5 Quick Tips for Boosting Traffic
Here are a few traffic-building tips that are worth reiterating. We’ve mentioned these things before, but if you’re not doing them, now’s the time.
1. Promote the heck out of that audio interview.
It’s fresh content and a different type of post than your run-of-the-mill news story reaction posts. Tell your potential readers about it in any way that you can! Engage with your community, since you have exclusive content that they might be interested in. Search Facebook and other social networking sites for groups that pertain to your topic. Don’t forget to check out Ning. There are more than 2,000 people in Ning’s social networking site for coffeehouse baristas. Your topic probably has a group, too.
2. Market your site in all your online endeavors.
Chances are you have accounts for lots of sites and Web services. Make sure each of those accounts is plugging your blog! Link everywhere: G-chat status, Facebook status and profile, Twitter profile and tweets, LinkedIn profile and–most importantly–your Medill Reports Author Profile Page. There are lots of other possibilities. Make your online identity work for you!
3. Comment, Comment, Comment, Link, Link, Comment, Comment
To paraphrase the Beatles, the comments you give are equal to the comments you take. If you leave comments on a lot of blogs, viewers of those blogs will check out your site and the owners of those blogs will definitely want to know who you are. If they like what they see, visitors will become comment-leavers who will become subscribers. Also, charity starts at home. Read and comment on each other’s blogs! Usually if someone sees that there is a comment on a post, they will read that post more closely, read the comment and be more inclined to join the conversation.
4. Sexy Titles
The power of a keyword in your post’s title cannot be understated. That keyword appears in your URL, which gets indexed by Google, which leads people to your site via search. Also, repeat customers would much rather read a post with an intriguing title than a dull one. Wouldn’t you?
5. Get More Tips
If you truly are obsessed with your page views and absolute unique visitor rates, there are lots of online resources with tips about improving traffic. I’ve been subscribed to ProBlogger for a few months now and I’ve read a lot of useful tips and tricks there. Check it out!