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The all-elusive blog traffic - how do you get more of it?
Here’s a little help, some from Seth Godin, some from yours truly; but either way, these 60+ tips to increase your blog traffic are yours to use or forget about.
- Use lists
- Be topical… write posts that need to be read right now.
- Learn enough to become the expert in your field.
- Break news.
- Be timeless… write posts that will be readable in a year.
- Be among the first with a great blog on your topic, then encourage others to blog on the same topic.
- Share your expertise generously so people recognize it and depend on you.
- Announce news.
- Write short, pithy posts.
- Start a debate.
- Encourage your readers to help you manipulate the technorati top blog list.
- Don’t write about your cat, your boyfriend or your kids.
- Write long, definitive posts.
- Write about your kids.
- Be snarky. Write nearly libelous things about fellow bloggers, daring them to respond (with links back to you) on their blog.
- Be sycophantic. Share link love and expect some back.
- Include polls, meters and other eye candy.
- Tag your posts. Use del.ico.us.
- Coin a term or two.
- Ask your readers questions.
- Do email interviews with the well-known.
- Answer your email.
- Answer your blog comments.
- Comment on other blogs.
- Use photos. Salacious ones are best.
- Be anonymous.
- Be interesting and mysterious.
- Encourage your readers to digg your posts. (and to use furl and reddit). Do it with every post.
- Post your photos on flickr.
- Encourage your readers to subscribe by RSS.
- Start at the beginning and take your readers through a months-long education.
- Include comments, so your blog becomes a virtual water cooler that feeds itself.
- Assume that every day is the beginning, because you always have new readers.
- Highlight your best posts on your Squidoo lens.
- Point to useful but little-known resources.
- Write about stuff that appeals to the majority of current blog readers-like gadgets and web 2.0.
- Write about Google.
- Have relevant ads that are even better than your content.
- Don’t include comments, people will cross post their responses.
- Write posts that each include dozens of trackbacks to dozens of blog posts so that people will notice you.
- Run no ads.
- Keep tweaking your template to make it include every conceivable bell or whistle.
- Write about blogging.
- Digest the good ideas of other people, all day, every day.
- Invent a whole new kind of art or interaction.
- Post on weekdays, because there are more readers.
- Write about a never-ending parade of different topics so you don’t bore your readers.
- Post on weekends, because there are fewer new posts.
- Don’t interrupt your writing with a lot of links.
- Dress your blog (fonts and design) as well as you would dress yourself for a meeting with a stranger.
- Edit yourself. Ruthlessly.
- Don’t promote yourself and your business or your books or your projects at the expense of the reader’s attention.
- Be patient.
- Give credit to those that inspired, it makes your writing more useful.
- Ping technorati. Or have someone smarter than me tell you how to do it automatically.
- Write about only one thing, in ever-deepening detail, so you become definitive.
- Write in English.
- Better, write in Chinese.
- Write about obscure stuff that appeals to an obsessed minority.
- Don’t be boring.
- Or be boring Ben Stein-style.
- Write stuff that people want to read and share.
How about it? Some 60+ tips to increase your blog traffic.
Now don’t pretend you don’t know how to do it; just go do it.
Blog traffic - made easy.
You are right: you don’t have to comment or retweet, but would it help if I told you it would be much appreciated?

About the Author: Ana Hoffman is the founder of Traffic Generation Cafe and wants you to know that Thesis + Scribe = SEO Made Simple. Get more from Ana on Facebook.
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{ 35 comments… read them below or add one }
Hm - indeed, twitter is a challenge. You may have convinced me to tak eit serious - let’s see what IU think after a good night’s sleep
. Coup de twitter - well not so impressed.
Cheers
Frieke Karlovits
Frieke Karlovits invites you to read: Red Personalities – Traditionally Called Choleric
I appreciate your honesty Frieke. Let me know, what you think after getting that sleep.
Take care,
Ana
Back to morning here in Austria
Ana - you made me think about twitter - I will check it out more closely, but not via a paid course. There are other ways 
Take care - always enjoying your posts.
Frieke
Frieke Karlovits invites you to read: Red Personalities – Traditionally Called Choleric
This is great. Having all those tips are really pretty amazing! Now I don’t have the reason to not getting blog traffic.
Lorelie invites you to read: BPO Philippines- Indispensable Business Process Outsourcing Hub
You said it, Lorelie!
~Ana
PS Thanks for stopping by!
Hi Ana
Awesome list of driving traffic to a blog.
Your whole blog is really great and informative.
Thanks for sharing
I appreciate your feedback, Scott, and thanks for stopping by!
~Ana
Excellent list Ana! Fun and lively. I love it!
Thanks for bringing “Fresh” back into the air!
Yours truly.

Thomas C. Chandler invites you to read: Be Careful…
Fun and lively - good to hear that, Thomas.
Hi Ana. We just connected on Twitter. Thought you’d like to know how I found your blog.
Thanks for all the tips, Ana. They’re interesting because they’re thought provoking. I’m always looking for the secret to getting more blog traffic. Always looking … But I already know the secret … The secret is THERE IS NO SECRET! It’s pretty much common sense, consistent effort and netiquette. I like #34. I did that - Once - Then forgot. Thanks for the memory jogger. Now if I just had another 4 hours in my day - Or a clone!
~Marilyn
Welcome, Marilyn:
I found it very thoughtful of you to let me know where we met - it’s always great to know what works and what does not.
You are so right - there is no secret! Just a lot of work… and if we are willing or make it a priority to do half of what we know, we become successful.
Squidoo is great for backlinks, since they are “dofollow”.
I hope to see you back soon, Marilyn.
Hey Ana,
These are some great tips to drive traffic. I have to say that number 62 is probably the most important though. If you’re not writing about what people want to know and share then there would be no point in writing about it. The main focus is to provide value and find out what people are talking about. Once you do that, you will drive more traffic to your blog. I look forward to more of your blog posts!!
Sherman
You are so right, Sherman - I did save the most important tip for the last one.
Great post Ana I love these tips especially 7,15 and 19 I found those very interesting. I am thinking of some ways to use 15 and antagonize some of my blogger friends. As far as 55 I think you can do that through your twitter rss somehow sorry I couldn’t be of more help.
Steve Shoemaker
I’ve been told that I don’t have any problems with 15 - I am not the most tactful person I know, so my blog comments are usually to the point and if I don’t like something, you’ll hear it:).
19 would be great - I think things like that just happen, you can’t force it.
I did not look too much into automating Technorati pinging; I can’t imagine it can’t be done though.
Thanks for your input, Steve, and it was pleasure to see you on my blog.
Ana
Hi Ana,
I love posts like this one, good practical advice that is easy to use.
Not too sure about #39 though, why have a blog if you don’t want to interact with your readers?
I am definitely going to print out(swipe) the list.
Mike
Good point, Michael -I am glad you asked.
#39 is one of the strategies used to get backlinks. The theory behind it is that if you close the comments, then your visitors who want to comment on what you said will have to do it on their own blogs and link to your original post.
It will only work though if you write about something controversial (or else nobody will care to talk about it) and are good at creating some traffic and conversation going to bring people in to see the post.
It’s just one of the techniques out there; won’t work for everybody, but still has very good potential.
Thanks for stopping by!
As a relatively new blogger, I really appreciate all these many wise tips! My passion is to educate the world about all the heroes out there, sung and unsung, and to help people realize their full potential. Thank you so much!
Pleasure to see you on my blog, Scott - glad you found it useful.
I just got back from your blog; love your content, I learned a few things!
Ana,
You provided some great ideas here , many that I woul dhave not thought much about….then I got to the write in Chinese and almost fell out of my chair laughing….. It kept me wanting to read more…. thank you as always
Thanks, Robert - gotta keep it entertaining
.
Wow that’s pretty comprehensive! Love the comment write in Chinese - I love putting the comments into babel fish to see what pops out! One of my favorite Bloggers is also Seth Godin - short regular Blogs that confront and activate the brain cells- Keep up the great work…Cheers kiaran
Seth Godin is definitely inspiring… Writing in Chinese - great way to stand out!
Hmm, coin a term or two
How about Anaterrific, or Anaize your blog
Thanks Ana for all of the great tips
Love them
.
Now you understand I will have to claim them as my own…
Thanks for stopping by, Peter!
Ana,
Some great ideas you share on getting more Blog Traffic, I am going to share this with my friends, followers and partners.
“Be interesting and mysterious.”
Time to get to work on that one ..:)
Enjoy your Day
Thanks for stopping by, Chris!
Yes, I have a few of my favorites as well:).
I appreciate the share!
Wow, Ana! These are terrific tips! No more excuses for not getting a good amount of blog traffic.
Thanks for all what you bring to the table… I always look forward to your posts packed with killer tips and strategies to generate more traffic!
All the best,
Mavis Nong
P.S. I LOVE your new opt-in box - very nice… I’m working on mine
Thanks, Mavis! I am still tweaking the optin box - there is always room for improvement.
Turns out getting traffic is not that hard!
Ana
Ana,
Your content is AWESOME!! I love reading your blog and watching
your videos on You Tube. AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME!!
I don’t know if this is the same as what you have listed, but I also
go to pinggoat.com. If not, #62.
I noticed when I post my articles to directories, you can only include links to my blog and capture pages in the author’s box. I can’t put any anchor texts in the actual content. Do you know if this is the same for all directories, I mainly use Ezine.com.
Keep it coming
Tommy D.
MLM Prospecting Hero
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Tommy!
I’ve never heard of pinggoat.com and when I went to check it out, it did not appear to be an active site.
You CAN post links in the body of article, even on Ezine.com - the catch is you have to do it at the bottom of the article, roughly in the second half of it, I should say.
See you around, Tommy!
Regarding “pinggoat.com..
I think the link is
http://pingoat.com/
Indeed, Chuck - thanks for the correction. The address is actually: http://pingoat.net/
Writing several blog posts per day sometimes affects attention to detail.
Ana
Hey Ana, Great info …and love your call to action
Thanks, Liz - I had fun with it. I am now working on 202 blog traffic tips, but who knows, it might turn into 303 or more.
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