10 Ways To Increase Blog Traffic (2)

I thought I would share some ways to increase your blog traffic, these are a combination of things that I have read and things that I have done.  Here you go:

1. Be Original- Share information that is unique, be an expert on a subject, be funny, be real and make your posts stand out.  Be consistent with your posts, if you don’t post readers will not come back.
2. Blogroll- Add other good blogs to your blogroll, rotate your blogroll, and encourage your friends to add you to theirs. Write challenging/interesting content that encourages your readers to provide links to your blog.
3. Guest Blog- Be a guest blogger for friends and other blogs in the blogsphere.  Make sure that your posts are challenging and hard-hitting.  Allow other bloggers to be featured guest bloggers on your site.  Sahre and link interesting blog posts to yours.
4. Take a Stand- Make sure that some of your posts clearly take a stand on a topic or issue.  Readers will return to a site that has strong, unique and relative opinions.
5. Submit to Search Engines- Submit your site to search engines, submit it to as many as you can, understanding that Google is the “Grand Daddy.”  There are a number of manual ways to submit your site, as well as paid services.  A couple of sites to consider are AdMe    SubmitExpress    TrafficZap   Google AdWords   BuildTraffic   There are many other sites and services to consider.
6. Use Media- Use images, links to images, YouTube videos and graphics.
7. Allow Comments- Allow readers to comment and respond to all comments.  Be prepared to articulately respond to adversarial comments.  Comment on blogs that you read.
8. Add Link Tools- Consider using some or all of the following, one of the new and more popular is Blogrush, you can sign up for Blogrush by clicking the icon to the right of my blog.  Here are some free services, links, communities and tools to consider: Technorati    StubleUpon    DiggThis    Delicious   BlogExplosion   Blogs4God    BlogRush
9. Evaluate- Ask an educated Digerati and fellow bloggers to evaluate your site and recommend necessary changes.
10. Blog About Interesting Topics-  Technology, I-Phone, Religion, Current Issues, “Don’t Taze Me Bro,” Breaking News, Sports, Stupid Stuff, Church Trends and How To Increase Blog Traffic.
11. Bonus: Don’t give up!  You keep writing and people will start reading!

What are some things that you have done to increase your blog traffic?  Share your thoughts! 

For those of you who don’t have a blog, how do you come across the blogs that you read?

Craig posted that they would add those that link their blog to Swerve, to the Swerve blogroll.  That will increase your traffic; read about here.