25 ways to drive traffic to your blog or website: Part I
Having started this blog not too long ago I’m facing what most people face with a new blog — not many readers. So I’ve been reminding myself of ways to start getting a blog found, as well as researching new methods that I’ve never used before.
This post has been split into sections, and in today’s segment we’ll be covering the first 10 ways to drive traffic to your blog.
While there’s no right or wrong order to perform these tasks, I’ve tried to start with things you can do right off the bat the moment you create your first post. Some of the items further down the list will take more time, or can wait until a little further down the road.
So let’s get to it!
25. Submit your blog to search engines
Everyone knows that having your site appear in search results is an important factor. If any links exist out there to your site, then the search engines should in effect find and crawl your blog eventually. But help them out by submitting your URL to the major search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing).
Here are the direct links:
Add your URL to Google
Submit your site to Bing
24. Create an RSS feed of your blog
By having an RSS feed of your blog, people can subscribe to it and get notified when you write a new post. If you use WordPress this is done automatically. Also, put the link in an easy-to-find place on your pages and encourage people to sign up, and make it easy for people to come back for more!
23. Submit your blog to blog directories
In addition to submitting your site to search engines, you can submit to blog directories. These are basically just like phone books for blogs. Some are well-respected and having your link on these sites can add up and contribute to making your site more “trusted” by the search engines. And of course hopefully people will find your blog on these sites as well.
This will have varying impact, but the more links you can get, the better. It’s all a matter of how much time and energy you want to put into it.
Here is a list of blog directories you might considering submitting to.
And here is a list of sites that accept RSS feed submissions.
22. Add your site to Google Webmaster Tools and Bing Webmaster Tools
If you don’t already have an account with Google Webmaster Tools and Bing Webmaster Tools, you should head on over and create one. Then add your site(s) and spend a little time looking around and getting familiar with what each offers. There are some useful tools in there that will help you make your site more friendly to search engines and users alike. And don’t get overwhelmed, the learning curve isn’t bad and it shouldn’t be too time-consuming. Oh, and it’s free.
21. Install Google Analytics
Add Google Analytics to all your pages. You can do this manually, or if you are using WordPress there are a bunch of plugins to choose from. I use Ultimate Google Analytics, and it’s a snap. Once a little time goes by and enough data has been collection you can start to learn a lot about your readers, how they’re finding your site, how long they are staying once they get there, what pages they are reading, and more. Definitely do this. It’s also free.
20. Ping sites
When you make changes to your pages or add a new page you should ping the major search engines with that URL. This lets them know that your content has changed and that they should re-index your site to pick up the new content and any new links you have. Again, if you don’t do this your pages will be re-crawled eventually but it’s worth tapping the engines on the shoulder to let them know they should check you out again now.
If you use WordPress you can have this done automatically. Otherwise you can find a tool like Blog Ping Tool.
But definitely avoid Pingler.
19. Claim your blog at Technorati
Technorati is a very popular and well-respected blog search engine. By claiming your blog on Technorati you are entering your site into their blog directory. You can also create a profile which could enable people to find you easier as well as find the link to your blog. Additionally, if you write excellent content and you get lucky, Technorati may feature your blog or one of your posts.
18. Signatures
No, I don’t mean go sign a bunch of autographs. Put the link to your blog in all your email signatures and forum signatures. Any email program will allow you to create a signature that will appear automatically at the bottom of every email you send. Same with any forums or newsgroups you may participate in.
For example, if you answer questions on Yahoo! Answers , then every-time you do so you’ll be adding a link to your blog for all to see. This way you are sharing your link everyday without even thinking about it. But don’t forget, this will only be effective if your post/answer is useful and informative. Nobody will follow the link of someone that posted garbage.
17. Comment on other blogs
Commenting on other blogs is great for two reasons. It gives you a chance to read others’ posts each day which helps you to keep current on whatever it is your niche is. Then once you find a post you have thoughts about you can contribute to the conversation in the comments. If your comment is thoughtful and useful, people will notice. The blogger will definitely notice, and many of the readers will as will. On a blog of any decent size you will have just gotten yourself a good number of people looking at your name, and potentially clicking on the link to your blog.
Additionally, if the comment section of the blog is ‘dofollow’, then the search engines will follow the link to your site as well, which will help your site rank higher in search engines. But please do not insist on only commenting on blogs with ‘dofollow’ links. Insert yourself in the conversation and make it more interesting by sharing your thoughts and opinions. Again, if it’s insightful, people will find it and find the link to your blog.
To help with this you can create an RSS feed of a Twitter search for relevant keywords to you niche, such as “user interface prototyping” or “plane-spotting in Portland”, or whatever it may be. You can also do the same for Google Blog Search or just Google search in general. It’s very helpful in finding people who are talking about the same things you’re talking about in your blog. This leads you to comment on relevant blogs, which is good. They have the same the readers you want.
16. Ask people to do what it is you want them to do
If you want people to vote in a poll you made, ask them to do so. If you want them to subscribe to your RSS feed or sign up for your mailing list, ask them to do so. If you want them to comment on your blog, ask them to. If you want them to share your link, well, you should know what to do now. It may sound simple, but it works. You could even consider adding a signature to your posts so that each of your posts automatically gets appended with a request for readers to comment.
Conclusion
So there you have it, the first 10 ways to drive traffic to your blog or website!
Stay tuned for the rest, coming soon.
Now, let’s put #16 to use! Subscribe to the RSS feed of this blog to be notified when I post more ways to get traffic to your blog or website.
Please leave a comment below with your thoughts about any of these ideas or any new ones you may have.
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