HOW TO MARKET YOUR BLOG THE PROPER WAY AND REACH A LOYAL USER

BASE THAT’S GOING TO STICK FOR A LONG TIME

* 1 0 1 i s l a m e t h e s e d a y s , s o I u s e d 1 0 2 . ; - )

Blog Traffic 102* (‘Modern’ Ways to Market & Drive Traffic to Your

Blog

Bitter Truth

Plain simple truth is that traffic = money...Much harder truth is that the amount of

traffic is not proportional to the money that you will make...

Conclusion: Big traffic then DOESN’T directly mean Big Money!

Getting traffic though is a good start.

Modern Ways to Get the Right Traffic to your Blog

Compelling Blog Design

Competitive Blog Commenting

Forum InteractionGuest PostingClever Paid Promotion

Compelling Blog Design

- A good blog design doesn’t mean expensive design...

- It’s not about those flashing/sparkling elements either...

- Its about something that’s unique, represents simplicity and elegance. Its about you and your brand...

- Key: Personalization

How to Personalize

Misconception: You need a unique expensive design

The Solution: Personalization- Get a brandable logo- Change color schemes/some theme settings- Make (good) use of widgets, plugins- The lesser elements, the better- Advanced: Modify your theme’s stylesheet

Good Blog Design

DeterminersBounce RateVisits/pageLoading TimeAnnoying StructureCluttered LookPage size (?)

Competitive Blog Commenting

Blog commenting is the oldest and most used way to drive traffic to a blog.

It’s very easy to do, yet, the result that you can get from this has become so

much limited these days because of saturation.Revelations:Surprise! Commenting isn’t (really) about driving

traffic..It’s about letting the blogosphere know you exist, it’s

about engaging, making connections, making friends.Later turns on to loyal following and fruitful

partnerships.

Techniques for competitive commenting

Step by Step:If you have a fairly new blog, try to maintain

a daily/weekly goal for blogs that you comment on...

Make use of gravatar and commentluvQuantity over quality (nope it’s not about

spamming)Keep track of them...Pick the blogs that give you the most amount

of traffic and then focus on them.

What commenting can do:Gets you some trafficGets you some more backlinksMore awareness for you and your blogMore importantly, it sets the stage for you to

be able to do bigger marketing/traffic generation strategies down the road

Forum Interaction

- Forum interaction is something I associate with the term ‘buzz’

- Its (almost) equal to Word of Mouth Marketing

- Not hard to do at all!Benefits- Direct traffic and back links- Increased trust and expertise- Friends

How to Do Forum Marketing Correctly

Genuinely help them outMake good use of forum signaturesDon’t spam, don’t explicitly show your links...Give value (the most important)

If people think you’re cool and helpful, they will want to know more about you (they’ll visit your blog, buy your stuff, do other things for you).

Additional prize: backlinks...

Guest Posting

- The quickest way to grow a blog’s readership...

What is Guest Posting?- Its simply about writing posts on other

bloggers’ blog.- It has to be a high traffic blog and,- You gotta put up your best post.

How to do Guest Posting

Find blogs related to your niche/market (either do a simple Google search or use a service like myblogguest)

Try to engage first (read their post, comment, etc) and have a feel for the environment

Write your guest post based on that ‘feel’Contact the owner (using their contact form),

politely send them your guest post including description of what it really is about.

Killer Guest Posting Tips

Do it as many times as you could (Bulk Guest Posting)

Make good use of compelling signature linesUse a landing page!Make sure you have some good posts on your

end as well.Personalized Greeting (wp-greetbox)Engage/Follow them (reply to their

comments, check out their blog)

What the Heck is a Landing Page?

Try to compare the ff:

Clever *Paid* Advertising

Advertising is still one of the quickest ways to drive traffic.

Conversion though remains unseen.It’s expensive...---Good thing, there are always clever and

innovative ways to do it. ;-)

Clever *Paid* Advertising

Sponsoring blog contests Social Media

sponsorshipsFinding cheap ad

inventoriesMaking use of services

like Fiverr, WebeserveGiving away something,

then ask them to talk about it on their blog

How Not to Waste Your Money

Do always track your ad campaignsBasic TrackingGoogle AnalyticsWebmaster CentralStat CounterAdvanced TrackingCrazy EggClick TaleAlways give each ad campaign an equal

opportunity. Track everything correctly and focus on the one that works based on your conversion goal.

Getting Blog Traffic Isn’t Hard at All.......It Just Takes a Lot of Hardwork

Same goes for monetization.

That’s why you should have that passion for what you’re blogging about.

A Blog that Gets Traffic Can Bring In...

Obviously money (for some people it’s called ‘living’)-----------------------But its more than just the money (from my

experience)Puts you as expert in your nicheLots of new (real) friends‘Schwags’ from companiesBetter offline opportunitiesBeing able to do consulting at a good price.

And of course, personal satisfaction (ego boost ;-) )

Resources

Blog Design/Premium Themes

Elegantthemes.com

Themeforest.comWoothemes.comStudiopress.comThematic.com

Blog Commenting• Gravatar.com• Commentluv.com

Guest Posting• MyBlogGuest.com• Wp-greetbox

Resources

Ad InventoriesBuysellads.comOIO Marketpla

ceAdvertiseSpace

Social SitesDigg.comReddit.comStumbleupon.co

mBlogcatalog.com

Bloggers.comBlogengage.comBizsugar.comTwitter.comFacebook.comDelicious.com

Other placesFiverr.comWebeserve.comDigitalPoint Forums

TrackingGoogle.com/analyticsStatcounter.comCrazyegg.comChartbeat.com

Thank You

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