Article by Wendy McCance
Secrets of a Blogging Professional Part 3
How do you get more traffic to your blog?
What are the “secrets” to getting more followers? These are the questions every blogger wants to know. It’s only natural to want to see your blog explode. Images of becoming something of a legend for your insight and wisdom has passed through many bloggers minds at one time or another.
I would like to just put out there that I have researched this topic to death. There are many people out there that swear they know the secret components to getting crazy amounts of traffic overnight and devoted followers to flock to their site. I don’t have what I would label a “secret method.” I don’t promise to make you an overnight sensation. My blog is still growing at what I consider a healthy rate, but it definitely isn’t exploding.
After that letdown, if you are still reading this, I will tell you what I do to get the readers and to gain followers. Hopefully within this article there will be something that you will find valuable and will take you to that next level of traffic.
- I will assume you write good content that others consider valuable, inspiring, funny or just thought-provoking.
- I will also assume that you write a post at least 3 times per week.
- I will also maintain that you have a blog that visually impresses the reader with easy ways to share your content and comment on a post.
If you have all of the above, what I have to share might be of benefit to you.
Basically, you must have all your ducks in a row before you can worry about increasing traffic and gaining additional followers.
Submitting your links to valuable social media site is the number one way to expand your reach.
The more you advertise, the more your name gets out there and the more visits you will have. It’s as simple as that. If you have a health blog, find sites dealing with health and submit your articles there. If you are a mommy blogger, there are a million mommy blogger sites to add your link to. Basically you want to add your links to sites that are relevant to your blog’s topic.
Here is the list of all of the sites (I can think of) that I submit articles to or have a link to my blog under my profile. I’m sure I will forget a few, because I am always searching for new sites to link up to. Anyway, you get the point.
- LinkedIn (and relevant LinkedIn groups)
- Facebook (personal and Facebook page)
- Google+
- StumbleUpon
- Tumblr
- Digg
- Pintrest
- FriendFeed
- Diigo
- Delicious
- Instapaper
- LiveJournal
- Plurk
- Paper.li
- Sverve
- Bloggy Moms
- The SITS Girls
- Mom Central
- Pingler
- Twyla
- Slideshare (just signed up)
- Blog Engage
- The Oakland Press
- The Macomb Daily
- Grand Traverse Insider
- Daily Tribune
- Heritage Newspapers
- The Morning Sun
- Zemanta
- Technorati
- Networked Blogs
- Blog Top Sites
- Blog Monitor
- Blog Log
- Mommy Blogs
- Bebo
- Blog Catalog
- Mom Bloggers Club
- Bing
- Yahoo
- STIK
- Quora
- Klout
There are two things I need to point out:
1. The best thing I ever did was get my blog in the paper online. All of the papers listed are through the same company, so the newspaper has used my blog in all of their local papers.
If you see that your local paper has an online blog section, you can write to
the editor and ask to be included. Another good source is the local Patch
newspapers. They are always looking for bloggers.
2. Another way I got a jump in traffic was when I signed up for all of the product
review sites. Sverve for example allows you to post your articles and will even
retweet what you have posted. They have been a fantastic site to deal with.
Besides using social media sites to get my blog noticed, I have done a few quest posts and will occasionally comment on other blogs. I will only comment on an article that moves me and many times will share that article within my social groups. It’s the quality, heartfelt comment that gets traffic to my blog.
Other bloggers have noticed me sharing a great article of theirs and will oftentimes begin to follow me on Google+, Twitter or follow my blog. This brings with it some great connections and some additional traffic from them.
I hope this breakdown of my blog and what I do to capture additional traffic has sparked an idea that you can use. As always, please feel free to share your experiences, ask a question or share this article if you found it helpful and relevant to you.
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Wendy McCance
To contact Wendy McCance about a writing assignment, interview or speaking engagement, please email her at: [email protected]
Latest posts by Wendy McCance (see all)
- A Week in the Life of a Writer - August 3, 2014
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- How to Improve Your Presence on Twitter - July 29, 2014
thank you for giving me that type of the information which i looking for many days.i am a new blogger and it is very helpful for my blog.
Hi Raj, I am so glad you enjoyed the article and found it helpful. Thanks so much for your comment. Good luck with your blog and pass a link. I’d love to check it out!
Thanks Wendy for all the good advice. You have quite a list there — some I’ll have to check out. You’re doing a great job with attracting traffic and thank you for sharing your tips.
You’re welcome.