12 Tips for Blog Traffic

Blogging is one of the best marketing ideas for many solopreneurs and can become the cornerstone of your marketing plan.  Here are a dozen ideas for getting more traffic to your blog:

1. Post entries on your blog as frequently as possible.  Search engines will rank you much higher if there is frequent new content.  Several times a week is a minimum.
2. Include a place on your blog for people to subscribe.  The best blogs allow the reader to get posts through either an RSS feed or by email.
3. Use tags on every post.  Tags are labels that the search engines use and that will help your posts be found on blog directories. It’s hard to tag too much.
4. Submit your blog to blog directories.  Here’s a list of 20 “essential” directories from Loren Baker.
5. Use guest posting.   Have others add content to your blog and write original content for others.  Readers of the other’s blog will check out what you have on your blog.
6. Comment on other peoples’ blogs.  Whenever you do, make sure to leave the URL for your blog.  When people comment on your blog, be sure to answer them.
7. Create community & conversation.  Include calls to action in your posts, ask questions and request comments.
8. Use share buttons to the bookmarking sites such as Digg, Delicious and StumbleUpon. Each of those sites will provide a widget or plugin for the share button.  Submit your very best posts yourself.
9. Post on Twitter when you have a new post on your blog.  An application such as Twitterfeed.com can automate this process.
10. Be sure to use an application to post your blog feed to your Facebook profile or fan page.
11. Craft your post titles carefully.  Use plenty of keywords, especially at the beginning of the title. Numbers also rank well in titles.
12. Spread the URL for your blog offline in all your marketing literature and online in your email signature.