Excellent post. I agree with Dave on this one. Setting up a blog and just sitting back clicking Refresh on your stats isn't going to get you anywhere. You need to get out there, contribute to discussions and post information that will increase your personal profile, your blog popularity will follow.

I agree with this advice. I didn't start getting real traffic to my site until I started participating in like-topic blogs. It worked for me.

Good tips, it is tough to get exposure, as it is something I've "strived" for, for quite a bit. I had a lot of exposure on my MSN space, but it didn't look how I liked. I decided to go for content and beauty than traffic...Hopefully the traffic will increase. ;-D

Just starting along the Blog trail, I wanted to find those Blogs of interest. Using Technorati has been of limited value since most popular Blogs are not always in the tech area. Are there tips on how to find Blogs that are oriented toward my area of interest?

Very good explanation, I occasionaly follow your posts. I'll need to increase my commenting up one level, I guess. I write on 3-4 main topics on my blog (tech, computers, science, economy), plus on two languages, English and Macedonian. I am not sure how much would this affect my blog traffic in the future. I have modest traffic, but it is constantly increasing since I started back in April 2005. This tells me that I am on the right path.

By the way, Google returned this page as 7th result when I searched for "blog get traffic". Very well. ;-)

Dave:
I have become a fan of blogging, thanks especially to your talk tonight at the Denver CTRN meeting.
Erika Hanson Brown
Chief Connector
Stellar Search Group, a Stellar Connections Company
www.stellarbiz.com

Thank you very much - excellent article.

Very informative Dave, I totally agree on the concept of getting more involved. I think this personal touch makes a big and more lasting effect on every thing we do, be it blogging, seo, or even trying to get traffic to a personal web page. It all comes down to networking. By getting more involved in related and even unrelated web sites, forums, and blogs, we leave a little referrence not only of ourselves, but also a small plug about our own web page. I'm not talking about referral spam, but real visits, real interaction! In the process we also learn many new things that we can apply in our own business or web site! Until the next time, take care!
Bud

Nice job, Bud. Note that he's added a smart, worthwhile comment that demonstrates he's read through this discussion and has something to add, yet he's also included a link to his own site (through his name: click on it, you'll see) and reinforced the key words that he wants to be found for on Google and the other search engines "SEO traffic rank".

Great post from Dave Taylor. In fact, I can vouch for what he has stated about getting more traffic. I have had a blog for ONLY three months. While I have joined several 'blogshares'and 'bloggroups' the highest amount of traffic I see at my blog comes from posting comments at other people's blogs. Now, after only three months of blogging, I average about 40 to 60 hits per day from various people all over the world. Great advice Dave, it has worked for me!

Thanks for posting that. I'm jamming my brain with info about growing traffic to my new blog. This page was listed number 1, under google search results.

Good Tips Dave, and , I would like to point the fact that a bloggers primary focus should be on posting information that is coherent, well written, informative, that brings added value to the reader.

Henrique Plöger Abreu

Fantastic advice. I've obviously been spending too much time submitting and bookmarking at reddit, delicious, technorati, furl, spurl, ezinearticles, and others trying to get my site more traffic.

Not sure how you can "bookmark" at Technorati or Ezinearticles, Jason, and I suspect you are being more than a bit sarcastic, but that's okay: the Web's full of different styles of interaction. On the other hand, if you have specific techniques that you use with terrific results, why not share them with us so we can all benefit?

Very well put Dave. Unfortunately many new webmasters and bloggers think that since they are sitting in front of a computer monitor there will not be a real person on the other side. They think of the internet as a living thing that is independent from individuals. By focusing on individuals and their reactions, a webmaster or blogger can obtain their attention and therefore repeated traffic.

-Guillermo Puyol

Thanks for the advice Dave! Now I understand why link exchange cannot get the traffic I expected. Good networking is the key. You bet I'm taking out my first steps from now on.

This was very helpful to me (the new blogger). I was spending most of my time trying to add new posts to my own blogs and now I am reading, enjoying, and posting to other great blogs. I am noticing more people posting on mine in exchange. Keep up the good work and thanks for the help.

It definitely is a good advice. I was thinking along some complex lines to increase traffic on my website, but its true the best solution is the simplest one! Ergo, this comment.

If you Google for “Submit blog��? phrase, you’ll find a lot of directories where you can submit your blog for free. It takes time, but more submissions you make – more incoming links you get. Search engines see these incoming links and give your blog a better rank and as a result you’ll get more visitors.

There is a lot of value in what Dave is saying. Links are one thing, but straight links are a dime a dozen, they're just not worth what they used to be. Sure, you can get some pagerank but when it comes down to it, the power of return visitors is invaluable.

If you can get your visitors to believe that you know what you're talking about, they'll keep coming back.. and which would you rather have.. 1000 visitors that keep coming back every day, or 3000 visitors that come once and never return?

Lately I've been thinking about what types of blog entries I need to write in order to create market discussion... the kind of discussion that picks up my blog entry and talks about it on their blog.

While I don't have the answers yet, I do know that part of the solution includes doubling the amount of time that I invest in each blog entry.

Would be curious if others have suggestions on how to spur positive market discussions from thy blog?

I'm just following your advice, I'm posting a comment. I'll start commenting proactively. Thanks for the advice.

Dave, I'm a little confused about your praise to Bud or SEO Traffic Rank's comment above. I understand the part about praising him for leaving a "worthwhile comment that demonstrates he's read through this discussion and has something to add." (Good Job Bud!)

But I don't understand why you praised him for "reinforc[ing] the key words that he wants to be found for on Google and the other search engines 'SEO traffic rank'", when on another post (Google, Yahoo and MSN support "nofollow"? What's that?), you mention that these "nofollow" tags make it so the links have no worth. As far as I can tell, this post was written after the "nofollow" post so I imagine you can see my confusion.

Please enlighten us about this subject and thank you for all your advice!

sound f/x: hand slapping forehead
sound f/x: Homer Simpson saying "Dohhh!"

Jeez, you're right, Boyd. I spaced about the fact that my site uses the nofollow tag to minimize the ill effects of spammers trying to game links from my blog. In fact, using a keyword or key phrase as your "name" on a comment here will gain you naught on Google.

On the other hand, to recover just a little bit, it is true that what Bud has done is reinforce to those of us that VISIT this page that his site is all about SEO traffic rank and that might just appeal to some % of the visitors who would then click on it, whereas they would be far less likely to do so if it just said "Bud".

Nonetheless, point well made. Thanks.

Hi Dave,

I just discovered your blog through a google search of "get more traffic to my blog" (just missed the "how do I", otherwise I would have nailed the post title.) It is funny how many times we must be reminded of the truth; networking is key in all business. Our best customers (or visitors) are built on trust and trust is built on consistency, truthfulness, and sharing. So I've basically been lazy, thing google, yahoo! and other search engines would lead the way. What I really need to do is go out and intelligently work with and appreciate others who are promoting the topics that I stand behind.

namaste

michael

I appreciate the input. I'm writing a blog trying to help musicians, movie makers & other forms of artists get discovered, but that's difficult when I'm having a hard time getting discovered myself!

I've taken everything you've said to heart. Thank You!!!

Excellent, I found this post interesting. The reason I say that is because I am currently a seo specialist, and I am new to the blog scene, but am currently putting a blog up on my website for viewers, and thinking this will help draw more traffic.

So you really think it is REALLY better to go for quality and not quantity? I suppose it makes sense intuitively. Funny how most people lose their sense of value when sitting at a keyboard.

I think this is a good idea to start participating in the topics or dicussion that are related to your blog. I totally agree with that but I’m not sure if it will work. I will start doing now and see what the effect is.

Having said that, I have a friend and his site has a lot of traffic. The secret that he shared with me is “Keep Updating Your Blog��? as frequent as possible even though sometimes the content sucks. I’m not sure the word “even your content sucks��? is a true statement. In short to summarize, probably we can call it a “Brute Force��? method which is to update your blog as frequent as possible regardless of the quality of your content. I kind of disagree with this statement but I’m not sure since I’m very new in this. Probably some experience bloggers out there have the answer or have something to share.

I found your post to be very informative and encouraging. My site is brand-new and I am looking forward to generating more traffic. Your suggestions are concise and direct, just what I was looking for in advice :) I realize that it will take some time to obtain high levels of traffic, but I plan on making the effort necessary to accomplish this goal. I agree with Champdog's statement about the need to update a site, which is what you had also highlighted in your post. What I really appreciate the most in your post is the time breakdown. You had indicated that is best to spend 2/5 of your time on writing posts that are filled with content and are original, and 3/5 of your time contributing to other blogs. Thanks Dave.

Great post. Building communities and relationships are vital to your blogs success. Traffic will come, maybe not as fast as many of us would like, but it will come.

I did all the submission and they work! This was about 1.5 years ago. Now, after the December Google search update, my traffic went down 50%. I have no idea what to do to get it back. Oh well..

I didnt know it will help by commenting on blogs. :)

I don't know why some blogs are highlighted as interesting on Yahoo 360 (blogsite). My site has changed lately since I was able to upload videos so I want more traffic from people who could relate.
Thanks,
Mary

Good advice i think dave, and i'm going to give it a shot. After going to all the trouble of writing it, you've gotta do some promotion! Some of the richest/most famous people on this planet arent really all that great at anything, they just "sell" really well, wether it be their ideas or themselves!

This information is useful, I used it last night and already got a couple of hits. Not what I anticipated but its better than nothing. Hopefully I Gain more over time. Thanks alot

I was looking for something like this. That's a great way to look at it. If you don't contribute and read other's blogs why should you expect other's to notice yours?

This discussion is still attracting attention and comment posts a year & 1/2 since it's been published, being a testament to how urgent and relevant it continues to be. Dave's advice of being involved is right on. But I would also add that peoples' search patterns follow predictable patterns, and it's partially the responsibility of the blogger to put themselves in the path of Web voyagers. And often times, it's just a slightly more intelligent headline selection. To see this in action, just go to Google and ask "How do I get traffic to my blog?" You'll see Dave's post right there on top. And you'll see the HitTail site currently in position 8. HitTail, an application that Dave was so kind as to help us beta test, is an application that teaches you precisely how to do it.

Thank you for this insightful post. Blogging is more than just your own, I agree with that.

In a sense, even though we might sometimes not like it, want it all to ourselves -- we're still apart of a community.

Good read.

It is also fun. I force myself to get involved and find that I just get into these subjects and I end up following paths to other blogs I never thought of. It does feed traffic back as undoubtedly this post will.

Great advice. Dave. Thank you. Started doing the same thing. Have a long way to go though.

Using Feedburner and MyBlogLog helped my site try those! Comments, Comments, Comments... Stumble

I was looking for some ideas to get more traffic to my Blog http://incomefromblog.blogspot.com
Now I got the tips from you. I will post comments on other Blogs... LOL Let me start here...

I just started my blog and im struggling to get views on it? It is an interesting place where i state my thoughts and even post questions to think about. Just wish i could get some hits!!!

Hi,
Use social bookmarking websites like digg.com, netscape.com and npgb.org...
- William :)

First one needs valuable creative or useful content in order for their site to go viral. Also you will have to do some marketing of yourself and your blog, you can write articles on helium.com, articlepanda.com, associatedcontent.com or any well known site where you can give people a taste of what you have to offer. Be sure to leave a link back to your site for your services. Last but not least you will want to talk to an SEO professional if you want to stay on the cutting edge of organic search.

Hi Dave, I was wondering if you could provide me with some great tips on getting my visitor base up to around 700 visitors per day. Thanks in advance!

Hi Dave. I found this ask Dave spot when trying to find some info.I agree with your advice of being present to get yourself out there. I have just started and found this advice several times, I'm working on mine RealPackage.com/blog haven't really been out much but have found your site very informative. I am going to try your advice and will let know how it goes. Thanks Sue Jones

Thanks a lot for the good advice, I have set up a business blog recently and have been waiting for the traffic, but now because of your comments I know what to do.

This is great information. It has really opened up my veiw on building websit traffic to blogs and even websites. Keep up the great work.

Great post ! I've just started a blog and this kind of valuable information is exactly what I needed.

Good tips here is another a single content blog with lots of original content and picking the right tags to use with social bookmarks can go a long way to bring in short and long term traffic I found one tag that I had on the first page of its category for 213 days :) people searched for the phrases but very few bloggers used it as a tag.

Good post but I do think all are missing out on the seo part which i feel is relevant to getting traffic. Using an seo plugin can surely better your ranking which will/should lead to an increase in hits.

What if you spend all yr time writing articles and you simply haven't got the time to join other bloggers?

Good tips. And yes, have consistent, quality, and relevant content, and the readers will come.

Hi Dave,

Great article! I have just started out a new blog and after reading your advice, I realize that getting involved in the right target audience and community is vital to creating quality traffic and backlinks to my blog...

In a word, "Socialize" and that's the way to go!

Nice article, very informative....

I beleive this is the first common sense advice I have seen in my search of looking for ways to increase traffic on my blog. It makes perfect sense, great job delivering the clear message.

This is really great advice. My friends and I just started a blog, and we've been trying to figure out how to get more readers. Thanks for the advice!

I think that a lot of new bloggers tend to reach for the panic button if they have a bad day every once in a while, they get so obsessed about their statistics that end up checking them every 2 minutes to see if anyone else has checked out their blog.
I can confirm I went through that, although I have only had my blog up for less than a month I have built a somewhat consistent and participatory audience. I can tell you that I have tried to participate in other forums and blogs to get my message across as well as some exposure, I want to thank you for all the great tips you offer the blogging community and if you ever get a chance check out my blog, I would love to have you there.
http://maxthemac.com

Great Article Thanks wasn't exactly what I was looking for but it was a good read :)
I agree with your comment about "how do I become part of the blogosphere discussion?" great point!

I try to tell readers in Flixya but they don;t get it :(

Thanks Again
Thomas3940

Dave, your insight is invaluable! I greatly appreciate the direction you've given me and am putting it to use as of now!

Thank you. I found your advice on generating more web traffic informative and I'll definitely follow your advice and get involved.

Great article! I'm only just now (2008) getting into the website and blogging scene and from what I have read lately, your point regarding getting involved with blogs (and forums?) is more relevant for creating traffic to a website or blog now than in was in 2005 when this thread was started!
If there’s one thing I have observed in my life, it’s that people love to yap: so by all means please yap it up – however, please yap intelligently!! Don’t spew senseless and irrelevant drivel.

Cheers

nice idea useful for new comers like us thank you

I agree, it is nice to post your thoughts, but much more fulfilling to participate in other people's sand boxes too. People love discussions, and sometimes even debates, but lectures get boring. So go out and read and react to everyone else who has similar passions.
-Matt

I'm on a new way of blogging. I read your post, and I thnink that will be heplful for me and for my future readers. Thank You a lot !

Thanks Dave! I just started using your techniques and now my hits have gone up to 500 per day which used to be only around 50! Sweet!

By the way if anyone interested in information security here is my weblog address:
http://cryptoexperts.blogspot.com

Thanks for this very good advice. When you drop by someone else's blog and post a comment, they do tend to come by yours, if only to see who the new person is.

I think you've missed a traffic draw:

Reviews for obscure or niche products.

A review such as for the Griffin FireWave - a firewire audio device for Macs has been a huge draw to my FIXYOURTHINKING.COM website.

Furthermore, expanding your horizons on occasion with a different topic and offering polls with discussion can help - getting an occasional friend to start off the conversation is good too.

I there. I just started blogging about 2 weeks ago, but can't seem to get traffic to my blog. Please can't you help me. I would like to see my blogs perform. Thanks for the useful information.

So true, I spent quite alot of my time trying to promote but it's so tough if you take the wrong route. Get out there and comment, it sounds simple but it works.

www.themoviemonkeynews.blogspot.com

Thank You. Its simple rule of giving and taking. As I give , I will get. Your advise is very fruitful and helpful. Hope everyone here will be benefited from your advise.

I am a web marketing manager and I want to increase our web traffic, and I want to have Your comments and advices.
Thank You

That is good read right about there. it seems so simple after you read it... hits you like duuh, that should have been the first thing to do to get the blog to more people out there... but hindsight is always 20/20

Cheers,
Chimbles

The very reason that I found this site is because I have started blogging to generate more traffic to my site. So Dave's advise is very sound and only reinforces what I have learnt at seminars. It is all about the discipline to actually do it. Like anything else if you keep on doing it it becomes a habit. This is a good habit to develop though.

It definitely is a good advice. I was thinking along some complex lines to increase traffic on my website, but its true the best solution is the simplest one! Thank you very much

I wonder if people will just comment this post in order to get traffic for themselves. I mean, doesn't this sort of manic comment posting just dim the quality of comments in general? After all, people are eventually just going to end up making the same commentary once a discussion has been quelled unanimously.

It's just a thought.

You bring up a valid point, but I will say that as a blog owner, it's tough sometimes to know what's a crass spammy attempt to get a link or an awkward attempt to genuinely add to the discussion or post a "me too" message.

your site is kool..
nice article.. bookmarked !!

After reading this blog. I think i will be able to get more and more traffic from my targeted viewers.

Great article with some great insight! I will have to work on some of these things to get my blog 'up-to-par'!

Really useful post, I'm writing about the whole blog building process - start to finish

Leon

thats a useful information.
thanks for that
visit http://rentale.blogspot.com

Thanks, it's very useful. And now i think i will start to write comment on as many post as possible. And ur post is the 1st to write.

This is a very interesting article, with useful information.

It can be hard work taking that first step to mixing with other blogs and bloggers. But I hope it'll be rewarding even if I'm finding it a tricky process to start with.

Hi everyone,
I am starting my blog and I've been eager to learn as much as I can about blogging and how to increase traffic. I thank you Dave for the time you took to explain very detailed how to increase the traffic volume on my blog and giving us insight on how to better our own products. I do believe that in order for us to get better in the blogging environment we have to give each other a helping hand, just like in old times, today I help you, and tomorrow you will help me, and in the end it is a all circle of re-occurring favors.
I will let anyone know about this post when they are becoming inpatient about the traffic they are receiving on their blog.
Once again thank you and thanks to all of your comments.

I agree with dave, Read and apply all the thoughts what dave explained here, sure you will get good traffic, Thanks dave for such a great content.... Siaar of Siaar Group.

Dave, Spectac-u-licious post!

Thanks for your insight.

I am a High School History teacher in Los Angeles of more than a decade and a former underground club D.J.

Having grown in my understanding of the history of mass media, its influence on our youth, and popular culture, I have just created my own blog: BUILDING MINDS MULTI-MEDIA (BM3). I formed it to encourage discussion regarding the omnipresence, ideas, consequences and consumption of corporate media on youth. I hope to increase media literacy as well culture making (once literate in media, then they can set their own criteria and create, build, master, "better" media for their edification as they make their own popular culture).

I am taking your wisdom to heart and am starting to compose the two articles a week today, then working out a schedule to visit sites in my market space and commenting.

I am wide open to critique, wisdom, and encouragement to reach, teach, and "up-build" our youth.

Thanks again,

BK

This was a good article and gave me ideas about my blog. I'm glad I found this on Google.

Thanks 4 advice, iv started my blog just recently and I was thinking of ways to get exposure. This puts me on the right direction.

Thank you for the valuable information.I don't subscribe to business blogs or the new gadget of the week club, but I really like what cooky people do in their everyday cooky lives.Thanks for the advice. regards Eugene.

I most definitely appreciate your very concise to the point opinions and advice to upstarts like myself.

I too agree with this article, also a lot of blogs have forms like the one below, where your enter your URL and name which gives you backlinks to your blog, so while your are participating in discussions, you are also building up those all important backlinks... Good Times :P

Great articles though :)

I was looking a solution to increase my blog`s traffice. Anyone can help ?

Excellent tips, Dave! I am just starting out myself and I appreciate the advice. My blog is about being healthy and feeling better :) I am definitely going to get active with similarly-themed blogs as you've suggested.

This is quite a good idea. Spending some times every week to give comment at good and related blog seems to be the best way to generate good amount of traffic. Your valuable post here would be surely help those who are seeking for a way to boost traffic to their site. I give 5 stars on your post.

Gud tips dave
I'll follow these for my blog

Thanks for your valuable insight on blogging BTW I am a new blogger and have started a blog recently (http://www.technogarage.blogspot.com) .I will try to incorporate your points in my blog.

Thank you! Its a good tips Dave, I like it.

Well of course this article inspired me to comment! Thank You!

Very good information.....Thanks!

Armando

Great article! I really enjoy reading your article and I think it is very helpful for me as a blogger. I hope you visit my blog once and tell me if you like my blog. Thanks!

Seems to be very hard to get intertwined into the big "communities" of bloggers, at only a couple hits a week I guess I have my work cut out for me!

Hi,

Well here is my two cents... I agree with Dave and the fact that you need to be an active blogger instead of just a writer. If you really need to pull in more traffic you need to increase your activity on other blogs, forums and even on social networking websites.

I have found it useful if you become more active on youtube.com and google videos and you don't have to post videos to become active just a few comments will do.

Very sound advice! People tend to forget that a bit of good advice or an encouraging comment can go a long way. Most people appreciate the comments, and are curious to know something about the people who visit their blog. They will sometimes leave a comment for you too, which is great! Lots of these one-way links are what helps you to get free traffic from the search engines!

Hi Dave, I had no idea that content on your site was so important. As you say check spelling and grammer, well writen ect.

Thank you very much for your information.
michael

Thanks for the advice and the good ideas.. I just started writing blogs and its a passion I have and have many takes on various different subjects.. I don't blog every hour on the hour but I will definitely keep people reading I just need to attract the readers first lol..

Hi there!
I love your article about how to increase traffic !
It's a easy way to understand how the things are on blog world!

Keep doing this things with tips and tricks if is possible!!:)

All the best

Nice suggestions. HOPE IT WILL HELP ME GET TRAFFIC.

After reading all this, this really is invaluable but the problem I am having is finding blogs, with the same kind of content to read, who I think would equally like my blog.. my blog is about Rekindling my marriage from loves notes to naked twister..I'm on a mission @ therekindlemission.co.uk

I'm off to find 'like minded' people and read their blogs..

I hope it will bring me more traffic also. Thanks for sharing this with us.

Thank you for the great suggestions!!
thefrugalcookbook.blogspot.com

There are a lot of "bloggers" that want to strike it rich so they create fake blogs that repost real bloggers content automatically. If only they could find posts like this that explain the importance of unique content and participation...

Thanks for the advice Dave. Will get to work on my blog & hopefully get some traffic

I like your advise. Also as a non native English speaker and writer, writing a blog helps me to train my writing skills. However I still have a very long way to go till I can say that I have a steady amount of visitors on my blog...

Thank you for all your information. I am really new at blogging.I never knew how much fun it could be

Thank you for the information, as a beginner I hope to benefit from your advice. Will let you know in a month or so how's it going. Thanks!

This is great information and not very tough to implement. It is difficult to rise above the people that are more established than yourself and have been contributing for a longer time. "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" is a great strategy that could really help me out. Thanks a lot!

just read the blog and i have to agree. Ive been building websites and blogs for a while and the best exposure is to be amongst the crowd. This method increases traffic but also discussing amongst relative blogs you can generate a targeted audience and not time waisters.

I have started a blog on urban, political, and employment issues. The twist to my blog is that anyone can contribute an article. I am going to see if the contributing authors would be interested in commenting on similar blog forums. I myself am going to being this practice immediately. Great tip and I appreciate the insight.

Sam

I want to increase my blog traffic, please give me the tip, I hope it will bring me more traffic also. Thanks for sharing this with us.

I have started to follow your advice Dave, and although at the very beginning of my blog I am hopeing the traffic will improve. Thanks very much.

I agree with what you are saying Dave. Its just finding the time to get involved, as you say. Guess I will just have to do it.

Hi Dave. I have my Blog running, but not visit it. This is a big issue. Thank you so much though, I have learned what to do now. You have a wonderful day!
Bye Bye.

id just like to say thank you for the information on this site, seemed to have learnt alot

I agree. Instead of wasting your time doing a lot of back linking, focus more on pages that are actually worth the time. Quality always beats quantity.

Sir i found your article good and informative one.please i want to SEO of my blogs.So please sujjest me something that can help me

thanks for your great post.
i have a doubt,you said that adding comments (without adding link to my site) will give me visitors.i just wonder how.eventhough they have intend to visit my site,how they get my site? so i think adding address (not as link) will help.right? sorry am not a professional seo.

anyway this is my first visit.and got what am looking for.again thank you for such a great post.

-sayyu

your advice is very helpful to me, i wrote a blog as a health manual or book and place some ads on it, but the problem is I can't get enough traffic, so my blog just happens to be a book in an abandoned library. hope you can help me again. thanks a lot.

Hi Dave,

Thanks for your simple yet powerful advice

Jeevs

Fair points, but for a newbie blogger it is very difficult to get 'involved' with the right people and get talked about. It's gonna take a mountain of effort before you start to see tangible results.

Honestly I think you'd be better off generating quality content and then SEO'ing the living daylights out of your blog.

Thats what I've done to my blog and the traffic goes up monthly.

Thanks Dave! It was really helpful.. I have just entered the blogosphere.. I felt lost in this vast blogosphere.. I thought of quitting from blogging.. Reading this article has regained my confidence.. Thanks!:)

Thank you Dave for being upfront and truthful about what it takes to drive traffic to our blog.

I read all I can about SEO, and frankly I feel all the tricks are not enough anymore. The same tip goes for running a brick and mortar business. You have to get out there and Network!

Thank you for being straight to the point.

You Rock!

Shar

Personally I think that the advice provided in this article is extremely important to those who would like to earn a reputation blogging, commenting on other blogs would obviously guarantee you a spot in the blogging community and could only improve the exposure of your blog.

Thanks for the advice. Our blog for our electrical contracting service is brand new as we are eager to incorporate your suggestions and the suggestions among your comment log. Your blog is fabulous. Kudos!

Great post! These are things I've been doing to increase traffic to my wedding photography blog and I'm slowly starting to see the benefits of it. But slow progress is better than no progress right?! Thanks!

Hi Dave,
This is the 2nd time I am visiting this page from google. I find it usefull both time.
Thanks for the post

Hi, thanks for the advice. My blog is just a small one and I was hoping to have more readers in the future. So, I'll keep your tips in mind and I'm sure that would be a great help.

I just wannna make money online thanks man.... I'll click your adsense ehehe so you can make some money.

Hello from Ukraine !

I have just begun 1 week ago and always look for the tips about it all, I found this your site, read the information about getting more looks to my Blog, so now I will go and work with these.

So, I want to say you thanks !

Sincerely,

Marina.
Rivne - Ukraine.

i want more traffic plz help me how to get

gr8 article , i got lot of new ideas from this article highly appreciate

Getting traffic to my blog has been the big question. I appreciate your suggestions. I guess if you want traffic you have to give traffic. Thanks!!

Thanks for the tips Dave. I will not just focus on developing my island, I will start island hopping right away!

Thanks you for the tips dave,i hope this works for me.
keep up the good work.

Thank again!

Dave: Thank you for providing this venue for individuals to come and share their thoughts and experiences. I appreciate the time and effort that you've put into this site. Hopefully after I've had enough time to process all of the great info found within these comments into a successful blog of my own; I'll come back and buy you that cup of coffee. :)

I think you're right. Nice post. :)

I hope it will work for my blog

Excellent advice. I know how important it is to comment on other blogs. This article made me realize how much more important it really is! I’ve been doing forum comment but only see minimal traffic with that technique. I think blog comment is a much better approach. I start to give it a try. Crossing my figers for better results!

I think the biggest challenge any blogger faces is finding a way of standing out from the crowd. With so much information on the Internet it is difficult to find a single topic that hasn't been already written about extensively.

So where I agree to an extent that engaging in a dialogue with other bloggers will bring you some traffic, you then still need to convert that little stream of traffic into a river, which brings me back to my point.

If the visitors you attract land on your blog and think I have seen, heard or done that before, then they are unlikely to share or promote your information and they will probably not come back again themselves either.

So what are you left with, well basically you need to have your own way of saying the same things that are funnier, wittier, is done more professionally or you use a different preferred media. You effectively have to create your own brand and or style and if you do it well you will have an appeal and attract more followers though promotion from the visitors you do attract.

Great helpful information, Thanks for this nice post, just subscribed your feed, hope you will update new post soon.
keep it up.

I'm just getting started so this is good info. I've always got a full mind of ideas it's just translating all those thoughts into the written word cohesively that slows me down. I guess maybe I need to make a list of things I'm interested in and then go read other people's blogs about those ideas or topics. Thanks for the info, I'll be back.

Thank you for your informative advice.Being new to blogging, I am pleased that there are sites like this that can assist me in becoming part of the global network and get my site noticed.I also understand that it is a marathon rather than a sprint and any success will not happen overnight.Thank you once again.

firstly i would like to thank you for this amazing blog post. It really helped me, though i already had imagined that trick. Still, you enhanced my optimism and taught me some of the values that go together with this comment-trick.
Continue your great work

Thanks for sharing this and let me share some of my own tips which i believe that other people can learn.

Commenting was created because readers want to interact with what they read. Commenting allows readers to provide input, reflect, add on, give their opinion, etc.

While you may be commenting in hopes to gain more traffic to your site, don't do it just for that reason. Enjoy it, and provide quality comments. Don't just skim the post you want to comment on and then write a, "good post" comment and click "add comment." Actually take the time to read the post, and then write an appropriate comment reflecting your opinion, thoughts, etc.

I have to say thank you for the little information you have shared with us. It is a refreshing tip that I certainly haven't seen written down on the internet before today. However, being on the first page of google it is clear that you are excellent at gaining traffic to your website, so I am sure there are more tips available than what you have disclosed.
I am a successful business woman offline and I am trying to find ways to broaden my horizons to the virtual world and I am spreading what I find out to the world on my blog, http://internet-money-making-solutions.blogspot.com
Yet one aspect I particularly can't quite grasp is traffic and how to get it. If anyone has any truly insightful sources about gaining traffic, I would love to hear it. One thing that makes me such a successful business woman offline, is that I don't merely pay for someone to do something I can't do, I like to understand every aspect of my business and how it works to make me money. Whilst I do have employees now, I have understood their role before paying them to do such. This also gives me loyal employees who know they are appreciated for the job they do. I intend to deplore this to my online businesses also.

Driving traffic to a blogsite can really put your SEO skills to the test. But here’s what I really love, there are tons of effective marketing tools out there and you will never run out of options. Some of these great tips were discussed here and two of my favorites are article marketing and blogging. Blogging is a great marketing tool. Selecting the right keywords is extremely important for SEO. Some minor tips for bloggers: you have to be interesting and unique so that people will feel their time wasn’t wasted while reading your post. Eventually, you’ll gain loyal subscribers who may become potential buyers to your online business (if you have one) and before you know it, your business is up and running.

tnx for sharing it and very useful information

My SEO Blog is finally coming together after 14 months of blogging. However, I spent too much time writing posts and not enough promoting it.

I spend a fair amount of time on other related sites and comment when I have something that adds to the topic. However, less than 1% of those bloggers haven't even visited my site in return.

I am not sure how to handle that. How much time does a person spend on sites that are one sided?

Great article. It helped me to generate a few ideas. Thanks

Good article. I agree. I started an alternative newsblog about 6 months ago. I think I picked a tough Niche to compete in. I've been thinking of turning it into more of a conspiracy news site lately. But yes, posting on relevant blogs and forums is a must. You have to interact with other people in your Niche and gain some credibility. Writing style is extremely important as well. I notice the long articles I spend alot of time on get more views and are more original. They get alot more comments too. Posting in forums definitely helps. I think my #3 traffic source is from the huffington post, one of the biggest news blogs. I just contribute to discussions and people hit my link. I get traffic back from other forums as well. The more time and effort you put into quality material and forum interaction, the quicker you can build a base. My news site started out with 1 article and about 2 views a day. Now i have over 120 articles and get anywhere from 100-500 visitors a day. 88% unique. And they seem to spend a good amount of time on my site and look through several pages. It's a process. I've been on the social bookmarking sites and forums non stop. And I know even 500 visits a day isn't much. But when it's steady and consistent and your readers stay on your site a long time, your headed in the right direction. Word spreads quick. Constantly update your blog. Put something new, interesting, and appealing up every day. Give em a reason to subscribe. You want daily readers, not just someone who clicks through an article never to be seen again. That's why I'm gonna subscribe to this blog. Because it's nice, has information, and updates. Now if I can just get my CTR up!! any ideas? haha.

Nice post ... it helps for my niche.

You provide very valid points. One thing I have to add is that most of the people who ask how to increase traffic to their site or blog are searching for the easy way out. Most of the ones I have encountered practically expect for someone to put a marketing plan at their fingertips in a silver platter. I remind them often that there is NO "one size fits all" marketing plan and that no one should know what is best going to fulfill their needs than themselves.

Now, when someone states what they have done and that still they are stuck at a plateau then ask what should they try to move beyond that plateau; that person is looking at their site outside of the box. That person is trying to learn and not asking someone to tell them what to do.

There are many ways to increase traffic to a website or a blog, but I think it is precisely the many choices available what confuses and overwhelms most newbie marketers. I try to make it easier for them and tell them that the best strategy is the one they create with their site and needs in mind. I think it is also important to combine free and paid services in order to maximize results.

thanks sir before i don't really know how to create more traffic on my site but i think its really helpful to me about your post on how to create traffic.hope that i can do it.I am blogger about Hyundai trouble shooting this i very helpful i think to anybody who have Hyundai car but sometimes i feel discourage due to this reason few visitors.but as I have read in your site really challenge me to pursue this matter.thanks sir.

am just gratefull for this info. anyway can anybody show me how to submit sitemap to google and also how google can find my blog?

hope to hear from soon dave.

thanks

Trying to get traffic, but unable to find it

hey dave,
awesome stuff! i'm spending about an hour day visiting other peoples blgos like yours and adding value to the conversation and building relationships.
like you say you start out as a nobody, but as time progresses you get more known and the more value you bring the more people will come and check you out. it defintiely works!
keep the cool content coming!

Wow 5 years on and your post is still getting hits + no.2 on google.. Impressive!!!

My design blog, www.chillimangodesigns.blogspot.com, will need a complete overhaul after reading this.

Thanks.

Hello,

Impressive post,
I went throught its details, and I think I am going to slightly alter my blog after that.
I am starting to get traffic, but very little followers,

please check it out here: http://riadafyouni.blogspot.com/

Useful information. I started my blog a few weeks ago and I come to realize that this stuff really works. Thank you.

Great helpful information, Thanks for this nice post, just subscribed your feed, hope you will update new post soon.
keep it up.

Great advice for the all the bloggers out there!

Dave, You have nailed it on the head. I am a web designer who is constantly telling my clients exactlty what you are getting accross in this post. Clients are always looking for a quick fix a way to drive traffic to there site. But what you are touching on here is that its not about traffic, its about the right traffic. Your post has reinforced my thinking. That It is important to understand the visitors you need to attract and place you self in there market place by participating in content relevant blogs. Keep up th good work , Im even going to subscribe to your feeds.

Plus, it's a lot more fun to interact with others rather than simply writing and expecting people to automatically want to read every word.

yer i get the idear so basicly start commenting on diffrent subjects to what you useually do its deffnitly a diffrent approatch to the one i have been using so far

I've been struggling to get more traffic to my site, is blog commenting or joining them is the most effective ways of increasing traffic?

Great article, good information, posting credible comments on other blogs is the way forward!!

I know how! by commenting on this post.

Best option is do proper SEO and keep doing it every month.
Do every month but little not much then site will automatically come up within very period.
Try to submit 10-25 directory every week.

Thanks Dave
Quite insiteful. Needed the information.

Thanks a lot for pointing out and giving the right kick start on how to get more visitors.

fabulous tips for a newbie blogger......

As a starting blogger I find commenting on other blogs a fast and fun way to attract some attention to my own blog. It's actually starting to become addictive. And did I say "some" attention? I think that's a bit of an understatement. I am starting to see the power of blog commenting, and reading Dave's post I have a confirmation that the correct ratio is more commenting on other blogs to less posting on my own blog.

Thanks a lot Dave! These are great tips.

Thank you for the tips! I've just started out and am curious about how to get traffic to my site. I'm glad you came up first on my search!

Cheers!

Thanks for the great thoughts and ideas. This new person to the internet business scene will keep them in mind in the near future.

Yes right! I think the same thing, good post, and quality contents are the best tool to increase targeted traffic! Thank you!

Nicely pointed out the pre requisites to bring traffic to a website or blog.But its not emphasized the need for search engine submission and SEO tools?Wanna know some detail on these topic, Sir.

Very sound advice! Much appreciated!

The most important factor that i have noticed really works while building my website for celebrities all around the world: LINK building with other sites
its greatly increases your page rank.
I have a lot celebrity pictures in my site, so second thing is when you add pictures to your website you should always give them “ALT” tag so search engines would know that does your pictures describe.
It greatly affected my google search engine traffic, right now i have almost 54% traffic from search engines (famouscelebritypicture.com)
This is very interesting post for newbies to get touch of seo for their websites
GUD LUCK everybody!

This article is really helpful....as it cover most of the things I was looking for.

Thanks Dave

hmmm .. Tired Reading all the Comments :D

But its Unbelievable dat i collected some usefull info in ur post n the Comments Below ....

Thanks Dave ... ;)

Yes right! I hope this works for me.keep up the good work.

Great information, many thanks but I have been writing for over the week and had no comments. Is something wrong with my blog? any idea?

Macr, ah, well, yeah. Turns out that getting some traffic and motivating people to actually *leave* comments are two different things. On this blog, for example, considerably less than 1% of visitors leave a comment. If your readership is similar, then you might not see much more than a comment or two each month, especially as you start out. Remember, though, invite the comments, don't just assume they'll add their two cents. :-)

great information, thank you......

Fantastic advice for the new blogger. You've definitely got to get out there and mingle with other bloggers! I followed Daves advice a few weeks ago now and thought I'd come back to say thanks. My traffic has already seen a good upturn in figures since following his advice.

Thank you for the post and the valuable information. I am new to the blogging world but I love sharing ideas with other moms on how to make our lives more efficient and fulfilling. It's been a very enjoyable experience so far.
Thank you again for the great advice.

very thoughtful, thank u...didn't think it is so important before...i'll be visiting others' people blogs and share my opinion :)

I often write about the benefits of guest posting over commenting. It shows people that you are a credible source and helps drive more traffic than comments do because people want to read more from you - if your posts are good that is.

Very good post. This information is similar to what i did to gain subscribers on my YouTube channel. Getting involved in a community really is the best way to get follower's. I find that it dose take time to do this, also people should be patient when it comes to gaining followers. Most people want it overnight , and want it right now. Great job. have a good week.

Very good post it real help me out. my website is http://shoppingonlineweb.com/hairblog
Hair Treatment pliz vist it to see how it looks thanks

My website is for All Sports, http://sportingparlay.com and it took a long time to get a lot of traffic. I would have to agree that you just can't sit back and hope people come to your site.

Great reply Dave, I'm also new-ish to the blog scene and also looking at ways to get the name out and about. as with over I found this on page one from my search so it must be right.

Kind Regards
Gavin

Wow Dave, you made this post in what seems to be 2005. I am just going by the first comment.
The last comment was just the end of last month, now that is kewl!

I was bouncing around looking for ideas for a capture page and came to your blog which I have done on several occasions in the past.

That definitely deserves a like on your fanpage.

The one thing is that the web changes every day and the ways to get traffic change with it especially in some of the more competiive niches.
I will say this though that just like me looking for ideas when I found Dave's blog here for the 166th time is that great quality content is king and that I hope never changes. keep bringing it Dave.

I teach people to get fast sustainable traffic on my blog and to try to stay ahead of the competition. I still deliver, I hope what others consider to be top quality content and to be relevent to what is working now!

Just like Daves post here was still on the first page of google 6 years later.

Thanks Dave good stuff.

Great advice Dave started doing the same thing . Have a long way to go through. Thanks for sharing this with us.

Your tips is right on target, posting relevant and informative content regularly is a big boost to any blog, the fun part of blogging is the interaction between you and your readers.

I agree that commenting is a great marketing tool but i just don't think it'll be enough.

Hey Dave,

Thanks for reminding us that blogging is a conversation. I've just started out and googled how do I get my blog started and you came up (nice going).

Thing is everyone wants a blog like yours thats got lots going on but I guess it just takes a lot of time and communicating, but when you are at the beginning writing stuff especially if its topical can feel a bit pointless when no one's looking, but I just tell myself I'm rehearsing and getting better every day!

Thanks for your candor, Tim. One recommendation I have: try to write guest posts on other blogs and other Web sites. This is both for visibility (they probably already have more traffic than you do) and for search engine benefit: inbound links from other sites really help you rank higher for your keywords and phrases. And plug along. A reasonable publishing schedule of even one article a week, over six months, will do more for your site than two articles a day for the first month followed by nothing for 90 days. :-)

Wow, good ideas. Pretty cool that this post was made years ago and people are still commenting. I'm new to the blog scene and looking for advice. If you have a moment swing by my page and give me a few tips.
http://signedsealedanddeliverednc.blogspot.com/

Thanks in advance.

-Theresa

Seven years later and this blog is still relevant. Technology may be changing fast, but how we market ourselves has remained somewhat constant.

Really nice article, good ideas to get traffic in the beginning stages of a website..

yeah i can say that getting traffic is as easy as hard,,its all about building up a solid content,,but its good to keep tracking your stats like with google analytic to see if there's any improvement ,,thanks for this nice article

great collection. update more

Hi everyone, this is a facinating post and i truly agree.But in reality if you have tried everything you have done to get traffic, what happens next? In my experience the key to any traffic is ultimate patience but this is not good for sales...