How To Increase Blog Traffic

Blogs take commitment and time to build, without traffic it can be a lonely uphill struggle. Implement these tricks to increase blog traffic on your site.
So you've got your blog running, but you are waking up day after day to no traffic. What has gone wrong? This is a common complaint for many website owners. Read on for methods to increase blog traffic.
There are many methods to apply to increase blog traffic. Two mistakes that newbie bloggers will make, for example, is not providing top notch quality posts and not spending time building relationships. Without good content, there is not much reason for people to hang around, and without relationship building, people aren't so likely to return.
Here are some actions to take that will improve your traffic flow.
1. Good content takes time to research and to write. Build time into your weekly to do list for this purpose.
2. Spend time networking. This can be done via social networking tools such as LinkedIn or Facebook. Alternatively you can network by commenting on other blogs. By adding pertinent and relevant comments that add value, you can build up a presence on other blogs in your niche and the readers of your comments will click on your link. If they don't, you have at least built a back-link to your site, to help with your search engine marketing.
3. Offer free giveaways. Again, these need to be of good content that people want to read. The best giveaways provide unique and useful information that cannot be found elsewhere. You can create this content by running a survey, by offering your unique opinion on your industry (stay polite).
4. Learn about SEO. Yes, SEO takes time. It's not even so much the application of it. It needs to be learned, then you need to stay on top of the latest changes and methods, as it isn't something static with Google changing their ranking criteria at least a couple of times a year. This is essential to increase blog traffic.
5. Apply SEO. This might mean optimising graphics, titles and tags on your blog. Spend time researching each keyword up front for the best results. Use SEO plug-ins and URLs to aid your blog in getting found.
6. Invite guest posters. Guest bloggers will often pull some of their own audience over to your blog for their post. If you invite bloggers from your niche, you will have access to the same market.
7. Don't advertise. By adding adverts all around your blog, it can often lower the tone. Wait until you have a popular blog until you start adding them.
8. Keep comments closed. That is until you have got several RSS subscribers and regular readers. Nothing looks more sad and lonely than a blog without any comments. Keep your anonymity private until you are popular.
9. Share as much as you can. This might even mean revealing some of your own business secrets. The more you share, the more you will be rewarded with links and traffic.
10. Write pillar posts. These are the posts that really are worthy of getting a lot of attention. Perhaps a major list or a post that describes step-by-step procedure on how to do something. These are generally unique and take more than an hour to create. Make the most of them by bookmarking them on Digg and promoting them on your social networking accounts.
With so much competition out there, blogging does need to planned and implemented with quality posts. Before you know it, you will have implemented the steps required to increase blog traffic on your site.