Jun 23

Written by:
2010/06/23 08:04 PM 

I’ve been going over a small series on blog traffic these past few days. We spoke about using live and newsworthy events to drive traffic to your site. We spoke about what to do if your traffic stagnates or plateaus out. We also saw some horrific ways to kill your traffic.

Although focusing too much on blog traffic can be detrimental in many ways, it is still an important aspect of keeping one’s blog or website alive. Probably one of the biggest searches with regards to blogs is how to increase or boost traffic.

There are many ways to do so, and I have spoken about many. But boosting your traffic is one thing. Trying to sustain a certain level of traffic is a whole new ball game.

Readers are traffic

What is traffic? Well simply put it is users browsing to your blog or site to read a page. Therefore we can conclude emphatically that readers equal traffic. The more readers you have the more traffic you have, and vice versa. If no one is reading your blog, then you don’t have traffic.

Simple, but many people miss that, and I will tell you why in a bit.

Build your community

If readers equal traffic then it stands to reason that the primary objective is to build a community of readers. Either loyal or interested passersby.

So then how does one go about building a community with the primary goal of building sustainable traffic?

Comment on other blogs

It has been proved that commenting on other blogs could increase traffic to your blog.  Leave good relevant comments. I hate comments like “Good post” or some innocuous comment that is just a combination of meaningless words but have no substance. Like “The article's content rich variety which make us move for our mood after reading this article. Surprise, here you will find what you want!”

Leave good comments. Combine it with humour. If you have something controversial to say, be tactful. Carry on an adult conversation. Don’t be juvenile about your comments.

Link to your readers blogs

It’s amazing how link luv can build up a community and trust, as well as build traffic. Passing some valuable link juice not only encourages the other person, but might also encourage them to link back to you.

But don’t link out for the sole purpose of getting back links. Link out because it’s the right thing to do. Link out because you want to promote your readers blogs to your community, because you want to send traffic to them.

You will be surprised how linking to your readers will build and increase your traffic.

Build Relationships with your commenter’s

Too many people take their commenter’s for granted. These people are your blogs bread and butter. Treat them with respect.

Engage and interact with your commenter. Befriend them, help them out. Try to build them up and promote their website or blog wherever possible.

Always try to lead them to some resource that will fulfil what they are looking for. Don’t be scared about them leaving your site. If you’ve built up a trust relationship then they will be back.

If they come back you have gained a loyal and respected reader and more traffic. Blog traffic is all about relationships

Engage in Social Networking

Social Networking is huge. With 200 million Twitter users and 400 million Facebook users, you would be daft not to realise the potential that social networking can have in building traffic.

But I’m not talking just about using social networks to promote your site, but how you can be an asset to your network of followers.

People follow you on your chosen social network, not just so that you can promote your site or blog to them, but because they believe that you as an individual have some knowledge that is worth seeking after.

Don’t disappoint. Use social networks to engage your audience. Build up that trust. Re-tweet their tweets. Promote their posts. Laugh with them and cry with them.

You will see your traffic grow.

Guest Posts

Not only should you be looking for guest post opportunities, but also open your blog to guest posting. Guest posting is a valuable tool to building a community.

It also opens you and your blog to new readers, which means more traffic. On the flip side receiving guest posts introduces new content, new writing styles, new authors to your readers.

This not only builds up a sense of belonging but also a sense of comradery. That's always good for traffic.

Listen more

Too many people just want to speak and brag. Too much of self. Learn to listen and read more. Listen to what your commenters are saying or asking.

Sometimes you need to take their advice. Don’t let your pride get in the way. After all, you don’t know everything there is to know in your niche.

Conclusion

So to conclude the best way to build sustainable traffic is to build a community. Develop friends. Build up others first. Doing so will cause them to be loyal to you.

Just like we said at the beginning. More readers equals more traffic.

Remember your blog is not for you, it’s for your readers.

If there is anyway I can help of be of service, just ask.

Related Reading:

Generating Traffic For Your Blog and Website

If you want more traffic for your blog, you have to give more traffic.

Want traffic and exposure for your blog - get involved in post swap

How To Build A Closer Relationship With Your Blog’s Readers.

Remember you can win a weeks worth of free ad space just for commenting. The best comments during the week will get a weeks free advertising space. Check out: Win free advertising for your blog

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