Three Tips For Gaining New Readers & Driving Traffic To Your Blog

Here are three tips that you can use to make an immediate impact upon your blog and gain new readers.

1. Write lists that provide tips/strategies for gaining new readers/traffic to your blog.
2. Write a best of list, preferably in a category. For example Best News Blog, Best Mommy blog etc.
3. Run giveaways- As in give stuff away for free.

 A couple of quick comments.

I am very cynical about best of lists. Too tired to explain all the reasons why or debate about what metrics should be used to determine who/what really is the best.

But what I can tell you is that they can be a very effective way of making an immediate impact upon traffic to your blog. Here is what you do:

1. Create a catchy title for your list or award and a cool blog badge to go with it.
2. Email bloggers to let them know that they are on the list and request that they help publicize it.

As long as your list isn't titled "Biggest Douchebags of the Blogosphere" or "Most likely to be arrested for Pedophilia" you will find that many bloggers are happy to write a post about the award/list and then provide a link back to you.

In fact some bloggers are so eager for good press they will dress up the list/award. No one wants to publicize being part of something average.

The bigger trick is to turn that bump in traffic into something more meaningful and significant, new readers. That is the rub, how do you retain the new readers. An occasional bump is nice. A lot of my political posts have been linked to by Yahoo! but very few of those readers stick around for any real length in time.

Don't get me wrong, I am appreciative of those links, but they aren't enough on their own to keep people coming back. It takes something more.

A quick comment about review blogs. I take issue with bloggers who don't really blog. They spend a couple of bucks on a nice template and write nice letters of introduction to PR agencies in which they sing praises of their blog and the mighty purchasing power of the men/women that frequent them.

My issue is that quite a number of them don't write much of anything. They stick 300 words about diapers, breastfeeding or being a stay at home dad in between posts about contests. That is not a blog. That is a front for trying to get free crap for your family.

You can do reviews, contests and giveaways and be authentic. There are plenty who do. It is the others that irk me. I have done reviews in the past and will do them again in the future, but I like authentic blogs. And lately it feels like I keep stumbling upon fewer of the authentic variety.

But then again I am the first person to say that there is no right way to blog or tweet. However there are a lot of wrong ways.

Anyhoo, lunch time is over so it is back to work. One more tip before you go, Take a look at 51 Blogging and Online Marketing Tips for the New Year. There are some solid pieces of advice contained in that.