My blogging tips Part 3 – How to drive traffic to your blog

14 June, 2013
Language: Greek

Welcome to the 3rd part of my blogging tips! As you may have read on the previous parts (if you haven’t, click here for the 1st part, and here for the 2nd one), we’ve talked about some basic blogging guidelines, like what you should know when starting a blog, and how to choose your blog’s design. Today, we’ll discuss some of the basic ways to drive traffic to your blog.

1. Write amazing content.

The number 1 way to drive traffic to your blog, is a no-brainer. You must have amazing content to make readers want to come to your blog, again and again. This includes both text (which should be well-written and grammatically & syntactically correct) and photos (we’ll analyze this subject in one of our next parts). You can never go wrong, if your content is good*.

*Stay tuned for the next part of our blogging tips’ series to find out how to write amazing content and how to make your posts stand out.

2. Leave thoughtful and genuine comments on other blogs.

A great way to get your blog noticed, especially at first, is to visit blogs of your niche, and leave thoughtful and genuine comments on them. Some of them will come back to thank you and check out your blog, other ones won’t. But either way it’s a great start and it will get the attention of others bloggers who leave their comments there, who might want to check out your blog as well. For this reason, make sure that your comment has something useful and constructive to add, not just “cool blog”, “nice post” or the dreadful “want to follow each other?”, “follow me and I’ll follow you back”. I’ve written about this subject a thousand times, but I’ll say it one more time: Please don’t be a spammer blogger. The only ones you’ll attract with this technique are people who do the same. A genuine comment will take you much further, and it will bring actual readers to your blog and not just one time commenters, and “fake” followers (who will probably never visit your blog again in the future).

3. Create a Facebook page, a Twitter and an Instagram account for your blog.

Facebook, Twitter and more recently Instagram bring the most traffic to your blog. Create accounts there, follow your favorite people/blogs, and interact both with them, and your fans/followers. These accounts will be an extension of your blog, a place where your readers can get more updates from your blog, and have a more personal contact with you. Update it frequently, share exclusive material (that hasn’t been shown on the blog yet) and use it as a great way to promote your blog’s work. (You can find my accounts here: Facebook, Twitter, and now Instagram too).

Extra tip: As Carlinn of the blog Superficial Girls, mentioned on her post about how to start a blog: “It doesn’t matter if you think you might not use Twitter or Instagram or whatever else right now, go register for it anyway. You might not always feel like that and by then someone might have taken your username which can be very frustrating and annoying.” Thank you for this great tip Carlinn. It didn’t occur to me, but thank God mine was not taken 🙂

4. Be part of the community.

Join community sites like Independent Fashion Bloggers, Lucky Community, or for my Greek friends, Greek Beauty Bloggers, read their amazing and informative articles, that will help you with your blogging, share your content (where there’s this option available) and take part on events they host from time to time. The most important thing is to: engage, learn about blogging, and gain some more readers while doing it.

5. Join style sharing communities.

Join style sharing communities (like Lookbook.nu, Chicisimo, Chictopia, What I Wear, ASOS Fashion Finder, minoutfit.se etc.), is a great way to promote your personal style, and content. These sites will bring you, and therefore your blog, much more exposure. And if your style stands out from the crowd it will get you noticed. Amazing photos are always a plus. (Find my accounts here: Lookbook, Chicisimo, What I Wear, ASOS Fashion Finder).

6. Join Pinterest.

Pinterest is also a great mean to drive traffic to your blog. Pin your best blog photos (don’t overdo it), upload the ones you like from other sites/blogs, follow your favorite pinners, and repin their pins on your boards. Make sure to organize your boards in the best way (categorize them), add clever titles to them, add labels to your photos, and comment on pins you love. The more appealing your boards and pins are, the more repins (and therefore exposure of your work) you’ll get. Use it wisely, and you’ll get traffic for your blog. (Find my Pinterest account here)

Tip: Keep your best boards on the first row. These are the ones who get the most attention, so organize them properly.

7. Create a Bloglovin’ account and claim your blog.

Bloglovin’ is seriously the best way to follow your favorite blogs, and be kept updated about their latest posts. Bloglovin’ catches the RSS feed of every blog, and gathers their posts together, so it’s really easy to find them and follow them. You get their latest updates on your homepage whenever a new post goes up. The latest addition to the site is the ability to create your personal profile (and get a custom URL) and link it to your blog. I do all my blog reading through this site, and I notice that much of my traffic comes from Bloglovin’. And now that Google Reader will close down on July 1st, I strongly suggest to all my readers to start using Bloglovin’ and promote their account there. You’re going to love it! Want to know how to move your Google Reader RSS feed to Bloglovin’? Click here! (Follow me on Bloglovin here)

8. Write guest posts on other blogs.

Writing a guest post on another blog (in the same niche as yours), will get your blog more exposure. The followers of that blog, will check out your blog and if your content is good and to their likings, they might follow you too. Usually, the more well-known the blog is (or better the more engaging readers it has), the more traffic you’ll get for your blog. Make sure to write some great content, so they want to keep reading your articles, and follow your blog.

9. Host blog giveaways.

People love blog giveaways! It’s a fact. Hosting a giveaway can bring lots of traffic to your blog, especially if you advertise it properly (on sites/blogs/Facebook pages-groups that are created for this reasonNOT under your comments on other blogs – this is spamming!). Find something that your readers will be interested in winning as a gift, choose the best way for you to do it (manually or by using a giveaway tool like Rafflecopter), write down the rules, and the steps that need to be followed, and you’re ready! But remember: Even if giveaways are a great way to bring traffic to your blog (and you might gain lots of followers), keeping them is another story. To be sure that you’ll gain not only followers but also readers, follow as many steps as you can from this list!

So these were our 9 basic tips on how to drive traffic to your blog. I hope you enjoyed reading it and that you’ll find it useful. Make sure to check out the links below for more tips, and keep your eyes open for a new one, next month. And of course, don’t forget to leave us a comment below…we’d love to get your feedback. Have a great weekend!

Interesting reads for you:

–   23 Ways to Promote Posts & Increase Your Blog Traffic by IFB.

–   More is More: 20 Essential Traffic-Driving Tips by IFB.

–   10 Ways to Tank Your Traffic by IFB.

–   Grab Your Bloglovin’ Custom URL by IFB.

–   How to Move Your Google Reader RSS Feed to Bloglovin’ by IFB.

–   Responding to spam comments by IFB

–   Blogger Beware: How to Tell if YOU are the Spammer by IFB.

Για να διαβάσετε αυτό το άρθρο στα ελληνικά πατήστε εκεί που λέει: Language: Greek

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Language: Greek


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22 comments on “My blogging tips Part 3 – How to drive traffic to your blog

  1. You are always so amazing! I really really love your blogging suggestions! And yes, I genuinely read the posts and love leaving my views on it, it’s also respectful to the time the person took writing a post! So cool ideas you have here! Makia!
    Bee-zee recently posted..Words of WisdomMy Profile

    • I couldn’t agree more! Not reading what the other has to say, and using their post as a way to advertise and promote your blog, is disrespectful. I always read a post before commenting on it. I’m glad you liked my suggestions! 🙂
      Makia!

  2. Για ακόμη μια φορά υπήρξες κατατοπιστική και πολύ βοηθητική!
    Χαίρομαι να διαβάζω τέτοιου είδους άρθρα! Άντε να δω πώς επιτέλους θα καταφέρω να ενσωματώσω το Bloglovin’!!! χαχα
    Φιλιά!!
    Elena recently posted..H&M Fall Collection-Press PreviewMy Profile

    • S’euxairistw poli Elena! Xairomai pou voithisa….
      Eimai sigouri oti tha ta katafereis, den einai diskolo..An xreiasteis epipleon voitheia pes mou….
      Filakia! 🙂

  3. Καλησπέρα! Πριν λίγο είδα το ποστ σου στο news feed του Greek Beauty Bloggers και προφανώς επειδή με αφορά μπήκα να το διαβάσω… συμφωνώ σε αρκετά από αυτά που λες εδώ και ήδη προσπαθώ και εγώ να κάνω ότι μπορώ για να μη με διαβάζει μόνο η ξαδέρφη μου 😛 χαχα Ωστόσο θέλει χρόνο να αποκτήσεις κοινό και ειδικά κοινό που στην πραγματικότητα του αρέσει το περιεχόμενο του μπλογκ σου!

    το δικό σου μου αρέσει πάντως επομένως… nice to meet you! 🙂

    • Kalispera kai kalwsirthes sto blog mou! 🙂 S’euxaristw poli gia ta kala sou logia!
      xixi gelasa poli me to sxolio gia tin xaderfi! Sigoura kai xreiazetai xrono gia na apoktiseis koino pou tha se diavazei… Den mporoume na ginoume gnwstoi se mia stigmi, alla sigoura ta tips pou anaferw parapanw voithane…akoma kai emeis pou eimaste palioteres bloggers, akoma den exoume ftasei sta epipeda pou tha thelame….Den einai kai toso eukoli douleia opws oloi nomizoun….
      Nice to meet you too, caprigirl! 🙂

      • Καλά, το θέμα “blogging” στην Ελλάδα είναι μια τεράστια πόθεση που απαιτεί πολύ καφέ..και πολύ PR όπως έχει αποδειχτεί…

        Συνεχίζουμε να bloggarουμε όπως και να’χει, εμένα με βοήθησε πολύ! Τα ξαναλέμε 🙂
        Caprigirl recently posted..cherry • boxMy Profile

  4. Είχα διαβάσει και το αντίστοιχο ποστ σου στο fb και θα συμφωνήσω απόλυτα μαζί σου. Κάνεις έναν μεγάλο κόπο να τα ετοιμάσεις όλα. Κανείς δεν το καταλαβαίνει γιατί όταν είμαστε έξω από τον χορό πολλά τραγούδια λέμε. Το πρώτο πράγμα που περιμένεις λοιπόν είναι να σέβεται ο άλλος τη δουλειά σου και αν μη τι άλλο, να της δίνει την απαραίτητη προσοχή. Συνεπώς, μόνο μπράβο μπορώ να σου πω για όλη αυτή τη βοήθεια που προσφέρεις με τα συγκεκριμένα ποστς. Μπράβο και πάλι μπράβο. Πολύ χρήσιμες συμβουλές. Τα φιλιά μου!
    Christina/Fashionable.gr recently posted..4 Ιδανικά Χτενίσματα Αλογοουράς Για Το ΚαλοκαίριMy Profile

    • Na’sai kala vre Christina! Xairomai pou iparxoun atoma pou me katalavainoun…Einai poli simantiko o allos na sevetai ti douleia sou kai ton kopo sou, kai ontws exw ap’to xoro einai diskolo na katalavei kapoios posi douleia einai…
      Xairomai pou to vrikes xrisimo to arthro…Ithela poli kairo na kanw autin tin seira me tis simvoules, alla distaza…Skopos mou omws einai na voithisw, kai oxi na apodeixw oti egw kanw kati swstotera, giati ta grafw na ta “akouw” kai egw…kai na ta efarmozw pio swsta.
      S’euxaristw poli kai gia ta kala sou logia sto proigoumeno post. Ontws o kairos mperdeuei poli…Elpizw oti mexri na mpei o Ioulios tha exei erthei kanonika to kalokairi..pros to paron den exw kanei oute ena mpanio….
      Filia polla!

  5. Im not an expert blogger but about the comments, I hate when some one lives a message like: “cool” “nice topic” and probably I was asking an opinion.
    When I visit someone´s blog after I get a comment, the first think I notice is how many post they have. If they have more than 60, I know they don´t read they are only looking for traffic.
    monica recently posted..Flare jeansMy Profile

    • Thank you for your comment monica! I don’t enjoy these comments either.
      I’m not sure I understood about the posts though. More than 60 in general? Or more than 60/month? It really depends on how often someone posts, and how many years he/she has his/her blog.
      Sure thing is that when I read another blog and see comments like these, which say “let’s follow each other” I NEVER visit that blog. These are the ones who are looking for traffic, and “fake” followers just to show how good they are, and that they have a big following.

  6. Pingback: My blogging tips part 4 – How to make your posts stand out | Do You Speak Gossip?

  7. I am currently reading through your blogging series as I’ve been planning on starting a blog of my own for quite a while, and I’m finding your information extremely useful. It is very helpful. I have one question re: the instagram account. I already have my own account, would you suggest creating another one to go with the blog?

    • I’m really glad you find them useful Claudia. 🙂
      It depends on whether or not you want them to be the same account.
      Many bloggers have just a personal account which is also for their blogs, and to be honest it’s much easier to handle it, if you don’t own two mobile devices. Otherwise, you’ll either have to have a 2nd mobile for your 2nd account, or log in and out all the time, which is not so pleasant.
      If you want to have the same account, you can. There’s also the option of changing your Instagram username to fit your new blog’s name.

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