Ways of Creating Traffic to Your Blog

By Emmanuel Chukwu

There are things that you can do to help get traffic to your blog for free without every having to pay anything. I created this list after asking myself what drives me to reading others blogs. Once you ask yourself this question, you too can create your own list. I am not like some of the other bloggers, I don't just tell you what to do, I give you a reason of why you should do it to get traffic to your blog. Enjoy the list and be sure to comment or add your own into the mix.

1. Content

Just like everyone has said from the beginning, content is king. If your content is worth reading then this can generate traffic to your blog and give you a potential income if this is what you are after. Write content that is worth reading and your readers will stick around for a while and maybe even tell their friends.

2. Make it search engine friendly

This isn't exactly necessary but it does work to some extent. I have heard many saying that you should create a blog with a domain name that tells what your blog is all about. 

3. Submitting your blog

Every now and then, search engines like Google need a little helping hand to find your blog. Submit your blog to search engines and make it easier for people who are looking for you. This also helps search engines to get your blog indexed more quickly.

4. Ping blogging services

There are many places that allow you to ping your blog but Pingomatic is the best that I have found so far. Pinging helps to get traffic to your blog by pinging different services to tell them that you have updated your blog. If you use Wordpress, you may enter these in the pinging field to allow these services to be pinged automatically. Technorati even has a pinging service that you can use and we all know how important people think that the technorati authority is.

5. Build relevant links to your blog

This has been a touch situation for many bloggers since there are a lot of them that say that this is the wrong way to get traffic to your blog. In any case, I haven't seen it hurt anyone but I do recommend that you only get linked back to your blog by other relevant blogs. In order to get traffic to your blog by building links you will need to create or do a few things first. Commenting on relevant blogs is one way to get traffic to your blog, writing free article for free article directories is another but this is another touch issue; leaving trackbacks to other blogs can also help you to get links built.

6. Contest your way to getting traffic to your blog

I have seen many do this and it has proven to work. Create a contest of your choice and ask the participants to write a blog post about your blog with a link back. Give something good away so that you will drive more attention to your blog. The more people that enjoy what you are giving away, the more people will want to blog about you. A contest doesn't just help in getting traffic to you blog it can also have many other benefits.

7. Become and expert and start getting traffic to your blog

There is nothing worse than trying to get traffic to a blog that knows nothing about what they are posting. If you are just starting out or have been blogging for a while, take the time to learn as much as you possibly can about the subject. The more you know, the more you can blog about and the more you can teach people. Once you are an expert and people realize this, they will continue to come to your blog which in return means more traffic for you.

8. Start a tutorial

A tutorial doesn't have to be complicated and many more people will sign up for your RSS Feed or continue to return if you can promise them something worth returning over. I started my one year goal in hopes that I would accomplish my mission of making it as one of the top bloggers and this is a bit of a tutorial that I started for my readers. In my One Year Goal I will be giving all my readers the tips and secrets that I am using to get to the top by following a top blogger for a full month. If you want to see how this tutorial goes, sign up for my RSS Feed and learn along with me.

9. Write something that will get linked to

These are actually a favorite of mine since many will link back to you and help in getting more traffic to your blog. A great list is something like a resource list, list of tips, advice that everyone can use, Top whatever list. These types of list seem to draw the most attention and will create more links back to your blog. I also like doing a number list.

10. Become an active blogger

Being active will help in getting traffic to your blog. The more people see your name, the more they are going to want to know about you. I am very active in forums, blogs, and anywhere else that I can be. I have found that if you are active and use your URL in places that allow you to use it, people will click.