Using Blogs To Generate Traffic

It's a proven fact that search engines love blogs. The question we should ask ourselves is why do they love blogs? It's pretty simple, search engines love to search and find new quality content. It is their goal to index high quality information as quickly as possible. If you've not been blogging then you've been missing out on an incredible opportunity to bring instant traffic to your website. The key to blogging is to update regularly, as just creating a blog and having no updates or content is useless. You need to update your blog several times per week to really reap the benefits.

Setting up your first blog

There are many free sites on the internet that will allow you to create your own blog and they will host it for you. I prefer to host my own blog, but I'm going to explain both options you have for blogging. I'll first start by providing the options for Free Blog Hosting.

Free Blog Hosting Sites

1) Blogger.com

This site is one of the most if not the most popular free blog hosting site. You can instantly create a blog and start writing on various topics. The positives about using Blogger.com are that it is spidered often, and your blog link will be in the path of the spider, enabling your new blog to be spidered quickly. Once your blog is spidered, the search engines will continue to visit your blog for updates.

Signup link: http://www.blogger.com/

2) Journalhub.com

This is a newer site, not as popular, but is a very solid choice for blog hosting. Your account is setup instantly.

Signup link: http://journalhub.com/summary.php?op=RegisterStep0

3) Aeonity.com This site also gives you the ability to create an instant blog site.

Signup link: http://www.aeonity.com/ 4) Ebloggy.com

This site also allows free blog hosting. Signup link: http://www.ebloggy.com/

You can register with any of the above sites to start your own blog, but as I mentioned earlier I prefer to have my own site host my blog. Another option is to have two blogs. My recommendation would be to create what I like to call a sub-blog, where the blogger.com blog would be a blog you update from time to time that discusses topics dealing with your main blog. You should have links pointing from your blogger.com blog to your main blog site. The reason you are doing this is because blogger.com is spidered often and by default your blog with blogger.com, which is your sub-blog will also be spidered. Since your

sub-blog will have links to your main blog it can also aid in having your main blog site spidered more quickly.

Hosting Your Own Blog

Hosting your own blog gives search engines a reason to keep revisiting your website. It is important as I mentioned before that you update your blog several times per week. Below you'll find some recommended free software for hosting your own blog.

Word Press

All my blogging sites use WordPress as I believe it is the best blogging script available. It's very easy to install and you can go live within just a few minutes.

Download: http://wordpress.org/download/

By default WordPress gives you the ability to choose if you want Search Engine Friendly URLS for your blog, but I've taken that a step further. You will only be able to follow the instructions I'm giving below if you already have WordPress installed.

If you have Word Press installed add this line of code to your "Permalinks" section:

/%postname%.htm

Input the above code into the line that says "Custom Structure" and ensure that you have the check placed in the "Custom, specify below" under Common Options.

What this does is give your blog highly optimizable search engine friendly URLS. Every blog post you make will have a keyword rich URL based on the subject of your blog. For example if your blog post was "Caribbean Recipes" your URL would be http://yoursite.com/caribbean-recipes.html.

It's a nice handy trick to get more search engine friendly URLS out of WordPress to ensure that your keywords appear not only in the subject but also in the page URL.

Blogging Themes

Now that you've got your blog setup, I know that by default WordPress skin may not be too pleasing to you. Let's change that by installing a new theme. The sites below offer some free themes that you can use and customize.

WordPress Themes Viewer
http://themes.wordpress.net/

Alex Kings' Theme Viewer http://www.alexking.org/index.php?content=software/wordpress/them es.php

Kaushal Sheth's Themes http://www.kaushalsheth.com/themes/

Theme Porter http://www.themeporter.com/tags/themes/

Browse through those four websites and select a theme that you like best. You simply download the theme and upload it to your wp-content themes directory, then activate the theme in the admin area of Wordpress under presentations.

Blog Pinging

Here's one of the reasons I believe that WordPress is a great option for blogging. WordPress has a built in "Ping" option that will notify all the major blogging and RSS feed directories that you've made a new post on your blog. This is automatically activated in the "Writing" section of Word Press. If you scroll to the bottom of the "Writing" section you will see a section called "Update Services".

Below that you will see a URL link: http://rpc.pingomatic.com/.

Whenever you make a post on your blog, this option sends out a notification to all the blogging directories that you have made a new post and they usually automatically index it. Each time you make a post this ping is automatically done ensuring that your feed is sent.

Blogging Regularly

Now that we've got the theme setup, the URLs for all your posts being search engine friendly, your pings being automated, the next step is to start blogging. Here comes the tough part, what am I blogging about? It's important that your blog be about something you actually have knowledge on, and can write about fluently. For example if your site is about recipes, you can have your blog posts related to anything about recipes, perhaps experiences you have had while preparing dishes, etc.

When blogging remember you must be very personable, friendly and seem easy to talk to. The reason for this is that with each post you make you are trying to elicit a response from users. With WordPress you have the option to enable comments. By having comments on your blog enabled, it increases your popularity rating. The search engines will visit and update your blog more often as it is constantly changing by having new content. I recommend that in each blog post you make, that you always ask questions, request feedback to ensure that the people viewing your blog find a reason to actually post a comment.

Successful Blogs

The best way to learn how to have a successful blog is to review other blogs that are proven success stories. To do this I recommend that you visit a site called Bloglines.com

Link: http://www.bloglines.com/dir

Do a search to find blogs that are similar to your blog and review each to see what they are doing. It's easy to tell if a blog is doing well by how often they are updating and how many comments each blog post receives.

Blog Links

Take another trip back to Bloglines.com/dir and do a search again for blogs within a similar genre as your blog but not necessarily identical. Start replying to some of the blog posts made, giving your thoughts about the post or topic. Do this a few times with various blogs, then once you've done it on a regular occasion end your post with a signature link that goes to your site. Take note do *NOT* do this in the initial stages or with your first post. You must first acquire a relationship with the blogs, first by posting comments and leaving positive feedback. After gaining trust you can simply place a link with your next post comment. I recommend replying at least 5 to 10 times before attempting to place a link.

Blog Commenting

When you've first started your blog as I mentioned prior, comments help your blog look more active. Initially you may find that users may not post comments to your blog. It's going to be up to you to get things going. Have your friends or family members start leaving comments on your blog as it can make your blog seem more active. People like to see activity; if your blog seems dead you'll likely get no responses. If you would rather not have your family even know about your blog, then you can post comments yourself but as a "Guest" or as registered user instead of admin. Respond to your own posts initially to create activity, then you'll start to see other real users placing comments as well.

What usually works best is to leave a controversial comment. Start making comments that are guaranteed to elicit a response. I've created "characters" before that post controversial statements on my

blog to really get user interest going. This "character" may disagree with a blog posting I made, creating a sequence of posts that increase the activity comments of my post. Once you see that users have taken interest in your blog you can now rely on their posts rather than creating fake ones of your own.

Remember if you are going to do fake comment posts, to space the timing between posts. For example never post two minutes after you've posted as admin, as it's too obvious that you're the same person. Allow some time to pass by before making your "fake user comments post".

If you would rather not do the "fake posts" yourself, some bloggers have actually paid users to reply to posts on their blog. If you go to popular webmaster forums, you'll find that users get paid for making posts on forums. The usual rate is about .10 cents per post or something within that range. The same theory applies for blog comments. You can hire a set of 10 to 20 people to comment on your posts and pay them a small fee, this way you generate some interest in your blog.

If you post a project on the sites I mentioned previously such as Scriptlance.com or Getafreelancer.com for "Blog Posters", you can find people who can get your blog active, by making comments and paying them a small fee. You can do this until you get users posting on your site in reply to the posters you have paid. Within a few weeks your blog should be very active. This benefits you in the long run as the search engines will be visiting your site often due to the constant updates.

Blogging Directories

A great way to promote your blog is to have it indexed in the blogging directories. I've listed below the most popular directories that you can submit your new blog to.

B log a ram a

Link: http://www.blogarama.com

Blogdigger

Link: http://www.blogdigger.com

Blog Catalog

Link: http://www.blogcatalog.com

Blog Hub

Link: http://www.bloghub.com

Blog Rankings

Link: http://www.blogrankings.com

Blog Street

Link: http://www.blogstreet.com

Blog Search Engine

Link: http://www.blogsearchengine.com

Blog Wise

Link: http://www.blogwise.com

Blogz

Link: http://www.sarthak.net/blogz/

Blog Lines

Link: http://www.bloglines.com

Bloogz

Link: http://www.bloogz.com

Blog Pulse

Link: http://www.blogpulse.com

Blog Universe

Link: http://www.bloguniverse.com

Blog Tree

Link: http://www.blogtree.com

Contents Matter

Link: http://www.contentsmatter.com

Feed 24

Link: http://www.feed24.com

Feeders

Link: http://blogs.feedster.com

Findory

Link: http://www.findory.com

Get Blogs

Link: http://www.getblogs.com

Globe Of Blogs

Link: http://www.globeofblogs.com

LsBlogs

Link: http://www.lsblogs.com

Postami

Link: http://www.postami.com

Plazoo

Link: http://www.plazoo.com

Read A Blog

Link: http://www.readablog.com

Tech norati

Link: http://www.technorati.com

Your Web Log Here

Link: http://www.yourwebloghere.com

My Yahoo

A quick way to get your blog indexed is to add it to My Yahoo. If you do not have a My Yahoo account, I would recommend that you register one right now.

Link: http://my.yahoo.com

Assuming that you have now registered, be sure to add your feed to Yahoo's RSS Directory, you can do this in your My Yahoo user area. This method is considered one of the fastest ways to get your blog indexed by Yahoo

Quick Recap : Keys To Success

1) Blog Frequently, at least a few times per week. The biggest mistake made by bloggers is to let weeks or even months go by without blogging. If your blog is not being updated it will no longer be considered "sweet" to the search engines, by that I mean it will be considered a "dead" blog and they won't visit as often.

2) Start leaving comments on other successful blogs, and then eventually leave a link back to your site after creating a relationship.

3) Research the most popular blogs within your category; you can use bloglines.com for your research. Look at what they are doing and try to model their success without copying.

4) Add your links to the blog directories to gain more backlinks.

5) Monitor your web stats to see where your traffic is originating. It is important that you use a web stats program that can show you how many people are "bookmarking" your site. A good bookmark ratio is a good sign that people are interested in your blog and have plans on re-visiting it.

Follow these steps and you will be moving forward with a very successful blog. Please remember each blog post does not have to be pages in length. It can be as little as one to two paragraphs. Keep in mind that whatever you post should be valuable to the user and elicit a response.

5 Tips for Twitter Marketers

1. Wecome new followers, but don’t give them a sales pitch in the process. You don’t want to start off on the wrong foot. My mum used to say "You never get a second chance to make a first impression." A smart piece of advice. Make your welcome message unique, honest and non-commercial.

2. Don’t send ‘empty’ tweets. Occasionally, you can let people know that you’re going to walk your dog, but if you send 10 tweets a day about stuff like washing your car or riding your bike, you will lose followers. After all, people subscriber to your followers list because they think they can profit from it by learning something new: an interesting resource, a different point of view on a subject, a useful trick, …

3. Don’t overdo your Tweeting. Send an endless stream of Tweets all day long and people will start avoiding your tweets.

4. Make your Tweets stand out: Send tweets that no one else does. Send tweets that make people want to interact. Make your tweets interesting and useful - maybe ask your followers what théy want. You need to attract attention, or your tweets will never be noticed in the giant stream of messages your followers receive all day long.

5. Let your list evolve naturally. It is more productive to add smaller numbers of followers and have more quality instead of empty quantity. On top of that, having a large number of people you follow in a short time can be a red flag for people and the sign of a spammer.

Quick Tip: Adding A ‘Tweet This’ Link To Your Site

I’ve just spent some time trying to find out how to add a ‘Tweet This’ link to my non-Wordpress sites, without having to use the TwitThis service.

Not that there is anything wrong with TwitThis - it’s a great service - but the tweet format is limited to a single ‘action’ (’Reading’, ‘Waiting for’, …), followed by the title of the page.

What I was looking for was a way to customize the tweet that would be posted to Twitter, in order to provide a little more info about my site, and make the tweet more attractive.

Finding a solution appeared to be harder than I thought it would be, so - now I’ve finally found one - I decided to share it here, so you can profit from it too.

It’s really quite simple:

http://twitter.com/home?status=your custom tweet

Here’s an example link:

Please Share On Twitter

The actual link looks like this:

http://twitter.com/home?status=I’ve just taken the Twitter Beginner Quiz. Can you beat my score? http://twitterknowhow.com/got-what-it-takes-take-the-twitter-quiz/

Simple, but definitely good to know.

Using Twitter To Improve Your Blog

As previously mentioned, using Twitter allows you to connect with your readers in a new way. You can also gain new blog readers as well. When you use Twitter, you’ll be able to tap into parts of your existing market that you weren’t aware of before.

The first step in using Twitter to improve your blog is to "listen" to other people by reading their updates. A lot of new Twitter marketers make the mistake of posting too much about themselves and not responding or paying attention to others.

As long as you keep in mind that Twitter is a social tool and not just a traffic machine, you’ll be able to keep things in perspective and pay attention to others.

Interact with other people, answer their questions and ask them questions back. This way you can become part of the community.

If you add a lot of people to your follow list who are in your niche, pay attention to their problems, their questions and the type of things that they share. This can all be part of your niche research and you can incorporate what you find there in your blog or in the form of a new product. You’ll find that your Twitter account can be a treasure trove for blog post ideas.

You can use the information that you gather on Twitter to create blog posts that meet the needs of your readership. You can also address specific questions or concerns. You’ll be surprised at what a great brainstorming tool your Twitter account can be. You’ll read someone’s update and then it will get the wheels turning for a blog post, or even a series of blog posts.

The next step to using Twitter effectively is to be useful to your followers. The information that you post should be relevant, helpful and interesting. Set yourself apart from the pack by finding interesting news stories that relate to your niche. Post tips related to your blog. But don’t forget to be personal and connect with your followers. If you just burned your lunch, feel free to share it! You may start an interesting conversation. But don’t overdo it! (I’ll come back to that in a later post)

Be sure to ask lots of questions! When you ask questions of your followers, you’ll get a chance to hear what they have to say. Asking questions is a great way to source information for blog posts, or just to get to know those who are following you. Sometimes Twitter functions like a water cooler at work. Don’t be afraid to have fun with your questions.

Another benefit of asking questions is that when people respond, it’s like free advertising. They will reply to your question with the @ symbol and your user name. Other people who are following them but not you will see your user name and may join your followers list.

It’s best to tweet (update) on a busy hour of the day, wherever your audience is located. So if you are looking for UK traffic, don’t expect USA traffic hours to have a lot of UK people online on the site.

Check your busy tweet hours at TweetStats.

TweetRush is still in beta, but definitely worth a look!

Finally, make sure that you get readers from your blog to follow your Twitter feeds. There are plugins & widgets that you can add to the sidebar of your blog, and you can remind people in your posts to follow you on Twitter.

Top 20 Most Popular Social Bookmarking Websites | July 2009

Here are the 20 Largest Social Bookmarking Sites ranked by a combination of Inbound Links, Alexa Rank, and U.S. traffic data from Compete and Quantcast. Although no traffic metrics are completely accurate we do believe the data below to be useful for gauging relative audience size.

1 twitter

486,750,806 - Inbound Links 19,728,619 - Compete Monthly Visitors 21,900,000 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors 38 - Alexa Ranking.

2 digg.com

383,598,000 - Inbound Links 33,433,760 - Compete Monthly Visitors 11,400,000 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors 183 - Alexa Ranking.

3 Yahoo! Buzz

20,031,000 - Inbound Links 8,119,906 - Compete Monthly Visitors 3,600,000 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors NA - Alexa Ranking.

4 StumbleUpon.com

234,000,000 - Inbound Links 4,418,609 - Compete Monthly Visitors 1,100,000 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors 362 - Alexa Ranking.

5 reddit.com

161,685,000 - Inbound Links 4,908,990 - Compete Monthly Visitors 1,300,000 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors 441 - Alexa Ranking.

6 Technorati.com

175,287,000 - Inbound Links 3,309,174 - Compete Monthly Visitors 2,000,000 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors 662 - Alexa Ranking.

7 del.icio.us

427,665,000 - Inbound Links 1,623,083 - Compete Monthly Visitors 317,000 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors 2,476 - Alexa Ranking.

8 kaboodle.com

2,600,000 - Inbound Links 3,941,212 - Compete Monthly Visitors 2,500,000 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors 1,694 - Alexa Ranking.

9 mixx.com

16,005,000 - Inbound Links 879,108 - Compete Monthly Visitors 2,200,000 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors 645 - Alexa Ranking.

10 Propeller.com

5,725,000 - Inbound Links 1,164,549 - Compete Monthly Visitors 624,000 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors 1,801 - Alexa Ranking.

11 newsvine.com

71,708,775 - Inbound Links 1,142,779 - Compete Monthly Visitors 1,300,000 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors 5,545 - Alexa Ranking.

12 Fark.com

36,162,723 - Inbound Links 652,762 - Compete Monthly Visitors 1,300,000 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors 4,119 - Alexa Ranking.

13 Slashdot.org

37,566,035 - Inbound Links 862,416 - Compete Monthly Visitors 404,000 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors 970 - Alexa Ranking.

14 twine.com

343,090 - Inbound Links 1,062,304 - Compete Monthly Visitors 188,000 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors 19,592 - Alexa Ranking.

15 clipmarks.com

461,141 - Inbound Links 379,354 - Compete Monthly Visitors 507,000 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors 6,330 - Alexa Ranking.

16 dzone.com

3,867,009 - Inbound Links 281,098 - Compete Monthly Visitors 208,000 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors 7,002 - Alexa Ranking.

17 faves.com

1,437,453 - Inbound Links 159,051 - Compete Monthly Visitors 244,000 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors 6,198 - Alexa Ranking.

18 blinklist.com

51,912,576 - Inbound Links 86,650 - Compete Monthly Visitors 44,000 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors 10,985 - Alexa Ranking.

19 diigo.com

8,933,453 - Inbound Links 146,144 - Compete Monthly Visitors 30,000 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors 7,569 - Alexa Ranking.

20 simpy.com

25,805,730 - Inbound Links 54,581 - Compete Monthly Visitors 39,600 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors 19,964 - Alexa Ranking.

20 Largest Social Bookmarking Sites Updated 7/10/2009 eBizMBA