How To Drive Traffic to Your Blog

{ 69 Responses }

1. John Allen says:
   These are great tips on how to drive traffic to ones site. If the traffic is targeted then it is even better. Getting targeted traffic can be good because it means that you are providing solutions in your posts and people are visiting your site so as to get information.
2. Paul says:
   "Stop linking out so much" This is so true, unless you're linking to your own content, it's the most irritating thing a reader can experience IMHO.
   • sai krishna says:
     yes i am also like that point.nice share :)
3. Tekki says:
   Thumbs up for this! This is the most effective list in promoting a blog. I believe in this post because the evidence is obvious, the page rank of this blog is quite amazing. I will bookmark this blog and I know a year from now, this post will still receive a hundreds of traffic everyday.
4. Mark says:
   Number 5, soliciting visitor feedback is key. This is a great point because you have to write about what people want to read, not what just pops into your head. If you have a list like you pointed out, then that is a great way to get feedback. Another way is to see what questions people are asking in forums related to your niche. Great post Kyle. mark
5. Andy says:
   Sharing mailing lists seems like an outdated practice. I think most of my readers would be angry if they discovered I was doing this. I do like the idea of offering services in return for links from popular sites. If anyone would like to regularly pick up my dry-cleaning, I'd be more than happy to post a link! Seriously, though, come and visit my site. You'll love it. ;o)
6. Neeraj Rawat says:
   great article Kyle and second point is very important focus on one thing once it gets successful then move to other
7. Prince says:
   Your third point I have deeply study it with the inner links of e-mail list, I found that it is the easy and reliable way to get good backlinks and upgrade our blogs in rank wise. thanks for so nice sharing.......!
8. Nishadha says:
   I think point number two is the most important thing. You need to focus on one strategy until you see some results, most people get frustrated with blogging because they try so many things to get traffic.
9. Jamie Fairbairn says:
   Hi Kyle, nice article. I particularly liked point number 4 about not linking out too much. You're right in what you say about it being bad for credibility but also too many outlinks can defeat the purpose of trying to get people to come and read your blog in the first place.
10. Justyna says:
    Hi Kyle,nice summary of useful things very good to apply to boost traffic. I especially liked your point about focus. I think this is crucial, when we are bombarded every day with so much information and everyone is offering great opportunities ;)Doing one thing at a time is another vital thing. Sometimes I really suffer from multitasking :)
11. Mavis Nong says:
    Hi Kyle,Good points you're making here. I like #2 - Focus, focus, focus! Without focus you'll find yourself all over the place with little or no results to show. Pick and focus on the effective traffic generation methods.Thanks for sharing.Mavis
12. Praveen says:
    This is very true and impressive - "Google adsense doesn’t pay out thousands of dollars for a single ad click. They pay for thousands of small clicks that add to a larger amount." Valid points. We always concentrate on huge things and miss out the small things that sum up to gain huge profits. This post gives me a confidence of gaining more traffic. Thanks for your post.
13. Vidya Sury, freelance writer, blogger says:
    Kyle, How important is page rank, I wonder? Granted that everyone judges your site/blog by its rank - but there are several authority sites out there that either don't have a page rank - or have a PR1 or PR2. Yet they provide fantastic content. So, basically it all boils down to marketing one's site/blog. Do you agree? Its strange - I write three blogs of my own regularly - and initially, I'd post whenever I felt like it, fairly prolifically. I've no idea when they got ranked by Google. Then, I became more focused and conscious about back links. I am curious to know what are the operators that result in a blog/site being ranked.
14. Bryan says:
    Kyle, Very practical tips. Focusing on one aspect of traffic generation can be a tricky thing since you might find one doesn't really work so you really need to test what actually works. Traffic generation is something that doesn't come over night. Taking the easy way out might get tons of traffic for your site but it will not last for sure.
15. Mahendra says:
    This is great article. "let your visitor work for you" is a great point
    • Rahul Tilloo says:
      Yah Mahendra I also liked point . Its a great idea to write content according to your visitors need. But for that I think you got to have good no of daily visitors to your blog
16. Sreejesh says:
    These points are really going to help me. I get lots of returning visitors but I'm not able to keep updating my blog due to my job.
    • Kyle Logue says:
      If you're serious about blogging, you'll make time to update it. Currently I'm a new dad and I'm serving in the Military... my time is stretched thin, but I still have blogging goals.
      • Sreejesh says:
        Yes I'm serious about blogging on times I get involved it in. Anyway i will have to try spend a little more time as you suggested.
17. Fisayo Sanyaolu says:
    Kyle, I agree with you on the tips you've provided but with everyone starting their blogging career, it would take those with patient, diligence and endurance to really make money online. Thanks for sharing!
18. Jay says:
    Great tips, Kyle! My blog is still new so I've been using comments on related, high page rank blogs to drive traffic. There are some huge, mega blogs in my niche that really help. Best regards, Jay Courtland
    • Kyle Logue says:
      I wish you the best of luck!
19. Kyle Logue says:
    Hey guys, Thanks so much for the great feedback and input. Sorry for the delay in my response and feedback. I was not aware that my post had been published... oops! :) I appreciate each of your comments.
20. Alex says:
    Hello Kyle, I always say that first you have to test a myriad of methods to drive traffic to your blog then after some of those methods start to get some visitors to your blog, you have to find out which one worked and why. Then you need to concentrate your efforts on that, but this doesn't mean you have to ignore the others. Because it's good when you have traffic flowing from one direction but it's better when the traffic is coming from multiple sources. After you have reached a certain level, the traffic will practically by itself and most of the promotion will be made by your readers and your fellow niche colleagues. So don't give up just persevere and become an expert on your thing, then you will see the benefits, being a jack of all trades it's good and helpful, but always have a specialization.
    • Kyle Logue says:
      I definitely agree. Google Analytics can be a great tool to figure out what is and isn't working.
21. Christopher Roberts says:
    I honestly never thought about that. Ask one user to take part as a case study for you, what do they like, what don't they like, what brings them back, and what makes them want to leave! Great article, thanks :-) Christopher
    • Kyle Logue says:
      Surveying your readers is a great way to find out what you need to work on!
      • Christopher Roberts says:
        Thing is how do you choose a reader which is representative of the majority?
22. Darren Scott Monroe says:
    Kyle right ideas but I must add one as the wisecrack of the group. Try responding to your guest post comments to get more links :) :) :)
    • Kyle Logue says:
      Ok ok... you caught me! Being a new dad is tough! :)
      • Darren Scott Monroe says:
        OH YOUR A NEW DAD?! Well you get a serious pass LOL CONGRATS!! Your baby is busy driving traffic to him or her LOL
        • Kyle Logue says:
          Thanks :)
23. Vincet says:
    I think you’re right about considering what 1 person would do. I know there have been times when I’ve thought to myself “surely there’s got to be someone out there who would use this”, but I’m not really thinking of anyone in particular. Just seeing that in the masses of people, there will probably be a taker. I’ve been wrong almost every time I’ve failed to consider what I’d do or what another person would do.
    • Kyle Logue says:
      If you're aiming for the masses, you'll get mass rejection. People want personalized help. If you can find a way to make your articles sound as if you're talking 1 on 1 as a friend, your readers will connect more with you.
24. takis koumas says:
    thanks Kyle. I liked your points. Especially number 5; bloggers should hear what the readers want for content.
25. Faissal Alhaithami says:
    awesome article !!! i loved the first point about finding the source of 1 visitor and work on it, really loved it! thanks alot.
26. Sandeep says:
    Could'nt agree mor with you on these point kyle, I think the big factor here is that you need to start small and be patient for your results to come... the internet might have exponential growth, but still it takes time and a lot of dedication to become successful.. just like anything else in the real world.... U can't fight the universal law anyways.. so be patient and u will taste success
    • Kyle Logue says:
      I completely agree. That's where a lot of people become unsuccessful... they aren't patient and they start looking for faster results with black hat techniques.
27. kharim Tomlinson says:
    This is a great article, Thanks for it Kyle. The first point that you made is the best. Finding what drives traffic and repeat the process. Nice thinking :)
28. Sabrina says:
    Great Ideas, As a newbie blogger, I am still learning about the most effective ways to bring traffic to my blog. Commenting on the high ranking blogs in my niche has really been working for me thus far. It has allowed me to build quality backlinks and bring traffic to my site. I have also been able to gain lots of insight from visiting these each day.
    • Kyle Logue says:
      Having backlinks from blog comments is great, but don't forget about getting dofollow links as well. Search engines don't always place as much weight on nofollow ones.
      • Sabrina says:
        The majority of blogs that I comment on are dofollow. Do the search engines still place little weight on those backlinks if they are generated from the comments section?
29. Sourish says:
    i focus on point 5. i let my users comment on my blog , make it bubbling with activity. google likes activity
30. Nick Stamoulis says:
    The key to getting blog visitors is to have good content. If you are consistently providing useful and informative content, people will keep coming back and will help you out by promoting it. Nobody wants to read a boring post that they don't get any value out of.
31. Dave Lucas says:
    I don't pretend to know what drives 1 visitor to my blog! I've written awesome articles that don't attract a single soul, while "throwaways" and "paid to post" articles rack up hit after hit, every single day! I've tried all kinds of growth tactics, reached for the stars, linked and didn't ::: Oh, and by the way, I claim to "know a secret" too! Here it is! http://dave-lucas.blogspot.com/2011/02/god-please-make-my-blog-popular.html
    • Kyle Logue says:
      I don't claim to know any secrets. I put it all out on the table for everyone to see. Those that promise secrets are usually trying to sell scams.
32. Andreas says:
    Social networking sites are a great way to drive targeted traffic to one's page, especially when its new and traffic from search engines is nowhere to be seen at that stage.
33. TJ McDowell says:
    I think you're right about considering what 1 person would do. I know there have been times when I've thought to myself "surely there's got to be someone out there who would use this", but I'm not really thinking of anyone in particular. Just seeing that in the masses of people, there will probably be a taker. I've been wrong almost every time I've failed to consider what I'd do or what another person would do.
    • Kyle Logue says:
      I think you just defined marketing! :)
34. DiTesco says:
    Just my two cents, in addition to what Justin and Patricia already said. I quote "The internet is cruel and everyone is out to outrank the other".. Indeed and so true specially when bloggers start to see that they are already becoming popular and forget that they where once were many people are today, struggling and doing everything they possibly can. The unfortunate part is that it is no longer an easy thing to do and providing value is the right approach to get things done.
    • Kyle Logue says:
      Very true... kind of along the same lines as how Musical Artists start off being really good and then, as their popularity grows, their music becomes less interesting.
35. Robert Dempsey says:
    Excellent points Kyle, especially the first about finding what gets that one person to your site. If you can find out about the one, and find more of them, you're gold. Too many people though focus on quantity over quality. You can have all the traffic on the Internet but if no one is buying it's a huge waste of time and money. Not the way to stay in business.
    • Kyle Logue says:
      I agree. I'd take 10 quality readers over 100 bouncing visitors.
36. Priya says:
    Hi Kyle, I very much agreed with you start small & steadily, when you settle down start your expansion. This is right way and involves less risk too.
37. Jan Husdal says:
    Thanks, Kyle, for a useful post. A couple of things come to my mind when reading your suggestions: 1- Find out what drives 1 visitor to your blog I find the list of search queries and clickthrough rates on Google Webmaster Tools extremely helpful in discovering new trends or hidden gems in posts that I wasn't aware of. 2- Focus on 1 form of growth Very good point. Building growth takes an effort, and spreading your efforts over too many mediums at the same time is just going to be mess with no direction. 3- Reach for the stars One thing I do is to review blogs/sites I would like to be linked from, let them know about my review and then, maybe later, ask for a backlink. That usually does the trick. 4- Stop linking out so much! This I do not agree with. Well, ok, if most of your post is outlinks with no own content, then perhaps, but I have never been afraid to link out for fear of people leaving my blog. If they see my outlinks as valuable additional resources, they will certainly come back for more outlinks, that's how I view it. 5- Let your visitors work for you That's a great idea. In fact, I've never sent my subscribers anything at all. That said very few of them are by e-mail, most of them are by RSS, so I have no way of getting hold of them anyway. On a final point, traffic is really unimportant to me. What matters are readers.
    • Kyle Logue says:
      Wow! Thanks for the great feedback. It really is appreciated.
38. tushar says:
    good useful points Kyle. I liked what you said about making visitors work for me. I have still not added any kind of subscriber form to my blog but it is high time, I should do it.
    • Kyle Logue says:
      You can actually do it really easily if you use feedburner. Just go to the publicize tab and look for Email Subscriptions. Almost too easy.
39. Mani Viswanathan says:
    Quality content can bring your loads of traffic. But along with quality content you need a Strong Social Media base.
40. Cyrus Ryker says:
    Credibility and trust are important when it comes to getting people to follow your blog. I have seen articles that have a ton of links in them, so much so that inadvertently clicking on the mouse will pull up another page. What is indeed important is to know the wants, needs and motivations of your visitors so you know why they came to you.
    • Kyle Logue says:
      Just like you hate it when you call customer service and get transferred all over the place when all you want to do is talk to the person with the information... people want the source... they don't want excessive links. Thanks for the comment!
41. Patricia says:
    Hi Kyle I like the points you have made here cos I am finding that is what works for me. I have been blogging for less than a year and have only been selling my sourced products for a few months. However, getting my small niche blog known, I did concentrate on blog commenting and social media which has meant I have seen a steady stream of traffic and interaction on my blog. Now I am focusing on learning about marketing from some experienced marketing friends and build some minisites for my affiliate products. It is a steep learning curve but well worth it on my road to success. Thanks for sharing Kyle. Appreciated. Patricia Perth Australia
    • Kyle Logue says:
      The great thing about learning how to do something online is that there are so many free resources available. Maybe it's information overload, but it's there for the taking. Thanks for the comment!
42. Justin Germino says:
    Reach for the stars is right, I dream big but I am also a realist, don't think grandeur comes swift for the majority, know that you should see results within reasonable time frames and if you don't adjust your strategy and tactics until you start seeing results.
    • Kyle Logue says:
      I remember that my first goal was to get 1 subscriber... then 5... then 10. If you're seeing results on any scale, figure out what you're doing right, and then focus on expanding on what's working. If you're not seeing any results, it might be time to try something different.
      • Justin Germino says:
        Completely agree with what you say, if you don't see results after certain period of time, keep changing strategies. Being adaptive is key to success.