I have never participated in an event of a series of blog posts before, but now I’m very glad to announce that I can’t say that anymore starting today. Steven Snell contacted me about writing one out of five parts of a series of posts about growth and gaining traffic, and of course I said yes! I’ve been working harder than ever before lately to help my blog grow and to increase its readerbase. Now I’m one of the five bloggers that will share a piece of advice with you and try to help you increase your site’s traffic, too.
To fully gain from this experience, please read all five parts of the traffic and growth series, and consider subscribing to each of the blogs so you can be one of the first to know when they write new tips.
Monday: Vandelay Website Design - Driving Search Engine Traffic to a New Blog
Tuesday: Blogging Tips - Be Selfish and Help Someone
Wednesday: Blogtrepreneur - What’s Your Best Source of Web Traffic?
Thursday: Super Blogging - Be Community Involved to Get More Traffic
Friday: SiteFever - Drive Traffic by Commenting First
Lately I have been doing numerous things to up this blog’s growth, but many of those things are closely related. What I plan to talk about today includes commenting and linking others and joining forums.
Commenting
People love receiving comments and feedback on their blog posts, whether you’re agreeing with them or even if you’re not. Also, if people read a valuable comment on another site, they’re likely to check out who it’s coming from. Therefore, commenting other blogs can help you in numerous ways.
If you comment someone else’s blog, they will appreciate it. They might comment back on your blog or post about what you’ve said in a new post if it’s worthy enough. If you post worthwhile comments and do it often, the blog’s owner of which you’re commenting will feel more loyal to you and link to you more often, sending their readers your way. Commenting and interacting with other bloggers is a fantastic way to strengthen bonds and get new, trusty readers.
Besides having the blog owner on your side, others who read your comment might be interested in who the person behind it is. If they visit your site, then you just might acquire yet another reader - or at least a little more traffic if not. Commenting is great for everyone!
Linking Out
If you see a post someone else has written that really intrigues or inspires you, don’t just sit around. Put your ideas into motion and write a continuation of their post, your thoughts on it, or even why you disagree with it. Be sure and link back to who originally posted the article. Or, if you need to give an example or go into detail into one of your articles, link to someone else’s post that explains what needs to be said.
If you link to someone, they’ll see the trackback or notice and be likely to visit your blog to see why you’re linking to them. There’s also a high chance that they’ll link back to you!
Another great way to link to other bloggers is to have a weekly round-up. Once a week (or bi-weekly, if you will) have a post dedicated to linking to other bloggers’ great posts you’ve read lately. Not only is it important to be community oriented and to give credit where credit is due, but it’s very likely you’ll gain more regular readers and find growth from linking out to other blogs.
Joining Forums
This is something I’ve just begun to do recently. When you join a forum there is just such a huge opportunity to meet and connect with many new people who are interested in the same things you are. Not only can you learn a lot from forums and also share your knowledge, but you can easily refer other people to your blog whether it be through you helping people out and giving information, or from simply showing off your link.
Most forums allow you to link to your site or add its URL to your signature. If this is permitted in any forum you sign up on, don’t hesitate to do it. Many forum-goers will be interested in who you are and what your blog is about, and they’d be likely to check it out. Not only is this traffic, but it’s also almost always targeted!
Some great forums you could join if you are interested in blogging include the Blogging Tips Forums and the Digital Point Forums. There are many more but I definitely recommended those two if you’re just getting started with the forums aspect.
Summing It All Up
All in all, you should be involved in the blogging community. Assign a certain amount of time each day for when you can sit down, read, and comment other blogs. Try to link out to other bloggers and their sites whenever possible. And to connect, create new friendships, and get yourself more exposure, it’s almost mandatory to join forums in your niche.
Not only do all of these things help you to see growth in your blog (they’re definitely working for me!) but each of these tactics are helpful and beneficial for all parties involved. If you want to see more traffic, don’t hide in your shell!
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A short while back I ran a poll that asked this question: “Which do you find gives you better overall results: commenting on big, popular blogs OR commenting on new, small blogs?” I decided that it was about time to share the results with you.
