How to Increase Traffic on Your Blog

I have been consistently blogging for about 9 months and am amazed at how much my blog has grown! I thought about what helped me to increase traffic on my blog and hope that it can help you with your blog.

1. Write consistently. You are more likely to have readers visit your blog on a daily basis if you consistently write posts. If a reader visits your blog and sees that the last entry was a month or two ago, they are more likely not going to want to come back, thinking that the blog is old or not being used anymore.

2. Be honest. I love blogging because I can talk about real life. I can talk about real issues I face – whether they involve marriage, motherhood, or life in general. You’ll find that if you’re honest, there will be people who can identify with you and you will become a support to one another.

3. Write well. You don’t have to to write perfectly, but you should spell words correctly and use grammar correctly (or to the best of your abilities). Remember, that people visiting your blog only know you based on your writing style, so try to write in a way that would give them a reason to return to your blog.

4. Leave comments on other blogs. Everybody loves comment love so be sure to leave comments for those who comment on your blog. When you are first starting out, you probably won’t have many comments on your posts. That’s ok! We’ve all been there. Get the name of your blog out there by leaving nice comments on other blogs. You will also get to know other bloggers and develop online friendships by leaving comments for others.

5. Join social networks. There are so many ways out there for you to get to know other bloggers. You can use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIN, Mom Bloggers Club, and many more! Be sure to tweet or update your status on a regular basis and watch the visits to your blog grow!

6. Participate in daily memes. I love memes because they are fun and help me get to know other bloggers out there. Some that I participate in are Monday Mingle, Wordless Wednesday, and Aloha Friday. I also developed some on The Mommy-Files, including Tasty Tuesday, Thankful Thursday, Secret Saturday, and Share Your Giveaway Sunday. I am also going to start a new one called “Share Your Good News Monday!”

7. Give linky love. Who doesn’t love linky love? Be sure to reciprocate linky love for those who give it to you. You may even initiate the linky love!

8. Promote your contests. If you have reviews and giveaways, be sure to promote them on other sites. Many blogs offer linkys where you can post a link to a giveaway you have on your blog. Take advantage of this free linky love! Also, enter your giveaways into databases such as online-sweepstakes.com or prizey.com.

9.  Offer readers a way to remember your blog.  I often find it very helpful when a blog has either Google Friend Connect or Feedburner.  With Google Friend Connect, I can “follow” their blog and be able to click on their blog to read updates.  With Feedburner, I can either read their updates through a reader (i.e. Google Reader, Yahoo Reader, etc) or receive an email including links to the blogger’s previous posts.