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Increasing your site’s traffic

We all want more visitors, of course, but how do we get them?

Post regularly and often

Frequently-updated sites will receive more visits than sites whose content doesn’t change, because people will return to your site to see what’s new. Blogs have an advantage over regular sites in this respect, because by nature they are designed to be updated regularly. The more you post, the more content will be available to visitors.

It also helps to be on a regular posting schedule. If your readers know you post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, they are more likely to visit because they know new content is available. If they have to guess when new content will appear, they will not visit as often.

Visit other blogs and comment on them

Blogging is a community activity, and we all like to receive feedback on what we write. If you post comments on other blogs, the blogger will often return the favor and post a comment on your blog. If they did not know you had a blog, they will know it now—and if they like what they read, they’ll come back.

Also, when you post a comment on a blog, you can often post a link to your blog with the comment. Visitors to the other blog will see your link and may decide to visit your blog, giving you even more traffic.

Add your blog to directories

Make sure your blog is listed in directories like Horse Bloggers and Technorati. Listing in these directories is usually free, and people use these directories to find things to read. If people can’t find your blog, they won’t read it!

Publish an RSS or Atom feed

Site feeds are a brief list of the most recent entries to the site. Visitors can access your feed without visiting your site, so it’s an easy way to see if you have put a new post up. If they see a new post, they may read it in the feed or they may visit your site to read it. To comment on the post, they’ll need to visit your site.

Setting up feeds used to be complex, but now your blogging program probably generates one automatically. Check your program’s documentation to find out how to get your feed working.

Add your blog link to your discussion board signatures

If you post on a discussion board regularly and the board’s terms of use allow it, add your blog link to your signature. People who read your board posts will see the link and may click on it to visit your blog.

Set up link exchanges with other blogs

Often, bloggers will agree to exchange links. This means you will post their link on your site, and they will post your link on their site. The link exchanges are mutually beneficial, as you’ll be sending traffic each others’ way. Many blog readers are curious about the blogs their favorite blogger reads, and they will click through on these links.

Think active promotion

Increasing your site traffic is about active promotion. You want to find that fine line between advertising your blog and annoying people with too many references to your blog. If you go out and post 100 comments on 100 blogs that say nothing more than “Check out my blog!”, no one will like you much. But it’s perfectly acceptable to post a legitimate response to another bloggers’ post and enter your blog’s URL in the “URL” field. That’s what the URL field is for, after all. Be smart about where and how you promote your blog, and you will gain readers.

June 01, 2008 Statistics and Traffic

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