6 things you can do to get traffic to your brand new blog

February 12, 2008

When you start out blogging, you may not have much idea what you are doing.  I know I didn’t.  But with these steps, you can quickly build traffic to your blog.  These things will work for a new blog or an existing blog.  So if you have a blog in a lull, try one of these - it might help boost your readership.

Get a topic and “post storm” the moment you begin

A really important thing in starting a blog, and starting it up quickly, is to define what you are going to blog about, before you start.  This can also apply to existing blogs that need a bit of a kick in the guts.  A blog should have a primary focus.  It might even have two or three related topics, or a very interesting mix of two or three topics, but it needs to be focussed and defined.  You, the blogger, need to know what you are on about.

Once you know that, you have to start posting.  On-topic, fast, frequent posts.  I call it a “post storm“.  Perhaps I should trademark that :P  The whole point of a post storm, especially when you have just begun, is to quickly fill your site with content, quality original content.  You are just starting, so you should have the energy to really blast away at your topic straight up.

Apart from the quick increase in content you give your blog, you also create a lot of pinging and search engine crawling, so the search engines are going to see a more frequently updated site.  It will also make your blog instantly appealing to potential readers.  But its not enough, you need more exposure than that…

Comment intelligently on the blogs you read

You might think this is not good value for your time, but its free advertising.  If you are making valuable comments on other peoples blogs, people will follow your link back to you.  They really do follow the links.  And they are more likely to do it if you are commenting sensibly.

Saying “great post, great post” is worthless.  But adding to discussion or debate, or adding new information is enough to attract people to what you are saying.

If you really comment a lot, you might also get yourself into a top commentator widget!  Again, free advertising that can only help.  Just don’t ever try to get there by spamming, because you will be banned.

Reply immediately to comments made on your blog (and approve comments quickly)

This serves two purposes.  It creates a community feel and promotes discussion.  It also increases the comment count on your posts.  People comment when other people have commented.  They are like sheep, or lemmings.  That’s why most blogs show the comment count at the top of each post.  Shoemoney goes a bit further and has a catchy saying - “X People have said their piece on this post - what say you?”  This really promotes commenting.

What is the value of having high comment counts?  It shows people that come through your blog that other people have been here, that its a worthwhile site to read.  Again, the lemmings thing.  But what is the right balance?  I don’t think you should reply to your own posts - reply with a comment to what others have said in comments.

Use Entrecard to create a buzz

Bloggers either love or hate Entrecard.  But the truth is, if your blog is brand new, it will create instant exposure and traffic.  The traffic may not be good quality at first, but if you create a compelling profile and a proper logo (don’t settle for one of the hopeless text logos, make a proper one), you will get some traffic that isn’t just “Entre-hopping”.

Some of the buzz comes from the “new blogs” page in Entrecard - that generates a lot of quick hits.  And you can drop your card everywhere, which puts your logo in front of lots of bloggers.  If your post storm was good enough, and you keep the quality posts coming, you may just convert a few Entre-hoppers into readers.

Self-Digg something HOT

Some people won’t like me saying this, but you can get traffic from social sites, even if you never get anywhere near the front page.  It all comes from having interesting content.  If you have content that is good enough, or at least has a good enough hook, you can snag a few fish.  And if they start to Digg or Stumble your content, you can really do well out of it.

As for the ethics of self-digging etc, well I’m sure lots of people do it, so why don’t you.  You can’t really embarrass yourself, because if its not hot, you’ll be gone in a day.  But if people like what they see, you might get more traffic than you bargained for.  My most successful post to date was my hoax about ICANN releasing a .blog tld.  (Though my February Contest is overtaking it fast, but more on that later.)  It was a shameless hoax, and people are still reading it a month later.

If you do try this social media method, you do need something really good to get any attention.  Just don’t keep creating hoaxes, unless you are running a parody blog

Run a Contest, and post it everywhere

This is my latest venture.  I know this works, because that is really what started me reading Blogosis.  I entered the contest, and lo and behold, I am still a subscriber.

That’s why I am running my own contest now.  Its only 12 hours old, and already my traffic is spiralling upwards.  People love to get something for nothing or for little effort.  So a free to enter contest really attracts traffic.  Better still it can easily attract subscribers and regular readers if you make subscribing the entry method.  But after that, you have to back that up with some good ol’ content.

If you run a contest on your blog, post about it regularly and also try to get it featured on other blogs.  It is very easy to submit (for free) to other “contest blogs” that track all of the contests in the blogosphere.  This really helps to get the word out, and the traffic in!

So, as you can see, good content is the key to gaining and retaining readers.  But you can boost your traffic straight away with these simple methods.  If you haven’t done one of these before - give it a go, and tell me how it works!  And if you’ve got some good techniques to share, please do - I’m always looking for new ways to increase traffic, rank and readship.

Posted in Blogging