Need ideas to generate blog traffic

[Sandstone]

I need some good ideas, guys.

My blog is approximately eight months old. I feel like I have built a pretty decent blog. Good content, decent lay-out. I am not getting the traffic I want though. I average about 30 visits a day. That's not much.

Here are some of the proactive things I am doing:

I include a link to my blog in my signature on forums

I post comments on other similar blogs

I offer free psychic readings (in the form of one question by e-mail)

I am running a giveaway for a free 30-minute reading

I include a related posts section at the bottom of every blog post

I give my posts good titles with applicable keywords

I have a Facebook fan page

What am I missing? I have done some advertising on Google and Facebook but it seems terribly expensive and I don't feel as though I am getting much in return. I have Googled "how to generate blog traffic" many times and have utilized many of the suggestions.

How did you guys build up your traffic numbers? Considering I'm only averaging 30 visits a day now I would like to increase that to at least 100 a day. That seems like a good start.

[Fred Tracy]

Oddly enough, my site has been around as long as yours and I'm currently at your goal (~100 visits/day).

I think one of the main ingredients you are missing is guest articles. They absolutely freakin' rock in terms of traffic generation.

Also, are you building relationships with like-minded people? I have people link to me a lot because I link to them and regularly communicate with them.

Hope this helps. Lemme know if you have any questions.

[Sandstone]

Fred,

Thanks for your message.

I love your blog! The layout is fantastic and the content is out of this world.

How do I go about finding guest articles and not to sound stupid but how do they generate traffic? The author posts about the article on their site?? I don't get it.

I love your Friends tab. That is very smart. Nice biography about each person. Very cool.

Anyway, let me know your thoughts on how to find guest posters.

Thanks.

[Johnny Metal]

More ideas than you can implement in this thread:

Driving Traffic To My Website

[danthony]

Don't forget to write killer content. Google loves it and so will your readers.

[Fred Tracy]

Originally Posted by Sandstone

Fred,

Thanks for your message.

I love your blog! The layout is fantastic and the content is out of this world.

How do I go about finding guest articles and not to sound stupid but how do they generate traffic? The author posts about the article on their site?? I don't get it.

I love your Friends tab. That is very smart. Nice biography about each person. Very cool.

Anyway, let me know your thoughts on how to find guest posters.

Thanks.

Hey - thanks a bunch!

Ahhh, no question is a stupid question. Guest articles are simply articles you write for other sites.

So you can find a site that openly accepts guest articles, or build relationships with other bloggers and asked them if you can guest post for them. It's just like you're writing a post on your own site, except you give it to them with a blurb about your site (and a link) at the bottom.

Here's one of my guest articles for some ideas: clicky.

I'm glad you like the Friends tab! I came up with the idea awhile back and contacted some other bloggers to implement the same thing. It's basically like a blogroll, except more personal and not on the sidebar, which is important for SEO purposes.

Take care.

[CoolBee]

I normally get about 15-20 visits a day (I am a tiny niche or should I say, my niche is out there in the tail LOL) but today I've had over 100 visits to one single post and it's on the front page of google in several different google countries (ie not all google DOT com).

Why? Because the Egyptians changed the mobile phone numbers overnight and I blogged about it last week with details of the changes.

This has happened occasionally before - I get relatively huge spikes in traffic when I happen to have posted something relevant to a current issue.

PS I'm also page 1 of google DOT com for online mecca finder !!!

[Agota]

I agree with Fred: WRITE GUEST POSTS!

A guest post is a post that you write for another blog. The benefit for the blog owner is that he or she gets great content. The benefit for you is that you get exposure which means traffic. You get traffic because usually you add a byline to a guest posts in which you put some info about yourself and a link to your blog. Assuming that your guest post was awesome, people will want to check out your website.

An example:

Here are three guest posts I've written so far:

The Practice of Ying / Yang Productivity - by Dumb Little Man

The Power of Tweaking - by Dumb Little Man

Long Term Productivity vs. Short Term Productivity | PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement

My traffic for the first two months was 1000+ visitors/month. Guess where the vast majority of traffic came from? These three guest posts.

In my opinion, guest posting is THE single most effective way of generating traffic, so I suggest you to drop everything else and focus on guest posting. Don't drop the forums if you like them, though!

Here are few popular websites that take guest posts:

PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement

Dumb Little Man - Tips for Life

Change Your Life | The Change Blog

FeelGooder: Tips for Life

These are not psychic sites, they are personal development sites, therefore you should write personal development articles with psychic twist, not purely psychic articles because they won't be appropriate for those blogs.

Also, what about connecting with people who blog about all the psychic stuff and intention-manifestation and offer them to write a guest post?

[Fred Tracy]

Not to derail the thread or anything, but how did you get posts accepted on Dumb Little Man? I've tried a couple times with no luck.

[Agota]

I think the Ying Yan productivity article was really good and caught the attention of the editor. It all really comes down to the quality of the content, especially with big blogs that get like 20 guest post submissions a day. Also, did you get the answer from the editor? Sometimes your article gets buried under a pile of guest post submissions. That happened to me with Pick The Brain, I've sent them the article and after few weeks of silence followed up on it. It was published the next day. Editors are often very busy, so it's wise not to interpret silence as "no" and follow up to find out. Hope that helps

I actually have written an extensive article on guest posting here:

Guest Posting Guide To Get Quality Traffic To Your Website and Build Branding In No Time

[Sandstone]

I've discovered another way to generate traffic.

I'm Facebook to find other similar pages which I then Like and most messages/comments on the wall. I just started this yesterday but I've already seen a nice uptick in traffic.

[Rezzy7]

What about making some YouTube videos? Then maybe do regular vlogs or some sort of video content and link everything up.

[Fred Tracy]

Originally Posted by Agota

I think the Ying Yan productivity article was really good and caught the attention of the editor. It all really comes down to the quality of the content, especially with big blogs that get like 20 guest post submissions a day. Also, did you get the answer from the editor? Sometimes your article gets buried under a pile of guest post submissions. That happened to me with Pick The Brain, I've sent them the article and after few weeks of silence followed up on it. It was published the next day. Editors are often very busy, so it's wise not to interpret silence as "no" and follow up to find out. Hope that helps

I actually have written an extensive article on guest posting here:

Guest Posting Guide To Get Quality Traffic To Your Website and Build Branding In No Time

In a hilarious twist of fate, I got notification that one of my guest articles was going to be posted at Dumb Little Man here shortly.

And I'm glad you mentioned PicktheBrain. I used to get my posts uploaded on there instantaneously, but lately I've been getting no replies. I'll just e-mail Erin again.