How to get more traffic to your blog

You’ve written a blog. You’re proud of it. It’s well written, witty, articulate, etc. but your site stats are showing that nobody is reading it. As each day goes by you start to feel more and more disillusioned with the whole thing. You start to think that maybe you’re doing something wrong so you change your writing style or deliberately write provocative posts in the hope that someone, somewhere will pick up on your blog and the traffic will start rolling in.

Well, sadly, the chances of this happening are fairly slim. However there is something you can do today which will lead to more traffic to your site within no time at all. It worked for me and it can work for you too.

Look at the massive increase in blog traffic using very simple methods

Let me start off by saying that what I’m about to say is not rocket science. It’s not some kind of black hat SEO method. It’s not anything that won’t have occurred to you before. It’s just simple, basic, common sense and it is an approach suggested on any one of the million sites about blogging out there. However a lot of people get it wrong and don’t see the traffic increase they either expect or deserve.

So what is this all powerful traffic generating tool that I’m about to reveal to you? Are you ready? OK. Here it is.

Comments.

Now before you disappear off in a huff, let me show you another picture that might just whet your appetite.

Look at the massive increase in blog traffic using very simple methods

The site in question is a pet project of mine. I’m not going to name it. The main reason being is that it is not part of my online money making activities. It’s a site that I love to write and has become a large part of my life. Whenever I see something on the news or online, I immediately think about how I could incorporate it within this blog. Sad I know but there you have it.

Anyway, the point is that I have been very careful and selective about where I post comments relating to this particular blog. It has a very specific niche but it could also appeal to a wider audience so what I did - and I hasten to add without thinking too hard about it in the beginning - was to look at similar sites within that niche and became what is known as a blurker. A blog lurker. I simply sat in the corner and watched what was being posted and, just as importantly, what comments were left. It’s so easy just to wade in, post a comment and expect people to follow your link but it doesn’t work that way. People smell spam a mile off. You need to be actively adding to the experience of both the blog readers and the owner of the blog as well. Anything else just won’t work.
$6.95 .com sale at GoDaddy.com 336x280

So I went off and did a bit of research by looking at the top 50 or so blogs in the niche and then started blurking. It became quite obvious within a week or so that a large chunk of the readers of these sites wouldn’t relate to my blog so I didn’t bother commenting. Sure, I could have had a quick hit of traffic but none of it would stick and, as any successful blogger will tell you, stickiness is the key to a successful blog. You need to have a core base of readers in order to progress.

I narrowed down my ‘hit list’ to 10 sites that I wanted to concentrate on and began by leaving fairly simple comments. I didn’t point people to my blog address within the post which is a mistake a lot of people make. Firstly, most blogging interfaces give you an opportunity to add your URL as standard so by adding it to your comment immediately sets you up as a spammer. Secondly, it has no benefit in terms of SEO because most blogging apps have a rel=”no follow” rule for the search engines so you’re not gaining anything by including it.

I didn’t write anything that led people to click on my profile. I didn’t invite clicks. I simply added to the conversation occurring on the blog. Equally I didn’t respond to every single post. This is another mistake people make. I only responded to posts where I had a valid input into the discussion. I didn’t comment for the sake of commenting. If I felt that I had nothing new to add, I didn’t.

Over time I started to add a bit of character to my comments having established myself as a regular on the blog. In other words, I added a bit of link bait but without being obvious about it. I knew it was working when one of my Top 10 became a regular on my site. Within a week, another one had added me to their Blogroll and a few days ago, another made specific mention of me in their blog which explains the traffic spike in the graphic above.

Now I know the numbers aren’t that fantastic for the blog in question but I’ve gone from a standing start to 70-150 hits a day within a couple of months purely using this method. I’ve not added the site to any of the search engines or directories. The blog was always intended as a distraction from my money making efforts. Sure, I have AdSense on there but I’m not looking to make money from the blog. Imagine what you could do if you combined this approach with some other traffic generating techniques?