Blogging for passion or for money has become very popular in these years and especially more and more people everyday choose blogs for advertise their business.
Blogs can help you to connect with your customers, make some advertising without investing a lot of money and publish information about your products and services.
As major importance for a blog, we can put first the high quality content, but after this, the marketing is the engine of your online success, in order to attract visitors and customers.
In other words, get more traffic.
Here you find a list of tips and ideas on how to market your blog :
1 . Write inspiring, useful and interesting content, that can be an inspiration for your readers.
2 . Give Away : before you ask something, give value to your readers, with an eBook or an online course, something that can be beneficial for people.
3 . Start now building your e-mail list : make it easy for people to subscribe to your blog, both via email or RSS Feeds. Again, give something away as gift to your subscribers (I use Aweber, you can test it for 1$ dollar here).
4 . Submit your site to blog and feed directories.
5 . Share the love : spread your content around and as many places as you can. See a list of 100+ links where you can submit your content here.
6 . Optimize headlines : learn to write headlines that make people want to read the rest of your article.
7 . Place the share bottons at the end of your posts (I use SexyBookmarks plugin - by Shareaholic).
8 . Create a Facebook Badge : include a Facebook “Like Widget” near the top right side of the blog so people can like your Facebook page while they are visiting your blog.
9 . Comment regularly on other blogs related to your niche. Search for Comment Luv enabled blogs and KeyWord luv, so you can have a reward both having your last post backlinked in your comment and your keywords, after your name .
10 . Ask your readers what they want you to write about. Show interest for your audience and they will pay more attention to you.
11 . Engage conversation with your readers, make questions to your visitors so you should expect more comments and always reply to them (I use ReplyMe plugin, that send a notification to your reader, when someone reply to his comment).
12 . Install Google analytics, so you can find in your blog what you can tune and improve.
13 . Have a “Contact” form on your blog that makes it easy for people to contact you for consulting and business opportunities.
14 . Have an “About” page, with your personal information, description and goal of your blog and at least a real picture of you.
15 . Consider a Contest : launching a contest can bring you a good amount of visitors and backlinks, as people may want to share this.
Probably the best TIP is always to create good content.
The more content a blog has, the more possibilities have to appear in search results and have links to or from other web sites.
Try to post on a schedule basis and according to your readers interest, at least one or two posts a week.
These above are only few tips, there are many more : what do you suggest?
October 4, 2011 at 9:56 am
I agree with all these tips. #9 is definitely a good one. I think its a MUST to respond to readers comments. People will show more interest.
October 4, 2011 at 10:09 am
Hello Rochelle,
I think that “being online” and then not seeing directly the face of the people when they write (and then comment on your article), may let you actually lose the real contact.
Instead, it is important to respond, interact, ask, because every reader and visitors are Real People!
Also, the interaction with your readers is among great methods to build up good relationships.
October 4, 2011 at 12:08 pm
Can also SEO help acquire more traffic to my blog? I’ve read an article before that a substantial amount of visitors are coming from search engines.
Julie Hayes recently posted..דיאטה
October 4, 2011 at 2:25 pm
Hello Julie,
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of making things rank well in search engine results.
The more frequently your site appears on search engines, the more visitors it will receive : this is called Organic Traffic.
I am writing an article about a list of SEO tips that you can follow or consult in order to improve your blog and get better chance to have good results in search engines.
I think will be my next post, so you can enjoy it !
October 4, 2011 at 12:49 pm
That looks wonderful. Although I have a lot of traffic, my visitors won`t comment on my posts.
Any suggestions?
Cheers
Dave @ Gesundheitsblog recently posted..Schüßler Salze bei einer Erkältung
October 4, 2011 at 2:35 pm
Hello Dave,
my first suggestions in order to get more comments is to install these free plugins in your Blog (I have installed them on my site) :
- CommentLuv : it rewards your readers by automatically placing a link to their last blog post at the end of their comment. Encourage a community and discover new posts (CommentLuv is free, but the Premium version is even more juicy, because it helps you with SEO and social media);
- Top Commentators Widget : it adds a sidebar widget to show the top commentators in your WordPress site. You can see it in my homepage.
- ReplyMe : it sends an email to author automatically while someone reply his comment.
- SMu Manual DoFollow : you can Choose from all Commenters, if there link has or dofollow.
I have chosen that my Blog will give regular Commentators DoFollow Status.
I think these Plugins will definetely help you to get more comments on your Blog.
Last thing : if you comment and visit other blogs (related to your niche), they may want to exchange the favour.
October 4, 2011 at 2:25 pm
I definitely agree with tip number 10. To attract more people to visit and read your blog as well as make them a regular visitor, it is best to write something that they are interested into or something that they want to know. With this, you can provide what exactly they need. All this can only be done if you know what to write, so to do that ask your readers what they want you to write about.
Candice Michelle recently posted..fobus
October 4, 2011 at 2:40 pm
Yes, Michelle,
and also this encourage a community and discover new post topics for your Blog.
October 4, 2011 at 2:54 pm
Great tips, thank you for sharing them, I look forward to using these ideas.
October 4, 2011 at 3:07 pm
Hello Jade,
I hope these tips can help you.
October 4, 2011 at 8:17 pm
I find that taking the time to reply to each blog comment (I think you classed this as engage) is something that really helps keep people coming back. Once they realise that you have good posts and care what they have to say then you can build a loyal following.
Lessa recently posted..The discount code debate
October 5, 2011 at 9:22 am
Hello Lessa,
I think it is important to reply to each comment
( if it is a comment that is worth responding)…
And high quality content is fundamental.
October 4, 2011 at 8:22 pm
Great tips! High quality and regularly posted content is definitely key.
October 5, 2011 at 9:28 am
Hi Annie,
I think the ones you mentioned are the foundations of blogging.
Thanks for the visit.
October 5, 2011 at 7:43 am
I think i should try all the steps as of now i have a problem which I don’t now how to market my blog? With this tips hope it will work.
Kate Brown Wilson recently posted..חג סוכות
October 5, 2011 at 9:24 am
Hello Kate,
these above are only few tips, there are many many more…
but you should begin implementing these suggestions,
and you will see an increase in traffic during the future.
October 5, 2011 at 10:44 am
I so agree with your 15 tips! Very informative and helpful. KeywordLuv helps to get rid of placing their keyword only into the name field. It allows the commenter to place his name with the keyword on it. It also really help to gain more traffic on your website.
October 5, 2011 at 10:57 am
Hello Andreas,
I love KeywordLuv plugin, but I do love more CommentLuv !
October 7, 2011 at 7:17 pm
Contests really help draw in a lot of site viewership. Some blog owners hold giveaway events every month, and they get a lot of page views in return. It’s like they’re building a strong relationship with people they think will be interested.
October 9, 2011 at 5:18 pm
Hello Floyd,
I am thinking about a first new contest : any suggestion ?
I have in my mind already what reward can be…
October 9, 2011 at 10:18 pm
This is a very interesting article.
I have the same problems like Dave Mayermann. People just do not comment at my blog. I see there is traffic and i ask about their opinions but I NEVER get answers.
QUite frustrating
Cheers
October 10, 2011 at 9:44 am
Hello Chris,
have you applied the suggestions I listed on the reply to Dave’s comment?
October 10, 2011 at 10:02 pm
Hi there!
My first visit to your blog.
I like the tips, especially the ones considering give aways and inspiring contents. As a person involved in the blogging area, I always appreciate posts that are motivational, and those are always my favorites where I easily post comments. I like getting involved in the discussion, so I also appreciate your tip of engaging the readers in the blog. Asking them what they want to read about is most certainly showing appreciation for the audience and it guarantees traffic being driven back to the site.
Kristina L.@Reeds Coupon Code recently posted..Reeds Coupon Code
October 11, 2011 at 10:36 am
Hello Kristina,
thanks for your visit.
I appreciate your comment : in my modest experience as blogger I noticed that high quality content is always the best way to follow, in order to have success.
And most important, you have to give away first, before asking for something to your readers.
And I think that SEO and Internet Marketing (a part of the “making money niche”) are two topics that all the Online Business Owners are interested about.
Know how to market your blog or website and how to get it ranked in search engines is the objective that we all follow and share.
Have a great day.
October 12, 2011 at 3:34 am
Engaging in a conversation is one of the hardest things that a blogger will add in his/her online activities. The only good thing about it is he/she will surely gain friends and attract more readers because of it.
Greg@Snow Blower recently posted..Poulan Pro PR621 21-Inch 208cc LCT Gas Powered Snow Thrower Review
October 16, 2011 at 7:18 pm
Hello Greg,
I think it is very important to engage conversation and as you said, there are more possibilities to gain some friends…that is always a precious thing !
October 20, 2011 at 2:41 am
Yup! The more friends you have, the more knowledge you can acquire from them. Their thoughts can surely help you do some changes or improve yourself.
Greg@Snow Blower recently posted..Toro 38381 18-Inch Electric 1800 Power Curve Snow Thrower Review
October 20, 2011 at 9:34 am
Greg,
I think that the value of true friendship is infinite and priceless.
Here too, the saying that the quality is better than quantity is absolutely true: you learn a lot more from great people!
October 16, 2011 at 2:21 am
Don’ forget about guest posting. It’s one effective way to drive traffic to your site. For those who don’t know what guest posting is, it’s writing an article with a link to your site and then let other blogs publish it in their site.
October 16, 2011 at 7:21 pm
Guest Posting is indeed very important,
if you want to market your blog…
above all if your article is accepted from a high ranked site and very popular, you will have a spike on the traffic of your blog !
October 19, 2011 at 7:07 am
Love your 15 tips! I have a question, having commentluv and keywordluv, does it increase your serp ranking? I heard it does, not sure if that’s true…what’s your opinion?
Anthony recently posted..Fast Cash Commissions: Traffic + Commissions… in Real Time??
October 19, 2011 at 10:25 am
Hello Anthony,
thanks for your comment.
I think if you continue to build backlinks (for example leaving comments to blog that are CommentLuv and KeyworDLuv enabled) every week, for the next several months, then you should start to notice your SERP ranking increase.
October 22, 2011 at 10:54 am
Oh I see, then it is true. Thanks for the reply.
November 16, 2011 at 5:45 pm
I’ve to add one more. Article submission to other popular sites/blogs can be effective for raising traffic.
Pamela@MAKE_MONEY_ONLINE recently posted..Make money on facebook
November 16, 2011 at 6:21 pm
Hello Pamela,
you mean Guest Posts, right?
November 18, 2011 at 10:55 am
Absolutely right! thanks.
Pamela@MAKE_MONEY_ONLINE recently posted..How to Start Making Money Online?
November 18, 2011 at 6:43 pm
I am glad you liked it, Pamela,
thanks for your comment !
December 7, 2011 at 10:21 pm
The only good thing about it is he/she will surely gain friends and attract more readers because of it. The more frequently your site appears on search engines, the more visitors it will receive : this is called Organic Traffic.
December 9, 2011 at 8:13 pm
Hello Bertie,
we all want MORE Organic Traffic !
January 21, 2012 at 10:26 am
Great ideas, thanks for sharing.
Yes, keyword Luv does increase serp rankings as it gives you backlinks, which direct the flow of link juice to your site link.
March 16, 2012 at 11:27 pm
Blogging is a great way to connect with other people.
April 30, 2012 at 9:11 am
Great tips but there is a very important thing missing! And that’s sharing in social media and social bookmarking sites. After the last modifications on google’s algorithm having a strong, consistent and influential presence in social media is the key to SEO and of course to bringing traffic to your blog.
So, create amazing and unique content and start sharing it to your social profiles. Your results and performance of the blog will increase drastically.
Best of luck to you all.
May 1, 2012 at 11:04 am
Hi Anne,
thanks for adding these suggestions.
Above all now it is important now, with Google that amalgamates the SERPs with social media profiles.