So I’ve been asked a couple times on how to increase traffic to one’s own blog, so I figured rather than write email after email or aim after aim I’d just post some tips right here. First and foremost think about what you are writing about, because let’s face it, not everyone in the world wants to hear about the bagel you had a breakfast that was oooh-so-tasty. Nope, nope, it doesn’t even matter if you are a literary genius and describe eating the bagel as if it was a first hand account of the civil war. Content and topic matter and they always will, so here are some quick easy ways that I doubled/tripled/quadrupled my traffic in about 2 months. After about 1 week my blog was indexed by Google and I started popping up for keyword searches so that helped some as well.


1. Create a Distinct Voice - Like I said first and foremost think about the articles/posts that you are writing. Are they relevent to anyone except you? Are you rehashing stuff from other websites? (ala TechCrunch if you are a tech focused blog). Have your own opinions if you are covering topics that are largely written about. Lastly, and most importantly, have a distinct voice your readers will not only remember but gain an affinity with.

2. Digg - Use it. Even if you are only going to have one digg at least you’ll get some hits from upcoming stories if you write a good headliner and a good description. You aren’t aiming to get on the front page of digg but if it happens prepare your servers. Webpodge was on the front page of digg and after I got done jumping for joy, then and only then did I realized my server was on fire from the overload (just kidding, but seriously it will crash your server). Google indexes digg about once every 0.00001 seconds so this will give your blog a better chance of getting indexed quickly, as you can tell that’s an estimate but you get my point.

3. Reddit - Just like digg, but not quite as large and not quite as powerful traffic wise. If your friend likes an article on your blog have him post it on Reddit, if it takes off you’ll get a ton of links if not well at least you’ll get some traffic and awareness for your blog.

4. Stumbleupon - This is my personal favourite. Though not as instantly gratifying as either Reddit or Digg it only takes a few people to Stumbleupon your page and say they like it for you to start getting a ton of hits. I’ve received over 500 uniques to one page of my blog in an hour, after I submitted it to Stumbleupon. I’ve had more than a few RSS subscribers join because of StumbleUpon.

5. Immerse yourself in the Blogging Community - If you are in the tech community read other blogs, get to know what the authors write about, get to know the major and minor blogs in your community. Often times bloggers tend to forget that it’s not about competing with other blogs for readers, your tech blog and TechCrunch can co-exist if you create a distinct voice. Link back to other blogs, comment on other blogs, let them comment on your blog. It’s called sharing readers and what was that famous saying from CareBears, that’s right, “Sharing is Caring”. It’s a good thing.

(For all those that don’t remember CareBears, they used to rock the house with this little caring-laser-beam thing to defeat bad guys. Straight no-limit old school soldiers.)

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