12 Ways to Drive More Traffic to Your Blog

December 9, 2010 By 2 Comments

12 Ways to Drive More Traffic to Your BlogImagine that you’ve taken the giant leap to start a blog to bring more brand awareness and exposure to your small business.

You’ve taken all the necessary steps to build your blog platform and now comes the day when you make your very first blog post. You spend hours crafting a post that is educational, inspirational and positions you as an expert in your field. You are as proud of this post as if it truly were your own flesh and blood. And, most of all you can’t wait to share it with the world.

So, you hit “publish” and wait for your readers to react to your nuggets of wisdom. (And, you wait and wait and wait….)

Why aren’t you generating any comments? Why aren’t people emailing you thrilled that you have shared your expertise with them?

It’s called “lack of traffic” and if there’s no traffic to your blog, no one will ever see it. Period.

So, how can you begin enticing readers to visit your blog? Here are twelve quick ways to generate a flow of non-stop blog traffic:

1. Create great content.

Obviously, this goes without saying. But, your content needs to educate, entertain, inspire or offer a solution to your reader’s problems. You want to try to accomplish at least one of these tasks with every blog post.

2. Keep your posts short.

We are living in an age where short attention spans are the norm. Keep your posts under 500 words so that you don’t lose your ADD readers.

3. Get your blog indexed in Technorati.

This is the daddy of all blog catalogs. Make sure that you go through the very simple process of submitting your blog RSS feed to Technorati.

4. Submit your blog feed to other top blog catalogs.

Blog catalogs and RSS feed catalogs are where readers go to find blogs to read. You want to make sure that your blog is there. To make the process even easier, you can use a service such as SubmitinMe to manually post to the catalogs for you.

5. Entice your readers to subscribe to your blog.

Offer your readers a free goodie (such as a downloadable ebook, whitepaper, audio class, etc.) if they subscribe to your blog.

6. Let your social networks know about new posts.

Whenever you post to your blog, Tweet it out to your followers, update your LinkedIn status and let your Facebook friends and fans know about it. If it’s a good post, they will pass it on to their community as well.

7. Get involved in the blog community.

Blogging is a social activity. Read other blogs, comment on other blogs and refer to other blogs within your own blog posts.

8. Comment back.

When your readers make comments on your blog, make sure that you comment back to them. You want to encourage a natural back and forth dialogue between you and your readers.

9. Participate in a blog carnival.

A blog carnival is a blog event that it is dedicated to a particular topic and is published either weekly or monthly. Each edition of a blog carnival is in the form of an article that contains links to other blog posts on that particular topic. Blog carnivals can be a wonderful way to produce awareness around your blog. Read the rules and regulations of the blog carnival and get involved.

10. Offer to write a blog post for a high-traffic blog.

Research various blogs within your particular industry. Read the blogs, comment on the blogs and interact with the blogger. Once you’ve established a relationship, send them an email politely letting them know that you would be willing to be a guest blogger for them at any time in the future. Include a link to your own blog so that they can check out the quality of your work.

11. Use your blog posts in your ezine.

Instead of writing a brand new article for your weekly ezine, send out the first few paragraphs of one of your past blog posts. Then include a link for the reader to continue reading the post on your blog.

12. Include your blog URL in your email signature.

Develop an email signature that you use whenever you send an email. Of course, your email signature should include a link to your blog.

Once you implement these twelve strategies, you’ll certainly notice a spike in traffic and begin generating comments and interaction from hundreds (even thousands) or readers in your particular industry.

Filed Under: blogging, shoestring marketing tips, small business marketing, traffic Tagged With: , , , ,

10 Simple Blog Promotion Strategies

August 3, 2010 By 4 Comments

10 Simple Blog Promotion StrategiesOnce you’ve built your blog, you may be tempted to believe that blog traffic will just magically start pouring in. Too bad it’s not that simple. If you do want more blog traffic (that result in more subscriptions), then you will want to be proactive in your marketing efforts.

The good news is that in today’s new media environment, it’s easier than ever to begin bringing visitors and traffic back to your blog.

Here Are 10 Simple Blog Traffic Strategies To Begin Generating Subscribers:

1) Facebook Fanpage. Add your blog feed to your Facebook Notes Tab so your fans are instantly notified via a status update whenever you make a new post.

2) Twitter. Add a Twitter plugin to your blog so that your Twitter followers receive automatic updates whenever you post to your blog.

3) LinkedIn. Add your blog feed to your profile (using the LinkedIn application) so your connections are can follow your blog posts on your profile page.

4) Blog Catalogs. You should add your blog to the top blog catalogs so that readers (or publishers) that are searching for specific blog topics can subscribe instantly to your blog.

5) Blog RSS Feeds. Add your blog to top RSS feeds so that individuals interested in your topic can easily subscribe to your blog feed.

6) Blog Carnivals. A blog carnival is a blog post that points to other blog posts all related to a specific topic. When you participate in a blog carnival you can often get a spike in new subscriptions. To find out more about blog carnivals go to www.blogcarnival.com

7) Your Signature. Make sure that you create a signature that contains a link to your blog. Of course, use that signature in all of your correspondence.

8)  Comment Marketing. This is one of the oldest blog traffic strategies out there. But, it continues to work for many bloggers. Find about ten blogs related to your industry and subscribe to them (using an RSS feed like Google Reader). Create a routine in which you leave comments on the blogs every time they make a new post. In theory you will draw attention back to your blog through other readers and perhaps even from the bloggers themselves.

9) Forum Marketing. Visit forums in your industry, make valuable comments and contributions and insert a link to your blog in your signature.

10) Social Bookmarking. Use social bookmarking platforms to bookmark each of your blog posts as they are published.

If you continue to actively promote your blog using these simple platforms, you will undoubtedly notice a spike in traffic and a surge in subscriptions.

Filed Under: blogging, shoestring marketing tips, small business marketing, social media marketing Tagged With: , , ,

10 Small Business Blog Posts

May 17, 2010 By 7 Comments

10 Small Business Blog Posts IdeasAs you sit down to blog about your small business, you may enter into the deep, dark world of “writer’s block.”  Your mind goes blank, you can’t think of a single thing worthy to say and your frustration level peaks.

Here are ten popular small business blog posts to get you started:

1. Customer success stories. One of the most effective types of blog posts is to highlight your customers and/or client success stories. Not only are you putting the spotlight on a customer, thus bringing them extra exposure and visibility, you are also providing social proof that your product or service works.

2. Industry tips and tutorials. Your blog should provide your customers, clients and prospects with valuable tips and strategies that they can put to immediate use.  For instance, if you are a dog-trainer and have a dog-training blog, then make sure to provide your audience with plenty of dog-training tricks and tips that will encourage them to keep coming back to your blog for the latest strategies. Of course, providing your audience with industry tips and tutorials also positions you as an expert.

3. Information about new products/services. If your company launches a new product and/or service, use your blog as an announcement service to give your loyal readers a sneak preview.  In addition, you can generate additional buzz-builders by offering beta invites, focus groups and surveys that will help keep your readers engaged in the launch process.

4. Relevant news from your industry. You can certainly position yourself as an industry leader by relating important and timely news stories from your particular industry. If you find any pieces of news that are interesting or would benefit your readers, then make sure to offer the news-story along with your own commentary and opinion.

5. Upcoming events about your small business. If you’re having a huge, 1-day sale, then post it on your blog. If you’re hosting an online webinar or teleseminar, then post it on your blog. Whenever you plan to have an upcoming event, make sure to let your readers know.

6. Elicit feedback from customers. As a small business owner, you will want to generate authentic feedback from your customers about your products and/or services.

The feedback that your customers provide can either be pulled straight from their comments or from blog polling services or plugins.  This type of feedback can be an invaluable resource for your small business and help move it from good to great.

7. Educate Your Customers/Clients. Many small business owners implicitly understand that in order to effectively sell a product or service, the customer needs to be educated. Oftentimes our prospects don’t even understand why they need our products or services.

Therefore, the appropriate education of your prospects is incredibly important.  However, it also should be handled with care. You certainly don’t want to use a “hard-sell” approach and bully your prospects into making a purchase.  On the other hand, if you help your prospects understand why your product and service is so valuable and what problems it will solve for them, your battle is half-won.

8. “Warning” Posts. Every so often, it is appropriate to help your prospects understand “what they need to watch out for” in your particular industry.  This again, positions you as an expert and helps build trust with your prospects. For instance, the dog trainer could write a blog post entitled, “Beware of the dog trainers who use physical punishment.” Of course, you would let your prospects know that you detest this type of dog training and why.

9. Related interests. If you sell vitamins, you should blog about health. If you own a travel agency, you should blog about the great trips that you take. It’s important to reveal to your clients and customers that you are a real person with similar interests to theirs. As long as your personal blog posts are directly related to your product and/or service, you will find these posts to be an invaluable way to connect.

10. Product, service, or process explanations and stories. If you own a product or service that needs further explanation, then share this explanation on your blog. Your customers will appreciate tutorials, stories and explanations about how to best use your product and services.

So, the next time that you are struggling to come up with a small business blog topic, keep these ten tips in mind.

Filed Under: blogging, shoestring marketing tips, small business marketing Tagged With: , ,

Blogging 101

May 3, 2010 By 9 Comments

Obviously, most of you are quite familiar with the concept of blogging. With more than 100,000 new blogs created every day, blogging has quickly become a household name. No matter what your familiarity is with blogs, you need to fully understand why this powerful, FREE resource will help you promote your business.

What Is a Blog?

In a nutshell, the word “blog” is short for a weblog and is often thought of as an online diary. Whenever you write an entry into your blog it is called a post and the most recent post appears at the top of your blog page.

Older posts are archived and can be organized by date or by category.

At the bottom of each post there is generally a section where readers can make comments or react to what you have said.

A Website is formal, informational, and professional. Whereas, a Blog is informal, conversational and easy to read.

If you are not familiar with blogs, the best thing to do is to just start reading them. For instance, you can go to the following “blogospheres” and find topics that interest you and  just start reading.

1) www.icerocket.com

2) www.blogpulse.com

3) www.technorati.com

There are blogs written in almost every imaginable topic on earth. However, small business blogs generally fall under three main categories:

• Marketing Blogs are designed to build traffic and sales.

• Customer Service Blogs assist and inform customers/potential customers.

• Public Relation Blogs help influence and shape public perceptions.

You will want to determine the exact focus of your blog. There will be times that your blog may fall into another category, however, you still want to have ONE main focus.

Who Is Your Audience?

One of the delights of blogging is that you are reaching an eager, savvy online crowd. This can do wonders for your business.

According to Andy Wibbels, author of BlogWild, your blog readers fall into the following categories:

• 50% of blog readers are over 30 years old.

• 75% of blog readers make more than $65,000 per year.

• Blog readers spend a lot of time online and are web savvy.

• Blog readers view blog writers as “experts.”

• They look to blogs to inform them of the latest news, what’s hot and what’s worth buying.

How Do You Start Blogging?

I am a big fan of WordPress.org blogs (that’s the platform that this blog uses). The main reason that I like WordPress is that it allows you 100% ownership of your blog. (For instance, if you use other blog platforms such as www.Blogger.com or www.Typepad.com you will be hosting your blog with their companies and will have to abide by their rules and stipulations.)

To download your free WordPress software, go to www.Wordpress.org, download and save it on your computer.

You will also need a good hosting service, I personally recommend www.Bluehost.com. They will host your blog for a very reasonable price.

Of course, you do need to upload your software into your hosting provider and there are two ways to accomplish this:

1) Do-It-Yourself. You can take some time learning how to upload your software to your hosting provider. The good news is that there are hundreds (if not thousands) of tutorials on this subject. Simply go to www.YouTube.com and perform a “How to upload WordPress.org” search and you will have dozens of easy-to-follow tutorials.

2) Hire Someone. If you don’t want to take the time to learn how to upload your WordPress software, there are thousands of savvy WordPress experts that you can hire to do the job for you. For under $100 you can find someone who will upload your blog and put together a simple design. Go to www.Guru.com or www.Elance.com and post your job.

Once your blog is up and running, you are ready to start posting.

What In The World Do You Write About?

One of the best parts of blogging is that there are no “hard and fast” rules. Here are a few points to keep in mind that will help you off on the right foot:

• Make it clear what you do and the products and services that you sell.

• Offer fresh, unique content often (at least 2x per week).

• Fill the pages of your blog with YOUR personality. Readers will come back to your blog if they feel a connection with you.

• Present information informally; your tone should be personal, yet professional.

• Provide useful information to your readers (latest updates, news, and topics in your industry) so that they see you as an expert in your field.

• Provide a place for busy, overstimulated individuals to find the information that they are looking for quickly and efficiently.

• Post testimonials and other positive customer/client experiences.

How Do I Promote My Blog?

It is now easier than ever to promote your blog. With the onset of social media marketing, all of your friends and connections can be notified immediately whenever you have a new post.

• Facebook allows you to add your “blog feed” to your profile so that every time you post to your blog, your Facebook friends are notified.

• LinkedIn includes an application so that your “blog feed” appears on the front page of your bio. New connections have instant access to your blog posts.

• Twitter your followers every time that you have a new blog post.

• MySpace has a feature to integrate your blog as well. You are able to let friends know when you have a new blog post.

• Your Website should include a link to your.

• Your Signature can have a link to your blog.

Just Do It!

Of course it will take some time to figure out all the ins and outs of blogging. But, it certainly is not an overwhelming marketing strategy to put into action.

I advise 97% of my clients to host a blog in order to promote their businesses. There is no better way to connect to new customers, position yourself as an expert and offer valuable information all at NO COST!

It’s time to get blogging!

Filed Under: blogging, shoestring marketing tips Tagged With: , ,