Thursday, September 24, 2009

6 tips for getting your blog noticed

I read lots of social media blogs and participate in some great blogging communities and one of the most often-asked questions by bloggers is "How can I get more people to notice my blog?" While there are books and entire consulting business built around answering that question, there are definitely some basic, self-help tactics that can make a huge difference. I work with thousands of bloggers and here are six easy tips that seem to really help:

1. Twitter

If you are a blogger, it really pays to learn to love Twitter. Its a great way to share your new posts with a large audience and find other blogs to comment on. You can also search Twitter by topic (i.e. "teenagers" or "day care") and share your posts with people who are looking for info you might have blogged about.

2. Use Categories and Tag on your posts

Both Blogger and Wordpress let you add keywords to each post (and WP lets you add categories). Assigning a category to each post helps your readers find "buckets" of posts that were written about the same topic. If they liked your posts about "disciplining a toddler" or "getting toddlers to each vegetables", they might like your other posts about toddlers. Also, take a few moments with each post and think about what terms someone might type into Google. Adding those keywords helps search engines connect your blog with people who are looking for topics you've written about. Here's a great article from Problogger on Using Categories and Tags Effectively.

3. Comment on other posts
Not just a quick "hi - love your pics!" but a genuine, thoughtful comment that tells that blogger you really connected with their site and looked around. Your comment can add value to that bloggers post by providing even more info for their readers. Make your comment as interesting to read as the post.

4. Guest post on other blogs
Most sites and blogs are always looking for more content and posts. It gives the blog author a break for a day and exposes your writing to new readers. Its tempting to think that your efforts would be better spent on your own blog but giving to others ALWAYS comes back to you.

5. Link to bigger blogs
I'm not suggesting you go link-crazy but its helps your Google rankings when you link to larger blogs that have high "credibility" ratings with search engines. So if you are posting about something at Target, go ahead and hyperlink to their site. If you blogging about a product, store, celebrity, quoting from a news source, visiting a city - link to their site.

6. Add social tools to your blog such as BlogFrog
BlogFrog is a network of almost 20,000 bloggers who all link to one another via widgets. So when you visit a BlogFrog site, your blog actually shows up on their widget for ALL their readers to see. It drives reciprocal traffic. You can even add an instant community to your site that lets readers interact, which draws more traffic. (In the interest of full disclosure, I am one of the founders of BlogFrog. Members have shared many stories about how their traffic has increased after signing up for BlogFrog because more people were discovering their blogs so I thought it appropriate to share).

Just wanted to share some tips that bloggers I have worked with seem to really like. If you have tips or advice you'd like to share - please comment!

18 comments:

Jen - Balancing Beauty and Bedlam said...

I just heard about Blog Frog from toni - the happy housewife. I am going to research it since she gives it a thumbs up. :)

Unknown said...

I can't quite wrap my arms around BlogFrog. I have an account, but I am not seeing the benefit. Hmmm, could I be doing something wrong?

Holly said...

Jen - thanks for the review. If you happen to do a post about BlogFrog with your comments, please send me the link so we can share with others.

Kirsten - I'd love to explore how we can get BlogFrog to better serve you. Do you have a Recent Visitor or Newsfeed widget on your site? What is your blog URL - I'll go check it out and see what's cooking over there.

Mandy said...

I've been using twitter for about two months now and my blog readership has definitely increased during that time. I find it much easier to find other blogs on my topic through twitter.

Brandie said...

Thanks for the repetition Holly. Here and the CL stuff. I need to see things many times to get it right!!
Brandie

Mandee said...

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog! I'm still trying to figure out the whole blogfrog, but I like what I see so far. :)

Mandee said...

Oops...forgot to mention that I'm following your blog.
http://raisingmy4sons.com

Kimberly @ RaisingOlives said...

Great post Holly. I do a lot of those things, but don't have time for Twitter. If I just do a quick Tweet here and there and don't respond to anyone I feel like I'm being a snob, but I don't have time for more. Any ideas?

Alex said...

Thank you for the tips. I'm trying to put into practice all of those tips. But the one I need to focus more on is Twitter!

Thanks1

JennyMac said...

I have seen Blog Frog but not used it. Thanks for the info!

Daffycat said...

Hello Holly! Thank you for visiting my blog. I promise not to bring any flies on my visit to your blog!

An excellent post. I do many of these things...except Twitter. I've not been beguiled by Twitter yet.

I do think visiting and commenting on other blogs is very important. Not only does the blog author see you but everyone else reading the comments.

I was thrilled to bits to discover Blog Frog. I added the recent visitors widget to my blog so my visitors can see themselves!

Brianne said...

Great Tips, took notes! I will be linking to higher profile sites.

Sharon said...

Thank you for the tips, several of things I have been working on and definitely need to to work on the others. What is your opinion on the services of sites such as entrecard and adgitize?

Healthy Mom said...

I just started with blogfrog and I really appreciated your input. I really liked this information most I had read before but some was new. I am always looking for ways to build my traffic/following. I really appreciate you putting information out that is helpful to someone like me that is relatively new to all of website/blogging world.

Barb said...

Thanks for the tips. I tried BlogFrog before and just didn't get it. Today I am trying out the 14 day trial and liking it a bit more. Having a good time playing with it :)

Unknown said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog. I enjoyed your post on increasing traffic to our blogs. I have tried Blog Frog and have gotten about three hits today. I will try some of your other hints because I really need some help getting my recipe site out there. Thank you and have a wonderful week.

Mrs. M said...

Thanks for stopping by! Checking out your blog now.....

Aysha said...

I must say that I am glad to have discovered blogfrog as it has opened a whole new world to me and my blog. And for a beginner blogger, I could use some of these tips to avoid the common rookie mistakes. Once again thank you!
Aysha

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