Everyone wants to get the word out, and for business blogging, this can be very important for getting traffic to your blog. Are you doing these things?
- Make sure your blog posts can be shared. On many blogs, you will see buttons or links for “Subscribe” (or “RSS”), buttons for del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, Reddit, Digg and so on (see the “Share this” at the bottom of this post). People us these tools to subscribe to your posts (use a feed program like Feedreader or a web site like Bloglines to see your subscriptions).del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, Digg and Reddit are “social bookmarking” sites; if people like your blog post, they will submit it to these services where other people can find your blog. These services can bring tremendous amounts of traffic to good blog postings.To install these tools, you can sign up for services at Feedburner.com for RSS subscription tools, and there are lots of plug-ins for syndication tools. I use a WordPress plug-in called “Share-this”, and the individual syndication sites have snippits of code you can put on your site to facilitate sharing.
- Submit your own content to the syndication services. Once. Digging and Stumbling your own content is fair, but do it only once. Let others find your post, and if it is good, the traffic will come. The places I syndicate my content: Google Bookmarks, StumbleUpon, Digg, Technorati, Reddit and del.icio.us.
- Comment on other people’s blogs. Most blog commenting tools have a place where you can enter a web site address (see below) - use this to create a link back to your own blog. Rule when commenting: don’t comment for the sake of commenting, make it good and relevant to the discussion. The links from other people’s blogs are very search engine friendly; Google likes blogs and links from blogs. Incorporate this strategy as part of a SEO strategy.
- Write compelling, easily readable content. There are many reasons people read blogs, and there are a few formulas for writing popular postings. My rule, and the goal of this particular blog: give people some tips and advice on design and marketing they can use immediately and every day.Easy-to-read content is also key. Long blocks of text with no breaks is difficult to read; lists are very easy. Use bold and italics to highlight important points and provide places where people’s eyes are automatically attracted. Good web typography is important.
Any other ideas? Share your tips in the comments!
October 24th, 2007 at 9:31 am
Thanks for this post, Dave. I’ve been looking for a plugin or easy widget to add to my blog posts for a while now. Share-this is perfect and it’s now installed on my blog.
I was always aware that commenting on the posts of others was a great way to generate interest in and traffic to your own blog. That is, of course, what makes blogging part of the social media phenomenon. And, I take it to heart the idea that posts should be succinct and well-formatted. I can’t read page-long, single-paragraph posts. It’s too much work.
I might add that it took me some work to find blogs that I wanted to comment on … but using bloglines and google reader helped me generate my own blogroll, or, the community of blogs I visit regularly. They also help me find content for my own blog.
October 24th, 2007 at 10:54 am
[…] DesignWalk wrote an interesting post today on 4 ways to bring people to your blogHere’s a quick excerpt Everyone wants to get the word out, and for business blogging, … like Feedreader or a web site like Bloglines to see your subscriptions).del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, Digg and Reddit … have a place where you can enter a web site address (see below) - use this to create a link back to your own […]