Blogging Resources

You’ve put a lot of work into your blog, and you put more in every day. But without a steady stream of traffic, no one’s the wiser. Use these seven tips to get more traffic to your blog.

1) Do your SEO and keyword research homework.

Make sure the HTML of your site is search engine friendly. Here’s a basic search engine optimization checklist:

· Do your post titles have appropriate keywords?
· Do your anchor links have keywords in them? Using “here” as a link is a missed opportunity.
· Does your domain name include a primary keyword?

2) Submit your site to the 1st and 2nd tier engines like Google, Yahoo, Dmoz, MSN and Looksmart, and to the blog directories.

Here’s a short list of sites that offer free blog listings:

Blog Search
Technorati
Bloglines
Blogdex
Blogwise
WeBlogALot
Globe of Blogs
BlogHop
Blogarama

3) Ping like you mean it.

This is a way for you to raise your hand to the blog trackers when you’ve posted new content. You can do it site by site at places like Technorati, or go to Ping-o-matic () and mass-ping your blog to over 20 sites. Make sure your blog is set up to ping the appropriate sites every time you publish a post.

4) Feed your RSS.

Make sure your blog has one and that it’s working. An RSS feed is a bit of XML that allows your blog to push content to RSS readers. That way people don’t have to visit your site to get your latest insights – they just open their RSS reader and read the news. If your blog is at Blogger.com, don’t worry about an RSS feed – its already been created for you. If you’re not at Blogger.com and your current blog doesn’t have RSS functionality, visit Feedcraft.com and sign up for their free service that will set up an RSS feed from any website (blog or not).

5) Swap links.

Make a list of relevant sites you’d love to link to your blog. Write them a short friendly note and offer to let them use a few of your posts as content on their site in exchange for a link back to your site. Also, link to their sites from within one of your posts.

Be sure to offer to exchange links in the links section of your blog. Most blog software programs offer this.

There are also sites that special in helping bloggers swap links. Web Log Empire () is a large one. If you’re willing to pay for a link to your site, check out Text-Link-Ads (http://www.text-link-ads.com/)

6) Be part of the blogging community.

Go to other blog sites you admire. Contribute to their blogs in ways that add real value. Write good, thoughtful comments that are content rich. Give away what you know. Do it a lot – at least 3 posts a week. Over time you’ll become recognized as someone who has something worthwhile to say. As your reputation grows, people will seek out your blog. This is not an overnight process, but by paying your dues and building an audience you are positioning yourself to become a star.

By the way, if your site doesn’t have the functionality for visitors at add comments, Haloscan () is a free service that will let them do so. It also allows for “trackbacking”, which is a way to manage pings.

7) Write your blog!

Put everything you’ve got into it. Make it great. Post as frequently as you can. The search engines will note frequent postings. A blog that has a new post every day is obviously more active – and important – than a blog that was set up in 2003, has 4 posts, and has been dead since 2004. To really make your blog get noticed you’ll need to post at least 2-3 times a week. 

About the Author:

This article has been authored by Anik Singal, an extremely successful and young internet entrepreneur and affiliate marketing consultant. Anik has developed his own affiliate marketing system that helped him earn over $10,466 in 60 days – Enroll in his FREE course today… http://www.AffiliateClassroom.com/free-course.html

Source: www.isnare.com

Technorati Tags: wordpress, blog, blog traffic, blogging, rss feed, blogging-resources.com, John Hocking

by Joseph Dilworth Jr.

Have you ever read a particularly thought-provoking post on a blog that really made you want to leave a comment joining in on the conversation only to find out that the blog was “members only?” I’m not talking about blogs that make you register in order to stop spam comments, but the type of registration that requires a review by the blog owner for an indeterminate amount of time. Generally, I doubt one would write down their comment and save it until such time that they may or may not be accepted as a member of the blog. Besides, by then several other posts will have already buried the interesting post way down in the blog. There are very valid reasons for limiting who can and who can’t post comments on your blog, but there are also implications to consider when doing so.

The aforementioned spam comments are probably the most common reason for limiting who can comment on your blog. Spam isn’t just for email anymore as those that deal in such insidious things have now figured out how to fill your comments with all those useless ads and legally questionable too-good-to-be-true free offers. I haven’t given these idiots enough thought energy to research how they are able to spam comment, but it seems to be turning up more and more. Fortunately there are things like Haloscan commenting that you can add to your blog to ensure all your commenters are real live human beings.

Another reason could be that you only want people that you know to comment on your blog. This could be because your blog is on a very specific subject and you only want people who are interested in that subject to be part of the conversation. This is another understandable reason as you don’t want idiots ridiculing your knitting blog time after time. This is why celebrities who blog oftentimes don’t allow comments at all, except through email. This is perfectly understandable as they run the risk of too many people commenting to the point of hampering the server that their blog is on.

A more narcissistic reason could be that you really only want people who agree with your opinions to post comments. Here is where I think we run into a problem. First of all, if you’re going to post about things of interest to everyone, such as politics or community issues, is it really socially responsible to limit those who can comment to only those that you choose? In other words, what’s the point of making commentary or espousing an opinion that you know is going to be acceptable to some yet inflammatory to others, but you don’t allow those that disagree to speak their mind? I know of a few blogs that often post very passionate, sometimes factually incorrect or hateful content, yet limit comments to only those they approve of. If you want your blog to only be read by those that you’ve chosen, make it necessary to login to the blog to read it. Otherwise you just come across as a self-important.

In the real world we are insulated by like-minded friends and a narrow world view in the local paper or on the national news. The internet knows no such boundaries and is not limited to one ideology or thought process. Open your blog and, by extension, your mind, to the world and you may just be surprised by what you learn. If your core beliefs are too fragile to stand up to such an audience, then perhaps blogging isn’t for you. Then again, it may be time for a new way of thinking. In that spirit, I welcome any and all comments.

You can read Joe’s personal blog and freely comment on anything you agree or disagree with him about.