Most bloggers and webmasters find themselves searching hopelessly for a way to attract new readers and visitors to their sites. Here are a few very simple tips that can be used to accomplish just that
Always remember as you sift through this list that the real key is to stand out from the rest of the pack. As you create a fresh design be sure to make something that nobody else is using. As you respond to comments, don’t simply say things like “Thanks for the comment” but rather take the time to really connect with your readers in real conversation.
Don’t just read these ideas. Put them to work at your site. Don’t just put them to work at your site…put them to work in a way that nobody else is doing.
- Use a fresh design – If your website is messy, sloppy, disorganized, the colors are hard on the eye or don’t match then your site will go down the drain. Use a clean layout that is easy for your visitors to navigate.
- Write creative content – Some people have said that you need to write a post every day. This simply isn’t true. It is better for your site to write one well-written, creative article per week than to load your blog or website with short, meaningless posts.
- Guest blog – If you have the opportunity to promote your writing style at another popular blog, take it! This is a great chance for you to expose a new audience to your writing and to get some people to come visit your site.
- Respond to comments and emails – People love to visit a blog where the author is interactive and responsive. Make it your goal to respond positively to every comment that people leave at your site.
- Comment on other blogs – 99.9% of comment forms have a field where you can enter your website address when leaving a comment. This way when that blog owner or their readers see your comment, they can click through and find your site.
- Make list posts – This post is a perfect example of a list post. List posts are food for search engines like google and yahoo. They allow readers to gain information on a subject in a quick, concise manner.
- Develop relationships with fellow bloggers – Build relationships with fellow bloggers by commenting regularly on their sites, by requesting link exchange, and by mentioning them on your own blog.
- Reread, edit, and go over your posts – When your posts are filled with spelling errors and grammatical errors you will drive away smart readers. Readers become distracted by these type of mistakes and, believe it or not, it destroys your credibility. Remember Dan Quayle.
- Make your readers feel at home – Even when you receive a negative comment or critical comment you need to be creative in finding a way to respond in a positive manner. People may disagree with your position but don’t ever let them disagree with your disposition.
- Be a comedian – In the hit musical Singing In The Rain, there is a song called Make ‘Em Laugh. “They’ll be standing in line for that old honky-tonk monkey shine!” People will come to your site when you can present valuable information and make them laugh at the same time.
- Have polls on your site – People like voting on things and watching as the results tally up. Polls are popular and popular means more traffic.
- Write catchy post titles – Posts with catchy, creative titles receive much more traffic than those with boring, bland, unoriginal headlines. Often users will browse through your posts until a headline catches their eye. If no headlines catch their eye, well…you know.
- Keep improving your blog – It has been said that the day you stop growing is the day you start dying. I believe that is true in the blogosphere. The day you stop growing and improving your site is the day your visitors will begin declining.
- Use images in your posts – When you can illustrate your topics and articles with attention grabbing artwork or photography people are more likely to view your content. I personally use Flickr to find excellent photography.
Here’s the bottom line: put a little bit of tender loving care into your website or blog and you will be able to build a solid base of readers and regular visitors. If you don’t worry about your site then visitors won’t bother coming by to read your work.
So what are you waiting for? Get out there and build your blog!
*Picture complimentary of Keith Bloemendaal of Hot Blog Tips
You covered all the things you need to do..
The trick is to do this everyday not just when you feel up to it.
Awesome stuff, Nicholas !
I almost follow all of them by sheer intuition – but points 10 and 11 need further investigation ๐
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yep, thats good thoughts and John Paul has right – the thing is to do this every day. Your Blog is like a good friend you have to work on and with the years …
So i work as an magician but my problem is, they are not so many fellow bloggers and when there is one he dont like my comment on his page, because heยดs a magician too. Do you have a good idea for this? ๐
I would call your hotline for the bloghelp, but my english is not so good and in german are not so many sites like this ๐
Victor
The thing about all of this is it all builds up over time, its not something that happens quick. Most bloggers dont realize that. Anyway, the use of images is something that Im up to right now because I realized the use of it can illustrate my points better
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Thank you for good post.
You are absolutely right with point #2. As everyone can see now a lot of blogs full similar post “X things from Y”. On my opinion it’s just money make blogers that interesting only at traffic.
Point #10 is a new idea for me ๐
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Hi Nicolas!
Very nice post and simple advice ๐
I really enjoyed reading your blog and wish you good luck!
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Thanx!
Nice tips, but I don’t understand how being a comedian can get you traffic. I can understand by producing good content and build a community around your blog can certainly help you to keep loyal readers on your blog. But, to get fresh traffic, you need to do more things such as:
Blog Commenting
Guest Posting (you mentioned already)
Article marketing.
Participating in the forums. But participate to help others not just yourself.
Doing Search engine optimisation.
Building links by creating Hub pages, squidoo lenses, also taking advantage of other web 2.0 tools like blogger, etc.
After you start getting traffic from the methods above, you can follow the tips that are mentioned in this blog to keep those visitors and turn them into loyal readers.
Also, be natural, be yourself. Use yourself as example and show people that you are human. Some bloggers try to show themselves as perfect person, who succeeds in everything they do. But, if you show your visitors your mistakes and how you dealt with those mistakes, your visitors will like you more.
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Make people laugh/have a good time on your blog and you draw word-of-mouth referral traffic. ๐
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Nice list there, Nick. I am a bit weaker in point 10. But let’s see if I can improve on that. By the way, which email list website shall I use: Aweber or MailChimp. I am confused between both of them
Over all a a great post! Keep it up Nick! ๐
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I’ve completed #1-#9 and #14, the rest I still need further improvement. I think most of the ways above are most of making your blog sticky and make your readers return to your blog after first time visits.
If it comes to driving traffic, guest posting is the best way and it can builds your branding as well if you write a really interesting and helpful article.
Anyway, these are really good tips Nick.
Regards,
Lee
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This is an excellent post. As a new blogger I found all of this information very helpful. Looking forward to implementing these guidelines into my own site.
Hey Nick !!
This are really great tips for getting traffic to a blog.
Guest Posting is what i have to look into ๐
Thanks for sharing it !
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Many thanks for this most helpful info. Phew…#2..writing a post every day…I really struggled with that. Love your newsletter..
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Here’s an interesting question brought about by #14
Anything bad with using duplicate images?
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@Nick – this is a great list and one that I will be refering back to periodically.
Specifically, I am finding that readers seem to like list posts better than regular, magazine-like posts. That makes sense to me as they are easier to read, but it was not obvious at first.
Also, I noticed some (minor) updates on this site recently – very nice – sometimes small things do make a big difference.
@Dennis – I doubt it is bad to use the same image more than once. Actually, it could be good if there is a theme to the posts that share a common image. I have done that (though to be clear, I don’t know if anyone read those posts :).
@Adam – thanks for your additions – they are also really helpful. Though, I have not been able to find forums that are all that active anymore. At least, not that pertain to productivity and education. Perhaps I am looking in the wrong place?
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I never even thought of that, thanks. ๐
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Mark, you can even try Internet Marketing forums like Warrior Forum and Digital Point. There are all sorts of members over there from variety of niches. You can share your tips on how to maintain your blog. Also, warrior forum has a self help section, which relates to your blog.
Good Luck ๐
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Thanks Adam – I really appreciate it.
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Who is that funny looking guy in the picture! ๐
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Commenting on other blogs regardless of dofollow or nofollow matter is a wise and quick way to introduce my blog to a new audience. Of course, my comment needs to be smart and something that takes everyone’s attention and invisibly forces them to visit your blog as they become interested in you.
Nicholas, this is a great post – some very easy ideas to follow. I’m sure consistency is the key with most of them, which is really the hard part. But your list makes it very easy to get started.
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You are very right with all those tips, Nick. But I think that something that some bloggers and webmasters forget during their search for traffic is to provide valuable and quality content.
Cos if you get all the traffic in the world and your content is just rubbish how do you make the content convert positively to what you want it to convert to?
So valuable and quality content is really something that should move in conjunction with getting traffic :).
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I remember when a newbie mom blogger asked me what is the best and easy way to drive traffic to her blog. And I answered blog commenting. A good blog comment can really drive a lot of visitors and traffic to your blog. Not to mention the relationship you will make to the other bloggers that you will meet by doing some blog comments.
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I agree with all of the above. But I have a question : How Does Polls help with traffic ?
Makes people laugh and get infos at the same time! That’s the key, okay, thanks for your clue!
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Hi Nicholas
Some great tips there.
I do some of them but it looks as though I’ve got to do a few more.
Agree with you about Flickr for great images, I use it all the time.
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Great list. I try and follow all of these tactics. For me, the editing part is a bit hard. I am now getting an editor involved when I can find a friend or someone to look over it with a fresh set of eyes.
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You really spotted the important factors of successful blogging here.
I would also add – invite fellow bloggers to be guest writers at your own blog.
Regarding polls- it’s a great tip which I have to look into.
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[…] 14 Ways to Increase Your Blog Traffic – SiteSketch101 Most bloggers and webmasters find themselves searching hopelessly for a way […]
Hi Nicholas, when you are talking about fresh blog design, do you mean we should change the template more often?
Simon
Thanks for the list, it is really a helpful reminder of the best practices for the blogger. I have just started blogging and what has been helpful for driving immediate traffic is Digg and Reddit. Getting people to actually SEE your posts helps!
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People like to vote? Really? I gotta try myself too.
What you say about content rings very true for me.
It is much better to write a long, well-researched, useful, valuable, informative post once a week than it is to write short fluffy ones ten times a day.
It all starts with content. What else is there online?!
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guest posting and commenting has always been something i love because of the benefits it gives..traffic and builds a relationship with the other blogger…
i use some of the other point too.
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[…] Now for some great tips; Here are 14 ways to get more traffic to your blog. […]
All good points, I need to strengthen 3rd and 7th point
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The way you present the content in your blog should differ from others presentation to attract the viewers to your blog…..
Excellent list, thanks Nicholas. I will share it will my fellow members of the 30 Day Blog Challenge for June 2010. My blogging friends will really appreciate it.
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[…] Make List Posts – Readers love to receive clear information about interesting things. Make top ten lists. […]
Concise and straight to the point article
I think you advice is amazing… I will really try to follow the different ideas and hope that my blog will get more visits.
My favorite one is being a comedian:).
I am funny in life, but have terrible time committing that to paper.
Developing relationships with fellow bloggers… I am working on one with you – how am I doing?:)
You’re doing great! Commenting is a great way to connect especially when you make it personal like you’ve done. Terrific work.
I m working on most of the tips you provided here, but some were new for me, so plenty of thanks that you pileup these points in a professional manner.
Thanks.
Great! Which point would you say that you spend the most time working on?
Heres another tip : creating a nice open discussion, ex : men vs. women ,etc. Controversial topics.
this is great post, i brightened when i read this contents
This list is truly reliable to improve the traffic of your blog.
I concur with your conclusions and will eagerly look forward to your future updates.
hey NICHOLAS, i just started writing and your blog is very useful. Thank you.
Every one ask to give comment on other blogs but the when i comment on other blog with my URL then why it could not be a back link.? while in comment area my website link have appeared.
Quite a number of additional point to the latest post by Alex on the 7 ways to gain more traffic. I can’t explain why but I felt connected to your blog since the first day I stumbled upon Site Sketch. Make your readers feel at home, this is what I felt as a reader in your site ๐
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very good very helpful will try these!!!! i like the idea that the day you stop caring about your site that’s the day readers stop caring too ๐ definatly won’t stop caring!!!
That’s good. Keep growing better and better each day.
Great looking in you blog. Loved it, And great post! I am a rookie and I want to know where to get that awesome sharing bar go get static in the left! ๐ (that rookie I am..)
for blogger and WordPress? would love the tip
Many thanks
cheers!
I can’t stress the fact of adding pictures and videos to give your website a better feel to it. People get bored of reading 3000+ articles and you have to put in some pictures and my favorite videos to mix things up. There are so many great YouTube videos you could embed on your site for free. You could even create your own which really aren’t that hard to do.
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Substantially, the article is really the best on this laudable topic. I concur in your conclusions and will eagerly look forward to your future updates. Just saying thank you will not just be enough, for the wonderful lucidity in your writing. I will instantly be gratifying work and much success in your business endeavors.
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Great article. I will try to incorporate polls very shortly. I have a few ideas for funny ones. hahahaha I say, INVOLVE THE GOVERNMENT! ๐
Thanks for the wonderful article,it really helped me in my blogging
Good post Nicholas.
You have mentioned very useful processes to increase the traffic.
But we all are forgetting to talk about the host.
When you get a huge traffic, do you think that you can manage it using a Shared Hosting?
No, shared hosting is limited. We should go for a better solutions (hosting) like VPS or Dedicated Server. I had this issue few months a go and bought VPS and test. It worked and I didn’t drop even a single visitor.
You also can test your site installing on a VPS. But it is difficult to find a VPS Hosting Provider for a month or two. I bought a VPS from VPSWEBSERVER and they have monthly plans. But you better have a small research and find the best.
We all talk about SEO and Traffic but never think about this. So I thought to add this too.
Thank you for your great post.
Thoughtful post. for Improve Blog, all way are very important to improve blog visibility and get hung traffic,
Searches related and Google keyword suggestions are most beneficial to get more traffic also use news for more trending topics ideas, Ubersuggest is very use full for find best topics and blog title
All way are very beneficial most instant traffic way is always Social media,
Thank for great Ideas
[…] your blog traffic seems to be the hardest part when you start your blogging journey. Iโm pretty sure most of the […]
Goog list, Nicholas!
After having experience with most of the elements of the list, I’m sure that the ones that work best are the ones with which you give value to people.
The more you help people, the more they come back on your blog and maybe they even bring someone else on it.
The same is still true when you make genuine connections with other bloggers: they will be likely to help you get more exposure – which should be a mutual thing, obviously.
Great tips to follow. I already know about some of them and trying to follow to increase my traffic flows. What seems to me more attracting and unique in that post are โInterviews with Thought Leadersโ and โIntegrity of Contentโ Such good things that I am not aware about them fully. I will start following this tips and I hope it will help me a lot to boost my traffic in this competitive.
Very helpful tips. Practicing some of them already but I appreciate that you listed and explained everything very clearly. Thanks!
Thanks, Deli. I’m glad that you found them helpful.