Double Your Blog Traffic in One Day With One Simple Strategy (With Proof)

Is it possible to double your blog traffic in one day? And I’m not just talking about random traffic streams, I’m talking about focused, targeted visitors who are actually visiting because they’re interested in your blog. Before yesterday I wouldn’t have thought it was possible, but with a few simple strategies I managed to do just that. And, I have proof.

Yesterday I experienced over 100% increase of not my average traffic, but my previous highest day of traffic to HandleyNation. How did I do it? I’ve been trying to figure out exactly what I did different, and only one thing comes to mind: starting arguments in the comments section of other blogs.

I wrote a post about getting blog traffic by starting arguments just a few days ago, and since then I’ve been putting that strategy into action every time it made sense to do so. Of course, if I liked the particular post and none of the other commentors were being idiots, I simply pointed out a few things that struck me and then posed a question to the blog owner. Surprisingly, most of the time there would be replies to the question and in a few cases we managed to get a small debate going.

I was surprised. That other post advocates arguing with people, but simple discussion worked nearly as well. The main thing you want to do when commenting to get blog traffic is actively engage other people. The beautiful part is, you don’t even have to answer anybody’s question, or be extremely knowledgeable yourself, just simply moderate the comments and keep them alive by posing follow-up questions or asking someone to explain.

Commenting on related blogs is a powerful tool for traffic, whether you’re arguing or engaging more politely. What you DON’T want to do is act like a wallflower, don’t stick your big toe in the water to make sure it won’t trouble your delicate skin before diving in. Comment with gusto, and make your presence known. That’s the only way to make this strategy work. Do a cannonball. Make a splash. Be strong and forceful in every opinion you have and people will go to your blog.

So where is this proof I mentioned? Right here:

The 2 bars farthest right are April 4^th and 5^th. My previous highest day was March 19^th. You can really see the massive difference. Additionally, I’ve been seeing pingbacks and visitors from blogs I’ve never even heard of, which means that people are linking back to me too.

Is it a fluke? Did I just get lucky with one high profile blog and will the traffic go back to normal tomorrow? It’s possible, but I don’t think it’s the case. WordPress analytics are some of the worst I’ve ever seen so I can’t do any in depth traffic analysis, but since I’ve only made one change I don’t see how this increased blog traffic could have come from anything but my recent surge in blog commenting.

Time will tell.

- Andrew

8 Simple Steps to Better Blog Traffic – Christopher Wise Guest Blogging

I’m proud to welcome Christopher Wise as a guest blogger this week. If you would like to become a guest blogger on HandleyNation, you need to sign up at My Blog Guest and contact me through my profile there (Andrew Handley).

My Guest Blog is a great site with professional bloggers and writers. It’s completely free and the level of quality is extremely high, so I know I’m giving you guys real, quality information when I invite a guest to write a blog post. Like this post for example. Read on as Christopher explains the 8 steps to increase your blog traffic.

1. Find similar blogs

You can start looking for related blogs by using the search engines. Search using relevant keywords + “blog”. Use the singular and plural form of the keywords for each search.

For example – “basketball blog”, “basketball blogs”, “basketball coaching blogs”, “NBA blogs”, “sports coaching blogs”, “high school basketball blog”, etc.

If you do these searches on multiple search engines (bing, google, ask.com, etc) you will come up with more options than if you were to only search on google.

Once you have found related, high quality blogs you should either bookmark them, put them in a spreadsheet, etc. Keeping track of everything can save headaches later on.

After finding and organizing your potential candidates you should subscribe to, or “follow” their blog. This normally involves submitting your email address and/or website with some simple personal information. After subscribing you will be updated (by email) of any new posts, & of replies to any of your own comments made on other people’s blog.

*Note-It might be a good idea to make a new email address dedicated entirely to following others’ blogs. This way you can separate your personal email and your blog related email.

2. Interact with the related blogs you have found

Most blog owners will post updates anywhere from 1-10 X per week. Considering the amount of related blogs you may have found, this can be an overwhelming amount of information to comment on or add to. As a result, it is wise to only interact with blog posts that you are either very knowledgeable on or feel strongly about. You have to be saying something important or enlightening to persuade other readers that you are an expert. After a few comments, regular readers of the related blogs will recognize your expertise, and in turn check out your own blog – this will lead to more followers for you.

*Note you don’t always have to disagree with a blog post to feel strongly about it. If a post is written particularly well and you find it informative, its not a bad idea to comment about why you enjoyed/agreed with the post and what specifically you liked about it. This can result in happy blog owners, who may eventually ask for you to write a guest blog post.

It is a good idea to mix-up the type of comments that you make. Some can be a debate if you disagree with something. Some can be made in agreement with a post. Others still may add on something that was stated. Its important to switch it up so that you don’t look negative or like a yes-man. You want to stimulate thought with your posts.

The goal of commenting on other blogs is to gain backlinks to your own blog, as well as establish credibility in your community. When commenting on others’ posts there is usually a spot for your own website, which will be hyperlinked through your name. It will look similar to this- Mauro Panaggio says: – The link should link to your blog (mauropanaggio.blogspot.com).

3. Comment on basketball related articles & news

The internet is filled with basketball articles and news. Start by doing a search for the different types of articles you would like to add to.

Use searches like “basketball articles”, “basketball coaching articles”, “basketball defense articles”, “basketball offense articles”, “free-throw articles”, etc

Use any relevant keywords with the word “articles” or “article” at the end and you will know doubt find thousands of possible places to comment and add a link back to your blog. Get creative with your searches. You can be as specific or broad as you like. Things like “Orlando Magic articles” and “Orlando Magic strategy articles” will all yield different results. Focus on the highest ranking articles, as these will be seen more and result in more people reading your comments. The only exception is with broad searches like “basketball articles”. In this case it is possible that the first 5-10 pages could all get enough traffic to justify a comment.

The second part of this step is to stay up with current basketball news. These get the most traffic, however there are usually many comments. This can make it easy for yours to get lost and overlooked. It is important to pay attention to the regulars commenting on these types of articles. They are usually leads to find new blogs and possible interaction/networking. When commenting on news articles, it is important to keep your responses shorter and to the point. Don’t forget to add your website’s hyperlink.

4. Submitting to relevant blog directories

In order to make it so that your blog is easily found, it can help to submit to multiple blog directories. This involves doing a number of searches. Use keywords followed by the word “blog(s)” + the words “directory” or “directories”

“Basketball blog directory”, “Coaching bog directory”, and “Sports blog directory” are all good starts. These may not return very many relevant results, though.

After this, try searching for and submitting to general blog directories.

“blog directory”, “blog directories”, and “free blog directory” are good searches to start with.

*Note do not spend too much time on this step It is much less important then the other steps and can be implemented when the others have already been done for the day. This process can be frustrating and time consuming.

5. Look for guest blogging opportunities

There are many websites dedicated to bringing together bloggers and people looking for guest blog spots. Start with some simple searches and elaborate as needed.

“Basketball guest blogging” “Guest blogging opportunities” etc

In most cases you will have to sign up as a member at these sites (its usually free). This step can help gain a lot of exposure for your blog as well as provide relevant backlinks.

6. Turn your blogs into articles

Many informative blog posts can be “spun” into articles and submitted to numerous article sites. If done correctly this can result in increased exposure and useful backlinks. Some of the most effective article websites are: EzineArticles, ArticlesBase, GoArticles, and ArticleDashboard.

Spinning your blog posts into articles is an art. The key is to develop content that sounds very interesting (good title) and targets keywords with high search density.

7. Writing effective blog posts

While you should provide lots of fundamental and skill related content for your blog, it is important to spread this out among more light hearted blog posts. For example, in one week you may do a posts about “Motivating your team when they are losing”, “5 coaches who should be fired”, and “Why ____ could have helped the Magic beat the Jazz”.

Some posts should be strictly informative, others opinions, some made as commentary about recent games or events, and others a combination of all 3.

It is important to keep the blog posts at a reasonable length, as attention spans are short nowadays. Also be aware of others who may be commenting on your posts, and be sure to respond if the situation requires it. Constructive interaction may lead more word of mouth followers. Just be sure to keep an open mind when dealing with others’ opinions. You always get the occasional jerks or idiots who don’t know what they are talking about.

Be sure to include any relevant pictures, links, or audio/video that may help your readers. This can make the difference between a good or bad post.

Remember to determine who your readers are (or who you want them to be) and cater to them.

8. Utilize existing channels and contacts

This one is a no brainer. After you have made a few posts and your blog is looking good, reach out to anyone you already know and that might be interested. Ex players, coaches, and anyone else who might pass along the word. Use emails, Facebook, and even phone calls to inform others about your blog and encourage them to tell their friends.

This step will help you gain a good base of followers and is a great starting point. It is much harder to gain followers you don’t know, especially if you currently have little no none to begin with. People tend to follow blogs that already have a lot of followers, so starting with the low hanging fruit is key.

C. Wise – Father of 2 Currently Living in FL. Dedicated This Guide To his Grandfather. Best Coach In The World (on and off the court). Designs Bar Mitzvah invitations and custom wrapping paper for Expressionables

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5490628

Surefire Ways to Get Traffic To New Blog Posts

Writing a good, informative blog post can feel very rewarding, especially if you’re like me and take your writing and your blogging seriously. Once you post it though, you can’t stop there. Even if you already have a steady stream of visitors, you can always have more traffic to your blog, it all depends on what you do when marketing your blog post.

Twitter

I’ve been talking a lot about Twitter in the last few weeks, but that’s because I really see it as a valuable tool. There’s now over 6 million users on Twitter, it’s growing almost exponentially, and the potential for profit is huge. Whenever you write a new blog post, you absolutely need to be tweeting it. It helps if you have a lot of followers of course, but you can read this girl’s blog post to find out more about how to do that.

Blog Carnivals

I wrote a long post about blog carnivals here, but in a nutshell they are an excellent way to both build relevant traffic and build relationships with other similar bloggers. Your posts are listed along with other related blogs, and viewers can head from one blog to the other reading the posts. I can’t say enough about blog carnivals.

Build Relationships With Other Bloggers

Blog carnivals aren’t the only ways to build blogger-to-blogger relationships and get more traffic to your blog; the first thing you can do is go to Google Blogs search and find blogs that deal with the same subject matter as yours, and then don’t just copy/paste some “nice post” drivel that proves that you either a) didn’t read the post or b) have absolutely no personality and no interesting opinion on anything.

Rather, take time to read through the posts, and if one interests you or, better yet, if you can disagree with something, post a reply there. Find a few good blogs and just lurk every single day. Become an active member.

Use Bookmarking Sites

There’s a lot of good bookmarking sites out there, hundreds in fact. StumbleUpon, delicious, and digg to name a few, but there’s oh-so-many more. I’ve been submitting links to my posts manually, but just recently I decided to look for a bookmarking tool that would submit to all of my accounts at once. I found OnlyWire, which allows you to have a free account. Just started using it so I’m not sure how useful it’s going to be in the end.

All of these methods work, and with the right tools you don’t have to actually spend a lot of time promoting your blog posts to see real results and to get a lot more traffic to your blog. I still typically spend about an hour promoting each post.

What methods do you use?

Blog Carnivals for Traffic – Interview With a Blogger

I mentioned in a previous post that blog carnivals are an excellent way to get more traffic to your blog, and I promised that I’d write a longer post about it sometime soon. I had the pleasure of interviewing Alaina Ellington of Living Simplistically about her use of blog carnivals and how much of a blog traffic increase she has seen. Here is what she had to say:

How long have you been blogging?

I have had a blog for over 2 years now, but I didn’t start blogging on a regular consistent basis until about a month ago. I tried it out 2 years back and grew impatient as well as found other ways to work from home and gave up for a long time. Then I decided to go back and give it another go, and I’m glad I did

Where did you get the idea for hosting a blog carnival?

The idea of creating a blog carnival came to me while researching how to drive traffic to your blog. I ran across the Blog Profits Blueprint and that was one of the ways listed there. I was very unsure of even how it works or how to start your own carnival, but I jumped in head first and I’m glad I did that too.

Have you noticed a change in traffic since running your blog carnival?

Definitely, my traffic has grown as has the amount of loyal readers. (Though some of them only read the carnival editions, and that’s fine too.) I bring in around 30 visitors a week, give or take. It really depends on the amount of submissions I receive for the particular edition. Usually the people who submit an article will come check out the edition to see if their submission was accepted or rejected, along with many search engine users also.

What other techniques do you use for traffic?

There are so many! I would HIGHLY recommend Reddit, but do your research first you don’t want to get labeled a spammer or get trolled. I also use Digg, StumbleUpon, Linkreferral, profads, along with commenting on other blogs (and only adding my link when it is needed), commenting in forums, adding my web address to all of my online profiles and linking articles.

Traffic is really a “see what works” kind of thing. Some things work for me that wouldn’t work for others and vice versa. The best advice is just try it all and find out what works. I normally test something for at least 2 weeks most usually a month. The combination I mentioned above has brought anywhere from 70 visitors a day to 2500 visitors a day it depends on the content I am promoting and the avenues I link to on any given day.

How long did it take to set up the blog carnival?

I have two blog carnivals, and setting each one up takes only a few minutes if you are planning to host the carnival on a blog you already run.

(Just a side note: Publishing the edition each week takes anywhere from 2-15 minutes. I create my own banner each week so it takes me about 15 minutes, however if you were to just publish the edition with no banner and no modifications it could take as little as 30 seconds.)

Now that you have it running, would you have done anything differently?

Nope, I am pretty happy with it just the way it is. However, after you create a blog carnival you can go back and change it completely if you want to.

What advice would you give a fellow blogger who wants to set up a blog carnival?

I would say go for it! Do a little research, find out what type of carnival would work best for your blog, and go for it. Don’t forget to add the blog carnival widget to your blog because it does help to bring awareness to the carnival. It’s always good to have a decent amount of bloggers adding articles to your carnival because it brings in more views.

Always make sure that you add a description to your carnival. Submissions (and editions) with descriptions always do better. Also it’s a good idea to limit the number of submissions per person each edition, otherwise your edition gets bombarded by the same user and doesn’t allow for much visibility for the other articles that have been submitted. Be sure to promote the edition as well, so the bloggers who use your carnival will come back.

There are currently 4 editions of the Living Simplistically Carnival for Saving and Making Money Articles

First Edition

Second Edition

Third Edition

Fourth Edition

There are two ways to use BlogCarnival.com – you can either host a blog or submit your own blog posts to be included in other blog carnivals. When you go to the website you can browse their list of blog carnivals and sort by category, name, latest edition, or next edition. They don’t seem to care much about removing inactive blog carnivals, so the best method is to sort by category and then make sure that there is a date under the next edition column, otherwise you can waste a lot of time looking through inactive carnivals.

Either method is a great way to increase blog traffic, as exemplified by Alaina’s blog. When you create one, each link should result in a pingback on the featured blog, allowing visitors of that blog to see your site. Additionally, blog carnival courtesy suggests that when you’re featured on a carnival you make a little post about the hosting blog or at least put a link back to it. This way the carnival benefits everyone involved.

Check out these other great blog carnivals to learn more about online business, internet marketing, the outsourcing pros and cons, and much more:

The Fire Finder

Blog Conduit

The Earning Blog

That about wraps it I guess. Thanks again Alaina for being a good sport as always, and with these helpful tips maybe some of you will start turning your blog into a high traffic carnival blog.