Blog traffic is way up on the importance list for most bloggers and there are a number of ways to achieve that goal. I know from experience that one way to bring in blog traffic is what I call my “Blogging Rounds“…
I believe Hot Blog Tips grew so quickly, in large part, because I am very active in the blogging community. I don’t want to start an Alexa debate today but we enjoyed an Alexa Rank in the high 30,000’s not long ago and once I slowed on visiting and commenting on other blogs our traffic quickly dropped and our Alexa increased accordingly.
Build Your Name And Brand Everywhere In Your Niche
Becoming a consistent presence in your niche, both in blogging and social media, is one of the best ways to bring in qualified traffic to your blog. We need SEO, of course, but blog commenting is more a social behavior and shouldn’t be a form of SEO. I know this isn’t what has been taught over the years, but there’s a right way to comment on blogs and a wrong way; a right reason and a wrong reason. Every blogger sees this daily in their blog moderation tasks. We can see the link droppers a mile away. That’s amateurish and doesn’t help SEO. In fact, it’s doing more harm than good.
Expand Your Blogging Horizons
We, as bloggers, begin to feel comfortable within our little “click” and that’s dangerous. Every blogger needs to leave their comfort zone for new growth. We need to seek new blogs to visit and new friends to interact with. If all of our time is spent on our own blog, we’ll find few other people there. If we keep interacting with the same group of bloggers, our blog growth will see slow growth. The best route is to maintain those same relationships and expand on them with friends of friends.
Interact with the commenters on the blogs you visit. Visit the links from your own commenters and interact with them on their blogs as well.
There Are Always Exceptions
There are many bloggers out there doing very well that we rarely see commenting outside of their own blogs. Many of those bloggers don’t even interact on their own blogs to the degree they once did yet maintain high traffic blogs. Why is that? It’s because they’ve built their blogs to an almost self-sustaining point. Most of us aren’t at that point yet but if you can get the momentum going it’s much easier to maintain that blog traffic than it was to build it in the first place.
My Blogging Advice?
Get you blogging on! Go on blogging rounds consistently and make it a point to expand your reach each time; this includes the social networks. Be as helpful and intelligent as you can. Be yourself and let your personality shine. It’s all about reputation and authority and that takes more than, “Nice blog post, I loved it” comments.
Your Turn
So I turn it over to you now. Do you have regular blogs you visit or do you seek out new blogs? Is blog commenting your way of building your blog’s traffic or do you concentrate on other areas? As always, your comments are always welcome here, you are the reason I’m here at all.
About Brian D. Hawkins
there is no other method better than commenting other blog for making your name in your niche.. although social platforms are also there but a blogger will like you more if he finds you on his blog…comments shows feedback of what you have written …:)
Like I feel right now Nishant, lol. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
You might want to get rid of the social media bar that stays in the middle of the screen (using an old version of IE). Pretty distracting.
I didn’t know anyone still used IE. lol I just checked IE, FF, & Chrome but I’m not sure how old your version is. You don’t worry about security?
Anyway, I appreciate the head’s up, I’ve been thinking about going back to digg digg, maybe the time is right.
HI Brian
Great reminder!
We all want to be visible everywhere and blog commenting is the best way out there to network and leverage that to build relationships.
If anyone feels like not following your advice he should better close his shop.
Thanks Brian for sharing this.
Sapna
Looks like you got my back Sapna, lol. Thanks 🙂
That’s pretty good advice there. Interaction with your own blog is something that I would like to really focus. And also, the idea of expanding your networks and readers through socializing into other blogs and some new blogs is a good way to grow your readers.
Thanks Dourgi, here I am talking about interaction and then I take days to respond. Sorry about that. 🙂
Hi Brian, my blogging is on! and love your great advice.
In blogging, staying around with the community and consistency are really essential that takes to success.
Thanks & Love your Blogging Adivces – Ferb
I know you work it every day Ferb, I see you everywhere. 🙂
Commenting is a very effective way for me to expand my reach (Yes, both gain traffic and network with influencers). This is NOT a hit-it-once strategy. Consistency is the name of the game here. Currently, I make it a point to visit at least 50 blogs every day and leave meaning comments. I know it’s hard work but it pays off.
I recently got a guest post request from one of those bloggers and I believe that’s just the beginning of the good things that we will do together.
Wow Chimezirim, 50 blogs a day is a tall order. You must be a very fast reader. I’m lucky to visit 10 a day, with leaving a comment. I read much more than that, but I also read a lot of news sites for our newsletter.
Oh, I forgot to say congratulations on the guest post request. I didn’t see a blog on the link you left. Feel free to send me a tweet when your post is up and I’ll check it out.
hey
I’ve just started following the sporadic method of blog commenting on other blogs, since i’m a budding blogger, this post was worth reading for me…
some important points to be kept in mind from now onwards.
great traffic is very important for a blog to be successful, expanding your blog, commenting on your own too and social media can help a lot
Thanks
Thanks Mohit, I hope the post helped. 🙂
I agree. I’ve tried just about everything. For a while it was more of an experiment to see what works and what doesn’t. Getting people to your blog means getting out there and visiting other sites and commenting. Social media is fine but unless you’ve got content that’s being retweeted and reposted sending people back to your site, it only does so much good. I’ve thrown my hands up so many times and have finally stopped looking at the numbers. I don’t get much traffic. Obsessing over it doesn’t change that.
You’re right Jen, it’s not something to obsess over and it takes getting into the community to be noticed.
I’ve been essentially off the blogging scene for maybe a couple of years and have just made a resolution to make 2013 my comeback year. I would agree with you that making the blog rounds is one of the keys to maintaining traffic to your blog. Having been once active in blogging before, and then lying low, I can also say that based on my own experience. After laying off, my traffic significantly dropped off and just relied heavily on traffic from search engines. Then when the Penguin and Panda updates struck, I hit record lows.
Yes you have been gone for a while James, where were you? It’s nice to see you’re going to make a comeback and you kept your blog. That’s very cool. 🙂
I tend to visit the same blogs on a daily basis and few others on a weekly basis. Although I havent been on this site for a while. I find blogging like an addiction and tend to click on others comments to see there site. Some of these I then add to my favorites. I could spend all day blogging if i had time!!
I know the feeling Richard, I have to slow myself down at times too. It’s nice to do something we really enjoy though.
So true, Brian, with getting involved in blogging communities (or, at least, a community!). It is a great way to build relationships, build partnerships, work together, and like you said, get more traffic 😉
That’s what it’s all about Deborah; without the social interaction a blog would just be another cold, dark website.
I am pretty sure you have done exactly that Brian!
Being consistent in anything you work on will soon enough yield you results in return.
Just be patient and blog on for traffic 🙂
Thanks Samuel, blog on.
Hi there. Always update your blog is a good practice. Creating comment option is not only for traffic but also it will be a great platform for discussions and to share our thoughts. Nice post. Thanks for sharing it.
Brian,
I have no reason to disagree with you 🙂 I do visit other blogs in not just in my niche, but also the areas of my interest that I do not blog about.
However, as you rightly said, “There is wrong way and there is a right way.” My philosophy is do it right if you are doing it and if you can’t do it right, just don’t do it. Therefore, I try to add value to the original post. There is no short cut to long term success and I therefore, appreciate your post teaching that exact same principle in your words.
Cheers!
Kumar
Thanks Kumar, I think you’re doing a fine job. 🙂
Brian, I totally agree on this one. Since I started to comment more on other blogs via Triberr I have seen an increase in traffic, comments and a drop in Alexa as well. It’s really a form of social media, it’s being social. A blogger cannot go it alone in the beginning. You must have a network and keep on expanding it. It all times time too and many may give up before reaching that point.
Hi Lisa, Triberr is a good place to start because right away we’re dealing with bloggers that “get it” and it comes with a built-in community.
Hello,
Well described everything. Traffic to our blog is the only things that leads us to become problogger.
I use following things to generate traffic to my blogs:
* Regular commenting
* Viral Social Media Sharing
* Discussion with mt friends regarding my blogs
Thanks for sharing such a nice stuff. 🙂
Thanks Mohd, that a nice theme you have and a very wide range of topics.
Hi Brian, I agree with you 100%. (that’s been happening a lot lately) 🙂
Commenting on blogs and interacting in blogging communities and forums is not only a great way to boost your traffic, but you also get ideas for blog posts. The other benefit is that all that commenting improves your writing skills and help you find your “voice”.
Thanks for the encouragement Brian. It goes a long way.
You’re too kind Ileane, I’m just happy to see you still out here. I think you’ve made it to that “self-sustaining” point where traffic will pretty much take care of it’s self. I’m not ready to lose you out here yet anyway, so you keep blogging. 🙂
You got it right here. You can’t just write it & think everyone’s going to show up because you’re brilliant. You have to get out there and show yourself in the blogosphere, and every once in awhile the best thing to do is to check out the links of people who comment on our blog and, if you can, comment on theirs.
I have to admit that I’ve slowed down on the amount of commenting I’ve been doing as well, as I’ve been spreading out and doing more things (like our Hangout Live on Google presentations; quick plug), but I will be trying to work in commenting more often, spreading myself around.
Hi Mitch, it’s really tough to get out there and interact with all of the projects we have going, but it’s very noticeable when traffic takes a sharp dive. By the way, your best quote yet, “everyoneâs going to show up because youâre brilliant”. Thanks for noticing Mitch, I’m almost blushing. lol
The idea of expanding your networks and readers through socializing into other blogs and some new blogs is a good way to grow your readers.Keep spreading unique ideas.
I’ve got a few blogs that I visit on a regular basis, as they are pretty good at turning out quality content with some high level of consistency. While some of them do have commenting available, some of them do not. Commenting, however, or rather, the lack or availability of, has never really been a deciding factor on whether or not I will continue to read a blog (if they have content I’m interested in, commenting on the content isn’t primary on my mind).
Having never been really all too focused on building traffic to my blog (something I should probably rethink), I’ve never really thought of what methods I use to achieve that goal. (I’m a writer, and I’m going to write, regardless of appeal, or if 1 or 100 people are reading what I am writing).
Commenting can be a great way to get visibility..But i doubt if it will have any noticeable impact on traffic..Guest posting on the other hand gives one more exposure and traffic..In my personal experience interacting with fellow bloggers is one of the best way to build lasting relationships which propel mutual growth.
Facilitative tips . Up to date content is always enticing for readers. Commenting also helps in a great way to increase visibility in ones niche . Content is the king and plays a key role in maintaining a loyal audience over a period of time.
hello brian,
at almost all the time i am trying to attract the traffic towards my blog but i don`t get good response form the users but your idea about niche,it should sourly help me and attract network towards my blog.
thanks for ur views
The best method for me is Blog commenting, Commenting proven to be a very effective way for me, Guest posting on the other hand gives one more exposure and traffic & offcourse Social Media. Good post, thanks for sharing.
Building a community with other bloggers is my priority. This post was well written and dealt with the appropriate topic in question.
Thanks Hawkins for your continue inspiration to some of us.
I certainly do hope you’re going to leave a comment on my blog. Your feedback will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks again.
Hi, I read you article and I too commenting on other blogs regularly as well as the SEO stuff but I haven’t yet seen an increase in traffic to my blog. In fact I get very few people commenting on my blog if at all.
My blog has been up and running since October 2012 and I am hoping that as a more experienced blogger you would be able to tell me if I am just expecting things too soon or if there is a problem I need to be looking for which could explain this?
Thank you.
I think blog commenting is a great factor in deciding a site’s quality! But everybody is entitled to their own opinion.
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