Greg Hickman dropped a question in my question box that I think represents the question that many people ask me about finding readers for a blog.
While there are no easy answers for finding readers I think it’s a topic well worth coming back to again and again.
Greg writes:
“I’ve recently started a blog (August) and I’m trying to figure out the best way to drive quality traffic to my site. I’ve been writing at least a post a day if not every other day. I began commenting on 9rules and a few other sites that I enjoy visiting. I was wondering if you could provide some insight for a beginning blogger on getting that initial readers base. Do I just continue commenting on sites I read or digg articles, what can I do to get this jump started.”
OK – there are many answers to this question and I’ve written many posts on the topic of finding readers for a blog (I’ll share a link with loads of resources at the bottom of this post). However let me put forward a few thoughts that come to mind:
1. You’ve Made a Good Start – you’ve already stumbled on one key factor in promoting your blog – interacting on other people’s turf. Keep leaving those comments, getting to know other bloggers and contributing to what others are doing on their blogs. This does have an impact. It may not bring thousands of readers in – it’s more of a ‘one reader at a time’ type strategy – however you never know when that ‘one reader’ will be someone influential.
2. Take it Up a Notch – so you’ve discovered the principle of interacting on other people’s turf – so how about taking it up a notch and doing something more than leaving comments? How about attempting to get a few guest posting spots on key blogs in the niche that you’re trying to make a mark in? I’ve seen a number of bloggers who’ve really built a name for themselves by doing this. Of course your guest posts need to be of a high standard – but if they are you can really make an impression on a blogger and their readers.
3. Communicate What Your Blog Is About – I hope you don’t mind – but I’ve taken a look at your blog Greg (toonice4TV). A few questions that I asked myself when I first arrived at your blog (questions that most readers of a new blog would ask when they first arrive) ‘what’s it about?’, ‘what’s in it for me on this blog?’ In the same way that you’d be unlikely to pick up and buy a magazine that you didn’t know the topic of – readers are not likely to stick around on a blog for long that doesn’t communicate strongly what it is about and how people will benefit from it. There are lots of techniques for getting people to a blog – but the key is to have something that communicates strongly to them when they get there.
4. What Makes You Different? – Another key question that potential readers will ask is ‘what’s different about this blog?’. What’s your blog’s unique selling proposition to a prospective reader? What sets it apart from the other millions of blogs out there (many of which are writing on a similar topic). You need to communicate this clearly – in the design, branding and content. New blogs need to work hard on this.
5. Make it Easy to Connect – another quick observation having taken a quick look at your blog – perhaps make subscribing to your blog via RSS a little easier. While I can see your feed in the URL field in Firefox using auto discovery – it might be worth promoting your feed a little more prominently on the blog in some way. You might use an RSS button or icon of some kind – or even just an ‘RSS’ Text Link. I find that the more prominently you do this the more people will use it and the more likely you are to convert a one off visitor into a loyal one.
6. Content – ultimately it is the content that you write that will be key in growing your readership – unique content that engages with and enhances the lives of people over the long term.
Further Reading
A lot more could be said on the topic of building readership on a blog let me point you to some links instead of regurgitating it all here.
You can find them on my How to Find Readers for Your Blog page which compiles some of my most popular posts on how to build readership and how to leverage it once you’ve got it.
What really helped get my site off the ground was social media, Reddit in particular. The new page can send a few hundred visitors even if you don’t get many votes. Of course, the key to getting readers is creating content people want share and bookmark so they can come back for more.
I suppose another way is if you have some cash laying around try getting some advertisements out there.
I just launched a new blog, too, and would welcome criticism or suggestions from any blogging vets (or anyone, actually) reading this post :)
I’ve found that leaving comments has been a great way to gain about a reader or two per comment. Slow but progress nonetheless…
I think Greg is off to a good start with driving traffic to his blog. With a prominent link in this post and a discussion of his site by yourself; traffic is sure to increase :o)
Next issue; getting these new visitors to return. Content, Content and Content (good content, that is)
I love to do Guest Posts as well, I did couple of them and I really enjoy it.
I let people now ,Guest Post on my blog
Darren r u interested?
My blog is also new (launched at the end of May). I have been leaving comments on relevant blogs and occasionally this leads to some visits.
Interestingly, I get by far the most visits from google despite being new. I did put a lot of effort in at the beginning to make my site SEO friendly. Now I have done that I am trying to focus on building a reputation in my field – though I expect that will take some time.
I really like this post. I have been blogging since April and just started getting serious about it last month. That’s how I stumbled upon this site. I essentially want to find a way to go pro. I think checking my feed from this site has really helped.
For me is the second point the most useful one. So you tell the others “hey! i’m someone who does more than reading (e.g.) your program codes”.
This post couldn’t have come at a better time for me. I have a baby of a blog – only about 3 weeks old.
So thank you…
I think point number 4 is the hardest part for a new blogger. It’s hard to be different from others unless you really work hard on it. Anyway, thanks for the tips. New blogger should really benefit from this post.
When I looked at the title of this post, I thought it was about how to drive traffic to your new blog when you already have an old one. (So, how to drive traffic to your new blog from your old site, rather.) So I was a little disappointed since that’s what I was expecting to read about, haha. But that’s my problem.
4. What Makes You Different?
This is a good point, and a point/question that I cannot answer with my blog. I think my posts are of greater reading quality than other blogs in my niche, but other than that, my blog is the same-old, same-old. I should try making some changes…
Good post!
I am gonna be honest with you…I really didn’t like this post too much because some of these method aren’t the best to getting traffic for a startup blog, as your title state.
Guess posting might not be such a good idea because who is gonna let a newbie blogger guest blog?
4 and 5, I think is very important. I usually bookmark a blog that look “attractive” and have excellent content.
My blog is over 10 years old. Unfortunately, I’ve gone through a lot of re-management of it in the past which involved long periods of inactivity.
Just as important as getting off the ground, is making a comeback which I’m currently going for.
One of my primary focuses is to… focus. That is to say, focus on a few key topics and try to publish about them as much as possible rather than falling into the “whatever” syndrome.
If you are in the tech space as the mentioned blog is… write something really useful and hope it gets featured on Lifehacker… or send them a tip.
High quality sites like Lifehacker or Problogger will send you dedicated readers, especially since their readers are much more likely to subscribe to your blog. (as I just did) Having good readers is key to the success of your blog at the beginning.
Getting linked on digg, reddit, etc, will only really give you drive-by, worthless traffic… but you’ll be more likely to get featured there if you already got the attention of the good readers via Lifehacker, Problogger, etc.
Alot of what you said Darren I have done to my blog as well. But still the only subscriber to the site is me. lol where do you go to find links to the 400 plus other blogs out there so you can find who else is blogging about you are or you can interact in.
My site is new, and I am doing a combination of things to get traffic, such as commenting, putting articles on sites such as eZineArticles, and GoArticles. My traffic is slowly building up, but I sometimes wish I had more time to advertise other ways! I spend most of my free time (which is limited) figuring out what to write about, and writing posts.
My Blog just started last month. Now that it’s the design is done and I have some solid posts in. The Hard part starts when you just have to post… and wait. Day after day.
One thing that helps is, go and find some readers. Go find a blog you like, email the author. Comment on that blog. Build a relationship. Most likely that person will start reading your blog. It’s only one person, but they’ll probably link to you in the future.
Thomas Flight
Tech reviews tips, trick and news at GeekMore
You make a lot of valid points here. It is not an easy task to set yourself in view of the whole Internet. I have several blogs and it has been slow going, but it gets a little better with time. I guess all will change with time and what works today, won’t tomorrow. But the stuff you pointed here is pretty solid, fundamental advice for any blog or web site.
Thanks for the great info Darren. I had thought about guest blogging.
Who would you most like to guest blog for and why? Or do you not have the time to do guest blogs at all.
If you’ve just started, you can find a bunch of other bloggers who have just started to blog as well and band together via link exchange (or other ways). I don’t do this because I’m anti-social, but you should give it a try. I just started out 2 weeks ago and have 23 RSS subscribers baby!!! I mostly get traffic by submitting unique articles to social bookmarking sites.
good tips from Darren as always for newbies like us, I always listen to what he says, so I just flew to my blog to put a RSS reader button on top of my head.. jejee. you shouldn’t miss it there.
Great tips Darren! I’d like to add my own tip as well: patience, patience, and more patience! When I started my blog, I was getting a few hits a day, if I was lucky. But I just kept plugging away at it by writing good content and interacting with other bloggers. It just takes time to build a readership.
I agree with John in regards to social media. For me, though, it is Stumble Upon that sends HUGE amounts of traffic to my site.
Thanks so much for advice Darren! It is greatly appreciated. Same goes for everyone else that has added to this post. I hope the tips have helped more than just me.
Can I ask, how do you feel about my design/layout?
I’ve also had difficulty getting my feedburner plugin to actually work.
Also any good recommendations on an RSS subscribe button?
Thanks again!
Darren, I think it’s great how you come back to the few key topics, eventhough they’ve been discussed in depth. It keeps us in check, and i’m sure new readers would love it.
I’d like to email this article to a couple of people I know who are starting blogging. But since there’s no button for it.. i’ll send them the link:)
Thanks Problogger! Your article were really helpful, my blog is also new, but in 2 days i got 100+ visitors with your help!
well..that must have brought huge readers for greg and I am sure he would have learned a lot.
lucky greg that his new blog got featured on problogger’s post!
well..that must have brought huge readers for greg and I am sure he would have learned a lot.
lucky greg that his new blog got featured on problogger’s post!
that is one of my dreams…
Hmmm….Interesting read. I have one of my own blogs, but have not worked myself to make it really popular..I believe it is time to kickstart and move myself to be drive in more visitors. Thanks for the tip Darren.
Avinash
http://www.photoswift.com
Thank you for sharing this nformation with us, one more thing can be done to get the quality readers i.e even if you have a certain theme foryou blog,but try to cover everything
i mean an object had got many angles ,so try describing all those agles instead of writing about how your mood is at the time of writing.Be Humourous,Scientific,Knowledgable,almost all the aspect of it.So,that people feel good and get some valuable information from you attempt.Thank you
I feel that the best way is still down to networking and interacting with other bloggers, like what the gist of this post is about. Content is not everything – you gotta create visibility as well before the traffic comes. And then the relationships in between.
I want to use this post as a “guest posting spot”…do I just cut and paste? Or is there a better, more appealing way? Thanks!
Good post Darren! Very good advice, I’m going to make use of it!
And bravo Greg – looks like you have a good blog on the rise!
This is a great article Darren. I am trying to get my blog off the ground and will definitely take your advice.
You have a great blog and very helpful to a newbie like me.
I have recently learnt the power of social networking.
I do comment on other blogs that I enjoy reading and use facebook etc and I find that I get a few readers that way, but when somebody reviewed my blog on Stumble Upon, I had 400 visitors within hours (which is a lot for my humble blog!), got a few comments and a few people subscribed. Quite encouraging when you can sometimes feel like you’re talking to no one as Darrin wrote about recently.
Now I get what all the fuss is about regarding Stumble Upon, Digg etc!!
Thanks for this post Darrin, good to have more tips to incorporate.
Wow, you seem to always write about what is on my mind. I just started a new blog myself called BlogScrutiny.com and have been wondering how I could get some more traffic to it. Bravo!
Greetings all.
The power is in your own hands, I see many people asking how! How do I get traffic, how do I get people to my blog.
Start to look within the comments see who is in your blogging market, connect with them. Darren can provide you with some cool knowledge, but with that you need your own community. Darren is enjoying his community, now look at how you can develop your own.
Traffic is a two way bridge and the returning traffic is like someone who has just left your shop with a smile; they will tell others.
Invite a sense of community about your home, get involved with anyone and everyone you can. If you are actually trying to start what you wish to be a business than arm your self with the necessary tools.
Plan, focus and vision, along with education training and other to help you on your way. Find ways to reach your fellow blogger, form support networks for each other, blog on each other blogs, have meet ups.
If you are looking for real success through blogging, get out from behind the screen as well, and meet people, hand out cards, and do the old social network thing.
Blogging to freedom, is like any other business, it requires work, training patience and a little luck.
Best of luck with blogging for dollars and reading here is always not a bad thing to be doing.
have a B L O G G I N G good day!
This is really a thought provoking article. I will print read it over and over and over till i can make good use of it.
For me as a newbie-blogger these are some of the motivating articles i need to read to drive traffic to my new blog.
Thanks
Hi,
Very nice post for the newbie-blogger like me. What is the important is good content
Thks,
Jorge
How is it that one goes about approaching a fellow blogger about doing a guest post? It seems that that could be fun and help out everyone involved, but it also doesn’t seem like an easy thing to suggest (Hey man, can I write on your blog?) Any suggestions (anyone?)
Thanks,
Aiden
Wow, lots of great tips without mentioning Google. More than 80% of my readers find my blog by Google – every single day.
Leaving comments on other peoples blog is a bit dull though – if you comment on english blogs and your blog is in german. ;)
Not trying to plug my site here, but I guess I’ll plug my site only because I think this is extremely relevant to this post.
I have written a 22 page PDF titled “Blog Traffic Made Easy” which has received over 1,000 downloads in the first two weeks. It’s a free download that many people have said has helped them to generate more traffic to their blogs.
Just click “Blog Traffic Made Easy” in the top left corner of my homepage. Hopefully, the article can help others from this site as well.
Its simply fantastic
Hi,
I agree with this and think that it’s great information. But I also have to wonder the fact that the person mentioned in your blog got a high level of traffic because your website already gets a lot of traffic.
I do have to admit that commenting on other blogs does help.
Thanks,
Richard Rinyai
The same old speech once again. Quality, content, standing out from the crowd, targeting a particular niche and all that nice to hear and sound *yawwwwnnnn*. But its worthless for the one who asked the question “How to build an initial reader base”. I presume that anyone can write this nice and soothing article of how to build the base without even saying out a word to how to get it done practically.
Darren must have also followed a particular approach before actually getting to the point of becoming famous that now he preaches that all the rest have to follow his footsteps which is not good for the ones who actually start from ground zero.
I would relent some advice for that poor guy out there. Hey buddy, submit it to as many social networks as possible because unless you make noise, no one will notice you and yes to keep the people coming back again have some content man.
Hope this comment makes it to the people!
I am just new to this. I like reading all these posts. My strategy is to just reaaaaad a lot. And then apply these advices.
It might be old information for some of you but for those of us starting out this is good advice.
I am not familiar with a lot of these concepts so it was a good intro for me.
this whole blogging/ internet marketing thing is so darn hard it’s heart breaking. i’m so tempted to give up marketing altogether and just blog for fun. i’ve never been more challenged in my entire life
Thanks for posting this. I am new to blogging, not quite a month yet. I will implement your suggestions and let you know how I fare in 90 days. Have a great weekend.