Pretty Cool: Passive Income from Your Blog
Blogs are popular ways to create an online presence for personal and business reasons. You can build a blog for free and start posting content immediately… but, what good is that if no one is reading it?
Here are ten ideas to bring in the traffic your blog needs to survive.
Of all the successful blogs on the Internet, unfortunately many, many more have failed. Running a blog is like running a business website. Unless you’re willing to put the time in and treat it seriously, you won’t be blogging for long.
That’s not to say that the failed bloggers weren’t serious about blogging. Mostly, new bloggers aren’t prepared for the work that goes into creating a successful blog. Just building the blog doesn’t mean that people will necessarily come to you. You need to pursue the audience and give them a reason to stop by to see what you have to say. Here’s how…
1. Fresh Content – no one wants to visit a blog day after day and see the same posts. Update your blog content at least twice a week (more is better). This will be easier if you write several posts ahead of time and upload them at the appropriate times.
2. Article Marketing – the niche you’ve chosen for your blog is probably one that interests you a great deal. And if it’s interesting you’re far more likely to spend more time doing it. You need to create content not only for your blog but also to be submitted to article directories. Use the resource box to advertise your blog so people can find you. (Here’s how to write a killer resource box.)
3. Social Networking – these sites are everywhere. Join Facebook, MySpace, Squidoo, Twitter, HubPages, WetPaint… or a dozen others… and make connections. You can join groups of like-minded people that are also bloggers or entrepreneurs.
4. Viral Marketing – this is where you spread the word about your blog. Talk to friends, family and even strangers. Give out business cards that have your blog address on them.
5. RSS Feeds – RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication.” Readers can subscribe to your feed and get email updates when new content is posted. It is an easy way for them to keep up with your blog without spending all day online.
6. Submit to Search Engines – doing this allows your blog to be ranked. While a lot of people will tell you to submit to Google, Yahoo! and Bing (the most popular search engines you want to crawl your blog), I highly recommend submitting to smaller engines and let the big ones find you from backlinks.
7. Forums – as a blogger you are a budding entrepreneur. Right now you are marketing yourself to find traffic and then profit. Become a member of business forums, work at home forums and others to meet new people and share ideas. You can add a link to your blog in the signature line so others can find you.
8. Visit other blogs – show your appreciation to those who visit you by also posting comments on their blogs. It is a kindness that shows others you are not just out to advertise your blog alone. Add links to your blog in your comments. Give preferential treatment to other bloggers that reward their commenters with Comment Luv and DoFollow links.
9. SEO – whatever you write, use relevant keywords. Keyword density between three and ten percent is good for getting higher page rankings in search engines. Base your keywords on a research you do to find the most popular words used in search engines for your niche. (Need suggestions? Try Google’s free tool…)
10. Social Bookmarking – submitting posts to social bookmarking sites allows others who are members of those sites to track you back to your blog. (Check out this post that talks about OnlyWire and get up to 39 backlinks with a single click!)
Using any of these ideas will start the traffic moving in your direction. It takes time but you will build the readership you want.
It’s true… persistence is mandatory! Never give up! Never Surrender! (Quote from the movie “Galaxy Quest” – LOL)
To Your Success,
Deb
P.S. By the way, are you looking for ways to monetize your blog? You might want to check this out to see if it’s a good fit for you >>
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This is great information. I just signed up for e-zine and i was working on my resource box the other day. I will add your blog to my I-google page. This is great information. I just realized I am a die hard blogger. I never saw it as work because I love blogging. Thanks for pointing this out to me.
I agree … great information and helpful.
Thanks WebGal
Wendy Hewlett
Wendy Hewlett recently posted..Napoleon Hill Wants To Be Your Mentor
Excellent Blog Post. You have provided information that took me months and many dollars to learn! You have made so many things clear to me. Thank you so much, Donna
Deb,
Great list of tips for building blog traffic. So many have the desire to create a blog, yet do not understand the ins and outs of running one. I never knew how much was involved until I took a class on Blogging.
Whew, lots of info!
Val
Val Wilcox recently posted..Go With the Flow
Twitter: passion101
says:
Deb,
Thanks for so many useful tips on having a successful blog. Certainly the first three tips, fresh content, article marketing and social networking make sense to me. Would love to hear more about how to do viral marketing, that would be really interesting.
Thanks again,
Adam
Dr. Adam Sheck recently posted..Sexless Relationship Don’t Be A Statistic-
Great tips I like number 8 the best. Not only is it a nice gesture, but you will be amazed at what you can learn from others. There is some great knowledge out there people are willing to share.
Thanks for sharing
Rob
Rob Franta recently posted..How to Succeed in Network Marketing Overview of Modules
These are some really great tips Deb. I think that sometimes people forget that they actually have to promote their blog. They seem to believe that if they write it, they will come but unfortunately it doesn’t quite work that way. You’ve laid out some really wonderful ways to get traffic to your blog and I think people will appreciate it
Angel
Angel Taylor recently posted..Katie Freiling Makes Me Uncomfortable At No Excuses Summit
Deb~
I love to see your site! You’re doing exactly what I’m planning for myself! You are a beautiful woman with a beautiful site! I thank you for sharing valuable information! It’s exciting to see your success! It will be fun networking with you!
~Linda
Linda G. Cox recently posted..Goals- Personal Goal Setting – Step Three – SCRUTINIZE
Twitter: JWean
says:
Great info, always trying to expand my reach. You’ve got some great content that helps answer a lot of questions. Thank you for sharing.
Jeremiah M. Wean recently posted..Why You Absolutely Need to Buy Now
Deb, It is very important to give your readers good content and then apply your great advice. All the best Rosemary
Rosemary recently posted..Do you Fear Confidential Data Loss As Much as the Theft of your Laptop !!
Great info, Deb! The first two are probably the ones that I use the most. I like to update my site a lot, so when I don’t have the time to write an article, I turn to guest posting so that I can put up a new one almost everyday. It definitely keeps them coming back.
Although I find it a bit weird to see SEO at the bottom of the list, I would’ve expected it to be much higher than that. But I could be wrong.
Awesome list!