Traffic Tactics For Your Blog
By Brett Schaefer
Use the right software
Selecting the right software for blogging can go a great way in making you stand out among the crowd. Custom blog software would be very useful, since users can customize it themselves.
Blog hosting
Always host your blog on your own domain. If you place your blog on another domain, it may not be able to attract public attention, build confidence, and improve rating in search results. So using a different domain is the biggest mistake one can ever make.
Title tag
Whenever you put a title tag, make sure that it is relevant to the subject matter, and is not just a random one. You put a title to attract your visitors, so ensure that it is short, and snappy.
Article marketing
Notwithstanding which area of article marketing for your blog you have ventured into, there are many public forums for that topic, which you must actively participate in. There are quite a few online communities, where you can post messages or initiate a discussion to increase your visibility, and attract a huge community of people to your website.
Tagging
Tagging is very important. You can visit Technorati for this purpose. If you have many tags on your page, then it will show in the search results.
Technorati
Testing Technorati is extremely important. You must notify Technorati whenever you have made a comment on a blog. For this purpose, you will need to ping Technorati, or else, you may take the help of Ping-o-matic, which automatically alerts Technorati whenever a comment is posted by you.
Boosting blog’s visibility
To increase your and your blog’s visibility, it has become clear that commenting on other people’s blog is extremely important. But a primary concern is that you must comment on a subject which you are comfortable with. You need to search to get across a proper blog where your comment will be appreciated.
WTF at Technorati
Bloggers are allowed to comment on why few of the topics are a hot favorite. This can be done on a Technorati feature known as WTF.
Rate and ranks
Technorati can rate and rank any blog, based on the links to the blog. That is, your blog will get a higher ranking if other blogs link to your blog.
Blog commenting
Commenting on other blogs has also become important because others will then comment on your blog. A blog becomes dry and dull if there are no comments on it.
Choose your blog topics
There are people who simply join in the bandwagon without much knowledge on what it is all about. If there is some great news about something related to your industry, it does not necessarily mean that you should jump to cover it, or even mention it. Yes, that does help to increase your popularity, and sharing something is always good. But if you don’t feel the need for doing it, simply leave it!
Intelligent linking
If you link things in your blog, then do so in an intelligent manner. Don’t link each and every issue that you want to, but maintain a fine balance between linking important topics. Both under-linking, as well as over-linking, are not good. So conventions and creativity should be used only when the circumstances so warrant.
Invite contributors
You may invite a famous person to contribute something to your blog. It may be something that he specializes in, but that will surely add sheen to your blog. by doing so, other people become aware that you have an association with famed people, and invariably, your blog will get more hits. Also, the celebrated person will feel flattered on the status you provide him or her.
Interaction
Make your blog interactive. Mere textual data becomes monotonous after a point of time. So use graphics, images and charts to make the blog appealing to the readers.
Provide answers!
Whatever niches you might be in, there are always some questions whose answer remains vague. So you can focus on those important issues and provide a concrete answer for those questions.
Tracking visitors
Software which tracks visitors can analyze the areas most frequented by visitors, the ones which hardly get any hits, etc. so these vital information can be used for betterment of your blog. Feedburner is very good for RSS purpose.
Charisma
Online, as well as offline, charisma is always valued. The voice presenting something in a blog is extremely important, as people appreciate honesty, compassion, empathy and other emotions associated with it.
Proper archives
Proper archives need to be maintained. Sorting them out date-wise or subject-wise always helps. Generally, archives must include every article that has ever been posted on the blog, but from the usability point of view, you can just link interrelated topics in a blog post.
Blog URL
URL’s are also important as it gives the readers a view of what lies on that page. The best URL’s should be short, but having enough information regarding the content of that webpage.
Sharing information
An open source on the internet is always welcome. Sharing private information on the internet is always considered a good marketing strategy.
Don’t go overboard
If you over-market all your blog posts, negative sentiments will prevail. So be cautious on this front.
Link bait
Capitalize on linkbait, if you have got it. Your website needs to be very much presentable if it hits the front page of Reddit, Digg or any other place where a constant flow of visitors will be ensuing.
Writing style
Your readers will personally take your style of writing and your focus on subjects. If you constantly modify that style, you will disappoint those segments of people who rely on you for that subject or style.
Branding tool
Building a brand is very important. A good brand is one which people feel pride associating themselves with, so such a brand must be built.
Blog submission
Blog submission to blog directories is very important. BlogCatalog.com, blogarma.com and bloggernity.com are some famous blog directories.
Yahoo feed
You must create a feed on Yahoo! This option is available under the “My Yahoo!” tab.
Google Adwords
Google Adwords is expensive, but a great marketing tool nonetheless. A low-cost option is also available with them.
Blog name
If you can, buy a domain name for the blog, which costs about $10 annually. You won’t even have to shell out money for hosting.
Frequency of blog posts
Regularly update your blog.
Signatures
Make it a habit to use signatures. Put a link of your blog in your signature, and use it while sending emails, posting on forums, etc.
Brett Schaefer has been involved in Internet Marketing for a number of years and writes on a variety of topics. If you’re interested in learning how to monetize your blog then visit http://www.AtomicBloggingWorld.com
This article courtesy of SiteProNews.com