I recently participated in an interview\battle on Daily Blog Tips which puts bloggers head to head such as Rand Fishkin vs. Lee Odden . This one was of course Marketing.fm vs TheFutureBuzz or Eric Friedman vs. Adam Singer
The final question was the catalyst for this post which I wanted to explore further.
10. What is the best way to increase website traffic?
Treat your blog like an island. It needs supplies, traffic ports, trade routes, and visitors to remain habitable. Ignore one or more of these metaphors and your blog can become a deserted and desolate island fast – pay attention to each and you will have a favorite destination of visitors who want to come back.
Treasure Island by Aaron Escobar
Treat your blog like an island
Your blog is out there in the ocean of other islands and can be washed away and forgotten, or turn into a thriving place to visit. By treated your web property like a real property you can gain long lasting value and not get discouraged when things are not going your way (read: no traffic)
Supplies
Without the right supplies your blog will die.
Get a good commenting system in place early – I recommend Disqus
Get a good platform or infrastructure – I recommend WordPress
Traffic Ports
Building a good foundation means traffic can come to and from your blog in the easiest way possible. To help this process along I recommend a solid SEO plugin for WordPress. This also means getting ready for visitors and clearly explaining your purpose and who is writing. Providing clear and concise information can provider users with a much better experience.
Trade Routes
Provide a way to contact you! This is constantly forgotten and it is too easy to overlook this step. With a simple for from Wufooor even a WP plugin you can have a contact form up in minutes.
You also need to get out there and participate in conversations that interest you and pertain to your blog. Notice I did not say “go comment all over the place” but rather comment where you feel you have further questions about a post or can add to the dialogue. This builds a solid “trade route” between your blog and others as your name and URL should always point back to your island.
Establish links to your inspirational sources. These will usually be one way links, but in time the favor will be returned. As an established source of quality information your island will too become a place people WANT to link to.
Visitors
Getting ready for visitors is important – especially in an age where too many visitors can sink your entire island and new people have nowhere to go. This metaphor can be explained by checking out the Digg effect or knowing that a lot of visitors can make a blog slow down. To avoid this use a simple cache plugin for WordPress.
You also need a clear and concise path for visitors to follow. Checkout one of your posts and see how it feels to navigate to each of your pages. Confused? So are your visitors. Give options, provide other links deeper into your site, and give opportunities to find more information.
I think this island metaphor is just about used up – but I hope it provides some insight into what is needed to create a successful blog. I learned some of these lessons the hard way so hopefully sharing them with you will save you the trouble.
Have other ideas? Let me know in the comments and prove that this blog is not a desolate island alone in the blogosphere!
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July 7th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
I'm not sure if this falls under “increase website blog traffic,” but I will say that it's very important to post regularly to at least sustain traffic. Too many times people launch a blog only to get bored a few months down the road and stop posting. If your visitors see your posts becoming more and more infrequent, they're going to jump ship.
July 7th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
This is a great analogy Eric – perfect continuation to the post at Daily Blog Tips today.
July 7th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
Thank you. Good competition never hurt anybody.
July 7th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
I think a few times a week is the minimum – but some people manage to pull of less, but more meaningful posts. Either way you have to interact with your community at all times which can happen offblog
July 7th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
Thanks for stopping by. I use the conversation metaphor for building relationships but I think the island works well for a blog as a publishing platform that needs tending to.
I should note my bias towards Disqus via day job – but its worth noting that I used them prior to joining my current firm.
Honestly it comes down to convenience. Being able to reply via email to a comment via blackberry (which I am doing now) is great.
Also letting people sign in how they want (Disqus vs Twitter vs Facebook) let's the barrier to comment come way down. Nobody likes making a new account.
I also love having an independent third party handle comments.
What do you use today?
July 8th, 2009 at 8:16 am
Absolutely. I love the infrastructural element of your metaphor. Until you said it, I had not thought about the barriers to commenting wordpress's built-in system might have. This will take more thought.
I use wordpress's built-in commenting system, and do not get very many comments currently. To date, comments have not really been part of my blogging process, mostly because I had a very clear view of who I was writing for, and that audience does not need to comment (because it is my family and friends). But since my readership is signifigantly up, it might be worth it to make commenting easier. Cool!
July 8th, 2009 at 11:32 am
Once you get a few comments – it is amazing how quickly other people tend to
jump on board on the same post.
July 15th, 2009 at 8:37 am
Eric, this is a very useful post. Especially for those who only start blogging. I blog for my company, so I always appreciate good advice. By the way, I surf many blogs and I've noticed that indeed not all of them have contact forms. I guess there's a moment, when a blogger becomes overwhelmed with emails and comments, so he stops participating in the discussion. I don't think it's right though.
July 15th, 2009 at 9:05 am
I think everyone should have each option – but that is just my opinion.
Thanks for stopping by!
July 16th, 2009 at 5:54 am
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September 1st, 2009 at 6:16 am
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February 24th, 2010 at 4:07 am
Hi Eric!
Thanks for sharing this tips and advice. I will use this as my references.
Hopefully I can read more of post of like this.
March 24th, 2010 at 9:23 pm
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April 29th, 2010 at 5:55 am
I surf many blogs and I've noticed that indeed not all of them have contact forms. I guess there's a moment, when a blogger becomes overwhelmed with emails and comments, so he stops participating in the discussion.
May 29th, 2010 at 6:34 am
yes, your blog is really an island of knowledge.