Tuesday, August 26, 2008

How to increase traffic to your blog: things that I've found helpful and suggestions from you too!

So how do you get more visitors to your blog?  High traffic in the blogosphere is always desired.  It is not like in the real world where you usually can't wait to get away from the busy, overcrowded city streets and sidewalks.  Any traffic to your blog is considered good traffic.  Yes, "good" traffic - seems like a paradox if you consider the real world applications, doesn't it?  But here on the internet pipeline, especially for the small business owner, you want as many visitors and as much traffic to your blog and websites as possible.

There's a list of things below that I've found to be helpful in increasing my blog traffic.  This is kind of a "show and tell" post though so please follow up by leaving a comment with your own blog address and at least one way you've found helpful in increasing your own number of visitors.  


Ways that I've found to be helpful in gaining more visitors:
  • I started posting more information on indie business topics and fiber art topics along with some personal tidbits here and there.  This provides a useful resource to my fellow small business owners as well as attracts new readers through search engines.  It is always appreciated and helpful to share relevant information about your area of expertise and life lessons so I recommend that you incorporate it into your blog.
  • I use my tags and titles more wisely now.  I fill them with recognizable keywords so that search engines will find my posts.  I also try to use good keywords throughout my article posts themselves.  For example, if you google the phrase "handmade labels" my blog article on the subject is in the first few listed on the topic.  It has gotten quite a lot of viewers because of that high page ranking.
  • I submit my blog to top search engines so that they will be certain to find me.  I also submit my etsy shop url and other websites to search engines.  Try looking at the site FreeWebSubmission.com for a listing of where to submit your own sites.
  • When I post a topic that I think is particularly useful concerning indie business or fiber arts, I make it known by posting in forums that I belong to.  I try to be discerning about this and only post about my most useful topics so that I don't get spammy about it and annoy others in the forum.
  • I join blog catalogs and other blog promotional sites like Scoutle which all help in driving traffic to your site and increasing your internet search engine page ranking.  If you look at the right side bar on my blog toward the bottom, you can see a list of a lot of the blog catalogs and other promotional sites that I am a member of.  Just click on the icon links to sign up yourself.

That's the basics of what I've been doing to increase my blog traffic.  And, of course, post regularly and enjoy writing about what you are posting because it shows through in your articles.

As far as my blog traffic goes, it is steadily increasing.  The most daily views that I have had recently was just over 600 - yay!  I regularly have anywhere from 50 - 200 views per day on average.  It is exciting to see your blog's readership grow along with its subscriptions.  Happy blogging to all of you out in the blogosphere, and please share your suggestions and your own blog link in a comment!

23 comments:

  1. Great blog, great tips. If I ever get 600 viewers a day I will become disgustingly arrogant! Congrats!

    www.lanyardlady.blogspot.com

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  2. Good job on the Blog traffic article! tend to write about the crazy messes I get into and very little about my area of specialty or blogging in general. I'll try to work a few of those articles in and publish that info in the forums. Thanks for the pointers!
    Robin

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  3. Thanks for all the very helpful advice. I'm still learning but I have found you're site a joy!
    DebsThreads
    debsthreads.blogspot.com

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  4. You can also use www.jamespot.com, a social bookmarking website which give you permalinks to your site when user are "spoting" your articles.

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  5. Great post! Thanks for the tips!

    http://inkobsessiondesigns.blogspot.com

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  6. Great tips! Thanks for sharing!
    http://fixedgeargal.blogspot.com/

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  7. Great tips and ideas! I found that doing "features" on other artists brings readers, as well as having a monthly "giveaway" attracts quite a bit of viewers. I've had several people tell me they have found new shops out on Etsy that they didn't know about, by visiting my blog. I also do tutorials relating to me fiber creations.

    http://dzfantasy.blogspot.com

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  8. Thanks so much Funky for this post! Love your blog...it must match your upbeat, inspiring personality!

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  9. Thanks for the wonderful tips! I'm new to blogging and just hope to get any readers right now! I'll let 600 in a day be a long-term goal.. :)

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  10. Your tips are the answer to my prayers. I just wrote on an etsy forum that I don't have a clue how to increase traffic and here you are, giving tips. Thank you!
    http://pattymara-dolphinsmile.blogspot.com/

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  11. Your tips are thoughtful, practical, and well-written! And they are much appreciated!

    Louise @ scarfitup!
    http://scarf-it-up.blogspot.com

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  12. Great advices! I will work a little more on my blog...

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  13. Wow, found this initially on Etsy and followed the link to your blog. I must say, great info!! I'm pretty new to blogging, so I don't have a tip to contribute with, but will once I start seeing traffic on mine...first thing, though, gotta keep it current. Thanks a bunch! :)

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  14. I was wondering tags and titles were important. Thanks for the great ideas, I am going to be trying out many of these.

    http://aileenfairycat.blogspot.com

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  15. Graet tips - thank you for sharing!

    I find it helpful to have a statcounter on my blog to see where the people are coming from, what's working and what's not.

    I have found that if I post something useful to other artists -like my figure drawing tips - I post it on craigslist and this bring in viewers from across the country.

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  16. yes! bloggers unite!!!
    thanks for the tips.
    My tip is give something away or run a contest of some sort. I have a handful of regular readers but when I had a collage giveaway I had over 50 people comment!
    My give away is new every month until October, so here's my blog if you are interested.
    starrynightimpressions.blogspot.com
    deborah

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  17. great post, thanks for sharing all this info!!!

    www.vusova.blogspot.com

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  18. Hi Shalana!

    Great post and thanks for mentioning Scoutle. We are brand new but already is a complete new version coming very soon. Hope to see you there.


    Kind regards,


    Godfried (Scoutle)
    Scoutle.com - And blogs get found
    www.scoutle.com

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  19. Thank you for a wonderful article. I've been researching ways to increase my blog traffic for my shop. Going to check these out later tonight.
    thank you!
    jenniffer

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  20. Thanks for the great tips on increasing blog traffic. I will be trying at least some of them for sure. And I really enjoy your blog and will definitely be checking back. I am very interested in felting and I make handbags, toys and accessories from felted recycled wool sweaters for my Etsy shop. I love your work!

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  21. Here's a good tip...collaborate with other designers who aren't "competition". This may sound cynical, but most people are not amazing/interesting writers (or are novice bloggers) and cannot sustain an entire blog themselves. Why not hook up with others who can add postings too? With more people contributing, more people are promoting.

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  22. Great blog, thanks for the great tips! As an illustrator, I find that Illustration Friday is great for directing people to my blog.

    http://artistinjerusalem.blogspot.com

    http://illustrationfriday.com

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