Are you wondering whether we are suffering from a surfeit of people, a tsunami of news? I am. When was the last time you had a real conversation on Twitter, exchanging news, expressing your opinion, making a new friend? If you're an author, when was the last time you saw a sales bump after a Twitter campaign?
When was the last time someone reacted to one of your posts on Facebook with an interesting comment showing they really cared? Ditto with Google+.
What about the other sites, more niche-like, say StumbleUpon, Pinterest, Reddit, Digg or Tumblr, or maybe the video sites like YouTube? You tell me, because I don't know, I haven't got time for it all. I simply don't go there more than once in a blue moon. But if you do, please share your experience in the comments below, we'd all love to hear from you.
It looks like nobody is listening anymore out there on the Internet. The major websites like Twitter, Facebook and Google+, no longer look like virtual piazzas where people strolled for hours. And LinkedIn? It has some discussion groups around common interests but discussions there always seem to fizzle out after a couple of exchanges. No, in my view, LinkedIn was never a place for virtual chatter - just a website to hang out your name and professional profile. Small wonder it is scoured by headhunters...
What's your view? If you survey what other bloggers say about how to grow or revive your blog traffic, some advice stands out:
- Provide fresh content: this is fundamental. It will avoid being hit by the mighty "Penguin", Google's latest algorithm that could freeze your blog traffic in its track. It is designed to give priority to interesting content and shoot down repetitive, cliché stuff. The easiest way to make sure your content is worthwhile is to develop your blog in your expertise domain: don't be a "scatterblogger", stick to your niche! For example, if you're a writer, you can join the blog sites of writer communities. To get an idea, start by checking Writers Unboxed and Venture Galleries. Join writers' groups like World Literary Café or Writers Meetup Groups
- Go visual : drawings, photographs and videos, they all work and YouTube is your ally.
- Link back to relevant content on your own site: when you find a topic that drives traffic, expand on it, explore different facets and make sure you link all the posts on that topic, so anyone enjoying one of the posts will look up the next one on your blog.
- Share Your Blog on Social Media: all the big Net places need to be alerted, from Twitter to Facebook etc. This is where knowing your audience helps. If you're a niche blogger, make sure you reach out to your niche members. Be prepared to launch a small media campaign every time you come out with a post and use specialized sites like Triberr and Zemanta. Triberr provides invaluable help in automating your tweets and FB posts. Zemanta provides you with "related articles" that link you to bloggers handling the same topics. You want to follow up on that and visit those sites. If you do, you'll be rewarded with return traffic. Also be aware that Google+ is essential: it belongs to the King Search Engine and cannot be overlooked. Indeed, that's where I start...
- Stick to a Regular Posting Calendar : twice a week is best, more is not necessary and once a week is a minimum.
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Triberr Is Blogger Treasure(soulati.com)
Ways to increase traffic to your blog(fitcom.co)
Comments
But you do note something important for us writers who also blog: it is a wonderful opportunity to write when you don't want to go into your fiction. There are always moments when the muse flies elsewhere and it's nice to have a blog to fall back on!