7 Tips to Increase Blog Traffic Today

Blogging has become a popular form of self-expression for individuals who blog recreationally as well as a means of marketing and brand building for business bloggers. Many new bloggers face the challenge of getting viewers to their blog after they have built it and produced content. After setting up your blog it's important to take a few extra steps to increase blog traffic.
Here are 7 ways to increase blog traffic and get more visitors to your site:
  1. Search Engines - make sure that your blog is visible to the major search engines (such as Google, MSN/Yahoo). When visitors type in keywords into a search engine, the goal is to have your blog show up in the first 10 search results.
  2. Become part of a blogging tribe - Working as a team is a lot better than working by yourself. Join a team of bloggers who will share each other's content to their own social media/social bookmarking networks. This way your content will spread faster increasing your traffic easier than doing this on your own.
  3. Build a presence on online social networks - once you set up your profiles at the major social networks, start a conversation with others who will be most receptive to your message. Show off your latest blog content.
  4. Use social bookmarking - this is a great way to share with other the most interesting content across the web. Tag your website with relevant keywords on the most popular social bookmarking sites (such as StumbleUpon, Digg, etc.) making it easy for your target market to find your blog.
  5. Participate in guest blogging - guest blogging means writing articles/producing content for other established blogs in your niche or allowing skilled bloggers to produce content for your blog. Your content on someone else's blog helps
  6. Build a subscriber list through email marketing - Did you know that only a small percentage of people who visit your blog (or any website for that matter) will purchase on the spot? This is why it's important to collect at least an email from your blog visitors so that you can follow-up with them over time and build a relationship. You can also send your blog posts out to other bloggers email lists if they have built a large subscriber following.
  7. Participate in forum marketing - participating in forums that are within your niche are a great way to learn and showcase your experience and knowledge. Many forums also allow you to place a hyperlink (make it point back to your blog) in your signature.
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Blog Writing Tips

Blogs are a great way to attract viewers to your company's website. They are continually being updated, which keeps readers coming back for more, and they help you enter into a conversation with those who visit your website. Website design needs to be eye catching, but don't forget to keep your content alluring as well. Blogs help keep your website's content fresh and exciting. But blog writing can also be hard. Here are a few tips on how to combat writer's block, creativity lapses, and anything else that might stunt your blogging.
The dreaded writer's block. It happens to all of us. Sometimes we sit down to write and nothing comes to us! We have no ideas, no thought provoking conversations we can enter into, and no motivation. Well, there is no cure for writer's block. However, there are some things you can do to help overcome it. First of all, if you are having one of those writer's block days, just take some time to walk away from the computer or notepad. Give your mind a break from thinking, and just relax. Think about what you've written in the past, what subjects have attracted readers before, and what sort of things would be relevant to write about today. More than likely, you will be able to think of something.
If that fails, try free writing. Write down ideas or sentences or paragraphs of different things. One of your threads is bound to take you somewhere, and you may be able to flesh out an entire blog post. Free writing is a great exercise to do before you even sit down at your computer. It gets the creative juices flowing!
When you're out and about, keep your ears open and have a pad of paper and pen with you at all times. Inspiration can strike at any point, and if you catch wind of any good ideas for blogs topics, you should write them down. It will help you in those moments of writer's block.
A good blog always needs a good title. Some writers create a title after their blog is complete. For others, the title is the first thing they write down. Whichever camp you fall into, make sure your title is catchy and informative. It should draw the reader in without being misleading. You can use catch phrases, old sayings, or alliterations; the more creative your title is, the better. Another good tactic is combining a catchy title with a subtitle that describes more what the article is about. For example: From Riches to Rags: The story of the Kardashian's Fall from the Top. The Kardashian's, of course, have not yet fallen from the top, but if they had, people would be interested in reading about it. This title would definitely peak some reader interest.
When you are writing, make sure spelling and grammar is in check. Have someone proofread your work, or enable spell and grammar check on your computer. Everyone makes mistakes, but you won't earn credibility among your readership if you have poor grammar.
Blogs have the potential to attract lots of readers to your company's website; just make sure that you have interesting things to write about. Anything that you have to say that is relevant to your company and your audience is worth sharing with your readership. So start blogging, and keep these tips in mind.
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