Blogging Traffic Secrets

A person can have the best blog in the world but if the blog gets only five or ten visitors a day then what's the whole point? If the blog is done as a hobby then this is perfectly fine. If the intention is to make money, then now would be the time to step up the game. In my recent blog "Does Your Blog Earn You Cash" http://victoriasheffield.hubpages.com/hub/Does-Your-Blog-Earn-You-Cash I shared information on how to monetize a blog in terms of writing a blog that earns money. However if a blog has no traffic, it won't earn much money at all. There are simple things that can be done to gain the visibility that every blog needs. Here are the things that can be done to make your blog noticeable.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

What's search engine optimization anyway? This means the methods and techniques used to make your blog or website rank high on the search engines. If your blog or site does not rank high when people do online searches, chances are they will almost never see your work unless you direct them to how they can find your URL.

1. Keywords

To find out what keywords are rich in terms of visibility on the web, you can create a Google Adwords account at www.google.com/AdWords and use their keyword tool. With this tool, a person can add their site or blogs URL and keywords that are relevant to the title and find out which words are more searchable on the web. It is very important to search the sites URL and keywords.

Keywords should be two to three words long. They should always be related to the title of your site or blog. They should be used at least two times in each paragraph. These words should also be used in the meta tags, the sites title, image descriptions, link tags, meta descriptions, and anywhere else that they can be used.

2. Content Rich

One sure way to drive traffic to a blog is to create content that is rich and unique. There are thousands of blogs and many even have the same titles. I've seen many couponing and money saving blogs and I must admit that a lot of them look the same. The ones that stand out are the ones that have a variety of ways to attract readers but seem to stay on the subject or title of the blog. The blogs are updated regularly and the content stays interesting and makes readers seem to want to read more. Have you ever watched a television show and at the end of the show, they sort of left viewers in suspense or the show was so great that you just had to watch it again? This is what needs to take place with a blog. People should be given content that makes readers feel the need or want to visit it again or better yet, subscribe to your blog.

I've seen people do free training courses in their areas of expertise. There are people that create blogs that resemble an online magazine or newsletter. There are just so many ways to gain the attention of readers. If your blog has a niche area that is the same as others, try to make your blog stand out. In other words make yours a little bit different and think of creative ways to make it better.

Use correct grammar and make sure that you proofread your work. Who wants to read something that looks like a third grader wrote it? If you are a person that does not have that much experience writing, that's perfectly fine. You can research how to properly write, proofread and edit writing. Inexperienced writers start blogs all the time. Over time, writing skills will improve. Remember to write content that is not copied because the search engines know and will penalize you.

Link Sharing

Social Media is one of the best sources for getting the word out about your blog. If you haven't already, you can join social media platforms like facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Linked-In, and even more. Every time you update your blog, make sure you add a link to your network sites.

Offline Promoting

1. Business Cards

The good old way that always worked even before the world wide web was available is the passing out of business cards. Your blog information should be on your cards along with the link to your blog. You can get free cards at www.vistaprint.com. All you pay for is the shipping.

2. Post Cards & Flyers

Mailing out post cards is a great way to get the word out. Just look at it as a small investment. You could run an advertising campaign maybe once or twice a year. You can also pass out flyers or put them on bulletin boards anywhere that will allow you to. If you are a person that does vendor spaces or tables, you can set up a table and pass out your literature there. This is a sure way of getting the word out about your blog. Try getting spaces at events that a lot of people will be attending. The more the merrier.

Online Contest

I see people doing online contest. You can think of unique ways to have these contest. I saw a lady get people to subscribe to her blog by giving away a free ebook that she wrote. She mailed the ebook out to the hundredth subscriber to her blog. On a given date, she announced the winner. She got more subscribers for a very small investment which was only the cost of shipping a small ebook.

Joining Forums

There are many forums online that are free to join. This is a great way to get the word out about your blog. The only thing I suggest is that you follow the forum rules and make sure that they do not have a problem with you sharing information especially your blogs link with other forum members.

Online Chat Groups

Very similar to forums, there are chat groups that can be joined. I advise joining forums and chat groups related to the title or topic of your blog. This way you can target only traffic that would be interested in what you blog about. Often people try to share their information with people that do not care the least about what the blog is about which can be a total waste of time.

There are many blogging traffic secrets. These are just a few that have helped me along the way. You can be creative and think about unique ways to get the word out about your blog. Try to get your friends and family members to share your information on platforms like facebook and other similar sites. In time if you keep up these traffic building techniques using keyword rich quality content you will notice that the stats on your blog will increase. Be patient though because anything worth having takes time.

Victoria Sheffield Copyrighted in 2014/All rights reserved