Are you wondering how to get traffic to your website?
One of the biggest questions I get from bloggers is: “I have a blog but how do I get people to it?”
Well first off, you want to keep blogging, but there are other things you can do too and we’ll discuss two of the most powerful ones here.
If you are wondering how to get traffic to your website keep writing content.
If you’ve spent any kind of time online you’ve probably heard the terms: tag or social bookmarking. But what *exactly* do these terms mean?
Well if you think of the term “tagging” like you would a name tag at a party or networking event it will start to make much more sense.
Generally when you post a blog, it’s recommended that you “tag” it with various terms appropriate to the message of the blog. The Wikipedia definition of “tag” is: A tag is a keyword which acts like a subject or category.
This keyword is used to organize webpages, subjects, and objects on the Internet.
When you think of it this way, what you’re really doing is organizing each of your blog posts so that folks can find and search them.
By tagging each of them with specific keywords you’ll come up faster when someone searches those keywords than if you left your blog blank.
Keywords will help you learn how to get traffic to your website.
Make sense? Ok, then let’s get started learning how to tag. (I promise, it’s very easy)
When creating tags, there are two types that you can create. You can imbed your blog with tags using services like Technorati (more on that in a minute) or you can go to social networking sites and tag your blog as well. Honestly, I recommend a combination of both.
Social bookmarking is a way of “bookmarking” favorite sites (i.e. yours) so you can easily share them (via tags) with the Internet community and especially folks who are searching on your search term.
Tagging is a method in how to get traffic to your website.
Simple steps to tagging:
1) Create a blog post: just write your blog, don’t worry about doing anything different.
2) Identify some keywords you’ll want to use: just pick some keywords, as many as you want. Don’t worry about getting too scientific with this, just be thorough.
3) Social bookmarking: simply put, you want to tag each of your blog posts in one or all of the following social networking sites. The one slightly time consuming piece is that you’ll need to set up accounts for each of these but once you do, it will take you a minute or so per post to add a social bookmarking tag to each of them. Here are some of the most popular social bookmarking sites you’ll want to use: Digg, delicious, yahoo(this is still in beta but I recommend using it anyway), reddit.
4) Nuts and bolts: each of these sites has a different set of criteria for bookmarking your blog post. If you’re blogging everyday this might seem pretty tedious. If it’s too much work to tag and bookmark each of your posts, handpick a few each week and focus on those. The idea is that you want to get these keywords out in cyberspace so folks can find you.
1) Blog frequently
Most new bloggers dislike hearing this. Trust me when I say that the struggle for content is ongoing. New bloggers, however, feel like it’s just happening to them. The truth is, don’t get a blog just to have a blog. Get it and keep it updated. It’s the quickest way to gaining traffic. How often should you blog? Three times a week. The best days to blog? Studies have shown that Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are key days for blogging.
2) Stay on point
I tell authors this a lot: stay on point, stay on topic. Why? Because if you don’t you’ll lose readership. Once someone commits to your blog they want to keep reading relevant information. So don’t blog one day about your book, your speaking, or your mission and the next day share Aunt Ethel’s pot roast recipe.
3) Plan your blogs
While spontaneity is the catalyst for creativity, planning is a good way to stay on track. Start to map out key dates that you want to blog about that have some relation to your topic – this way when you’re at a loss for topics, you can always pick one from your list of planned out blogs. Also, consider these topics to blog about:
a) Future predictions: everyone loves these, to the degree that you can predict market trends in your industry do it, and the readership will follow.
b) Discuss industry news: what’s happening in your industry that you can talk about? Even if you’re a fiction writer there’s always *something* going on worth mentioning in publishing, writing, or marketing that directly relates to your topic.
c) The elephant in the room: talk about the stuff that everyone is afraid of. What new trends are emerging that consumers/readers/companies need to be aware of? What’s next for your market and how will it affect the industry? How can we keep publishing books when we already publish 800 a day? You see what I mean? Think of things that frighten you and talk about them. People will respond. Every time I do this I get a ton of comments on my blog.
d) Write reviews: review other people’s books, product or work. This is a great way to network and to become a “filter” for your market. Filter out the new stuff and feature it on your blog (this goes for you fiction writers too!).
e) Other blogs: what are people talking about? What did your favorite blog just say? Virtual networking (with other bloggers) is a great way to grow your content and get to know others in cyberspace. Don’t forget to link to the blog you’re discussing!
4) Invite comments on your blog!
This is really important! The more folks you can get commenting, the quicker your blog will get passed around. If you have a “no comment” feature on your blog, remove it! You want people to be able to comment and give feedback. In fact, at the end of every blog, why not invite readers to comment? If you start getting a lot of responses to this, begin featuring your favorite comments in future blog posts!
5) Comment on hot topics in the news
The quickest way to get traffic is to get your blog featured on a high-traffic site. But how can you do this? By commenting on news stories. Most major news sites have a feature that will list blogs that are talking about the various news stories. Not all blogs get featured but: a) if your if your topic is related to the story they’ve featured; and b) you’ve written an insightful post on the topic, you’ll likely get listed.
6) Twitter your blog
Got something to say? Try microblogging at Twitter: http://www.twitter.com. It’s a free service that asks the question: What are you doing now? Go in, sign up and start posting your messages with links back to your blog. We tried this and it’s fantastic. You can also blog from your cell phone and blackberry. You can not only use it to promote your blog but your book, speaking event, whatever you want. It might sound like a “who cares” idea, but trust me, everyone’s Tweeting these days.
7. Write posts people desire to read. Although this seems obvious, taking a quick look around many blogs you will find thousands upon thousands with too much personal information and not enough useful information. Do people really want to read about your cat? Or better yet, do you really want to attract the kind of people who want to read about your cat? Create timeless, conversational posts about relevant topics. Consider what you would want to read and write that!
8. Become THE expert on your topic. Research and stay current on your blog’s topic. If readers believe you have information and musings on the latest and greatest, they will come to you first. People do not want old news rehashed. They want to be informed of something new and cutting-edge.
9. Utilize Search Engine Optimization. Learn all you can about SEO, and use it for your blog much like you would use it to optimize a website. This means, place keywords in the URL to your blog, the title of your post, the body of your post, and within your post text links.
10. Don’t make your blogs too much like an advertisement. Readers feel used and abused when they visit a site thinking they will find useful information only to discover they are reading a blatant advertisement for some product or service. By making yourself an expert and providing thoughtful and thorough information, you are going to peak the interest of readers and make them WANT to learn more about your product.
11. Create some drama, controversy, and BUZZ. People love wars of words, some controversy here and there. It creates wanted buzz and develops readers who will return to your blog just to see if anything is brewing. Always allow comments on your blogs, and post comments on other blogs that will cause readers to want to visit your blog to see what you are all about.
12. Send notification of blog-updates via e-mail. For those potential readers who are not going to seek out a blog post, e-mail is a great way to reel them in. Use a free blog service or an auto-responder to invite readers and manage your reader list.
13. Of course, submit your blog to every search engine!
14. Make sure the link to your blog is on every piece of written communication you send. Include the link in your newsletters, brochures, business cards, in your e-mail signature, and in every post you make on various forums.
15. Turn your blog into an article. Create blog entries that can be easily adapted into articles, and place them in online article directories along with the link to your blog.
Finally, don’t use an “official” voice on your blog. Pretend you’re sitting across from your reader over coffee.
Talk to them in a more casual, conversational tone and you’ll not only get more readers, you’ll likely get more comments too! It doesn’t take much to grow a blog, just a little dedication and creativity. Following these steps help you learn how to get traffic to your website.
No matter how much you advertise, unless there’s something new to read, you won’t generate traffic.
You don’t have to post daily, but in most cases you should post a few times a week. Posting often will with how to get traffic to your website.
The more you post, the more motivation readers have to come back and see what you’re up to now. Having something worth reading will help you learn how to get traffic to your website.
Any old post won’t do, either. Your readers want to know who you are and what you’re doing.
A few lines or a post thrown together before bed won’t cut it. There are too many other blogs out there; give your readers something they really want to read. If they feel that you’ve taken time for them, they’ll take time to come back for you.
If you plan to be away for a while, then let your readers know that you won’t be posting for that time.
Announce when you’ll return, and be sure to post on that day. Even better, schedule a few posts to come out while you’re away.
Most blogging software allows you to schedule when posts will appear on your site. Whichever route you choose, don’t just leave the blog idle. You don’t want your hard-earned readership to go elsewhere because they think you’ve abandoned your blog.
Follow these tips to learn how to get traffic to your website. These tips will get you the desired traffic you desire.
Happy Blogging! I hope you have learned how to get traffic to your website!