The Eleven-Step Plan to Increasing Blog Views

Many of us put a lot of effort into our blogs, so it’s frustrating when we don’t see the numbers we’d hoped for. The traffic won’t come unless you work, but it’s hard to justify that effort if no one visits your site. Here are eleven ideas to help you attract the readers you seek to your blog.

First and foremost, strive to stand out from the crowd. If you can pull this off, the rest of the items on this list will fall into place and help your readership increase steadily.

Make an impact by:

Communicating helpful information in a way that the target audience enjoys reading about is essential.
Engage your audience by using appropriate forms of entertainment, such as humor or amazement.
Reach out to your target audience by empathizing with their struggles and addressing their hopes, fears, and other emotional needs.
Take a stand and express your perspective; you don’t need widespread support for your viewpoint for people to find it engaging.
People have said that I have an “if you build it, they will come” mentality because of this proposal, and I suppose that’s partly true. It would be best if you took measures to increase traffic, but the longer and wider-reaching impact of your blog will depend on how amazing it is.

(Side note: despite my minimal efforts, this blog attracts a steady stream of readers. My dedication to providing exactly what my audience needs has paid off.

RSS Feed – This should go without saying, but I still come across many blogs that don’t have one. If you’re unfamiliar with the phrase, an RSS feed is simply a way for your blog’s followers to be alerted whenever you publish new content. Setting up a meal that allows your reader to sign up for updates into their feed reader or email if they prefer is a good idea unless your audience is highly computer aware and all over the RSS thing. Using a free service like FeedBurner makes creating a feed like this a breeze.

Third, enable your blog to ping other web blogs (see “Ping! “). You may change this in the preferences of many blog hosts. This notifies several data/search aggregators that your blog has been updated.

Contribute Valuable Comments to Other Popular Blogs in Your Niche 4: Comment on popular blogs in your niche. When leaving a comment on another blog, you usually can include a link back to your own site. ACT WITH RESPECT! Make sure your remark is exciting and helpful to other readers, and use the space allowed for your link (not for advertising or elaborate signatures).

You can remark on other blogs’ postings using the “trackbacks” feature. Your blog post’s link will show up in the comments section of their site when you link to that specific article. Simply connecting to a position within another WordPress blog will initiate a trackback. If you’re going to track back, at least provide something of value. Simply describing and linking to someone else’s piece does not contribute to the conversation.

An up-to-date email list is a significant commodity, but it bears repeating: 6. Make the most of this asset by directing readers to the blog pieces you know they’ll appreciate, learn from, etc.

Getting content out to more people is a terrific strategy to attract more people to read your stuff. You can promote your blog by distributing articles, uploading videos, and making guest posts on other blogs.

When your affiliate program enables links to any page on your site, including blog entries, you should encourage your affiliates to do so. My affiliates can easily connect to any post on my blog thanks to the system I use at Quicksales (a private-label 1ShoppingCart).

A cookie is placed on the user’s browser when they click on an affiliate link, and the affiliate receives a commission if the user makes a purchase. Of course, blog links won’t convert as well as referrals to a sales page, but they still give your affiliates a chance to help their readers (by connecting to your AWESOME material) and earn some money.

9. Social Networks: Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace are just a few of the many social networks that may be used to promote a blog. Your social network is a goldmine of potential readers for your site. Be kind and sensible in all your interactions. Don’t spend all day on Facebook or Twitter; you’ve got work and other responsibilities. Furthermore, social media users will spread the word about you if you stand out.

Social bookmarking sites like Digg, del.icio.us, and Stumble Upon are examples of social bookmarking sites. Some people create bookmarks for themselves, but doing so can put your account at risk, so review the guidelines beforehand. Some people opt to collaborate with others to bookmark useful websites. People are more likely to advocate for you if they think you’re outstanding.

Even though many would place it first, I ranked SEO (Search Engine Optimization) eleventh on my list. Put SEO on hold if gaining dedicated followers is your top priority, and focus instead on optimizing the pages of your site that you think would attract casual browsers.

The issue with optimizing all of your blog pages is that you end up being less remarkable. Not every post on a blog needs to be about things people look for in a search engine; in fact, the best blogs often don’t. Of course, there are ways to mix SEO with being extraordinary, but you shouldn’t allow SEO to compromise the attention and buzz you generate with your site.

linda