More Traffic, More Readers: More Work!

Here's a fact: traffic to this blog doubled this week, according to my SiteMeter stats. Of course, I did a little jig and tossed the cat into the air. And that wasn't easy since I'm still recovering from back surgery and Dewey the cat weighs over 15 lbs. I'm thrilled.

What happened? Well, I wrote every day on the blog. I wrote significant pieces about writing great ezines, which is in fact the purpose of the blog. Then Denise gave my 17 Resources for Content post a boost over on her Next Level Biz Tips blog, which created a huge spike in visits.

What else happened? I used a provocative title (okay, I maybe got a little vulgar even). And that's about all I can think of that was any different last week, which may have contributed to the increase in traffic.

Denise and I always recommend that new bloggers post at least 2-3 times a week, otherwise readers forget you and don't get into the habit of coming back. (Many blog readers haven't yet understood that they can subscribe to your blog and get updates either through RSS feeds or a subscription service that delivers updates to your inbox - if you need to, go to the Feedblitz subscription form in the upper right top and subscribe now.)

And if you want to increase traffic more, then write more often. Oh, and it helps if you have something valuable to say, and you are making a contribution to your readers by helping them to be a success.

The other thing you need to do is keep at it for a long time. Not everyone wants or cares about writing great ezines, so it has taken time to build up a significant number of readers. This blog is now 2+ years old. I care enough about the topic to write to an audience of 1. Many bloggers give up too soon.

Comments

[Nathalie Marteau-Yarzabal]

If I've well understood what you've writen, it looks like many factors influence the traffic and it may be dificult to isolate each factor contribution to the traffic.

However, do you think that there is a parameter which is more important (which has more impact on the traffic) thant the others?

Nathalie
www.rendrevisibleettangible.com

[~rick]

Great tips..I have been at blogging for ...almost 3 weeks now..I have tried to post daily, and read, read, read other blogs. I see that most of my traffic comes from commenting from other blogs. Your point on having useful/interesting content cannot be over stressed. If your post is not informative, it better be entertaining. Keep up the great writing!~rick

[Sandra]

Patsi:
I so appreciate your insightful, savvy commentary. As a relative newbie to blogging, you inspire me to take practical steps to increase my traffic and show me that it's possible to build a successful online business with blogging. Thanks a bunch!

[pittfall]

Patsi,
You are correct. I am sure that your audience is greater than 1.

I am an SEO and this has been a struggle with websites I have worked with, you must update your content frequently. Keep your pace and delivery in check and as long as you stay on topic and provide useful (unique is my suggestion) information, the readers will come! This is good for site owners as well as us bloggers.

[robert]

those are nice tips...always helps to hear some encouraging words from a fellow blogger.

[Patsi M. Krakoff]

Thanks for everyone who commented here and joined in. I am eagerly awaiting traffic stats tomorrow to see if this was a one time oddity, or if my increased posting is going to get more readers this week too. Nathalie asks for one factor that has more impact; I think Denise would echo my thoughts on that: writing good content will get you good readers. Of course, that assumes you have already put into place the other things such as subscrber options, etc.

[Mitchell Harper]

Excellent advice, girls. I blog 3-4 times a DAY and I have grown my blog to 1,000+ visitors a day in just 2 weeks since I started, so I know your tips really work :)

[alice springs]

Dear Patsi,
Thanks for the life-boat, thank you.
I am now busy as a honey-bee testing titles.I have justed created one for my documented article on why Farrah Fawcett has fled from America.

[Pushkar]

I have traffic coming to my newish blog mainly through my comments on others blogs. I have a broad topic ( Blog Title :- Best Blogs) But my visitors mainly hover around my blogging articles. Should i continue writing on blogging or take a break & write on other things as well? Your post frequency part is very true.

[anonymous]

Nice tips.your info is cool hope this helps by blog get good traffic too….