| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
ojhowden64
Joined: 05 Jul 2005
Posts: 2
Location: Australia
|
 Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2005 11:33 pm Post subject: How do I get more traffic to my blog?? |
 |
|
Am wondering is there anything specific I can do to get more traffic through my blog page.
I think blogs are great, but the lack of traffic and comments via mine have me worried and wondered if others have the same problem or did. If you did please tell me what to do!!
_________________
Thanks
Owen Howden |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
heidigoseek
Joined: 28 Sep 2004
Posts: 17
Location: Monroe, MI
|
| Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2005 9:32 am Post subject: |
|
|
You could try a site called BlogExplosion, it's kind of hard to explain but the more blogs you visit on that site gives you more visitors on your site. Each person has to stay on the site for a certain length of time to get the credit, if you like visiting blogs it's a good way to find some new ones too.
Otherwise, I think the best way to get people to your site is to participate on sites that you really like by leaving comments or regularly visiting other people's blogs. Other people appreciate the traffic as much as you do, and if you find people with the same interests as yourself then there's a good chance they'll be interested in what you have to say as well.
Good luck! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
abacquer
Joined: 22 Mar 2004
Posts: 193
|
| Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2005 9:34 am Post subject: Re: How do I get mroe traffic to my blog?? |
|
|
| ojhowden64 wrote: |
Am wondering is there anything specific I can do to get more traffic through my blog page.
I think blogs are great, but the lack of traffic and comments via mine have me worried and wondered if others have the same problem or did. If you did please tell me what to do!! |
That depends on what sort of blog you want. When I click your homepage link on your profile, I'm taken to what looks like some sort of commercial page. Commercial blogs don't do well, generally, since they are basically advertising, and people can get advertising anywhere.
Traffic:
If you want traffic you'll need to post interesting and original content. All blogharbor blogs get regularly googled. If you post about things that people are likely to google for, you'll get hits.
Another thing you can do to make your presence known in the blogosphere is to use trackbacks liberally. When you are about to write a blog article, check for articles on the same subject matter by other people, and include links to their articles in yours, with trackbacks. All those other authors will be notified and some of them will likely come and check out your blog. If they like it enough, they may blogroll you which would start to bring you traffic from their site. (Important note of etiquette: do not issue trackbacks to any article that you didn't actually link to in your article.)
Another thing to do is include a link to your blog in your email signature, and your signature on discussion forums.
Posting commentary about hot issues is a sure way to get traffic. What is everybody talking about right now in Australia? Post about that and you'll likely see a surge in traffic from Australians. In America the big deal right now is the US Supreme Court, a moderate justice has retired and our President is likely to push hard for a very conservative replacement, endangering the future of abortion rights in our nation. That's a pretty hot issue here. If you have an opinion, post about that, and you'll get a lot of American traffic once your article gets googled. Go research and try to find everything you can about the new Harry Potter book and then summarize what you learned in an article. I bet THAT will get you some hits.
If you latch onto silly internet crazes you'll get lots of hits--when bananaphone was big, I posted one article about it and started getting hundreds of hits a day on that one article, same thing for the "numa numa song". My top-5 hit generating articles were about "numa numa" (internet craze), overhaulin (American TV show), shepherd moons (including pictures of the lovely singer Enya), bananaphone (internet craze), and the US military offering free breast augmentation to soldiers (hot news item).
You can get TONS of traffic by posting pictures of celebrities. I wouldn't recommend it though... your bandwidth would disappear overnight.
Comments:
There are three basic barriers to commenting: ease, interest, and self-interest. The EASIER you make it for someone to comment, the more likely they will. So with respect to blogharbor, that means you have to turn Anonymous comments ON. If you don't allow them, you're going to miss out, period. Don't believe me? I have regular commenters on my site who've been coming back for almost a year now, and they STILL haven't created reader accounts. There is an ingenious workaround John came up with to allow anonymous commenters to sign a name to their comments without having to set up reader accounts--I bet he can supply you a link to it. (Keep in mind that anonymous commenting opens you up to comment spam.)
On the matter of interest, you have to post something that people will be interested in and have an opinion on. If you post about the relative spins of leptons and quarks, you probably will attract a small of people who are interested in particle physics. If you post on "Which is Prettier, Slugs or Worms?" you'll probably find that most people don't have an opinion either way. On the other hand if you post "Michael Jackson -- Guilty or Innocent?" you'll find swarms of people who have an opinion.
On the matter of self-interest, people have to WANT to comment on your blog. How do you get them to do that? What are they going to get out of it? Tough to say. If you post opinionated articles about politically divisive issues you will very likely get comments from people just dying to "tell you off". If you post anything inaccurate, you will certainly get comments from people who derive satisfaction from correcting inaccuracy. Post an article where you mention that there are 5,820 feet in a mile. I bet you get comments saying that it is 5,280 feet not 5,820 feet.
If you want good conversation, invite it. If you can help it, frame your opinions in a nonthreatening way, and invite the opinions of others. Instead of saying "presidential candidate A is a big jerk and he ain't getting my vote", say "I'm worried about presidential candidate A because of X, Y, Z, and I'm not sure I should vote for him. Should I? What do you think?" People might disagree with you in either case, but in the first case, it looks more likely that you would bite their head off if they post a differing opinion.
Another way to invite commentary is to invite participation in a fun competition (i.e. hold a contest). Once a week I run an article called "Name That Movie" where image links appear in the article at regular intervals throughout the day, people are invited to guess the movie throughout the day by posting comments. The object is to be the first person to correctly guess the film. This is a fun game that brings regulars back to my blog every Wednesday to play. It generates more comments than anything else I write. (Here's today's Name That Movie.)
Well I guess that's all I have to say on the matter... hmm... this would make a good blog article. 
_________________
-- Abacquer, A.K.A. Chuck Seggelin |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
zoli
Joined: 27 Jun 2005
Posts: 108
|
| Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2005 12:32 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Hi, I remember that post from John, and can't find it now ... in the same shoes, would like to allow comments without a reader account, but still have fields to capture email or web address, so if you have the link to the writeup, please post it here.
Thanks,
Zoli |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
john
Site Admin
Joined: 16 Mar 2004
Posts: 3434
|
| Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2005 12:49 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Please read this thread:
http://forums.blogharbor.com/viewtopic.php?t=1045
all the way through, it explains the risks you take by allowing anonymous commenting and how to implement an alternative method of commenting on your blog which does not require your visitors to create a reader account.
If you have any questions about it, please create a new thread rather than adding on to this one or the one noted above. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
tigersi
Joined: 20 Apr 2005
Posts: 174
|
| Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2005 9:36 am Post subject: |
|
|
Abacquer makes excellent suggestions. I'm still working on building my own blog's traffic and struggling to get regular comment input too but am seeing my readership progressively increase.
Here are a few things that have worked for me, in addition to those Abacquer made.
Register at an array of the blog search engines or aggregate sites. Robin Woods has a super list at this link: http://www.masternewmedia.org/rss/top55/
Join a blog community or start one of your own. For example, after I joined RINOs, a The Truth Laid Bear community, I saw an increase in traffic...and even more importantly an increase in links as many of us added the RINO blogroll to our blog. For TTLB community home page, go here: http://www.truthlaidbear.com/communities.php.
Note, the BlogHarbor Forum falls into the category of a loose community. In addition to seeking information, share your tips with others. I periodically receive visitors referred from this forum because something I've written here stimulates them to visit.
Participate in carnival(s) that are relevant to your blog's content. Volunteer to host one too!
Join in other blogger's discussions even if you don't receive a formal invitation. For example, one blogger wrote an article and indicated he invited several friends to comment about China and they'd be posting soon. I wasn't invited but did an article anyway and submitted it him. It started a blog friendship between us.
Start building an email list and send out alerts to folks that have either emailed you or linked to you. Be sure to follow general CAN-SPAM rules like providing a means to unsubscribe. This is an important part, though. Be judicious on sending out emails. I try to pick no more than one email per week. It may either focus on one "best" article or sometimes on a series of related articles. You could send out more emails but, if you do, send them out to different people.
Send out requests to your blog buddies or other potentially interested parties and request their comments. I've had some folks do that with me and I've done it some myself. It's more hit or miss and will miss more when you're starting out but can then accelerate.
Link to a variety of blogs, even if you do like to link to a consistent group of favorites. Among those you link to, it helps to favor those with trackbacks turned on. For those that don't have trackbacks, then commenting is a good way to build a bridge.
Keep track of who is linking to you via Technorati, BlogPulse, or Google. When you see new links, go visit their site and see if you can extend the discussion on whatever the issue or item is by adding to their blog.
Keep your own blog's blogroll current and link as much as possible to those listing yours. There may well be some that you don't find appropriate or dislike but short of that link it. You may find the other blogger's link back to you simply because you've linked to them.
Ask other bloggers to link to your blog, especially if you've noticed someone linking to yours on several occasions but your blog isn't listed in their blogrolll. If they like your work enough to link to you periodically, then they'll probably be open to the suggestion. Some folks are just slow about keeping their blogroll current.
Additionally, send an email and introduce yourself to some of the linked bloggers. Be genuine but let them know of any articles of theirs that interested you. It's a great way to start a blog friendship and stimulate interest in you too.
Lastly (and hardest of all), be patient. A lot of the blogs that have 500, 1000, 10000+ visitors have been blogging for a while and some for multiple years. Either that, or their authors/contributors may have already had some level of name recognition or professional standing.
_________________
Thanks!
Kathy (aka, Roaring Tiger)
http://bigcatchronicles.blogharbor.com |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
john
Site Admin
Joined: 16 Mar 2004
Posts: 3434
|
| Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2005 10:26 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Great post, Roaring Tiger. Make sure to blog that post! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Search all BlogHarbor support resources.
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
RSS
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
