one forum though, try as many as possible. I’ve submitted reviews to forums such as: Sitepoint, Webmaster-Talk, Webmaster-Forums, Webmaster Forums and v7n forums to name a few.
4. Write articles. There is no better way to establish your credibility than to write expert articles on your niche. If nobody is visiting your blog then consider writing for somebody else in exchange for a review or link back to your website.
5. Post your tips/techniques on forums. Most forums will not mind you sharing your techniques with their members as this isn’t really spam. I will be submitting this list to a few forums as I really think that it could help people. Most established bloggers can also help others by posting a history of their blog’s development - perhaps showing how they went from nothing to achieving the high profile they have today.
6. Ask for link trades. Post on forums asking for link trades. If you are running a relatively new blog don’t be too picky, after all some traffic is better than no traffic. My one tip would be to link to sites that will interest your audience. If you run a technology related blog don’t get involved in link swaps with Myspace related sites. Keep it on topic!
7. Submit every article you write to social networking websites, and encourage your readers to support you. Include links to do this at the bottom of each of your posts.
8. Consider paid reviews or adverts with higher profile bloggers, this is an instant way to get some quality traffic driven to your blog. Important things to look out for are competitive rates, and long term value. Check various bloggers rates vs traffic to find the best deal. Use Alexa.com to see whether their blog looks likely to increase traffic or decline.
9. This tip is from a website who’s URL I cannot for the life of me remember, so please let me know if you know of it. Basically the article suggested not only digging your own posts, but the posts of any blogger who links to you. This technique seems genius, as you will be expanding your own personal network and reach far more than people just focusing on your own blog.
10. Use a pinging service such as Pingoat.com to submit your blog to many websites using one easy form. I have yet to monitor the benefits of this service, but will update you when I have the results.
11. Leave QUALITY comments on other larger blogs. This is a great way to get some backlinks to your blog, but make sure that you aren’t spamming. Giving quality feedback to other bloggers may lead to your blog catching their attention, or at very least should show you as knowledgeable and reputable.
12. Post frequently on forums including a link in your signature. This method takes time to make a serious impact, but if you show yourself as an expert in your field the members will trust you and see more value in your signature link.
13. Submit to every good Css Gallery you can. I just wrote an article about the pros/cons of this kind of traffic, but seeing as there are some definite pros it’s certainly worth doing.
14. Include a link to your blog in your email signature. You would be surprised how much impact this has, as often emailing people is an unconscious, effortless form of marketing. It takes seconds to do, but could show great results.
15. Run contests to promote your blog. I’m currently running two contests to promote Push Standards, and as a result several articles have been written about the site. This method is obviously more effective the better your prize is, so provide the very best prize you can afford and generate some viral buzz!
16. (Addition): I didn’t think that I could leave this tip out when I remembered it. Pour any revenue that you make from your blog back into promoting it. Honestly, how much will you be able to do offline with $25 or $50 ad revenue? Instead, consider if you take your revenue from four $25 adverts and invest in a $100 advert on a much larger blog than your own. If you keep repeating this technique then you will increase traffic, be able to raise your ad prices, and then advertise on even larger blogs. I will definitely be trying this technique with Push Standards.
I would love to know if you found any of the above tips helpful or if you have any additions to my list (I’ll add them to the original post). What’s worked for you?
Nice tips, good to know them
Thanks.
Hello mate, came across your website on the digg upcoming page. I wish you the best of luck with your blog - there are some good tips there though its nothing I haven’t really heard before. Your competing with a lot of blogs that have similar content so its not an easy arena but there are a lot of people that want to find out about this stuff.
Really like your blog design, its simple and easy to read through.
Thanks Dan, I hope that they help you
Cheers Andikam, I appreciate the thought. I’ll be trying my best to post original content, and did try to expand a little in this post on the usual tips. However, I figured that it was worth posting them if only to help a few newbie bloggers out.
I hope that both of you will continue to check out my upcoming articles
Hi, Tom! Great tips! I have all three of my blogs listed in my email signature, and I’ve found that to be a great way of spreading the word about my sites. Oftentimes we email people who wouldn’t otherwise know.
Also, you mentioned contests, and that’s another way I promote my blog. Are you submitting your contests to the various contest blogs? I’ve found it to be a great source of traffic. If you need some site recommendations, I have a section for contest blogs on my Recommended Sites page. And speaking of my Recommended Sites page, I’m adding your blog to it as soon as I finish posting this comment.
I also recommend joining blog communities such as MyBlogLog and BlogCatalog.
Oh, and thanks for letting me know about the problem you were experiencing with the comments on my blog. I can see them just fine. What browser do you use? I’ve seen a few issues when I view my page in IE. I just have to figure out how to correct them. Everything seems to be just fine in FireFox.
Have a great night!
Thanks Tish, I’m glad that you found the tips useful
I’ll just go check out your recommended sites right after posting this, although I have submitted to a few contest websites yes.
Thanks for the links and linking to my website, I really appreciate it. I’ll add you to my BlogRoll right after this.
PS: I’m using Safari, they work fine for me on my pc though.
Thanks for the info, Tom! I’ll see what I can do about the browser issue. And thanks for the blogroll link!
No problem!
Are you using Squidoo? I just started a few days ago, but it seems like it could be a great fit. If you are and already mentioned it….. it’s late here and I must be getting sleepy :).
Oh, and the link of course would be http://www.squidoo.com
Ah thankyou Jeanine! I’ve used Squidoo before but completely forgot about it for this website. Thanks for reminding me.
[…] 15 Tips to Boost Your Blog’s Traffic - I’m sure there are at least a few tips here that you’re not currently utilizing, so be sure to check out this article. Though Push Standards is a brand new blog, Tom has been designing websites for more than eight years. He is no stranger to the techniques required to drive traffic to a site. […]