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Home » The Famous Blog » Vibrant Ways To Generate Traffic And Build Relationships

Vibrant Ways To Generate Traffic And Build Relationships

March 8, 2011 - Last Modified: March 12, 2011 by Cheryl Ragsdale 1,321

Generate Traffic

We’re all in a hurry for the world to beat a path to our door. Traffic is King!

We blog because we want to serve other people in finding the knowledge they’re seeking or to help them find an entertaining place to spend their time.

We want our hard work acknowledged by people visiting our blog on a regular basis. We want to see growth in traffic over time to feel like our blogging efforts are working. What most of us need is a plan that works to keep us motivated.

I’ve found something that helps me to meet those needs.

online friends

WP Plug-In That Tweets Your Oldies But Goodies

A tool that I’ve just started using – that is working beautifully for me – is called Tweet Old Posts. It’s a wordpress plug-in. It’s easy to install through the wordpress panel.

What’s a little more complicated is deciding which posts you want to exclude.

This ends up needing some tweaking as you go along. I set up my plug-in to tweet posts older than 45 days. No problem so far.

I soon realized that some of my “old posts” posed a problem for me. I needed to do some blog maintenance to update the old posts that were being tweeted. Plus, I needed to exclude anything related to holidays – like Christmas, for instance. Oops!

It’s best to keep a sense of humor in the beginning. In addition, if you are too busy to keep up with freshening old links or making necessary changes to content, don’t get your knickers in a knot. If the post hadn’t been “retweeted” by Old Posts, you would never have known the changes were needed.

I’ve noticed:

  • an increase in traffic
  • an increase in retweets
  • an increase in my self-appreciation for the body of work I’ve created on my blog

I check my twitter stream every day to see which random posts have been tweeted. I click the links and allow myself to feel pride in the words I’ve written and the comments I’ve received. Very rarely do I visit one of my posts and think “maybe I should delete this”.

Give Tweet Old Posts a try to increase your traffic immediately. Your Golden Oldies will warm your heart too.

Build Community To Drive Traffic

Creating relationships and building community online takes longer than activating a new plug-in. Let’s use twitter for our next tool. To generate traffic through twitter requires that you have followers and that you follow people.

It took a few weeks for me to get the hang of twitter. I really didn’t understand how people could parse out a conversation with everyone twittering at once. Now, I use Hootsuite to help me sort through the babble to discern patterns so I can follow the flow of the conversation.

That sounds harder than it really is. Just imagine being in a room full of teenagers. Everyone is talking at once – especially the girls – yet, those kids can follow each other’s trains of thought very easily. We all know how to do this.

Here’s a fun video about why we love twittah…

There are endless ways to build community online. Social media sites like facebook and twitter are familiar avenues to build traffic by promoting your posts and building your friend lists.

By virtue of the fact that you are on the comluv site, I know you understand that commenting is a great way to drive new visitors to your blog. What about some new ways that you might not have tried yet to establish new connections?

Have you tried any of these other ways to meet other bloggers?

  • Find a commenting group to join or create one yourself
  • Search #bloghops or just blog hops on twitter to see who is offering an opportunity to band together with other like-minded souls in search of more followers or fans
  • Do the same thing with facebook fan page “like”. I just started participating in a Wednesday facebook fan page follower group. I found them by searching for #bloghop on twitter.
  • I run blog carnivals on my blog each week. I have a badge on the post that directs bloggers to submit their relevant posts through blogcarnival.com. I find this useful for developing relationships more than it really drives traffic.

Vibrant Ways To Generate New Traffic

When I first started blogging about a year and a half ago, I bumped into an opportunity to participate in an ebook collaboration for a good cause – breast cancer awareness. All I had to do was to submit a post I had already written. The two authors combined over 100 blog posts into one ebook that was then sold to raise money for Breast Cancer Research.

I was quite pleased with myself for being included and for helping out with a worthy cause.

Looking back, I’m even more pleased with how things went after the ebook went live.

As part of my goal-setting, I wanted to make connections with other bloggers. I needed to learn EVERYTHING and I was in a big hurry (per usual).

I decided that I would contact everyone in the book who looked interesting to me to say hello and to see whether they would like to guest post on my blog. My reasoning was – if they say no to a guest post, maybe they’ll leave a comment instead.

It worked! People are amazingly generous in the blogosphere.

Many of those guest posts continue to gain views and appear on my Top 25 Hot Posts list. Not only that, I am still very much connected to those bloggers.

Joining in with people’s projects has generated traffic for me – yes. But even greater benefits have arisen.

  • I’ve met many of my virtual friends in real life
  • I’ve been the leader on video projects or have contributed my smiling face to other people’s video projects
  • I’ve run contests on my blog and participated in other people’s contests
  • I ended up being featured on the cover of a book called “50 Athletes Over 50 Teach Us To Live A Strong and Healthy Life“

That last one is important

Cheryl Ragsdale with Yahoo film crew at florian martial arts center
Cheryl Ragsdale with Yahoo film crew at florian martial arts center

Because I was on the cover of that book, Kristen from Yahoo (yes, that yahoo) started a conversation with me that led to her bringing a film crew to Boston (from California).

Kristen creates and publishes videos for a show called Second Act – Vitality on Yahoo News

If I hadn’t started blogging, this opportunity would never have happened. My show is scheduled to be published during the first week of April. Look for it to appear on the Yahoo homepage. (What?!) You’ll know it’s me because I say, “My name is Cheryl Ragsdale and I’m a Mixed Martial Artist“.

You never know who you might meet – inside that ever increasing flow of traffic around you – because you left one more comment than you usually would or retweeted someone’s post or followed someone who provided a timely piece of information.

Keep your eyes open. Keep moving forward. Opportunities are everywhere.

Don’t be a stranger – tweet me!

This article is part of the Traffic Generation Blogging Contest, please add a comment and tweet it to support the author.

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Filed Under: Website Traffic

About Cheryl Ragsdale

Follow @thatgirlisfunny

I share blogging tips, stay young from the inside out tips, funny stuff and my opinions on the latest mixed martial arts events at That Girl is Funny blog.

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{ 69 Responses }

  1. Glen says:
    Hey Cheryl, I use Tweetily to send out old posts, and have seen an increase in followers. Great useful insight on generating new traffic, and how "giving" is always a great investment.
  2. Arron Dain says:
    Thank you so much for the post Cheryl, it was a great read and really got me thinking about my own blog. Now to scroll back up and watch that vid about Twitter :)
  3. Jerry says:
    Hi Cheryl, I really enjoyed your article on the power of Twitter. Now that the "easy" traffic from Digg and Stumbleupon is becoming a memory, it's now time to get out there and (net)work for that traffic =)
  4. Jeff Faldalen says:
    Hi Cheryl, Thank you for this article. It gave me a lot of resources I can ad to my rolodex. I appreciate your passion for helping others. This is a place I will be happy to send my students and followers to. Look forward getting to know, Jeff Faldalen
  5. Alex says:
    Hey Cheryl, Nice post. Lots of details and you share a lot so thanks. I agree that the Tweet Old Posts plugin is awesome - although be sure to remove or edit timely posts from ages ago LOL ALso I agree that it is important to have a commenting strategy... not that I know where I am going next ;)
  6. Andi says:
    Thanks so much for some very original ideas for continuing to build engagement and community, I just furiously scribbled down 3 ideas to try...in one blog post that rocks! And your ideas promote relationship building in an authenticate and human way...bravo!
    • Cheryl from thatgirlisfunny says:
      Hi Andi, Glad to accelerate and motivate you with some new ideas to try. Let us know how things work out.
  7. James A Buckley says:
    Hey Cheryl This tweet old post plug-in sounds like a awesome tool and I am going to check it out. Thanks for the Tip I also have heard of Hootsuite & at this time, using SocialOomph. I haven't made any comparison .
    • Cheryl from thatgirlisfunny says:
      Hi James, After using Tweet Old Posts for a couple of months now, I'm still a big fan. So many new tools to investigate - I have added socialoomph to my list of things to check out. Hootsuite is great. I'm a big fan. It meets my (current) needs. I love it that people keep inventing tools for new needs I haven't thought of yet :)
  8. Chi Pritchard says:
    I've yet to start a twitter account. I know i'm behind the times, but working on that today. Facebook has been pretty good for me, but limited in the hits to my site. I like the idea of the old post plugin. Mainly due to most of my old post don't get many hits after about a month or so. This should help them to get some traffic!!
    • Cheryl from thatgirlisfunny says:
      Chi, Girl, you gotta get on twitter! You can find free online tools - like hootsuite, for instance, that will help you manage both twitter and faceboook. You'll see a difference in your traffic numbers and meet some new cool peeps too :)
  9. Cosmin Stefan says:
    Hello Cheryl! Thanks for sharing your interesting story and ideas. I was a bit nervous about using tweet old posts but you convinced me to set it up (as soon as I get more content on my site). All the Best!
    • Cheryl from thatgirlisfunny says:
      Hi Cosmin, I think the recommendation is at least 100 posts before you start tweeting old posts. But you could sample it, just to see how it works. Good luck with it! I still love it :)
  10. Debbie says:
    Oh, Cheryl that would be wonderful. Would love to met you on of these day. What fun it would be. Blessing to you, Debbie
  11. Debbie says:
    Great article Cheryl. I am going to have to try Hootsuite for Twitter. I just can't keep track of the tweets. Love the video. I do know what you mean when it comes to meeting new friends on the internet. It is wonderful. Just like other wise I would not have met you. So glad I did, you are a wonderful inspiration to us all. Have a great day, Debbie
    • Cheryl from thatgirlisfunny says:
      Hi Debbie, You're a perfect example of people meeting their virtual friends! I love the photos of you visiting Andrew from webuildyourblog dot com in England. Who knew when you started blogging that you'd be off to another country to meet an online friend? One day, you and I will meet in the real world too :)
      • Debbie says:
        Cheryl that would be great to met in person one of these days. We can make this happen. I never in my wildest dreams thought I would be off to England to met Andrew. And it was wonderful, so you are not as far away as him, so I believe this will be possible. Hugs to you Cheryl, Debbie
  12. Riley Harrison says:
    Well besides being very articulate and writing a GREAT post, you certainly shatter the stereotype as to MMA fighters. Riley (who spends way too time watching MMA)
    • Cheryl from thatgirlisfunny says:
      Hi Riley, I'm watching MMA on TV right now - haha! I definitely watch too much, but I just can't stop. I'm looking forward to this weekend's UFC fights too. And thank you very much for the compliments :)
  13. Kesha says:
    I love it when I learn something new! Can't wait to try out that wp plugin for tweeting old posts... You have some great tips here for traffic generation for new and seasoned people as well! Love it!
    • Cheryl from thatgirlisfunny says:
      Hi Kesha, Come back and share your results with us! I'd love to hear your thoughts about the Tweet Old Posts plug-in.
  14. Darren Scott Monroe says:
    Hey hey my sister! This was great havent heard of #bloghops always learn something new. Great piece. Plus I am sure that wordpress plugin has you relooking at your evergreen (lifelong) content. I changed up my writing a few years ago because of it. I saw that the top bloggers had great posts no matter how long they were. Especially those guys in the personal development niche. They have that down like a science LOL. will tweet you some LUV!
    • Cheryl from thatgirlisfunny says:
      Hello Darren, I'm very happy to meet you! Just followed you on twitter so I can keep track of you. Shelf life is so important to consider. I'm thankful that many of my posts are timeless - humor and self development - have a long shelf life. My sports posts that are specifically UFC related are short-timers. Thanks for the tweet luv (mwah!)
  15. kirapermunian says:
    Hi there Cheryl, I feel motivated when I reached the ending of your post. "Keep your eyes open. Keep moving forward. Opportunities are everywhere." That's really a bullseye! There are really a lot of opportunities everywhere we just need to grab, get used of them and established a solid relationship to this opportunities. Thanks for bringing this up. Kira Permunian
    • Cheryl from thatgirlisfunny says:
      Hello Kira, Feeling motivated is exactly the right place to be. I'm delighted that you are armed and ready for action. I feel some opportunities are about to land on your head or maybe in your lap - lol!
  16. Mavis Nong says:
    Hey Cheryl, Great tips you're sharing here. It's really important to network and build relationships in the blogosphere. As in your case, you'll never know who you might meet. I have been using Tweet Old Post with great results. It's a fantastic plugin to keep your old posts alive and to generate traffic from Twitter daily :). I have also been building relationships through commenting, guest posting and participating in different social community sites. Thanks for sharing your insights. Good luck with the contest, Cheryl. Mavis
    • Cheryl from thatgirlisfunny says:
      Hi Mavis, Looks like we've been traveling down similar paths. I'm glad to finally meet you. I accept guest posts on my blog too. If you're interested, let me know. I'm sure we can put our heads together and come up with a fab topic :)
  17. Kevin Martineau says:
    Wow! What a great find "Tweet Old Post" is. I am looking forward to using it.
    • Cheryl from thatgirlisfunny says:
      Hi Kevin, It's so easy to use and so much fun to see which golden oldie has been re-launched. You will be very pleased with yourself for activating this plug-in :)
  18. Tara says:
    As a new blogger, all this is really valuable information. Thank you for sharing it! I'm on Joomla! and honestly don't have a huge archive of old posts anyway, but I'd like to figure out if there is a plugin like that I could use...its a great tip!
    • Hesham says:
      Hey Tara, nice blog you have there! It's really cool to see that you are using Joomla as your CMS, I actually like Joomla for building websites, but it's not the idea blogging platform as it will keep you some how separate some how from the blogging community where most of bloggers are using WordPress. So, this is just a personal opinion about using Joomla for blogging, although it's an amazing CMS! I've done a quick search in Joomla modules directory trying to find something similar to the "Tweet old posts WP plugin", but I couldn't find any that dose the same job! mmm.. Just wondering why you choose Joomla on the first place! something special?
      • Tara says:
        Thanks for the compliment! I chose Joomla because my husband is a web designer and that is what he uses. He and I debated using Wordpress or Joomla, but since he's more comfortable with Joomla, that was our choice. He uses the Zoo component, which apparently just released a new version with some more features we can upgrade too. Both he and I are seeing that there are some disadvantages to not using WordPress, especially when it comes to specific plugins I'd really like to have. Apparently the new version of Zoo is going to be open to developers, which will hopefully be bringing some new plugins my way. I'm a newbie and this was the first blog he's designed - so we're figuring it out as we go!
  19. Beat says:
    Cheryl, thanks for your post! I learned a couple of really good ones. Your style is full of energy and good vibes - just like ThatGirlIsFunny we all love and appreciate :-] - Beat
    • Cheryl from thatgirlisfunny says:
      Hello Beat, So lovely to see your smiling face :)
  20. Mani Viswanathan says:
    Tweet Old Posts Rocks :) It certainly helps me gain some RT's on my old posts. Apart frm that I always Schedule some posts. Even that helps in bringing some quality traffic from Twitter & FB.
    • Cheryl from thatgirlisfunny says:
      Hello tospost, I don't know why more people aren't using tweet old posts. Although I don't know if I would be able to tell if they did. I only heard about it recently. I wish I'd known sooner :)
  21. Sandeep says:
    Hey, that looks like a cool plugin... pretty interesting to know that it helps you market your old posts... and definitely a cool way to attract traffic... Will keep this in mind... as you said 100 posts... im getting there.
    • Cheryl from thatgirlisfunny says:
      Hello Sandeep, I just noticed your blog name. I love it! CuriousLittlePerson works better than FuriousLittlePerson - lol! What a difference one letter makes :) Keep publishing posts, you'll reach 100 sooner than you think. Thank you for commenting!
      • Sandeep says:
        Hi Cheryl, Thanks. Hoping to get there soon.
  22. Adam Grant says:
    Nice Post Cheryl especially for a newbie like me... I have been looking to build a blog alliance of other newbies the past few days going on forums and shouting out from the hilltops... This makes the path a bit clearer... Thanks..
    • Cheryl Ragsdale says:
      Hello Adam, Glad the clouds have parted for you. What about striking up relationships with people who enjoy talking about the same things as you do? Working within your warm market will make it easier for you to start conversations and develop friendships. The fact that you've already started is half the battle. People will respond. Good luck!
  23. DiTesco says:
    Good stuff. I particularly also use Tweet Old Post and you are right about having to exclude some post that were not suppose to be tweeted :) Once you have the plugin exclude"less" desired articles, it works well and it does generate some extra traffic.
    • Cheryl from thatgirlisfunny says:
      Hello DiTesco, I laugh now when I see an "odd" post link appear in my twitter stream. Oops! That one doesn't need to be promoted anymore - lol! Happy to meet you :)
      • DiTesco says:
        Yeah, lol. It was funny when I saw my "Merry X'mas of last year in early February being retweeted. Somebody actually returned the wishes. That was a good laugh. Nice meeting you too. Keep it up.
        • Mavis Nong says:
          Very funny, DiTesco :D I also see some odd ones on my profile, which aren't supposed to be there!
  24. Keith says:
    Wow that is great, congratulations! And thanks for all of the traffic generating ideas. I will have to dust off my old Christmas and seasonal posts as well! Thanks again!
    • Cheryl from thatgirlisfunny says:
      Hi Keith, Lol! Those odd timing posts do catch people's attention. That works too :)
  25. zezebel says:
    Hi Cheryl. Building a relationship between blogger will take time and efforts especially for a new blog like mine. But when the relationship start to works, it should be no problem. People will start commenting in your blog non stop.Thanks for the tips on Twitter. Still don't understand on how to use it even after two years opening an account.
    • Cheryl from thatgirlisfunny says:
      Hello Zezebel, Twitter really didn't click for me until I installed Hootsuite. It's a virtual program so it doesn't live on your computer. It organizes tweets so that I can follow certain people and notice the flow of conversation. Without Hootsuite, I would be lost on twitter. Plus, the free version works beautifully for my needs. As far as building relationships, it's so easy on twitter. Just strike up a conversation by responding to their tweets. We all love being noticed. I love it when people get my jokes :)
  26. Fisayo Sanyaolu says:
    Great post Cheryl! I need to try the tweet old post plugin. Thanks for sharing
    • Cheryl from thatgirlisfunny says:
      Hello Fisayo, Please do install Tweet Old Posts. You'll be so happy you did. They suggest having more than 100 posts to ensure that there is a good mix to pull from. If you're like me, you'll either grimace or beam with pride as each of your oldies but goodies turn up in your tweet stream. Some of them have been gathering social media votes like mad. Some of them have photos that have been removed or videos that won't play. OMG! Either way, I'm still proud of my work. Sort of like getting spot-checked. But that's what happens anyway. People land on those pages all the time and see what we're not seeing.
  27. Robert Dempsey says:
    Great post Cheryl. I use commenting strategies, guest posts, and many other connecting strategies including question sites to meet more people and extend my reach. I also use the Tweet old posts plugin and have gotten the same results as you have as my Twitter follower count increases. New folks don't know about your previous content so it's a great way to bring them into your fold.
    • Cheryl from thatgirlisfunny says:
      Hi Robert, You bring up a great point about creating an opportunity for new readers to see some of our older work. When I first started blogging, I wondered about the shelf life of posts. I spent time sorting through the options of how to organize and recycle posts to determine the best ways for my old posts to continue to add value by being easily found.
  28. Shiva says:
    Hi Cheryl, Really quite an informative posts on traffic building. I agree with you when you say building relationship is a great way of traffic building. Not only does building relationships with bloggers help in getting more traffic, comments, readers but also helps in many other spheres of life in the future. Many of those friends that we have made from blogging go on to become real friends in the future. "Relationships" are really one of the most important pillar of blogging. Talking about promoting older posts, I think most of the bloggers forget to do that. I try to tweet and FB share some of my old posts manually but it is really difficult to handle old posts like that. Had heard a few times about Tweet old posts, now I am surely going to give it a try. Also I liked the idea of searching for the #bloghop tag in twitter.that is also something that I was completely unaware of. Thanks for the great post. Looking forward to increasing my traffic by implementing some of your tips. Regards, Shiva
    • Cheryl from thatgirlisfunny says:
      Hello Shiva, I really love the Tweet Old Posts plug-in. You'll love the randomness of the posts selected. Some posts need to be excluded because they're not so interesting. But others, the posts you're really proud of, will make you smile when you see them again. Relationships with people on line keep blogging fun. We all love feeling connected and listened to. Thank you so much for your comment.
  29. MissMikelah says:
    I never thought about asking for guest post from others, probably because I feel like I'm still growing, but I think that's a great idea. Thanks!
    • Cheryl from thatgirlisfunny says:
      Hello MissMikelah, There's always someone who would love to write a guest post on your blog. Ask your friends who don't have blogs. The more you ask, the more comfortable you'll get with requesting help and support from others. That works in so many ways, right? There are new bloggers who are shy about asking whether they can guest blog for you. What I've learned is that the more I ask, the more I learn and the more cool opportunities show up. Nothing ventured, nothing gained as my mother used to say.
  30. DailyAppNews says:
    Hi, I'm trying to get traffic for my new blog. Previous, I have had blog, and I try to promote it on tweeter, but it didn't work. I think because the content of my blog wasn't focus. Then, I decided to make a new blog with focus and specialize content. I will try apply your tips to get traffic for my new blog. I hope your tips will work on my blog.
    • Cheryl from thatgirlisfunny says:
      Hello DailyAppNews, There are different schools of thought on whether you need to start a new blog whenever you change the subject or focus of what you're talking about. Good luck with your second attempt. My second blog has been running for more than 1.5 years now. I'm happy with the focus that I've chosen. Keep tweeting and making new friends in the blogosphere :)

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