The Bloggers With The Most To Say
I'm new. But I'm ok with that now...
I have two questions.
1- I know there's no sure fire way to get people to your blog, but is there any way to get traffic that wont cost an arm and a leg? I've heard that adding tags to your blogs can generate a few hits, but I'd rather have a few people who keep coming back who actually enjoy my blog then have a million people visit once and forget. Sorry I guess this hasn't really been a question... Ok, How do I keep people coming back?
2 - This is a technical question. My blog is about the things we all like as people. ONe of the aspects I want to add is a yes/no vote to each item that we add to then to a top ten I do at the end of the blog. Right now I have a comment system in place, but there was just some sort of chart or switch I could set up so people can just add it themselves I think that would be a lot easier to vote. I just want to encourage people to participate in the blog.
A little about the blog: I think sometimes we all need to be reminded of the finer things in life. The things we all know and love. Things like chocolate milk, sitting in front of a fireplace and of course, mint chocolate chip ice cream on a hot summers day. I then add it to where I feel it should be on the countdown, and then encourage my readers to vote on where it should go, or if it's even something that they like. I hope you come out and check it out.
So yeah, any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thank you!
http://severelylikeable.blogspot.com/
1- I know there's no sure fire way to get people to your blog, but is there any way to get traffic that wont cost an arm and a leg? I've heard that adding tags to your blogs can generate a few hits, but I'd rather have a few people who keep coming back who actually enjoy my blog then have a million people visit once and forget. Sorry I guess this hasn't really been a question... Ok, How do I keep people coming back?
2 - This is a technical question. My blog is about the things we all like as people. ONe of the aspects I want to add is a yes/no vote to each item that we add to then to a top ten I do at the end of the blog. Right now I have a comment system in place, but there was just some sort of chart or switch I could set up so people can just add it themselves I think that would be a lot easier to vote. I just want to encourage people to participate in the blog.
A little about the blog: I think sometimes we all need to be reminded of the finer things in life. The things we all know and love. Things like chocolate milk, sitting in front of a fireplace and of course, mint chocolate chip ice cream on a hot summers day. I then add it to where I feel it should be on the countdown, and then encourage my readers to vote on where it should go, or if it's even something that they like. I hope you come out and check it out.
So yeah, any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thank you!
http://severelylikeable.blogspot.com/
Tags: childhood, favorite, good, help, it, love, technical, things
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by adi on -
for 1:
How about this... YOU take an active interest in other peoples blogs too! Especially new ones like you,
and some ol ones who love comments too! get your own favorites, send a message when u can.
I am sure people revert back with lotsa nice things to say, n more!
Technical question, nada... but hope this helps!
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Permalink Reply by Jen on -
1 - I agree with the others - it takes a massive effort on your part if you want people to read and keep coming back. Until you build up some kind of readership / friendship with other bloggers you probably wont get regular traffic. I post on my blog, comment on others (probably 20-30 a day!) and reply to as many comments on my blog as I can EVERY DAY. It takes a lot but it's helped up my traffic incredibly and in about 3 months (on this blog only) I have 19 Google followers and 86 subscribers. I've actually found that Twitter has helped me a bit too - most of my readers are on Twitter so as well as the automatic updates in their readers I get an automatic post update on Twitter everytime I post. The effort is worth it though.
2 - The capabilities of Blogger are limited and I'm not sure if you can do what you want to do (but I only used it briefly so there's every chance I'm wrong). You can add a single poll to your sidebar by going "Layout", "Page elements", "Add Gadget" and "poll". In Wordpress your options are pretty much limitless though and you can have whatever you want in the "comments" section.
Hope that helps, Jen
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Permalink Reply by Sebastian on -
Content is KING! (Or Queen I guess, if that does it for you...)
Basically, any blog with sizable readership is at least a year old and often a lot older. You're not doing a personal blog, so it could grow faster, but again -- content is king.
The second bit sounds like self-hosted blog territory. You should've entered my contest to win free web hosting :P
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Permalink Reply by Celine Bernadette Francisco on
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I've come across a good article about this. Since this is also my concern nowadays, I've realized that the fact is: We can't really have the best traffic we dream of in a snap. According to a SEO expert, getting a good traffic takes time. The best way to this is by a genuine interest in what you are doing. Say for example, try posting in various forums in the net. Indicate your blog's link. Post sincere comments to other blogs that brought you inspiration. You know, getting a bit personal while blogging will surely land us to where we want later on. Happy blogging!!
As a reference, I'm sharing with you the link to the article. Cheers!
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2005/08/15/search-engine-optimiz...
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Permalink Reply by Andhari on -
I think when you read some blogs and read comments, people will read you too. Especially here in 20 sb.
But like Seb said, content is the king. You have good and interesting contents, then people will come back around :)
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer on -
I agree with the comments below. Content is a huge driving force when it comes to increasing your readership. Being active in communities like 20SB will help too. Blogging is about creating and maintaining relationships. The more you post, engage your readers and be active on other people's blogs, the more traffic will come your way.
I highly suggest staying away from "link-swapping" and other obvious tactics. I can't tell you how annoying it is to be asked by someone who's never left me a comment if I'll put their link into one of my blog posts or on my blogroll.
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Permalink Reply by Matti McLean on -
Thank you everyone for the wonderful advice. I'm definitely planning on putting as much into other people's blogs as I am with my own.
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Permalink Reply by Stephen Miracle on -
Regarding question one, I have found the best place to find return visitors is through social networks of people you know online and off. If you realistically think about it, a blog is about relationships. A visitor will return if they have a vested interest in you as a blogger. Even if you have the best content in the world, it would be much easier to just do another google search rather than bookmark or grab your feed. Therefore, get involved with places that you can build relationships with people whom are interested in what you write about. Once they've visited, make sure you build a line of communication. So sites like Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and even this one are great places to find people as future return visitors.
Question 2: I don't think you will be able to pull that off without some trickery on blogger. I know its possible for self-hosted wordpress sites. You might want to consider changing over if you want to have a voting system so that you can have more control.
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Permalink Reply by Desiree Fawn on -
It definitely help to comment on as many other blogs as possible -- make them meaningful and caring & you'll see a return!
http://sofawned.com
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Permalink Reply by Sebastian on
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But most importantly, plug your blog at every possible opportunity. Tried-and-tested.
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Permalink Reply by cooper on -
Content is really the most important thing IMO. Forcing yourself to read and comment on 30 blogs a day is a little too much for most people. I guess back in the day it was easier, there were no expectations, so one could just write what they wanted and once and awhile comment on a blog they liked, not worrying one bit about traffic or fake link exchanges or really fake followings. Takes longer to get traffic that way but at least the traffic stays.
I think write well and eventually you'll get readers, anything else really is too exhausting, unless you don't work and have a job and a life.
The traffic also stays around if you do it that way because you've developed real readers with a vested interest in you, and you in them.
If you are really wanting to write, there are places you can write, like blog critics or global comment just to name two, where your work will get seen by more people and some will eventually work their way to your blog.
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