How To Get Traffic to Your Blog

You’ve put a lot of work into your blog, and you put more and more in every day. But without traffic to your blog, no one’s the wiser. Use these tips to get more traffic to your blog.

>> Do your SEO and keyword research homework.
Make sure the HTML of your site is search engine friendly. Here’s a basic search engine optimization checklist:
• Do your post titles have appropriate keywords?
• Do your anchor links have keywords in them? Using “here” as a link is a missed opportunity.
• Does your domain name include a primary keyword?

>> Submit your site to engines like Google, Yahoo, Dmoz, MSN and Looksmart, and to the blog directories. Here are some sites that offer free blog listings:

Blog Search http://www.blog-search.com/blogclicker-submission.html

Technorati http://www.technorati.com/

Bloglines http://www.bloglines.com/

Blogdex http://blogdex.net/

Blogwise http://www.blogwise.com/

WeBlogALot http://www.weblogalot.com/

Globe of Blogs http://www.globeofblogs.com/

BlogHop http://www.bloghop.com/

Blogarama http://www.blogarama.com/

>> Ping like you mean it.
This is a way for you to raise your hand to the blog trackers when you’ve posted new content. You can do it site by site at places like Technorati, or go to Ping-o-matic (http://www.pingomatic.com/) and mass-ping your blog to over 20 sites. Make sure your blog is set up to ping the appropriate sites every time you publish a post.

>> Feed your RSS.
Make sure your blog has one and that it’s working. An RSS feed is a bit of XML that allows your blog to push content to RSS readers. That way people don’t have to visit your site to get your latest insights – they just open their RSS reader and read the news. If your blog is at Blogger.com, don’t worry about an RSS feed – its already been created for you. If you’re not at Blogger.com and your current blog doesn’t have RSS functionality, visit Feedcraft.com and sign up for their free service that will set up an RSS feed from any website (blog or not).

>> Swap links.
Make a list of relevant sites you’d love to link to your blog. Write them a short friendly note and offer to let them use a few of your posts as content on their site in exchange for a link back to your site. Also, link to their sites from within one of your posts. Be sure to offer to exchange links in the links section of your blog. Most blog software programs offer this. There are also sites that special in helping bloggers swap links. Web Log Empire (http://www.weblogempire.com/) is a large one. If you’re willing to pay for a link to your site, check out Text-Link-Ads (http://www.text-link-ads.com/)

>> Be part of the blogging community.
Go to other blog sites you admire. Contribute to their blogs in ways that add real value. Write good, thoughtful comments that are content rich. Give away what you know. Do it a lot – at least 3 posts a week. Over time you’ll become recognized as someone who has something worthwhile to say. As your reputation grows, people will seek out your blog. This is not an overnight process, but by paying your dues and building an audience you are positioning yourself to become a star. By the way, if your site doesn’t have the functionality for visitors at add comments, Haloscan (http://www.haloscan.com/) is a free service that will let them do so. It also allows for “trackbacking”, which is a way to manage pings.

>> Write your blog! Put everything you’ve got into it. Make it great. Post as frequently as you can. The search engines will note frequent postings. A blog that has a new post every day is obviously considered active. To really make your blog get noticed you’ll need to post at least 2-3 times a week.

Together We Success

Badleeshah
Don't Go Just Yet, Please Read on!
I hate SPAM!

Blogging and Pinging

Lately everyone is trying to blog and ping to get their websites indexed into the search engines. Although this is a great tool, all marketers should first understand exactly what they’re getting themselves into before starting.

Since blogs are regularly updated, they tend to carry more value than regular static HTML pages.

>>What is a Ping?

A ping is a program that sends out a brief request for a response from another computer or server. When you ping on the Internet, you send out a program to see if a remote server is responding.

>>How do bloggers use pings?

Pinging is to let the search engines know that you have updated your website so they can send their spiders.

Pinging also update the websites or blogs on the internet who are using your blog on their site.

>> So what is the big deal about blogging and pinging?

Smart affiliate marketers use blogging and pinging to help get their sites crawled and indexed by the search engine spiders a lot quicker than they normally would.

They set up a blog either on their main site or on a sub-domain of their site. They then post links to their product pages on their blog and send out a ping to all the major servers on the Internet.

That ping says "This site has fresh content, time to go add it to your database!" It's a trigger that sends the search spiders looking for updated pages on your site. When they find the new pages, search engines tend to index them much faster.

Blogging and pinging will not get you into EVERY search engine overnight. As of this writing, it is most effective with getting into Yahoo. But often MSN, and even Google, will follow in short order.

Combine blogging and pinging with good link recruiting for the best indexing.

Also, blog and ping on a regular basis if you want to “stay” indexed in the search engines.

>> Is blogging and pinging a requirement to get indexed?

No. You can get indexed quickly by getting plenty of natural backlinks. But for backlinks to be most effective, they have to appear as if they were natural and this can take weeks if not months. Blogging and pinging does seem to drastically shorten the process.

>> Is there a downside to blogging and pinging?

Some marketers are starting to abuse this strategy. But the search engines are getting wise to it! If you go over-board you risk getting your website completely banned and removed.

Many marketers are also blogging and pinging for a few days and then forgetting about the website. Your website will likely be de-indexed if you do not continue to naturally blog and ping.

The bottom line is that blogging and pinging is a great strategy right now to help you get your website indexed faster. However, the old natural way of getting incoming links is still the best and most assured way – not to mention the long-term benefits of having incoming links.

If you have not yet started blogging and pinging, I suggest you start with a practice website first, not your main website.
Don't Go Just Yet, Please Read on!
I hate SPAM!