HOW TO GET MORE TRAFFIC TO YOUR BLOG

2012-07-07T06:02:00.002-07:00

Abandon the worries… and Abide in the Word.

Abandon the fears… and Abide in the Father.

Abandon the hurts… and Abide in His heart.

Abandon the cares… because Christ will never abandon you.

2012-07-06T19:30:00.001-07:00

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21 Tactics to Increase Blog Traffic (Updated 2012)

January 17th, 2012 - Posted by randfish to Content & Blogging

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It's easy to build a blog, but hard to build a successful blog with significant traffic. Over the years, we've grown the Moz blog to nearly a million visits each month and helped lots of other blogs, too. I launched a personal blog late last year and was amazed to see how quickly it gained thousands of visits to each post. There's an art to increasing a blog's traffic, and given that we seem to have stumbled on some of that knowledge, I felt it compulsory to give back by sharing what we've observed.

NOTE: This post replaces a popular one I wrote on the same topic in 2007. This post is intended to be useful to all forms of bloggers - independent folks, those seeking to monetize, and marketing professionals working an in-house blog from tiny startups to huge companies. Not all of the tactics will work for everyone, but at least some of these should be applicable and useful.

#1 - Target Your Content to an Audience Likely to Share

When strategizing about who you're writing for, consider that audience's ability to help spread the word. Some readers will naturally be more or less active in evangelizing the work you do, but particular communities, topics, writing styles and content types regularly play better than others on the web. For example, great infographics that strike a chord (like this one), beautiful videos that tell a story (like this one) and remarkable collections of facts that challenge common assumptions (like this one) are all targeted at audiences likely to share (geeks with facial hair, those interested in weight loss and those with political thoughts about macroeconomics respectively).

If you can identify groups that have high concentrations of the blue and orange circles in the diagram above, you dramatically improve the chances of reaching larger audiences and growing your traffic numbers. Targeting blog content at less-share-likely groups may not be a terrible decision (particularly if that's where you passion or your target audience lies), but it will decrease the propensity for your blog's work to spread like wildfire across the web.

#2 - Participate in the Communities Where Your Audience Already Gathers

Advertisers on Madison Avenue have spent billions researching and determining where consumers with various characteristics gather and what they spend their time doing so they can better target their messages. They do it because reaching a group of 65+ year old women with commercials for extreme sports equipment is known to be a waste of money, while reaching an 18-30 year old male demographic that attends rock-climbing gyms is likely to have a much higher ROI.

Thankfully, you don't need to spend a dime to figure out where a large portion of your audience can be found on the web. In fact, you probably already know a few blogs, forums, websites and social media communities where discussions and content are being posted on your topic (and if you don't a Google search will take you much of the way). From that list, you can do some easy expansion using a web-based tool like DoubleClick's Ad Planner:

Once you've determined the communities where your soon-to-be-readers gather, you can start participating. Create an account, read what others have written and don't jump in the conversation until you've got a good feel for what's appropriate and what's not. I've written a post here about rules for comment marketing, and all of them apply. Be a good web citizen and you'll be rewarded with traffic, trust and fans. Link-drop, spam or troll and you'll get a quick boot, or worse, a reputation as a blogger no one wants to associate with.

#3 - Make Your Blog's Content SEO-Friendly

Search engines are a massive opportunity for traffic, yet many bloggers ignore this channel for a variety of reasons that usually have more to do with fear and misunderstanding than true problems. As I've written before, "SEO, when done right, should never interfere with great writing." In 2011, Google received over 3 billion daily searches from around the world, and that number is only growing:

sources: Comscore + Google

Taking advantage of this massive traffic opportunity is of tremendous value to bloggers, who often find that much of the business side of blogging, from inquiries for advertising to guest posting opportunities to press and discovery by major media entities comes via search.

SEO for blogs is both simple and easy to set up, particularly if you're using an SEO-friendly platform like Wordpress, Drupal or Joomla. For more information on how to execute on great SEO for blogs, check out the following resources:
•Blogger's Guide to SEO (from SEOBook)
•The Beginner's Guide to SEO (from Moz)
•Wordpress Blog SEO Tutorial (from Yoast)
•SEO for Travel Bloggers (but applicable to nearly any type of blog - from Moz)

Don't let bad press or poor experiences with spammers (spam is not SEO) taint the amazing power and valuable contributions SEO can make to your blog's traffic and overall success. 20% of the effort and tactics to make your content optimized for search engines will yield 80% of the value possible; embrace it and thousands of visitors seeking exactly what you've posted will be the reward.

#4 - Use Twitter, Facebook and Google+ to Share Your Posts & Find New Connections

Twitter just topped 465 million registered accounts. Facebook has over 850 million active users. Google+ has nearly 100 million. LinkedIn is over 130 million. Together, these networks are attracting vast amounts of time and interest from Internet users around the world, and those that participate on these services fit into the "content distributors" description above, meaning they're likely to help spread the word about your blog.

Leveraging these networks to attract traffic requires patience, study, attention to changes by the social sites and consideration in what content to share and how to do it. My advice is to use the following process:
• If you haven't already, register a personal account and a brand account at each of the following - Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn (those links will take you directly to the registration pages for brand pages). For example, my friend Dharmesh has a personal account for Twitter and a brand account for OnStartups (one of his blog projects). He also maintains brand pages on Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+.
• Fill out each of those profiles to the fullest possible extent - use photos, write compelling descriptions and make each one as useful and credible as possible. Research shows that profiles with more information have a significant correlation with more successful accounts (and there's a lot of common sense here, too, given that spammy profiles frequently feature little to no profile work).
• Connect with users on those sites with whom you already share a personal or professional relationships, and start following industry luminaries, influencers and connectors. Services like FollowerWonk and FindPeopleonPlus can be incredible for this:

• Start sharing content - your own blog posts, those of peers in your industry who've impressed you and anything that you feel has a chance to go "viral" and earn sharing from others.
• Interact with the community - use hash tags, searches and those you follow to find interesting conversations and content and jump in! Social networks are amazing environment for building a brand, familiarizing yourself with a topic and the people around it, and earning the trust of others through high quality, authentic participation and sharing

If you consistently employ a strategy of participation, share great stuff and make a positive, memorable impression on those who see your interactions on these sites, your followers and fans will grow and your ability to drive traffic back to your blog by sharing content will be tremendous. For many bloggers, social media is the single largest source of traffic, particularly in the early months after launch, when SEO is a less consistent driver.

#5 - Install Analytics and Pay Attention to the Results

At the very least, I'd recommend most bloggers install Google Analytics (which is free), and watch to see where visits originate, which sources drive quality traffic and what others might be saying about you and your content when they link over. If you want to get more advanced, check out this post on 18 Steps to Successful Metrics and Marketing.

Here's a screenshot from the analytics of my wife's travel blog, the Everywhereist:

As you can see, there's all sorts of great insights to be gleaned by looking at where visits originate, analyzing how they were earned and trying to repeat the successes, focus on the high quality and high traffic sources and put less effort into marketing paths that may not be effective. In this example, it's pretty clear that Facebook and Twitter are both excellent channels. StumbleUpon sends a lot of traffic, but they don't stay very long (averaging only 36 seconds vs. the general average of 4 minutes!).

Employing analytics is critical to knowing where you're succeeding, and where you have more opportunity. Don't ignore it, or you'll be doomed to never learn from mistakes or execute on potential.

#6 - Add Graphics, Photos and Illustrations (with link-back licensing)

If you're someone who can produce graphics, take photos, illustrate or even just create funny doodles in MS Paint, you should leverage that talent on your blog. By uploading and hosting images (or using a third-party service like Flickr to embed your images with licensing requirements on that site), you create another traffic source for yourself via Image Search, and often massively improve the engagement and enjoyment of your visitors.

When using images, I highly recommend creating a way for others to use them on their own sites legally and with permission, but in such a way that benefits you as the content creator. For example, you could have a consistent notice under your images indicating that re-using is fine, but that those who do should link back to this post. You can also post that as a sidebar link, include it in your terms of use, or note it however you think will get the most adoption.

Some people will use your images without linking back, which sucks. However, you can find them by employing the Image Search function of "similar images," shown below:

Clicking the "similar" link on any given image will show you other images that Google thinks look alike, which can often uncover new sources of traffic. Just reach out and ask if you can get a link, nicely. Much of the time, you'll not only get your link, but make a valuable contact or new friend, too!

#7 - Conduct Keyword Research While Writing Your Posts

Not surprisingly, a big part of showing up in search engines is targeting the terms and phrases your audience are actually typing into a search engine. It's hard to know what these words will be unless you do some research, and luckily, there's a free tool from Google to help called the AdWords Keyword Tool.

Type some words at the top, hit search and AdWords will show you phrases that match the intent and/or terms you've employed. There's lots to play around with here, but watch out in particular for the "match types" options I've highlighted below:

When you choose "exact match" AdWords will show you only the quantity of searches estimated for that precise phrase. If you use broad match, they'll include any search phrases that use related/similar words in a pattern they think could have overlap with your keyword intent (which can get pretty darn broad). "Phrase match" will give you only those phrases that include the word or words in your search - still fairly wide-ranging, but between "exact" and "broad."

When you're writing a blog post, keyword research is best utilized for the title and headline of the post. For example, if I wanted to write a post here on Moz about how to generate good ideas for bloggers, I might craft something that uses the phrase "blog post ideas" or "blogging ideas" near the front of my title and headline, as in "Blog Post Ideas for When You're Truly Stuck," or "Blogging Ideas that Will Help You Clear Writer's Block."

Optimizing a post to target a specific keyword isn't nearly as hard as it sounds. 80% of the value comes from merely using the phrase effectively in the title of the blog post, and writing high quality content about the subject. If you're interested in more, read Perfecting Keyword Targeting and On-Page Optimization (a slightly older resource, but just as relevant today as when it was written).

#8 - Frequently Reference Your Own Posts and Those of Others

The web was not made for static, text-only content! Readers appreciate links, as do other bloggers, site owners and even search engines. When you reference your own material in-context and in a way that's not manipulative (watch out for over-optimizing by linking to a category, post or page every time a phrase is used - this is almost certainly discounted by search engines and looks terrible to those who want to read your posts), you potentially draw visitors to your other content AND give search engines a nice signal about those previous posts.

Perhaps even more valuable is referencing the content of others. The biblical expression "give and ye shall receive," perfectly applies on the web. Other site owners will often receive Google Alerts or look through their incoming referrers (as I showed above in tip #5) to see who's talking about them and what they're saying. Linking out is a direct line to earning links, social mentions, friendly emails and new relationships with those you reference. In its early days, this tactic was one of the best ways we earned recognition and traffic with the SEOmoz blog and the power continues to this day.

#9 - Participate in Social Sharing Communities Like Reddit + StumbleUpon

The major social networking sites aren't alone in their power to send traffic to a blog. Social community sites like Reddit (which now receives more than 2 billion! with a "B"! views each month), StumbleUpon, Pinterest, Tumblr, Care2 (for nonprofits and causes), GoodReads (books), Ravelry (knitting), Newsvine (news/politics) and many, many more (Wikipedia maintains a decent, though not comprehensive list here).

Each of these sites have different rules, formats and ways of participating and sharing content. As with participation in blog or forum communities described above in tactic #2, you need to add value to these communities to see value back. Simply drive-by spamming or leaving your link won't get you very far, and could even cause a backlash. Instead, learn the ropes, engage authentically and you'll find that fans, links and traffic can develop.

These communities are also excellent sources of inspiration for posts on your blog. By observing what performs well and earns recognition, you can tailor your content to meet those guidelines and reap the rewards in visits and awareness. My top recommendation for most bloggers is to at least check whether there's an appropriate subreddit in which you should be participating. Subreddits and their search function can help with that.

#10 - Guest Blog (and Accept the Guest Posts of Others)

When you're first starting out, it can be tough to convince other bloggers to allow you to post on their sites OR have an audience large enough to inspire others to want to contribute to your site. This is when friends and professional connections are critical. When you don't have a compelling marketing message, leverage your relationships - find the folks who know you, like you and trust you and ask those who have blog to let you take a shot at authoring something, then ask them to return the favor.

Guest blogging is a fantastic way to spread your brand to new folks who've never seen your work before, and it can be useful in earning early links and references back to your site, which will drive direct traffic and help your search rankings (diverse, external links are a key part of how search engines rank sites and pages). Several recommendations for those who engage in guest blogging:
• Find sites that have a relevant audience - it sucks to pour your time into writing a post, only to see it fizzle because the readers weren't interested. Spend a bit more time researching the posts that succeed on your target site, the makeup of the audience, what types of comments they leave and you'll earn a much higher return with each post.
• Don't be discouraged if you ask and get a "no" or a "no response." As your profile grows in your niche, you'll have more opportunities, requests and an easier time getting a "yes," so don't take early rejections too hard and watch out - in many marketing practices, persistence pays, but pestering a blogger to write for them is not one of these (and may get your email address permanently banned from their inbox).
• When pitching your guest post make it as easy as possible for the other party. When requesting to post, have a phenomenal piece of writing all set to publish that's never been shared before and give them the ability to read it. These requests get far more "yes" replies than asking for the chance to write with no evidence of what you'll contribute. At the very least, make an outline and write a title + snippet.
• Likewise, when requesting a contribution, especially from someone with a significant industry profile, asking for a very specific piece of writing is much easier than getting them to write an entire piece from scratch of their own design. You should also present statistics that highlight the value of posting on your site - traffic data, social followers, RSS subscribers, etc. can all be very persuasive to a skeptical writer.

A great tool for frequent guest bloggers is Ann Smarty's MyBlogGuest, which offers the ability to connect writers with those seeking guest contributions (and the reverse).

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ are also great places to find guest blogging opportunities. In particular, check out the profiles of those you're connected with to see if they run blogs of their own that might be a good fit. Google's Blog Search function and Google Reader's Search are also solid tools for discovery.

#11 - Incorporate Great Design Into Your Site

The power of beautiful, usable, professional design can't be overstated. When readers look at a blog, the first thing they judge is how it "feels" from a design and UX perspective. Sites that use default templates or have horrifying, 1990's design will receive less trust, a lower time-on-page, fewer pages per visit and a lower likelihood of being shared. Those that feature stunning design that clearly indicates quality work will experience the reverse - and reap amazing benefits.

These threads - 1, 2, 3 and 4 - feature some remarkable blog designs for inspiration

If you're looking for a designer to help upgrade the quality of your blog, there's a few resources I recommend:
•Dribbble - great for finding high quality professional designers
•Forrst - another excellent design profile community
•Behance - featuring galleries from a wide range of visual professionals
•Sortfolio - an awesome tool to ID designers by region, skill and budget
•99 Designs - a controversial site that provides designs on spec via contests (I have mixed feelings on this one, but many people find it useful, particularly for budget-conscious projects)

This is one area where budgeting a couple thousand dollars (if you can afford it) or even a few hundred (if you're low on cash) can make a big difference in the traffic, sharing and viral-impact of every post you write.

#12 - Interact on Other Blogs' Comments

As bloggers, we see a lot of comments. Many are spam, only a few add real value, and even fewer are truly fascinating and remarkable. If you can be in this final category consistently, in ways that make a blogger sit up and think "man, I wish that person commented here more often!" you can achieve great things for your own site's visibility through participation in the comments of other blogs.

Combine the tools presented in #10 (particularly Google Reader/Blog Search) and #4 (especially FollowerWonk) for discovery. The feed subscriber counts in Google Reader can be particularly helpful for identifying good blogs for participation. Then apply the principles covered in this post on comment marketing.

Do be conscious of the name you use when commenting and the URL(s) you point back to. Consistency matters, particularly on naming, and linking to internal pages or using a name that's clearly made for keyword-spamming rather than true conversation will kill your efforts before they begin.

#13 - Participate in Q+A Sites

Every day, thousands of people ask questions on the web. Popular services like Yahoo! Answers, Answers.com, Quora, StackExchange, Formspring and more serve those hungry for information whose web searches couldn't track down the responses they needed.

The best strategy I've seen for engaging on Q+A sites isn't to answer every question that comes along, but rather, to strategically provide high value to a Q+A community by engaging in those places where:
• The question quality is high, and responses thus far have been thin
• The question receives high visibility (either by ranking well for search queries, being featured on the site or getting social traffic/referrals). Most of the Q+A sites will show some stats around the traffic of a question
• The question is something you can answer in a way that provides remarkable value to anyone who's curious and drops by

I also find great value in answering a few questions in-depth by producing an actual blog post to tackle them, then linking back. This is also a way I personally find blog post topics - if people are interested in the answer on a Q+A site, chances are good that lots of folks would want to read it on my blog, too!

Just be authentic in your answer, particularly if you're linking. If you'd like to see some examples, I answer a lot of questions at Quora, frequently include relevant links, but am rarely accused of spamming or link dropping because it's clearly about providing relevant value, not just getting a link for SEO (links on most user-contributed sites are "nofollow" anyway, meaning they shouldn't pass search-engine value). There's a dangerous line to walk here, but if you do so with tact and candor, you can earn a great audience from your participation.

#14 - Enable Subscriptions via Feed + Email (and track them!)

If someone drops by your site, has a good experience and thinks "I should come back here and check this out again when they have more posts," chances are pretty high (I'd estimate 90%+) that you'll never see them again. That sucks! It shouldn't be the case, but we have busy lives and the Internet's filled with animated gifs of cats.

In order to pull back some of these would-be fans, I highly recommend creating an RSS feed using Feedburner and putting visible buttons on the sidebar, top or bottom of your blog posts encouraging those who enjoy your content to sign up (either via feed, or via email, both of which are popular options).

If you're using Wordpress, there's some easy plugins for this, too.

Once you've set things up, visit every few weeks and check on your subscribers - are they clicking on posts? If so, which ones? Learning what plays well for those who subscribe to your content can help make you a better blogger, and earn more visits from RSS, too.

#15 - Attend and Host Events

Despite the immense power of the web to connect us all regardless of geography, in-person meetings are still remarkably useful for bloggers seeking to grow their traffic and influence. The people you meet and connect with in real-world settings are far more likely to naturally lead to discussions about your blog and ways you can help each other. This yields guest posts, links, tweets, shares, blogroll inclusion and general business development like nothing else.

I'm a big advocate of Lanyrd, an event directory service that connects with your social networks to see who among your contacts will be at which events in which geographies. This can be phenomenally useful for identifying which meetups, conferences or gatherings are worth attending (and who you can carpool with).

The founder of Lanyrd also contributed this great answer on Quora about other search engines/directories for events (which makes me like them even more).

#16 - Use Your Email Connections (and Signature) to Promote Your Blog

As a blogger, you're likely to be sending a lot of email out to others who use the web and have the power to help spread your work. Make sure you're not ignoring email as a channel, one-to-one though it may be. When given an opportunity in a conversation that's relevant, feel free to bring up your blog, a specific post or a topic you've written about. I find myself using blogging as a way to scalably answer questions - if I receive the same question many times, I'll try to make a blog post that answers it so I can simply link to that in the future.

I also like to use my email signature to promote the content I share online. If I was really sharp, I'd do link tracking using a service like Bit.ly so I could see how many clicks email footers really earn. I suspect it's not high, but it's also not 0.

#17 - Survey Your Readers

Web surveys are easy to run and often produce high engagement and great topics for conversation. If there's a subject or discussion that's particularly contested, or where you suspect showing the distribution of beliefs, usage or opinions can be revealing, check out a tool like SurveyMonkey (they have a small free version) or PollDaddy. Google Docs also offers a survey tool that's totally free, but not yet great in my view.

#18 - Add Value to a Popular Conversation

Numerous niches in the blogosphere have a few "big sites" where key issues arise, get discussed and spawn conversations on other blogs and sites. Getting into the fray can be a great way to present your point-of-view, earn attention from those interested in the discussion and potentially get links and traffic from the industry leaders as part of the process.

You can see me trying this out with Fred Wilson's AVC blog last year (an incredibly popular and well-respected blog in the VC world). Fred wrote a post about Marketing that I disagreed with strongly and publicly and a day later, he wrote a follow-up where he included a graphic I made AND a link to my post.

If you're seeking sources to find these "popular conversations," Alltop, Topsy, Techmeme (in the tech world) and their sister sites MediaGazer, Memeorandum and WeSmirch, as well as PopURLs can all be useful.

#19 - Aggregate the Best of Your Niche

Bloggers, publishers and site owners of every variety in the web world love and hate to be compared and ranked against one another. It incites endless intrigue, discussion, methodology arguments and competitive behavior - but, it's amazing for earning attention. When a blogger publishes a list of "the best X" or "the top X" in their field, most everyone who's ranked highly praises the list, shares it and links to it. Here's an example from the world of marketing itself:

That's a screenshot of the AdAge Power 150, a list that's been maintained for years in the marketing world and receives an endless amount of discussion by those listed (and not listed). For example, why is SEOmoz's Twitter score only a "13" when we have so many more followers, interactions and retweets than many of those with higher scores? Who knows. But I know it's good for AdAge. :-)

Now, obviously, I would encourage anyone building something like this to be as transparent, accurate and authentic as possible. A high quality resource that lists a "best and brightest" in your niche - be they blogs, Twitter accounts, Facebook pages, individual posts, people, conferences or whatever else you can think to rank - is an excellent piece of content for earning traffic and becoming a known quantity in your field.

Oh, and once you do produce it - make sure to let those featured know they've been listed. Tweeting at them with a link is a good way to do this, but if you have email addresses, by all means, reach out. It can often be the start of a great relationship!

#20 - Connect Your Web Profiles and Content to Your Blog

Many of you likely have profiles on services like YouTube, Slideshare, Yahoo!, DeviantArt and dozens of other social and Web 1.0 sites. You might be uploading content to Flickr, to Facebook, to Picasa or even something more esoteric like Prezi. Whatever you're producing on the web and wherever you're doing it, tie it back to your blog.

Including your blog's link on your actual profile pages is among the most obvious, but it's also incredibly valuable. On any service where interaction takes place, those interested in who you are and what you have to share will follow those links, and if they lead back to your blog, they become opportunities for capturing a loyal visitor or earning a share (or both!). But don't just do this with profiles - do it with content, too! If you've created a video for YouTube, make your blog's URL appear at the start or end of the video. Include it in the description of the video and on the uploading profile's page. If you're sharing photos on any of the dozens of photo services, use a watermark or even just some text with your domain name so interested users can find you.

If you're having trouble finding and updating all those old profiles (or figuring out where you might want to create/share some new ones), KnowEm is a great tool for discovering your own profiles (by searching for your name or pseudonyms you've used) and claiming profiles on sites you may not yet have participated in.

I'd also strongly recommend leveraging Google's relatively new protocol for rel=author. AJ Kohn wrote a great post on how to set it up here, and Yoast has another good one on building it into Wordpress sites. The benefit for bloggers who do build large enough audiences to gain Google's trust is earning your profile photo next to all the content you author - a powerful markup advantage that likely drives extra clicks from the search results and creates great, memorable branding, too.

#21 - Uncover the Links of Your Fellow Bloggers (and Nab 'em!)

If other blogs in your niche have earned references from sites around the web, there's a decent chance that they'll link to you as well. Conducting competitive link research can also show you what content from your competition has performed well and the strategies they may be using to market their work. To uncover these links, you'll need to use some tools.

OpenSiteExplorer is my favorite, but I'm biased (it's made by Moz). However, it is free to use - if you create a registered account here, you can get unlimited use of the tool showing up to 1,000 links per page or site in perpetuity.

There are other good tools for link research as well, including Blekko, Majestic, Ahrefs and, I've heard that in the near-future, SearchMetrics.

Finding a link is great, but it's through the exhaustive research of looking through dozens or hundreds that you can identify patterns and strategies. You're also likely to find a lot of guest blogging opportunities and other chances for outreach. If you maintain a great persona and brand in your niche, your ability to earn these will rise dramatically.

Bonus #22 - Be Consistent and Don't Give Up

If there's one piece of advice I wish I could share with every blogger, it's this:

The above image comes from Everywhereist's analytics. Geraldine could have given up 18 months into her daily blogging. After all, she was putting in 3-5 hours each day writing content, taking photos, visiting sites, coming up with topics, trying to guest blog and grow her Twitter followers and never doing any SEO (don't ask, it's a running joke between us). And then, almost two years after her blog began, and more than 500 posts in, things finally got going. She got some nice guest blogging gigs, had some posts of hers go "hot" in the social sphere, earned mentions on some bigger sites, then got really big press from Time's Best Blogs of 2011.

I'd guess there's hundreds of new bloggers on the web each day who have all the opportunity Geraldine had, but after months (maybe only weeks) of slogging away, they give up.

When I started the SEOmoz blog in 2004, I had some advantages (mostly a good deal of marketing and SEO knowledge), but it was nearly 2 years before the blog could be called anything like a success. Earning traffic isn't rocket science, but it does take time, perseverance and consistency. Don't give up. Stick to your schedule. Remember that everyone has a few posts that suck, and it's only by writing and publishing those sucky posts that you get into the habit necessary to eventually transform your blog into something remarkable.

Good luck and good blogging from all of us at Moz!

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Feel free to copy and re-post this content or the graphics, but please do link back (or reference SEOmoz if using the images offline). Thanks!

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Danny Whitehouse| January 17th, 2012

Just skimmed this post, what a fab read! Will go back and cover the entire thing at lunch. Thanks Rand. Longest and most detailed post of the year goes to...?

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JK27| March 30th, 2012

Seriously, I am confused after reading the post.. I am bookmarking this post to my Home PC.. Worth Read!

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Monalisha Sharma| June 22nd, 2012

I just came across with this post and found it very informative. In fact my all queries got answered in your post. Good work!
You can also check out SocialAppsHQ's blogs to get more useful insights on Social media marketing here -http://socialappshq.wordpress.com

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AidanMc| January 17th, 2012

Just speed-read this and have marked for greater digestion - great post, will undoubtedly earn many links, tweets and shares as it should...

... which will increase traffic to this blog

Bazinga

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simonpenson| January 17th, 2012

Post Panda, Authorship announcements and Google + Your World this post has never had more value. Leave it unread at your peril!There's a piece to add around using more tools to find the very best authorities for that content through outreach (and use of form letters as in Mike Kings Moz post from last year to improve conversion and uptake) but its pretty exhaustive and brilliantly captured. Thanks Rand.

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koozai_mike| January 17th, 2012

Rand this is epic! Thanks for staying up all night to write it too, that is dedication :)

I really like point number 18 about adding value to conversations, and find that starting a debate on industry problems can be a serious traffic driver. Better still if you can spot something in the industry that is wrong which no one is talking about and focus on it, then it's a great way to get traffic and a ton of links as other places continue the debate.

It's all about finding the elephant in the room and shouting "LOOK EVERYONE!"

Every industry has one:

Online has SOPA

eBook publishers are fighting against spam

Food industries are fighting against rising costs

Technology industries face distribution challenges

Financial industries face... well what don't they face

---

Being the shining blog that fights for a common cause in your niche is a great tactic and even boring niches have some problems they can talk about. It's a great way to ... HEY IS THAT AN ELEPHANT?

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Vahe.Arabian| January 17th, 2012

Just wanted to add from Mike's comment and say thanks for staying up all night to write this post. Now go and get some rest :P

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Vahe.Arabian| January 17th, 2012

The most important two things about this post is engagement and consistancy. Without the two there's no drive to keep the blog going. Taking a step back it's important to set the blogs objectives, goals & KPI's so that it can be easier to assign your content target audience.

Thanks for the post Rand!

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Anthony Trollope| January 17th, 2012

Missed this back in 2007 when it was first published, thanks for updating it, Rand!

To add to the tips for leveraging social to drive traffic, I've found Topsy and Twiends to be very valuable in finding brand interactions, conversations within your niche, and potential outreach prospects. Well worth a look if you are finding yourself frustrated at trying to get all you need out of manual searches.

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Stepin| January 17th, 2012

Excellent read and fab update. Best is the bonus advice #22. :-)

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waiss| January 17th, 2012

Just read a few first sentences, it appears to be a very useful post - I'll get back to it tonight :) Cheers Rand

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charliesaidthat| January 17th, 2012

Amazing tips Rand.

Ideas.

Lots of them.

I have noticed that we get some incredible traffic for series of blog posts and the posts which answer really specific questions. I know this wasn't about content planning but honesty believe that making a schedule and focusing in on a topic of the month is a great way to break budding bloggers into the habit of posting regularly with focussed material.

I also really like Mike's tip above about voicing concerns over shared problems your industry has.

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Hirenvaghela| January 17th, 2012

Great post by a Wizard of Moz...It is really awesome to see this kind of phenomenal and Rand have just written the tweet about this exhaustive post. This will ended up with the best post for all bloggers including me.

21 steps are crucial and all points are need to execute for getting the better performance for our blogs. I like the bonus point and it is crtical for sure because at the intial level some bloggers are might be frustrated and they give up but as Rand says if you steady & focusing on your blogs then definitely no one can stops you. I just learning so much from this Mozers community and thanks for the lovely post Rand...:)

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tfirdaus| January 17th, 2012

This is really great post, Rand. Just in time, I've just run my new blog. and I really appreciate your time for writing this post

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DineshkThakur| January 17th, 2012

Thanks Rand for this wonderful post, full of ideas. This will not only benefit webmasters like me but also help website and blog owners if these things are applied correctly... As many times I have seen that people read and apply without understanding the entire concept behind each thing...

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The Search Guy| January 17th, 2012

The Bonus point #22 is much more heavier than any of the other posts that you have in the blog post. All points are amazing and worth appreciation but without staying consistent none of them is useful. You really are amazing when it comes to SEO guidance... Add me to list of those impressed by Rand Fishkin... ;)

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James Norquay - Australian SEO| January 17th, 2012

Hi Rand, Some great tips, I do them all but reading the list makes me think I need to pick up my game and enhance several of the list.

Another thing I want to add to the list is to make posts which spark debate, people will promote the post on itself.

Another thing with the guest blog posts a cool thing not many people do is try and find forums which have sections for articles which some times post them on the home page of the forum, build up reputation on the forum and then do a guest forum post another way to gather traffic.

Regards, James Norquay

Edited by James Norquay - Australian SEO on January 17th, 2012 at 3:40 am

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surfgimp| January 17th, 2012

Thanks Rand. Just skimmed through the post. Loads of great advice, which I'll digest over the coming days.

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heatherrobinson| January 17th, 2012

I like #15. It's great to keep writing and publishing content, but it's vital you get out there and meet people, spread the word about what you're doing. People like people, not just blog posts. It also provides a great opportunity to bounce ideas off people and get feedback face-to-face, rather than replying on comments or emails that can often be misinterpreted.

PS. How come so many people leave a comment despite not even reading the whole post? Come on bloggers, we need readers not just writers!

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Apple Capital Group| January 17th, 2012

Wow! This article is totally awesome. I appreciate the time and the efforts of SEOMOZ. I am new to SEO and I open to learn everything I can to make me a SEO guru. If you have any more suggestions, please send me something tjacquet@applecapitalgorup.com

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gfiorelli1| January 17th, 2012

Amazing job, Rand.

By the way, let me link to the previous version of this post (http://www.seomoz.org/blog/21-tactics-to-increase-blog-traffic) because it still have gems also in the comments.

I'd like to make you note how since 2006 Rand was warmly suggesting us to "Build a Brand" with our blogs, which is surely even more important right now.

If I may, I would add a 22th point, as I have not seen it reflected here: build a content strategy plan and schedule.

This is extremely important and, for businesses blog, you can also plan with anticipations some topic (i.e.: industry events related post before the events themselves, as could be "Waiting the CES 2013, rediscover what heppen last year"...).

In the content strategy plan take into account the prior keyword search you have done, and those topic macro-categories you have discovered thanks to it, make them your blog categories. And, after that, schedule in order to have always a minimum of two/three new post per months for any category.

This last tip of mine is obviously related to the "schedule" hot topic, something about I, Mike IPullRank King, John Dohertyf and others were talking about on Twitter yesterday. Personally, in the case of my blog (not of my clients) I post quite rarely: honestly I've not the time... but also I feel that it could be more dangerous than useful for me to write just for writing adding noise to the blogosphere. Instead I prefer to post something when I really know I can add something of value.

What I mean with that? I mean to suggest you to not write everyday because you have to, but to do it when you really have something worth. Or, as an alternative (which I usually do with clients, but considering to apply to my blog too), to start thinking in:
1.offering controlled guest post opportunities in your blog;
2.preparing with anticipation evergraen content (but not low quality one), that you can post with indipendence of the date of publication.

That way you can maintain a regular publication schedule and "feed" your readers and inbound marketing actions.

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Mark Alves| January 19th, 2012

The older version of the article redirects here, but the cached version is still available at this point. It's worth a look to see how much richer, more valuable and better formatted today's advice is compared to the 2006 version.

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Nick Stamoulis| January 17th, 2012

All great tips, especially integrating SEO and keyword research into each post. In order for a post to be valuable and generate traffic long term it needs to be optimized. This includes the title, body content, and a customized URL that includes keywords. This will continue to drive traffic to the blog into the future, and beyond a few days when it is heavily promoted.

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Falling Up Media| January 17th, 2012

Rand,

I think you have created a great example today on how to increase not only new, but return blog traffic. Revisiting and updating outdated content and republishing it is a great way to get existing users to come back to your site. I wasnt around Moz in 2007 when the first version of this post was published. If I was and remembered that content It would have been one more reason for me to check this post out.

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dpeeples| January 17th, 2012

Probably one of the most well thought and extensive list of tactics I've read in while. Definitely a good read and will be applying this to my blog strategy!

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Mitch Monsen| January 17th, 2012

It's likely why you saved it for last, but that last one is the toughest tip to apply. :P

I've been crankin' away at my blog for over a year now and it still hasn't taken off like I'd like it to. I love blogging about SEO/SMM, so I'm not going to be giving up on it anytime soon, but it still makes it hard to produce consistently.

Thanks for the post/encouragement, Rand. :)

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neopunisher| January 17th, 2012

#15 b) update your old posts with new ideas

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Jlbraaten| January 17th, 2012

#22 is my favorite. Blog long enough to see the results. Awesome post, Rand!

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Rydal Williams| January 17th, 2012

Excellent post - its definitely a very tedious process and it does take forever. I'm probably using about 20% of those techniques promoting FoxMetrics at http://foxmetrics.com but it seems I do have a long way to go. The Moz Crowd is forever the best with these awesome posts.

I found guest posts really helpful as you stated including one way links but the key problem is; Dwelling in a market that already has great content, its hard to write unique content, you mostly see pretty much the same things but with different titles that are SEO optimized and sometimes different content but boils down to the same thing.

The king of all blockaids is schedule/time/resources, I believe all of these tips are known, however, executing them takes a lifetime or an army - therefore, what I truly need is a tool that does it or most of it in a clean way.

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chrisseo| April 17th, 2012

that is the essence of it,to read it takes for ever and to implement upto infinity with an army.we are not running a blog industry.better have tools to do it!

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Anand Patel| January 17th, 2012

Wow, thanks for the great tips. I finally got around to starting my own personal blog and I know it's going to be tough to build traffic but just gotta keep at it.

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Louis Gudema| January 17th, 2012

Wow - talk about comprehensive. This pretty much says it all. Outstanding post, Rand.

Louis Gudema

Vice President of Business Development

Overdrive Interactive

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alyce@culinarythymes| January 17th, 2012

Great tips. Thanks!

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mwilliamson| January 17th, 2012

Excellent post Rand - I am starting my own blog in the next couple of weeks - just creating it at the moment and I will be following the advice in this article closely. Best lesson I have taken from it is stick at it and you will get there in the end - perseverance is key! Thanks :)

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RebKA14| January 17th, 2012

I would like to add to this list:

Post your blog on your hometown Patch, if you have one. Patch's Local Voices section is a free way for you to increase your local exposure. You have to follow the Patch guidelines (namely no overt solicitation of business, and the content should be of potential interest to readers...you can't be completely self serving!) Well written blogs can be linked back to your existing site to help drive more traffic to your site.

One local blogger reported hundreds of more eyeballs on her page after her first three posts (over a two week period) and dozens more subscribers. It definitely can help draw attention to your business, especially if you are going for a local market.

If you aren't sure if you have a Patch near you, visit patch.com to find out. It is free to post and you retain the rights to your contact. A true win-win if you ask me!

Rebecca A.

Edited by jennita on January 17th, 2012 at 12:37 pm

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Josh Avnery| January 17th, 2012

Excellant post!

If I may add my own tip for tip #16

Increase your blog readers by adding your updating latest blog post using the free RSS Email App - http://apps.wisestamp.com/emailapps/rss-2/

Wordpress bloggers can also use the Wordpress Email App

- http://apps.wisestamp.com/emailapps/wordpress/

Josh @WiseStamp

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Dave Choate| January 17th, 2012

This is a really terrific post, Rand. Agreed that #22 is something every blogger needs to hear.

I think it's way too easy to go through your first year or even second year of blogging, see you're only getting a few dozen or few hundred hits a day and pack it in. You have to hang in.

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FX777222999| January 17th, 2012

Really comprehensive SEO endeavors which I think the best for my standard. It's a must-read for bloggers and online workers as well.

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Clif Haley| January 17th, 2012

Fantastic post and, itself, a great representation of #8. You've linked off to so much supporting 3rd party content I could easily spend an entire day bouncing back-and-forth between this post and the ones you've l inked to.

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Ann Smarty| January 17th, 2012

That's a useful post and a great to-do list for most of us! Thanks for featuring MyBlogGuest.com!

The last tip is the most important: patience. Success never comes fast. If you are ready to work hard and to work for a long time, you are sure to succeed!

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Vahe.Arabian| January 18th, 2012

It's definently because you can see the end in sight and can picture the success of having a popular SEO blog. Patience is a great discipline in driving your motivation.

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Master Ryan| January 17th, 2012

Full of useful information. Nice post!

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Jon Cooper| January 17th, 2012

Quick tip - When you share content from your site, be smart about it. Use the su.pr URL shortener so when people click on the links, they see the StumbleUpon version of the page (S.U. is the #1 driver of traffic across all social sites). When they see this, they're much more likelie to thumb it up, which means more free traffic for you!

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onlinemediadirect| January 17th, 2012

Great update and this is where SEO is at right now. These thoughts are certainly going through all of our minds at the moment so its great to see it all listed.

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Walter.Schaerer| January 17th, 2012

Great update and great resources, thanks for sharing!

I run a travel blog myself and since I put a lot of effort into enticing photography I get decent traffic via Google Images and Flickr. So far so good.

But sometimes a good photograph (with good referral traffic) gets copied by some other site and suddenly the traffic from Google Images for that particular photograph goes to the other site instead of my blog. The traffic gets hijacked!

Google sometimes seems to give other sites more value for a given search term than the original photographer's page. That seems unfair.

I posted the photograph and the according traffic chart on my blog travelmemo.com. With Google Plus Your World things seem to slightly have improved, but some spammy hotel page still gets the bulk of my photograph's traffic. Microsoft's Bing is still linking to my own photograph.

I feel that Google Images has some homework to do regarding images SEO.

Edited by jennita on January 19th, 2012 at 1:15 pm

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Dubs| January 17th, 2012

Awesome post Rand! Lot's of great info to digest!

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Cody Wheeler| January 17th, 2012

Probably the best article I've read so far this year. I love how every time I read an SEOMoz article, I find a new resource I can use to add to my marketing mix. Great stuff guys.

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JamestheJust| January 17th, 2012

Wow. Just skimmed through once and have to say, when Rand posts, I always walk away with stuff I never knew. When I read #2 and realized I had 19 (20?) more to go, I knew it would be a keeper.

Thanks for always stepping up to bat a homerun, Rand.

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Wasim Ismail| January 17th, 2012

Nice....Very valuable points, epically point 22 about consistency. Many give up, not just bloggers, but even in business due to not seeing ROI straight away. If they ride the storm, they will get to the other side and start to get some real momentum going within their blogs and business.

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TurgayAkar| January 17th, 2012

Great post, an excellent summary on a to do list! I couldn't agree more with point 22, I’ve been through this a few times so I can confirm its truth.

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GrowTraffic| January 17th, 2012

Smart post - I really wish I had the skills or creativity to come up with and design the kind of cool infographics sites such as SEOMoz do! Must work on this area this year!

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hwade| January 17th, 2012

Great post! I'm starting a blog soon so this is perfect timing. I've read several other articles regarding success in blogging and I have to say that many of them repeat themselves. I find that this article has the highest number of unique ideas that I've seen.

Thanks!

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jhammack| January 17th, 2012

A Tip for #1 - Target Your Content to an Audience Likely to Share

You can search by topic on Klout.com and sort by content / influential user. From that you can create lists of the influential users (in Klout). Then when you need to distribute a piece of high quality link bait and get it in front of your content distributor you open the list, ctrl click down all the twitter/fb accounts (to open in new tabs), then send a personal message to each individual with your content.

Make sure your content is worth sharing and that you're actually phrasing it in terms that are useful for their followers/fans. (otherwise you're goign to come off ungeniune and spammy) In all fairness to, you'd want to develop relationships with the most influential rainmakers, ask them up front if there is anything you can do to help them out. Most of the time just asking is enough to impress them and develop a good rapport.

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Victoria Rickert| January 17th, 2012

So much to digest! I am adding this to my Pinerest board so I can refer back to it time and again. I will patiencly await your next update, thanks! (five years is not that long...zzzzz) Hey, by the way SEOmoz looks like a really cool site.

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Brad Dalton| January 17th, 2012

Re: #14 - Enable Subscriptions via Feed + Email (and track them!)

Building a list of interested subscribers is a huge part of increasing traffic to your blog

If you're a newbie, here's a step by step tutorial on how to properly setup & manage your RSS using Google's free Feedburner service

Edited by Brad Dalton on January 19th, 2012 at 1:18 pm

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manojkumarsethi| January 17th, 2012

I am very thankful to the whole SEOmoz team for sharing so valuable information. I have learned a lot which I never came across through any other resource.Thanks !

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Chico Lawyers| January 18th, 2012

Very helpful tips. Thanks a ton!

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Jeffrey Romano| January 18th, 2012

Timely article as am working on releasing my personal blog very soon. I think the tip on guest posting is very important as it opens so many new doors in terms of building good relationships online. Keep it up!

@JeffreyRomano

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Sudeep Chakravarty| January 18th, 2012

Thank you Rand, this is certainly one of the most valuable posts. I have stopped blogging for few months due to some platform and traffic issues, and your article just appeared before me... . Great tips from beginning till end. Lots of suggestions for me to start blogging once again.

@Sudeep

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TS - Web design| January 18th, 2012

This is very educative and loaded with insightful information on blogging which I can relate to my other web activities. Well put together. Thanks for sharing.

Alex.

Edited by KeriMorgret on January 18th, 2012 at 8:59 pm

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ChrisBridgett| January 18th, 2012

There's something that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside when I read a well-structured, "list-style" article like this. Good work and tips for a prosperous 2012. :-)

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Andrew Wheeler| January 18th, 2012

Awesome read Rand.

I feel we have a 'top posts of 2012' candiate in our midst!

Edited by Andrew Wheeler on January 18th, 2012 at 6:34 am

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Bob Warren| January 18th, 2012

great read, can i repost on my blog? www.blog.resumebear.com

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Pranavs| January 18th, 2012

This is the best article I have ever read on how to improve blog traffic. It teaches everything one needs to be aware of. I highly recommend this!

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www.cybernetikz.com| January 18th, 2012

Excellent and informative tips on increasing blog traffic, thank you Rand ! why you haven't make the links open in a new browser window/tab, :), ofcorse you got a reason, we are intrigued to know.

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DragonSearch| January 18th, 2012

Hello,

You provide some really great, detailed information here. We agree that sharing your posts are one of the best ways to make connections. Its also one of the best ways of getting your voice out there. Within small businesses especially, the use of sharing infromation is useful. All the aspects you have covered is essential information for any business in general. Thanks for posting this!

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Anthony Howard| January 18th, 2012

Great Update!

I especially love #10 & #22 ...We have found excellent results from Guest Blogging and referencing back to old post of ours... The NEVER GIVE UP & Be Consistent, can be challenging at times, but has paid off big for us now and in the past. Though definitely was a hard lesson learned back in the day.

Thanks for the great, valuable info!

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karlbeeton| January 18th, 2012

Great post Rand

I recommend reading the post from start to finish. I like the idea of meeting people in person. As has been pointed out earlier, 'people like people'

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RambSEO| January 18th, 2012

wow, these 21 tactics can help us more how we can learn to increase our Blog Traffic !

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7-hobby| January 19th, 2012

as you mentioned on this post, I tried to create an account on Quora, but I was failed. It told me that I need to have an invitation. Could you send an invitation to me?

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DaBrian Marketing Group, LLC| January 19th, 2012

Great tips, I'm sure our team will be able to implement several of these ideas. Thanks.

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| January 19th, 2012

Great Job with the post Rand. I love points #2 and #22. Also, I think #10 will be especially useful for people who have a tough time finding guest blogs.

Sharing and re-posting of posts is a great way to share word about a good post and giving people an option to use liscensed images and getting links back from them is an excellent way to increase and diversify any link profile.

Thanks for the useful post Rand. We will definitely be using quite a few of these ideas!

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martinkaden| January 19th, 2012

Thank you for the tips provided to increase blog traffic, really like your blog.

Edited by KeriMorgret on January 20th, 2012 at 3:34 pm

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pramesh| January 20th, 2012

I will try your blog.I think this is useful tips.

http://mylocalseo.org/local-seo-articles/free-online-seo-course-for-small-business-owners

Edited by KeriMorgret on January 20th, 2012 at 3:34 pm

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modraideja| January 20th, 2012

An awesome blog post! Read the whole thing and I hope that I can use most of the tactics described...Especially the 22. tactic :)

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philippeowagner| January 20th, 2012

Great article. I just updated my email signatue ;-) In addition to the 22 tips I would suggest to keep an eye on usability and UX. This helps to keep your new visitors and convert them to loyal readers! Use tools like http://clickmap.ch/en/ to optimize your blog (or webpage).

Edited by KeriMorgret on January 21st, 2012 at 8:01 am

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Nicholas BizAssist| January 20th, 2012

Very nice post, though I think definitely not for the beginner as it is slightly overwhelming. Some great tools there that I didn't know about and will have to take a look at later today.

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Abel Pardo| January 21st, 2012

Guest blogging is someting that I guess fears some people. There are plenty of questions about SEO and the benefits of writting for others that there are still not well known by the community.

When peole lose this fear, everything will go better, but now I think it would be necessary to explain a bit more about good and bad things in this field, so, thank you for comment this tips!

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mistermidway| January 21st, 2012

Hello; when I started reading this post, i fully expected to be horrified by how poorly i was doing. I was pleasantly surprised that I was already following many of your suggestions. The section on guest blogging was helpful as well as inspiring. It gave me something new to focus on. Many of the links mentioned will make following the suggestions much easier. And I'm most thankful for you reminding us not to give up. I have many good friends in my life who do that for me, but you can't imagine how much that bit of encouragement will help keep someone taking that next step until their blog catches on. thanks again, max

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casper434| January 21st, 2012

A major point that is the one on do not give up. Many months can go by with little increase in readership and then all of a sudden there is a surge. Have not tried the guest blogging yet but may soon do so

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lotusrevolt| January 22nd, 2012

this has been so helpful with my new blog lotus-revolt.blogspot.com. Thank you!!!!

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Anne_Social| January 23rd, 2012

Thanks for sharing, this post truly helps especially for start-ups. I also suggest everyone to join social media exchange to increase social media following.

http://koaky.com/home.php Koaky is cool, though it is new in the niche.

Edited by KeriMorgret on January 23rd, 2012 at 8:45 am

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Tone Agency| January 25th, 2012

Looks good. We are still in our first year so I will certainly look into this later today. Thanks

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Javin Paul| January 23rd, 2012

Probably the best i have read in this topic. bookmark it for further reading and applying step by step. thanks a ton and looking forward for more of your experience.

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Sandrovic| January 23rd, 2012

Thank you, I also made a blog but it is dificult for me to get traffic. The blog is called justboring.webs.com and I would appreciate it if you would watch it.

I allready would like to thank you al :)

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DanielPavelic| January 23rd, 2012

Dude, sounds like a plan to me :)) thanks great post (human not robot)

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33rd Square| January 23rd, 2012

Great post. Thank you so much for the information!

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Fred McMurray| January 23rd, 2012

Thanks for the great post. I hadn't heard of Followerwonk. I have used FindPeopleonPlus but have found that alot of the profiles don't have much activity so don't "follow" back.

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Andrés Bayona| January 24th, 2012

Great post. Thank you for share this information!

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efr0702| January 24th, 2012

Good refresher on the basics. The bonus tactis is also important. Consistency is rewarded.

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Debajyoti Banerjee| January 24th, 2012

Excellent post. All the points mentioned are very important but I feel, the type of content is the most important. All other depends on what you write or how you write. So quality of content / style of representing is also very crucial to attract traffic. A well researched, unique and informative article is a must to start with these 22 points. Thank you for coming up with such brilliant article.

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cleancutmedia| January 24th, 2012

Hey Rand, this is a pretty awesome post. You reminded me that I really need to get on some of these things thave been just sitting on the table. If only there was the time!

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seaebooks| January 24th, 2012

useful methot

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Jeff Korhan| January 24th, 2012

This is a monster article that any tortoise can use to stay ahead of the hare!

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Translations Lisko| January 24th, 2012

Absolutely superb! Great article, lots of information, everything a blogger should know!

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seoexpertbd| January 25th, 2012

About Tip #6: Google now has the reverse image search feature at their image search pages (https://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi) this makes an amazing tool to search for sites that uses your image but are not giving backlink to your site. So, Creative Commons images with Attribution Copyright can actually be the new trend in Link Building.

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Alessia.Fischer| January 25th, 2012

Thanks

Informative and thorough assessment,

Learnt a few new things.

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Tone Agency| January 25th, 2012

Thanks Rand. I finally got the chance to read through this post last night and this morning. We will certainly be adopting most of the tips you have covered. I'm especially excited about utilising Reddit. We have some great posts in our blog but we are still in the early stages of building up a following through Twitter and Facebook so we don't get many views. I think Reddit could definately help increase traffic numbers. Fingers crossed

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Atul-Sharma| January 25th, 2012

After the all 21 tactics, the plus point no 22 is the most important, i think. "Don't Give Up" ever and you will defenitly be succesfull in your task.

Atul Sharma

[edit: link removed]

Edited by Erica McGillivray on January 25th, 2012 at 2:21 pm

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stephaniefrasco| January 25th, 2012

So in other words, you mean you have to be a full time blogger? :)

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Web Success Team| January 25th, 2012

Great words and excellent read (skimming will give you an idea also). My favorite: "Participate in the Communities Where Your Audience Already Gathers". Also I found that adding infographics or meaningful images that tell a story increased our blog traffic by 30%

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boirun03| January 26th, 2012

Adding authoriship to blogs is crucial. I did this a few months ago and am starting to see my smiling mug shot in googles results now. Fun for bragging and for more clickthroughs too. I appreciate this list, there is always something more to learn and implement.

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matthewoleary112| January 26th, 2012

This is Fantastic, my blog has been live for one day and I made £5. Not millions but great for my first day.

Edited by KeriMorgret on January 29th, 2012 at 12:10 pm

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technoobie| January 27th, 2012

i just looked over this real fast and so far it looks like a lot of good information. I'm going to read over it more when i get a minute. i've already seen a few things i'd like to try on my site. Thanks for the info!

technoobie

www.technoobie.com

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tjsvariety84| January 28th, 2012

Wow so much great information I'm glad I came back. I missed this priceless information

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tkfweb| January 28th, 2012

I always learn something new when I come here, looking at photos and videos too, but I never have said thanks. Finally take the time now to say thank you and keep up the awesome work!

[link drop removed]

Edited by KeriMorgret on January 29th, 2012 at 11:58 am

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buy facebook fans| January 29th, 2012

Good write-up, I’m normal visitor of one’s blog, maintain up the excellent operate, and It is going to be a regular visitor for a long time. “There is a time for departure even when there’s no certain place to go.” by Tennessee Williams

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adammac15| January 29th, 2012

Great write up for both the beginner blogger to advanced blogger. 21 great points that often are over looked or not focused upon when blogging. I often use the following line when meeting asking if SEO is important "What good is a website if no one visits?" The same could be said about a blog post. "What good is a blog post if it does not receive any views?"

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Eric Kimbro| January 30th, 2012

Great post. Candid and informative. This will serve a tool in my reference library!

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tracer| January 30th, 2012

thank your tips, very important for increase traffic...

http://tokodesignbagus.blogspot.com/

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zacchaeusn7| January 31st, 2012

Dear Rand~

Thanks so much for writing all this out. Imost certainly will be sharing this to all my email lists. It takes time and dedication to get a good following and I think the best part of this post was the example of Everywhereisit's Google Analytics. This particular example is "classic blogging 101."

We've always encouraged our Web Design Clients to blog; it's simply good business. Thanks again, and it's always a pleasure to read your stuff.

Cheers guys,

Z

http://orthodoxdaily.com/seo-services

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Zainnisar| January 31st, 2012

Hi their, Mr.Expert. A Detailed and very informative post. I am new to blogging so I have loving and hating relationship with it all day long. Just trying to stick with last piece of advice that you shared but its not that easy for a beginner to write something and then just keep waiting for readers, so will be benefiting from your words.

I have been to HubPages recently and loved the way whole community help each other let everyone to grow, are their more platforms like HubPages where there is strong sense of community?

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Pruneau| January 31st, 2012

Complete awesomeness in this post!

This single post comes as close to a complete online marketing plan as any thing I've read online in a very long time. Strategy, tactics, benefits, how to & granular details on how to get it right.

Spectacular contribution and much appreciated.

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Paneru| February 1st, 2012

Great article on seo. I am running Loksewa Exam and ICT Blogging. After looking at this article I can make these sites SE Friendly.

Thank you for sharing

Edited by KeriMorgret on February 2nd, 2012 at 9:56 am

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AahnaSaxena| February 1st, 2012

My first comment on SEOMOZ. I have been reading seomoz for more than 6 months but never thought of becoming a member and participating in discussions. Now finally I am here.

As far as this post is concerned, It is excellent as always by Rand.

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tintation| February 1st, 2012

Very good article.

I really like it that you included so much of good and useful links in it :)

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wparena| February 2nd, 2012

these are veryhelpful tactics to remind be be onlinetrack :) ... although I was busy with exams but now will try to follow these guidlines to make my blog ..to get more traffic

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Ayaz Malik| February 2nd, 2012

Fantastic Read! Found some new tools and lol at the Most bloggers stop here.. its true!

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Noman Saleem| February 4th, 2012

Great work.

I really enjoyed and got information about real blogging. I have started a blog http://chillpie.com a few days back and anxiously looking for increasing traffic on my blog.

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UltraVi02| February 5th, 2012

Nothing new here... same stuff you read everywhere... This stuff is easy to say, but hard to make work.

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Nicsonian| February 6th, 2012

Great post - Thank you.

As a relative newbie to the world of SEO this will help me a lot.

I am currently using 'Myblogguest' and getting great results. Are there any other similar sites that you would recommend?

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newlink| February 6th, 2012

Good post with lot good information for increasing blog traffic. You can also make use of effective keyword google webmaster tool and research for top Google Ranking.

Edited by KeriMorgret on February 6th, 2012 at 8:53 am

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peterwoodrow| February 6th, 2012

I love this post I'm new to the world of blogging and site traffic and this is just so useful to know.

Thanks ever so much

Pete.

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Martin Hedegaard| February 8th, 2012

thanks for this article

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WebDesign Birmingham| February 8th, 2012

Great post! I am going to create a better email signature right now! I can't believe I hadn't included social media / blog links in there before, so ovious!

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ateliersign| February 9th, 2012

Wow, Great long post.

Thanks for the information. That is really really detailed for what I need the most now.

Once again thanks for the sharing. Will come back for more read lol...

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Waleed Ahmad| February 10th, 2012

Hey i want to know Sharing new blog or new blog posts on diffrernt social media and bookmarking sites is good or bad. Bad means is it considered spamming according to google algorithms..? i started a new blog and i am working hard. I want to share blog posts on Google+ profile and page, facebook profile and page, Chime, Reddit, Digg, and all of the Top social sites, but i just want to know is it good for serps boost ups. I read that Sharing on diffrent sites will increase the indexing time of new blog posts. But i am still worried and want to know is it good or bad according to search engines to get a lot of link back to our sites through lot of diffrent social networking sites.

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I'mWendy| February 12th, 2012

Thank you. This is a very informative and helpful article. I know I will be processing it over time. Appreciate the information!

Wendy

Edited by KeriMorgret on February 15th, 2012 at 11:29 am

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Gaspard Dakora| February 12th, 2012

Great Content, hope in the future you bring out more information concerning SEO.

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Jason Janssens| February 12th, 2012

Thank you very much for sharing this great info.

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JW Webmarketing| February 13th, 2012

As I'm about to create a blog on my company website this is really great info to have. thanks a lot!

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prabhapgi| February 14th, 2012

i am newbie in blogging. this article help me very much to build my site. thanks a lot for unveil all techniques to public

Edited by KeriMorgret on February 15th, 2012 at 11:29 am

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ambrking| February 16th, 2012

Thanks for sharing these tips. I will apply these to my blogs.

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FineHomeDecor101.com| February 19th, 2012

Thanks, very much for a Great post. It is so informative. I will be implementing your suggestions right away. George Katsoudas emaile the link for it and I will be sure to thank hime as well. Really excellent...

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Mango52| February 20th, 2012

Some great information here, thanks. As usual George has pointed me in the right direction.

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Gyanguru| February 21st, 2012

Thanks for sharing this great information, but can some one help the me on how to use the SEOMOZ tool which is referred above

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jayrene| February 21st, 2012

Long post but worth the read.

i bookmarked it, will be applying tips to my blogs.

thanks for this very helpful post

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Ciaran Connolly| February 21st, 2012

Thanks Rand...another page of notes...we will be busy this weekend....again!! :-)

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Usnam05| February 22nd, 2012

Its really very great information and also article is very creative and few days ago i make a blog for adsense but not much have traffic in my blog and today i read your article and something satisfied from it but not much.

Edited by KeriMorgret on February 22nd, 2012 at 8:48 am

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GyanSingh| February 22nd, 2012

Thanks a lot for great post. Really very informative and awesome post about SEO.

Thank you very much for sharing great post.

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Yuthink| February 22nd, 2012

I have been working on my blog on and off since 2007 i believe. I just recently got seriouse... I hope tip # 22 is true. I keep trying I am not sure what is really working or not but I am going to follow these tips and see.

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jkuhr| February 25th, 2012

Great article I didnt know about all those methods.. your right you shoul keep track of your analytics.. for better traffic.

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unikorna| February 25th, 2012

I had to register and leave a comment here because your article really helped me. I am a beginner blogger and you have really motivated me to go on. However discouraged I might be I'll keep in mind your tips :). Kisses and hugs :).

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timeturner| February 27th, 2012

An overall nice post.ll I will imply these methods and will post the results soon. Thanks

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djpadavona| February 27th, 2012

I was very high on the MyBlogGuest idea when I first started with them, but ultimately I found it was not as effective as working directly with trustworthy blogs.

The biggest issues I have run into at MyBlogGuest have been articles not getting published at all, or being greatly altered by an unscrupulous publisher. It's a real headache to have 10-15 bids on an article, accept one, and then wait 1-2 weeks only to find that the publisher never followed through. Then you have to start over and begin accepting bids again.

Last week I received an alert at MBG that one of my articles had been altered. I checked into it and found that the publisher added a ton of links to the article, all going to his own websites. That destroys the value of my one link, and it makes the article (with my name on it) look incredibly spammy. Now there is a poor looking article on the web which mentions my company - not what I intended.

Finding good blogs to work with requires a lot of leg work at the beginning, but once you find them it is quite easy thereafter. MyBlogGuest really didn't add value for me like I had expected. I think you are better off working directly with high quality blogs that pass solid link value and are trustworthy.

The best value of MyBlogGuest might be in finding a few new publishers to work with, and then working with them directly.

Edited by djpadavona on February 27th, 2012 at 5:46 am

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royjonesjr| February 27th, 2012

Great article I didnt know about all those methods.. your right you shoul keep track of your analytics.. for better traffic

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skull| February 27th, 2012

The best way to get valuable traffic imo is with trafficswarm: http://adf.ly/5pRhy

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cyberbkk| March 1st, 2012

I really enjoyed reading this article, i just started up my own blog and was searching for tips on how to get the traffic flowing, this post certainly was among the best i have reaed in the last few days, thanks a lot for sharing!

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beerfortheweekend| March 2nd, 2012

Thanks for the article, with a new blog I am trying to learn the ropes of SEO and this de-mystifies some of the things which I really need to know. Hopefully your guide will help me reach the masses

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Tabita| March 3rd, 2012

I love this post!! I'm all set up with MyBlogGuest now!

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bidzinger| March 3rd, 2012

Alot of great information here that not only is helpful for my blog writing but for my online marketplace as well. Thumbs up!

www.bidzinger.com

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Bill Zimmerman| March 5th, 2012

Hey thanks so much for this post i really appreciate it

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Charles Sipe| March 6th, 2012

One tip for getting guest post published on your site that has worked well for me is to find similar blogs in your niche that have published guest posts and ask those authors if they would be interested in writing a guest post for you. Usually they are very receptive to this because they have been looking for guest post opportunities.

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diyawards| March 7th, 2012

How awesome, i was nothing to say, thank you for your work!

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Steven Neubarth| March 8th, 2012

A very informative and timeless article. blogs are even more important now with the Fresh Content Google update!

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boscharun| March 12th, 2012

Google+ would be something new to add. Its relatively new and most people are experimenting, so there's more oppertunity to tap in followers than using facebook likebox or twitter follow.

For wordpress bloggers, google+ badge plugins are plenty - http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/gplus-badge/

Edited by boscharun on March 12th, 2012 at 12:30 pm

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Clearlytoomuch| March 13th, 2012

I was googling around tonight and happened upon this great blog post. I appreciate the wealth of invaluable, understandable, and great methods to apply to improving ones blog or website provided within this post. I started working on several different website/blog ventures about six months ago. At times it can be very discouraging and overwhelming. I have even felt like folding up shop and burning the tent. I had read all 21 points, the thoughts and ideas were bouncing around in my head like the basketballs during tonights March Madness games. I reached the overtime bonus round with point 22 and smiled. Thanks for the great tips and the encouragement to keep pressing forward!

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SEOCaz| March 15th, 2012

Fantastic blog. Very useful tips - very practical too. You know your stuff too - this blog has a very good SEO.

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DRPND| March 15th, 2012

Great post! I wish I had found it sooner. I'm going to definitely bookmark it and refer back to it. This whole blog is great, I can't wait to start reading through all the good stuff here.

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Hawker Chase| March 19th, 2012

Excellent post- a lot of very good tips which will definitely be referred back to as we start to develop our company blog and for my own personal blog too. Think you hit the nail on the head too by saying 'never give up' - it is a long process but evidently it pays off in the end!

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Pratik Chourdia| March 19th, 2012

Feeling so cool after reading this and specially after seeing your that anylystic visitor graph really if we work hard surelly one day we will get sucess.. hope to do work on my blog by ur above gudiance.

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TrafficWizard| March 21st, 2012

Thanks for all the traffic generation tips. I'm going to try implementing a few here and there until the list is complete. I especially liked the bit on guest blogging and I think that shall be a good place to start. Will let you know how it works.

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rkb| March 22nd, 2012

Great traffic + Awesome content = Success. This comprehensive blog post makes a great checklist for bloggers and could easily be sold as an ebook! Thanks Rand, you do great work!

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vernieman| March 22nd, 2012

Awesome tips. Will definitely be trying out the various techniques you've outlined. Cheers and many thanks!

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ThinkEntrepreneur| March 22nd, 2012

Great post Moz. I really enjoyed reading your 21 tips and the 22nd is the one that really hit home. You are right about the importance of consistency. Blogs, like any other business or venture, take time to get going. I've had my ups and downs with my blog but am in it for the long haul. So thanks for reminding us to be persistant! The first 21 tips did have a lot of good information and I will continue to work on those techniques as well. Best of luck!

Pete - www.Thinkentrepreneurship.com Founder

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hunksurya| March 29th, 2012

Amazing tactics, all 21 tactics are just fabulous, All Thanks to Rand.

Now i won't give up...

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JK27| March 30th, 2012

You merged 21 points wonderfully but #22 is above of all...

SEO is seriously a game of Patience!

Wonderful Read!

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GiftGuru| March 31st, 2012

Also...web traffic exchange sites like http://IlikeTraffic.com and http://earnmorefollowers.com are good ways (and free) to get more traffic

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Munnira| April 1st, 2012

Hi there, i find this post not only interesting but also well researched and well planned out. I have been searching alot of sites for better understanding of the topic, but here i find everything very easy to understand and follow. Main point is, when an expert share something, by mistake or by intent, they miss out a very important link or how-to of the suggestion they are giving. and then the reader is in between, and could follow the suggestion completely. Therefore, i must really appreciate this work done here. I will follow each point one by one as its a full pack of ideas! Good work, keep it up.

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Adam Falletta| April 2nd, 2012

Great Post randfish! - There are many other ways on how to generate traffic to your blog. Here is a list of ideas on how you can start to gain unique visitors. http://ajsolutions.us/ajnetwork/how-to-generate-traffic-to-your-blog/

Edited by jennita on April 4th, 2012 at 4:44 pm

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Wraziv Basnet| April 3rd, 2012

Great post. Very intresting and useful.

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21 & 'Upcakes| April 3rd, 2012

Thank you so much for this post. I've been trying to get my blog going for a couple months now, but to no avail. Can't wait to get going on all these tips, thanks again and wish me luck!

Danielle - 21andupcakes.com

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Siddharth nagi| April 3rd, 2012

Thanks Randfish this is really Helpful to me.Post some new things how to increase blogger traffic my site www.hdpixels.net

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meopoka| April 4th, 2012

thanks.Thank you! I have never won anything. This is great, I’m so excited. I can’t wait to get the book. Inspiration is always needed.

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Srisai| April 6th, 2012

Great post. I will try to implement atleast some of these features in my blog

Edited by KeriMorgret on April 6th, 2012 at 10:57 am

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Milton Olave| April 7th, 2012

This information is helpful, I have a blog with some very good positions in goolge, buttnego very little traffic. thanks

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jesicamoller| April 8th, 2012

Thank you so much for writing it all. imost sure to share your mailing list. Ittakes time and dedication to get a good following, I think the best part of this position is an example of Everywhereisit Google Analytics (Analysis). This particular example is the "classic hundred-first blog We always encourage our clients web design blog, is just good business.Thank you, it is always very happy to read your work. www.eblogz.net

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MarkSkalla| April 10th, 2012

Great post, thank you so much for the information! Finding good topics to write about and even writing compelling blog posts are not the end of the line as I thought they would be; so I was left wondering where the hordes of readers were. The time you took to address the many different ideas on how to increase traffic not only give me some great ideas but leave me with inspiration that simply writing the blog post isn't enough. Thank you for your efforts and what a great read and resource.

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blainelight| April 10th, 2012

Wow, great advice!

Is it better to write long posts (Like this one) for better SEO? Sometimes, the length of the article might be a deterant, and people won't read it.

I've created a very simple guide to SEO, which takes minimal attention span, but is not as in depth as this post. Check it out here: http://blog.blainelight.com/2012/02/how-to-enhance-your-websites-seo-to-get.html

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7-hobby| April 11th, 2012

how much money does it need if I request to be an editor of others?

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pianoman62| April 16th, 2012

This is an excellent article! I am new to blogging and this information is very helpful. It shines a lot of light on the world of trying to drive traffic to my site.

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mastercomputech123| April 24th, 2012

This an amazing article regarding blogs in Seo fro bigners

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ash91414| April 25th, 2012

Hi,

I to had my new blog http://howtomakemoneyonlineforfreenow.blogspot.in/

can u help me out with how to increase traffic in this.

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RambSEO| April 25th, 2012

WOW . . Great job Rand, these all can help anyone bloggers to maximize their blog traffic. But blogging needs time and unque interesting writing to create compelling content for the users to get excited about your shared stuff!

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EverInTransit| April 25th, 2012

Excellent article, I clicked onto it looking for info on Flickr's impacts on SEO. I use their Creative Commons search tool all of the time to look for images for posts, but I was hesitant to open my own photos up for public use. Knowing now that there is a way to search to find photos that were not linked reassures me somewhat, and it seems the added exposure is worth the risk of some going uncredited. Thanks for this, and all of the other useful info!

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TickTickVroom| May 2nd, 2012

Thanks a lot for this post. Great advice. I'm hoping to put this to good use to get my blog TickTickVroom.Blogspot.com up and running. Wish me luck!!!

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asmaa moussa| May 5th, 2012

HEllo;

I signed up JUST to say thank you. this is by far the best article and the most useful one about Raising traffic tactics.

Thanks again

Edited by gfiorelli1 on May 9th, 2012 at 2:51 am

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guidegamers| May 8th, 2012

Got through reading this last night!!! Great post and very Helpful! i Just recently started my website Guidegamers.com but have been having trouble even getting 1 or 2 occasional visitors. This post has opened my eyes to to the work I must do in order to promote my site and not Spam the world with advertising. Thank you so much for sharing this knowledge!

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xany| May 9th, 2012

informative article this os one amazing and truly good one

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Rebecca nolan| May 9th, 2012

Great post Rand!

I was thinking to quit where the most bloggers does but reading this post I got really inspired. I hope I will make my blog more reputable in the coming times.

Thanks again!

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ChillorThrill| May 10th, 2012

Brilliant advice. Thanks so much. Going to follow your advice diligently!

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Ben M.| May 11th, 2012

Rand, you said that seomoz wasn't a success for about 2 years. What were the ups and downs of getting to that point where you could sit back and watch what you built turn into your definition of a success? What were your traffic numbers like at first?

Thanks,

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Safvan PP| May 13th, 2012

Its Excellent!, Thank you for Sharing infos from your heart.

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manchic| May 14th, 2012

As a Social Media Manager all these tips and tips are great help to improve the presence of one of the blogs/sites I work for. Managing differents blogs can be hard but it takes great organizational skills and knowledge. My main focus is GuySpy the newest way to interact with men in your area. Apart from being a gay dating app, GuySpy's platform is innovative and allows you to use great features. Take a look at their blog and download the app. http://guyspy.com

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sugi_meywa| May 14th, 2012

interesting article, I asked permission to raise this article on my blog. SEOMOZ.ORG hopefully more can be learned media newbies like saya.trimakasih for pushing for an interesting article.

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Travis Warren| May 18th, 2012

Great post! Reading this gave me my second wind. great tips here KUDOS!

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Amarilindra| May 21st, 2012

Replying to comments is best way to increase traffic. Everyone thinks replying is waste of time. But its wrong. Some readers comment on your posts. indirectly they help to increase your SERP results. they may contain some keywords which helps to show your result in Google

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Safor web Design| May 21st, 2012

Great post and better job.... thanks for share

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Brainfruit Art| May 21st, 2012

This is so useful! I just started an illustration blog to show off my work, and I'm trying to spread the word as much as I can. Thanks a lot.

olivierargyle.wordpress ____________________________

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LeoDiet| May 24th, 2012

Great article. I just started to make my own blog and my traffic is not that good. Got below 100 visitors per day. I hope after reading this article my website traffic will increase.

Check my website Diet Plans for Women

Edited by KeriMorgret on May 26th, 2012 at 11:42 am

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bdw1961| May 26th, 2012

Thank for the free tip on traffic. I'm alway looking for way to get traffic.

Here is how I get traffic to may websites.http://bit.ly/KhSoSD

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Dave Gerecht| May 29th, 2012

Rand,

As always an informative and interesting article. Just wondering though, if we look closely at point 22 then we shouldn't use SEO at all?!

I see blogging for profit as setting up a fruit stall in a busy city;

1. Find a product people want to buy

2. Put the stand somewhere easily found by passers by

3. Stay in that spot so past users can find you time and again

4. try new products, but slowly at first!

5. Make the stand look pretty, but stay functional

6. Advertise - but remember word of mouth beats all!

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Huynh Long Vinh| May 31st, 2012

nice post, thanks very much

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JonoLandon| June 3rd, 2012

Thanks for writing this post and showing all us 10 tips guys how it's really done http://jonolandon.com/?p=205 :)

I will definitely save this and read it over and over again.

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donald lee| June 4th, 2012

Really nice article thanks its very useful for me on initially i dont know this thing but reading this a blog

i have give idea for the simple SEO making on your side

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Sonali Pradhan| June 4th, 2012

a very useful article....I have a query though....can my blog traffic decrease with the increase in traffic through RSS feed ?

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Robert Schwab| June 4th, 2012

Great SEO strategy tips, with search engine optimization is always a fight for Ranking and Traffic! Greetings from Munich / Germany

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Antony Showman| June 6th, 2012

Brilliant article, I've just launched a new site and will start blogging in a few days.

Looks like I've got a few sleepless night ahead.

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Shushanik| June 7th, 2012

Thanks a lot for the tactis, especially for #22. Desperate in growing my blog which I have been writing for 1.5 years and still have less than 4,000 uniques monthly, I was looking for "traffic increase tips" and found your post. Frankly, I was thinking to give up and not "waste" my time for the blog any more... I was thinking, may be there is not enough audience in my niche, or may be the topics or my articles are not compelling enough... Now I know - I should be patient and not give up. Thanks a lot!

Edited by Shushanik on June 7th, 2012 at 1:19 pm

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Vicky Tait| June 11th, 2012

Great

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bradkrussell| June 11th, 2012

Brilliant article - I've just launched my own personal blog in the last month or so. Yes, I realise that things will be a little slow for a while, but I'm going to stick with it (point 22).

This list at least gives me something to focus on, if I get most of these basics right my blog should be a success.

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MoreThanWords| June 12th, 2012

wow! great post! Thank you for your insights! I will def. use your post as a guideline for my next post!

Kindest regards,

It is said that the tip of a pen is mightier than a sword.

Noel Angeles

www.morethanwordsonly.com

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gscgtd| June 13th, 2012

I had just launched my mobile app product online last May 27 and had a few downloads. I created social media accounts for Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Youtube (for the video demos), and blogspot (I haven't created Wordpress and don't have my own domain for the product yet but I am planning to have them in the future). After a while the downloads ceased. I post content on my blogspot and researched a bit on using tools like hootsuite, twitterfeed so that I can somehow automate spreading my posts on my blog to my social media contents. I have received a few followers in Twitter. I am moving on to making Screencast now instead of recording my smartphone itself while doing video demos. My blogspot stats show some views probably I had 20 views for a few days on the recent content I made. My app's free version received a few more downloads for a few days.After my little journey on marketing my app (I really don't have any marketing skills since I am a software developer but I have always been fascinated and interested in doing marketing) I realized after reading this post that my efforst and the little journey I had is very little and just the beginning. The detailed approach of this blog really made me realize and opened my eyes to the things I still need to do to succeed in my marketing efforts. This blog made me inspired again to continue my marketing efforts. It was put up in such a detailed yet catchy and interesting way that gave me new zest in doing my marketing after an initial so-so results of my efforts. I realized there is so much more effort I have to give to marketing my product but this blog post gave me a very clear path and direction to take on my marketing journey. Thank you very much for this wonderful post. I salute you and you will always be an inspiration to me in my marketing journey.

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John Dill| June 13th, 2012

I just bookmarked this post as well. I'm suprised how many ideas you covered that I haven't seen/tried yet. I am excited to see if I get returns on some of these tips, thanks for the helpful advice!

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DaniH| June 15th, 2012

I just read half of this post and noticed that I have previously implemented several of these suggestions into my website. However, I am such a beginner on this topic that I have a question and hope somebody can help me out with it. The theme I uploaded to my wordpress blog has a link already installed in it for the 'RSS FEED.' From what I understand, the 'RSS FEED' is basically a way for visitors to subscribe to receive any updates posted to your website. How do I know if it is set up properly or not?

Also, I find this post to be MORE than helpful! You definitely did a terrific job on it and I love all of the details you added. Every other blog I tend to read on this subject is much too generalized.

Thanks for the great work and in advance for any help.

If anybody can help me to better understand the 'RSS FEED' topic, please e-mail me at centsmakingsense@gmail.com. I will respond back promptly to any suggestions.

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ccovey007| June 15th, 2012

This is an absolute trove of relevant, current marketing tips. Thank you.

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Sportssansar| June 18th, 2012

Briliant Search Engiene Optimization marketing tips for newbies and pro bloggers also

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rajeray| June 19th, 2012

Very useful post. i really like all points and most of the links are very useful. ll try to follow all ur future posts.

thanks

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Blog Pro| June 19th, 2012

You can also submit your blog to worldwide directories like www.Websites-Blogs.com so users can find you more effectively

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unknownfreak| June 19th, 2012

Amazing Post and Great knowledge share.... i read the entire content and hopefully will implement these strategies fully on my blog :)
To kick of with one of the trick that you mentioned about sharing and posting about your blog So here it goes :)
My Blog url is www.arealmirage.blogspot.com
Guys please visit it and share your suggestions on the blog that I have created.
Thanks
Happy Blogging :)

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ThePopCornPreacher| June 20th, 2012

Great help man thank you!
Sticking with it would be very difficult for me thats the bit i am going to struggle with it.

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SLTE| June 20th, 2012

Very much agreed on the final point. I can't even begin to count the number of times I've wanted to give up on my blogs. (I actually have, a couple times. Rough business, this.) All the SEO in the world won't do you any good if you aren't willing to stick it out through the initial rough patches.
Good article, good advice. Keep on writing.

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ricardo Nunes| June 21st, 2012

Very good post.
I've just started a new design magazine and i need all help i can get to boost visits and attract my public.
Please take a look a give some feedback.
www.topcreativemag.com

Thanks

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Timothy Branson| June 22nd, 2012

Not bad Ricardo. I like the layout.

Come on by and share some of that stuff on our site.

http://www.mysocialpeople.com

Edited by KeriMorgret on June 22nd, 2012 at 3:32 pm

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Impulse Creative| June 24th, 2012

Great post, Thanks for sharing some great information on blogging. Definitely sharing this with our clients "scared" of blogging.

Check out our Blog too! http://blog.chooseimpulse.com

Edited by Impulse Creative on June 24th, 2012 at 2:21 pm

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Londoner| June 25th, 2012

One should do all that but don't go to sleep and wake up in the morning expecting your blog to be in the first page of Google. it takes a lot more effort than that.

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Bill DeFer| June 26th, 2012

I truly enjoyed reading this article. What I got most out of it is that persistance is the key along with good content. Pushing in all directions is also a must. Persistant pushing will break through walls that seem impossible to get over. Thanks again for a great read!

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QueenofLaughter| June 26th, 2012

I really enjoyed this post! It was informative, well detailed and I didn’t get the sudden urge to off myself which is what I usually feel when I read anything involving business. That being said, turning my blog into a lucrative endeavor seems so overwhelming. I’m new to all this and I’m wondering which is best to concentrate on at first? Or is it ideal to do all these suggestions all at once? I hope you’ll say no to the second question ;).

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mSolstice| June 27th, 2012

This is by far the best post I have seen for newbies on the blog horizon. The depth of the content and specific examples makes it achievable.

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Fahad Startups| June 28th, 2012

Very good tips. The be consistent tip is one in a million.

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Scott Million| June 29th, 2012

"Remember that everyone has a few posts that suck, and it's only by writing and publishing those sucky posts that you get into the habit necessary to eventually transform your blog into something remarkable."

That right there is hands down the best advice I've read here. Really, I have given up on other websites right before a huge surge and had stopped writing / building links and suffered a momentum drop because of it. So true.

Edited by gfiorelli1 on June 29th, 2012 at 10:03 am

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StockingHotties| July 1st, 2012

Very important tips and simple tricks here!
Just one very important thing, people should be care not to overdo things/spam ect
then they will be fine.

Regards
Stocking Hotties

Edited by MiriamEllis on July 1st, 2012 at 1:21 pm

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Rameez Ramzan| July 5th, 2012

Indeed, You shared the tremendous information about blog traffic but sometime we applied all techniques therefore, traffic doesn't drive in blog so, what are problems behind that if traffic doesn't come inside blog?

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2012-07-06T16:06:00.002-07:00

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2012-06-18T15:44:00.002-07:00

was reviewing Feeds from the Center for Disease Control and came across this "Return to Play Progression." Young athletes, as well as professional athletes, need protection while in the heat of the moment. Coaches and Health Care providers can control crucial decisions as discussed below. Baseline (Step 0): As the baseline step of the Return to Play Progression, the athlete needs to have completed physical and cognitive rest and not be experiencing concussion symptoms for a minimum of 24 hours. Keep in mind, the younger the athlete, the more conservative the treatment. Step 1: Light Aerobic Exercise The Goal: only to increase an athlete’s heart rate. The Time: 5 to 10 minutes. The Activities: exercise bike, walking, or light jogging. Absolutely no weight lifting, jumping or hard running. Step 2: Moderate Exercise The Goal: limited body and head movement. The Time: Reduced from typical routine The Activities: moderate jogging, brief running, moderate-intensity stationary biking, and moderate-intensity weightlifting Step 3: Non-contact Exercise The Goal: more intense but non-contact The Time: Close to Typical Routine The Activities: running, high-intensity stationary biking, the player’s regular weightlifting routine, and non-contact sport-specific drills. This stage may add some cognitive component to practice in addition to the aerobic and movement components introduced in Steps 1 and 2. Step 4: Practice The Goal: Reintegrate in full contact practice. Step 5: Play The Goal: Return to competition The Center for Disease Control espouses that an athlete should be free of symptoms prior to being put back into play. If symptoms are present, the athlete should not be put back into play for at least 24 hours. A health care provider should carefully monitor the athlete after injury. Online training for Health Care Professionals can be accessed here. Health Care Professionals can access state, league, or sports governing body’s laws or policies on concussion. Protecting our kids and teens from concussions should be a priority. Check out An International Consensus Statement on Concussion in Sport: the 3rd International Conference on Concussion in Sport held in Zurich, November 2008.

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MCCAIN

2008-09-02T16:56:00.001-07:00

Republican convention to resume

Sarah Palin's announcement has caused a stir at the gathering

The US Republican Party's convention is due to resume its main agenda now that Hurricane Gustav's threat has passed.

The gathering in St Paul, Minnesota, will see John McCain nominated as the Republicans' presidential candidate.

President George W Bush is due to speak via video-link from the White House on Mr McCain's service and leadership.

The main talking point so far has been the announcement by Mr McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, that her unmarried teenage daughter is pregnant.

According to excerpts of Mr Bush's speech released in advance, the president will describe Mr McCain as a president ready to make the tough decisions needed "in a dangerous world".

"John McCain's life has prepared him to make those choices. He is ready to lead this nation," Mr Bush will say.

He will also speak of Mr McCain's life as "a story of service above self" and emphasise the "independence and character" he showed in backing the administration's "surge" strategy of pouring more forces into Iraq.

Former Senator Fred Thompson, who ran against Mr McCain in the party's primaries, will talk about Mr McCain's commitment to reforming Washington and call upon Americans to "step up, stand up and put 'country first' with John McCain."

Gustav appeal

Most of the first day's political events were suspended out of respect for communities affected by Gustav.

Instead, Mr McCain's wife, Cindy, and First Lady Laura Bush made calls to support those under threat.

McCain on Palin's announcement
Mrs Bush told delegates that such events transcended party politics and reminded people that they were Americans first.

"Events in the Gulf Coast region have changed the focus of our attention and the first priority is to ensure the safety and the well being of those living in the Gulf Coast region," she said.

Gustav was downgraded to a tropical storm after making landfall on Monday west of New Orleans, where hundreds of thousands of people had been evacuated.

The hurricane came three years after Hurricane Katrina struck, killing more than 1,800 people and resulting in huge damage to the city and its surrounding area. President Bush was strongly criticised over his handling of the crisis.

Palin talking point

The BBC's Adam Brookes in St Paul says the Republican Party convention is now getting down to work after the uncertainty brought on by Hurricane Gustav.

Tuesday's events will focus on Mr McCain, a concentrated piece of political image building with a keynote speech from Joe Lieberman, the Democrat-turned-independent senator, who has decided to support the party's candidate, our correspondent says.

Sarah Palin's announcement has so far overshadowed the convention

Wife's role in the show
Republican Convention diary
Teenage pregnancy in spotlight

President Bush will also address the convention via a live video feed from Washington. He cancelled his planned opening night speech amid concerns that overt political campaigning would play badly with voters at a time of potential crisis.

But many Republicans will be glad he is not here in St Paul in person, our correspondent says, and much of this week will be about defining Mr McCain as very different to his unpopular predecessor.

Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska who was presented as Mr McCain's choice for running mate on Friday and is facing an ethics investigation back in her home state, made the announcement of her unmarried daughter's pregnancy on Monday.

She said Bristol, 17, planned to have the baby and would be getting married.

Mrs Palin, who is opposed to abortion, said her daughter would "have the love and support of our entire family" and appealed for privacy for the young couple.

The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that Bristol's boyfriend, named as 18-year-old Levi Johnston, would be joining the Palin family at the convention in Minnesota.

The AP quotes Mr Johnston's mother, Sherry, as saying he had been put under no pressure to marry and that the pair had been planning to wed before they knew she was pregnant.

Our correspondent says Mrs Palin's selection as vice-presidential candidate has caused great excitement among social conservatives and evangelical Christians here.

But across the broader Republican Party there seems to be some unease - she is an unknown quantity, and when she is finally brought out on to the convention stage on Wednesday, many McCain supporters will be crossing their fingers and hoping she performs, he adds.

The 72-year-old Arizona senator is expected to formally accept his candidacy in a prime-time speech on Thursday evening.

The speech is deemed to be among the most important events of the campaign for his chances of winning the White House in November.

Meanwhile on Monday, police in St Paul used pepper spray as they arrested more than 100 protesters, some of whom threw bottles and broke windows. Many of those involved in the violence identified themselves to the Associated Press as anarchists.

Several thousand anti-war marchers had earlier demanded the return of US troops from Iraq.

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2008-06-28T08:03:00.000-07:00

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2008-06-21T08:11:00.001-07:00

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