I actually received this question this morning, from two separate people. Abel from Parent Wonder and Dan Denney were wondering what I did to build traffic to Stay At Home Dad, Geek Style so quickly. For those of you who aren’t familiar with that site, it has generated over 10,000 unique visitors in its first 45 days of being online. Obviously, that isn’t a *ton* of traffic, but most bloggers are just looking for the 50 or so visitors they can expect to see each day. Anyway, here is my “Top 3″ list of things you can do to promote your blog with minimal expense, and get those first 50 regular visitors coming to see you each and every day.
1. Get Out There and Comment!
In my opinion, this is absolutely essential for a new blogger. For most of us, if someone we haven’t seen in awhile (or ever) comments on our blog, we’re going to head over and see what they’re up to. It is important that your comments actually add something to the discussion, and aren’t there purely to show your name and URL. “Good post” comments piss most bloggers off (well, they piss me off, anyway), and aren’t well received. The rule is, if your comment will make no difference in the conversation, or will mean nothing to the blog owner, don’t post it. If you’ve got something worth saying, go for it!
2. Write Content That People Will Link To and Read Forever
On Stay At Home Dad, Geek Style, there are plenty of posts about my daily life, but I try to make about one out of ten be something relatively timeless. If you can write something that people will react to, whether it is in two months, or 15 years, you’re on the right track. Obviously, the normal, daily content is important, but you want to write content that is timeless, when possible.
The reality is, when news pops up within your niche, *everyone* is going to blog about it. Unless you’ve got something very interesting to add, there isn’t really a reason to post anything. Often, when big news comes out, I will write about literally anything else, because an article about anything other than the big news story will pop out of the screen when people see my blog, or run through their feeds.
3. Run A Contest Or A Give-Away
One of the big reasons that my DevDad blog has picked up so much steam is because of the contests I have run on it. When you give something decent away, people will literally flock to your blog to get in on the action. Sure, it’s cheating, but it works! DevDad.Com is less than two months old, and is already Top 40,000 on Technorati. Perhaps more importantly, despite being brand new to the “stay at home parent” scene, my “name” is pretty well recognized.
When you make your first contest, just remember that the smaller the prize, the easier it needs to be to enter. People aren’t going to make a 10,000 word post on their blog to win a free t-shirt! You don’t have to spend much on your give-away item, but make sure it is something that the people in your niche would actually want. If you run an iPod blog, don’t give away a Zune. If you run a digital photography blog, don’t give away ten free rolls of 35mm film.
Using the three tips above, you can almost guarantee yourself 1,000 unique visitors per month. Just get out there and become a part of your niche’s blog community, and you’ll be just fine!
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Great post!
I was wondering…are the items you give away tax deductible as a business expense?
John,
Generally, you can classify give-away items as business marketing expenses. It is very important, however, that you A)actually give the item away, and B)keep your receipt for the item.
Mike
I like to go around and comment on people sites like you mentioned here. Not just the ‘good post!’ kind of comments either
I believe not only does it increase your exposure but you get to meet interesting people and they will come look at your site too.
I also like the free give-away idea. I have yet to do it though I am sure it will happen fairly soon!
Now if i could just increase my pageviews I’d be happier! lol.
I’ll definitely check back here!
I actually got to this post from a comment. lol -actually a Craigslist reply. Great site. lol
Yes indeed leaving worthwhile comments are a great addition to your promotion. Just be sure to keep finding new blogs and authors to comment on. If you comment on only a few blogs you are likely to only receive their traffic if they have any. Go out and keep spreading the word!