Posted on August 31, 2006
Important Ways to Increase Blog Traffic
BY JENNIFER EUBANKS
Over at SEOmoz, they have just posted a great entry on 21 ways to increase blog traffic. This article offers a lot of good tips and sound advice for new bloggers, seasoned veterans, and can be an invaluable list when clients come to you wanting to know the benefits of blogging and how to get more people to read.
I wholeheartedly agree with point #1, choosing software that can be fully customized. The site won't look as professional if you can't edit the HTML, and a powerful blog application, particularly one that is hosted on your own server, lets you take advantage of an amazing range of customizations.
Another point is to integrate the blog into your existing site--this means that you shouldn't host it on a different URL. Our approach is generally to have a blog section of the site, as part of the main navigation, and also to pull a list of recent entries onto the home page or another relevant portion of the site. This helps to integrate the blog more fluidly into the existing site and with the recent headlines, makes it a little more visible.
In order to drive traffic it is extremely important to participate in related blogs and forums. There is that old saying that you get what you give. If you don't get out there and participate, how can you expect others to do the same? Making yourself visible to your community will help people know that you exist, and eventually people will head over to your site to check out what you have to say.
The article also mentions that you should take advantage of social media such as del.icio.us or digg. Go tag your posts to help drive traffic to your site. And, if you should find yourself on the front page of digg or another site that nets you hundreds of extra hits, make sure to capitalize on it with more high-quality posts that day.
Another of my favorite points is to be sure to convey a human voice. You're a person with your own voice and personality, and that is a trait that is highly valued in the blogosphere. If you're blogging about a controversial topic, it's perhaps best to wait and re-read it before publishing, but don't sacrifice a more personal tone by trying to play it safe and not ignite criticism. Good debates are what help fuel traffic in many cases, and as long as you are careful with how you word sensitive topics, there's no reason why you can't be true to yourself.
I suggest you go check out the 21 item list and see how many you as a company are implementing--either for yourself or your clients. Follow as many of the tips as possible, and not only is traffic is sure to increase, but you will have a more relevant, interesting blog as well.
