How to Generate More Hits to Your Blog
The first few months are often challenging for a new blog. It can take time for a blog to build a consistent reader base. You might wonder what you can do to set your blog apart from the major blogs that receive thousands of hits every day. Few shortcuts exist for building a blog that generates hits consistently, but you can do several things to capture a greater amount of search engine traffic and start building a dedicated following.
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Instructions
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Publish high-quality content and update your blog regularly. In the early days of the World Wide Web, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates published an essay observing that "Content is King" on the Internet. This remains true today. The websites with the best content are the ones that attract the traffic. If your blog has high-quality content that readers find useful, it will climb in the search engine rankings and you'll build a reader base over time.
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Connect your blog to social media services such as Facebook and Twitter. These services allow your readers to make a personal connection with you and feel involved with the blog's development. More importantly, readers can use these networking services to share their favorite content with their friends. Personal recommendations are often far more valuable than advertising.
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Hold a contest to promote your blog and generate attention. If your blog encourages reader comments, for example, consider giving a gift card to the reader who leaves the most comments in a 30-day period. If you have a product review blog, ask a few manufacturers to consider sponsoring a product giveaway. People love getting free things, and if the prize is desirable, it's likely you'll receive plenty of links from other blogs as word of the contest spreads.
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Publish viral content. For example, a funny YouTube video may be viewed millions of times in a matter of days, and creating a funny video requires virtually no investment. Some of the most popular viral YouTube videos have consisted of little more than people lip-syncing to songs in front of their computers. If viral content does not fit well with the theme of your blog, you can still leverage the popularity of established services like YouTube to increase your traffic. For example, if you review products on your blog, record video reviews and cross-post them on YouTube. People who like your reviews will click through to your blog to read more.
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Optimize your content for search engines. When writing a new article, consider the keyword phrase that a potential reader would be most likely to use if she wanted to find your article online. That keyword phrase should be in the article's title and body. Many blog management systems such as WordPress have internal systems that you can use to "tag" an article with several relevant keyword phrases to increase search engine traffic.
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References
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