0 How To Increase Traffic To Blogger: 2011 Part 2
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
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Blog Tips,
Traffic Tips
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Cross Links
When writing your posts, try adding links to previous articles in your archives. Of course, make sure they are relevant to the post you are writing. This will enable visitors to easily scan your website for additional content on a particular subject.
It will also increase overall traffic performance.
Sitemaps
I'm not talking about creating a visual sitemap for your blog. I'm talking about generating a sitemap of your blog and submitting it to Google or your other favorite browser.
Step 1 - You can get a free site map from XML-Sitemaps.com. Once you've done this (it only takes a couple of minutes) upload it to the root directory of your website or blog.
Step 2 - If you don't have a Google Webmaster account, you'll need to create one. If you already have one, skip this step.
Step 3 - Submit the sitemap link to Google. It's probably going to be something like "http:www.yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml."
I'd recommend doing this once a month. New content needs to be submitted, too.
Followers
Because there are so many networking options out there, you need to take part in a few. Your potential visitors are likely scattered amongst several social media platforms. Therefore, you need to dabble in a few to reach as many as possible. Link them all together and they will all feed from your blog.
Allow users to subscribe to your feed with Feedburner from Google. They will begin getting emails when a new article has been posted, at the least. This is a great way to get visitors back to your website. Read this 5 times: "Don't have the feeds littered with advertisements." You are not trying to spam your visitors you've worked so hard to get.
Easy Navigation
A general rule in development that I stand by, is "make every page easily accessible on every page of your website." Now this doesn't mean taking your "About" page on a 200 page website and listing the remaining 199 links on that page. You need to make all of those links easily accessible, however. Consider drop down navigation to better organize your site content, or utilize the "Recent Articles" widget in WordPress or the "Recent Comment" widget. This is one way to generally give access to other areas of the website without major exploration.
Inbound Linking
Another obvious way to generate traffic are links back to your website. Now these are always great...for the most part. Double check the referring website and make sure it is a quality website with quality content. And most important, make sure the website doesn't have any offensive or illegal content. I wouldn't want to be apart of something that could potentially turn visitors away. If you've decided to accept a referring link, ask the developer if they can apply certain anchor tags to the link.
Up-to-Date Content
Keeping this one as simple as possible - Don't write an article on the benefits of owning a 1st Generation iPod when we are light years ahead.
Lengthy Articles
Keep the 5000-word articles to a minimum. Unless, like this post, it is broken up into bullets for easy scanning. I often read the most recent articles for blogs I'm subscribed to in the early morning when I step into work. Most don't have time to sit and read a novel when they walk in.
Attitude
You need to have a, not good, but a great attitude about your blog. Understand there will be down times when you might go 5 days with less than 100 visitors or you can't come up with the next big topic. Those are small issues that can be dealt with. Think about the big picture, what you've done in your blogging experience, the knowledge you've passed on to others and how you've made an impact on your blogging niche. There are always bad times, but there are many more good times.
Most importantly, have fun and be passionate with your writing and your visitors will see that and return for more.
Explore
Join in on conversations on other blogs in your niche. You can probably offer some quality insight into the topic of discussion. If you participate on other blogger's websites consistently, you will start to stand out and make a name for yourself. That will all lead to traffic back to your website.
I tend to be respectful of other's opinions but don't hesitate to express your true opinion. You don't necessarily have to play the "nice guy." You never know, you might gain a little more credibility speaking your mind instead of always agreeing with everyone.
When writing your posts, try adding links to previous articles in your archives. Of course, make sure they are relevant to the post you are writing. This will enable visitors to easily scan your website for additional content on a particular subject.
It will also increase overall traffic performance.
Sitemaps
I'm not talking about creating a visual sitemap for your blog. I'm talking about generating a sitemap of your blog and submitting it to Google or your other favorite browser.
Step 1 - You can get a free site map from XML-Sitemaps.com. Once you've done this (it only takes a couple of minutes) upload it to the root directory of your website or blog.
Step 2 - If you don't have a Google Webmaster account, you'll need to create one. If you already have one, skip this step.
Step 3 - Submit the sitemap link to Google. It's probably going to be something like "http:www.yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml."
I'd recommend doing this once a month. New content needs to be submitted, too.
Followers
Because there are so many networking options out there, you need to take part in a few. Your potential visitors are likely scattered amongst several social media platforms. Therefore, you need to dabble in a few to reach as many as possible. Link them all together and they will all feed from your blog.
Allow users to subscribe to your feed with Feedburner from Google. They will begin getting emails when a new article has been posted, at the least. This is a great way to get visitors back to your website. Read this 5 times: "Don't have the feeds littered with advertisements." You are not trying to spam your visitors you've worked so hard to get.
Easy Navigation
A general rule in development that I stand by, is "make every page easily accessible on every page of your website." Now this doesn't mean taking your "About" page on a 200 page website and listing the remaining 199 links on that page. You need to make all of those links easily accessible, however. Consider drop down navigation to better organize your site content, or utilize the "Recent Articles" widget in WordPress or the "Recent Comment" widget. This is one way to generally give access to other areas of the website without major exploration.
Inbound Linking
Another obvious way to generate traffic are links back to your website. Now these are always great...for the most part. Double check the referring website and make sure it is a quality website with quality content. And most important, make sure the website doesn't have any offensive or illegal content. I wouldn't want to be apart of something that could potentially turn visitors away. If you've decided to accept a referring link, ask the developer if they can apply certain anchor tags to the link.
Up-to-Date Content
Keeping this one as simple as possible - Don't write an article on the benefits of owning a 1st Generation iPod when we are light years ahead.
Lengthy Articles
Keep the 5000-word articles to a minimum. Unless, like this post, it is broken up into bullets for easy scanning. I often read the most recent articles for blogs I'm subscribed to in the early morning when I step into work. Most don't have time to sit and read a novel when they walk in.
Attitude
You need to have a, not good, but a great attitude about your blog. Understand there will be down times when you might go 5 days with less than 100 visitors or you can't come up with the next big topic. Those are small issues that can be dealt with. Think about the big picture, what you've done in your blogging experience, the knowledge you've passed on to others and how you've made an impact on your blogging niche. There are always bad times, but there are many more good times.
Most importantly, have fun and be passionate with your writing and your visitors will see that and return for more.
Explore
Join in on conversations on other blogs in your niche. You can probably offer some quality insight into the topic of discussion. If you participate on other blogger's websites consistently, you will start to stand out and make a name for yourself. That will all lead to traffic back to your website.
I tend to be respectful of other's opinions but don't hesitate to express your true opinion. You don't necessarily have to play the "nice guy." You never know, you might gain a little more credibility speaking your mind instead of always agreeing with everyone.
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