Three tips to increase blog traffic using Social Media
While I have talked about making the most of SEO lately and trying increase blog traffic by working on keywords and backlinks, you can also try to increase your blog traffic using popular social media sites.
In many cases just a simple mention of your blog on a site like Stumble or Facebook can result in a huge spike in readership just overnight. If you have an interesting blog that spike can turn into more RSS feeds and reoccurring traffic. They key is to get your site listed and mentioned to increase blog traffic. Here are three tips to increase your blog traffic with social media.
Three tips to increase blog traffic
1. Don’t be afraid to list your own sites on Social Media sites. There is nothing wrong especially early on with adding your own sites to places like Stumble or Digg. If you are just getting started Digg your own posts, create your own Facebook account and mention your blog there. Don’t be shy!
2. Join communities and become active. Check out blogging communities like Blog Catalog and My Blog Log where you can join and market your blog by joining groups of similar interests. This is a great way to increase blog traffic as you know the people you interact share the same interests and therefore are not just spamming your blog when they visit.
3. Be social and comment as much as possible. Bloggers are out there just like you. Working hard to build a readership and appreciate comments that have value. In return, they generally will come and comment on your blog. Overtime you gain a normal readership that exchanges meaningful comments. You can also use sites like blog explosion or carousel to exchange blog comments and readers though I have found these less valuable to gaining normal readership. Just a one time increase in blog traffic.
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Setting goals for a new blogger
One of the best ways to keep your motivation alive as a new blogger is to set achievable goals. Many bloggers begin to write because they like the concept of blogging but don’t really have a plan or objective in mind, they just sort of start without thinking it out.
If you are just getting started and want to run a successful blog understand that a new blogger needs to be patient. Making money online and getting paid to blog doesn’t happen overnight. The most successful blogs have been around for over three years and post on a daily basis (if not many times a day). So, this is not to discourage you but for you to have the information in advance. Be patient.
So what are reasonable goals for a new blogger? Well, I would start out with this list which I tend to use when I create a new blog.
1. Write 100 blog posts
2. Secure 50 quality backlinks on various posts
3. Build a RSS subscription of 25 readers
4. Earn five dollars a week with advertisements (try google adsense)
5. Achieve PageRank of 5
These goals might take you three months to six months to achieve depending on really how new to blogging you really are but this will at least give you something to shoot for and keep you going. Some people try to create many blogs but never really put any effort into any of them, if you are a new blogger, start one blog, do it well and get it successful before you consider starting a second blog.
Filed under Blogging, Blogging Tips
How to capitalize on targeted internet marketing
One of the best ways to make money online is with targeted internet marketing this is because all of your focus is driving traffic based on around a smaller set of keywords and topics. If you create a blog about cell phones for example, all of your articles will contain the keyword cell phone and in addition you can apply long tail keywords to attract more of a readership.
The smaller the topic of the site, the more effective targeted internet marketing can be as not only does your SEO get easier but also affiliates and advertisements will see your site as more valuable. Put yourself in the shoes of someone trying to sell a product. Would you want your advertisement for a cell phone gadget on a general technology blog or would you want it on a blog dedicated to cell phones. Obviously, you want the cell phone specific blog. This is because not just some, but 100% of the readership of the blog will be there due to an interest in cell phones.
Targeted internet marketing is all about linking up very specific topics with advertisers and marketing campaigns that fit within your topic. The more specific your blog is on a specific topic, the better it is for targeted internet marketing. So what does this mean to you for your blog?
Well, look over your site. Does it cover a general, generic theme or is it specific about one subset within a theme. If it is generic, try to focus it in now on a topic. Pick something that interests you and start writing regularly on that topic. Eventually you will gain in rank for that topic and keywords related to that topic which will result in interest from affiliate advertisements.
Here is a good article to get you started on your targeted internet marketing.
Filed under Blogging, Make Money Blogging
Blogging advice on how to create a professional blog
There is a lot of garbage out on the web and even more in the world of blogging. The most important blogging advice I can give is on how to blog like a professional. This includes some of the most basic blogging advice possible yet so many people overlook it. People will read your blog and as such you should approach it with at least some respect and writing ability. Here are five things you should always keep in mind when you approach your blog if you want to create a professional blog.
1. Edit your writing: Don’t just type in wordpress and hit publish. Use a word processor. Fix spelling mistakes and glaring grammar mistakes. If it is not 100% perfect it is okay but try your hardest to write quality content. Learn to edit your own writing. Proofread once or twice before you schedule your next post.
2. Headlines grab readers: Your headline should be something interesting. It should tell the reader what you are going to do and how you are going to add value to them. For example “Five ways to do something” or “Learn to do something” - If you write a generic title to your post then you won’t grab readers.
3. Keep it simple: Out in the web you have a wide range of readership. This means people of all ages and backgrounds. Keep your writing simple and make it understandable. Don’t write in lingo or specific language that only someone who is an expert in a field will understand. Write in common language.
4. Mix opinion and fact: It is good to share your opinion now and again on a topic but don’t only share your opinion. Support information with facts, surveys or links to show additional information. Give your statements some support to lend yourself creditability in your blog.
5. Readability is key: Block after block of text will put a reader to sleep. Try to work in bullets and numbers. Work on bolding important lines and breaking up the text to make it more readable.
Here are the five blogging advice to make your blog appear more professional. Hope they help and if you have any suggestions, please share!
Filed under Blogging, Blogging Tips
Where to find blogging ideas when the well runs dry
After talking to a few people who blog I found a similar theme. They got into blogging because they love a general topic but after a few posts they start to run out of new blogging ideas to write about. They know the topic like the back of their hands and love to write but just don’t have any leads or interesting things to say when it comes to blogging ideas.
This happens even with the most creative blogger, at some point, the well runs dry. If you are at this point here are a few tips to help get the engine started again and find some new blogging ideas to write about.
Go read some blogs: Find bloggers who write on similar topics as you. Read their posts and the comments left by readers. See if you find a point that was not developed or if you have some of your own ideas that could further drive the point out.
Read some old posts: Go back to your old posts and read them over. Maybe you wrote about a topic and could revisit it now. Bring in new information, ideas or tips to breathe some new life into the article.
Check out the news: Read up on the current events in your area. Read related magazines and news websites and see if anything interesting just happened. Set up google news alerts on those topics so that you can have some new material each day to read and write about.
Hopefully one of these techniques will help you jumpstart you’re writing. Blogging ideas that are fresh and interesting are out there, just need to keep looking and you will find one.
Filed under Blogging, Blogging Tips
How to get involved in blog promotion
One of the things every blogger with dreams of making cash online needs to know is how to get involved in blog promotion. Blog promotion is the only way to get readers to your site. The more readers equates to more possibilities that one of them will click an advertisement and you then make some cash online blogging.
So, what is there to learn about blog promotion? A ton!
Blog promotion starts with the basics of learning SEO or Search engine optimization. This means building a blog that will rank high in search engine results. Majority of people who look for things online start out on a search engine and query keywords related to what they want to find. Your goal is to identify what keywords you are going to master and work them into articles and backlinks to your site.
Once you have SEO down, start looking into SMO or Social media optimization. This means having your articles picked up by social media giants like digg and stumble. It also includes using facebook, tweeter and any other social media you can to get the word out about your blog and each post you add.
Blog promotion is about getting the word out. Telling everyone who will listen and making it easy to find your blog. Everywhere you leave a footprint in the web should be an easy link to your blog. A forum, a comment on another blog or even in your email signature.
Get to work! There is time to make cash blogging but you need to get started today and get busy with your blog promotion to build an active readership.
