Facebook Pixel
Join our Facebook Community

How To Drive Traffic to Your Blog – The Advice of a 12 Year Old

Posted By Darren Rowse 13th of February 2007 Blog Promotion 0 Comments

Remember 12 year old blogger David Wilkinson from Techzi? David and I have kept in touch with one another since I posted about him last and recently I asked him to consider writing a guest post here at ProBlogger. I thought a 12 year old’s perspective on how to get traffic to your blog might be worth hearing. Here’s his post.

When Darren Rowse comes up to you, and asks you to write a post for ProBlogger.net, it’s not something you can really say ‘no’ to. Not that you’d want to of course, but more the fact that it’s the opportunity of a lifetime. Why should I write, of all people though? Well Darren wanted to hear the methods that I as a young person use to drive traffic to my blog, without spending any money.

Learning the basics

First you need to grasp and understand that the Internet is a big place. Several billion web-pages, and often with very little time available to the end-user, they’ll use several techniques to find what they’re looking for.

SEO

Search? Standard engines like Google, Yahoo and Live are the most popular nowadays, and optimizing your site to be found easily, can be easy and hard based on many factors.

My best advice for someone starting out would be to start by building quality content for somebody to see, then progressing to “The Three Cs”. This way, you’ll get noticed by genuinely interested people, who’ll actively want to play a part in your site’s development, by giving you quality feedback on ways to improve, design and usability.

If you have a blog or a website that’s been going for several weeks, perhaps a month or two, and you’ve done “The Three Cs”, or at least some of them, would be to start focusing on building on your existing content, with fresh, interesting, relevant and unique content. Note I say ‘relevant’ and ‘unique’. This is important. There are so many splogs out there now-a-days, that people can quickly distinguish whether an article has been written by somebody or not, at least the majority of the time. Relevance too, like I said, is a key factor. If you have a very personal blog, then one day write something completely off-topic about a new type of golf club that comes out, people will start to wonder if you and your blog actually have an aim or a purpose, which is yet another vital thing to consider.

If you’re somebody with a very mature blog, that is several months or more old, you can now focus on the technical side of things, which is mainly down to the spiders. If you’ve been blogging this long, then if you’re not on your own domain, or hosting, I recommend it, as it allows for greater flexibility, design and SEO. Search engine optimization? Yep! A Google Sitemap can be stuck on your server for the Google-Bot and metatags can be added, which let you pre-define information about your page automatically, such as the author, a description, keywords and feed information. This also makes usability easier for feed-ready browsers like Firefox and Internet Explorer 7. Tacky pre-set designs become a thing of the past too, and upgrading to WordPress can be a smart move, as the developer community there will help you along the way with every aspect of your blog, from the writing itself, to the advanced functionality like widgets that are available, and the themes that are freely downloadable to customize your blog’s look. Of course you could always give design a go yourself as I did at Techzi.net – though admittedly I enlisted the help of two professional designers as well.So, what are these ‘C’s that I’ve been talking to you so much about anyway? Read on to find out…

Community, communication, consideration.

The three founding principals of marketing your blog to an audience, whether general, or specific. People want to get be a part of the next thing, so give them a chance.

1. Community

Whether you start up your own community, or join others, via means of MyBlogLog, MySpace, LinkedIn, Xing and others, this is a guaranteed and proven way to get visitors, to get hits, impressions, and often quality traffic, because you know that these people haven’t just clicked on a random link or search engine listing, but have seen you or your website’s profile, and followed it through to your homepage/landing page. The best ways to get the profiles themselves noticed? See below…

2. Communication

I don’t mean ‘spam’ by this either. Get involved in genuine discussions, with other people of similar interests, start up a civilized, profitable, knowledgeable discussion, then when you’re finished, ask if they’d take a look at your blog or website. You’d be surprised how many loyal readers have come to my own blog in this way. Simply leave comments in communities, on social networks, on other blogs, etc.

Still not quite your way of dealing with people?

3. Considering

All the time, you have to consider the reader. Who are you writing for? The reader. Who will be navigating your blog? The reader. Who should you devote your time, energy and attention to? The reader. Consideration is important, and you can show this in many ways. Either by having a clutter-free, easy-to-follow design, or you could alternatively try getting the readers involved, by asking questions in blog posts, or website statements, and opening up comments. If people comment, strike up a conversation with them, and keep them coming back. Answer their queries and requests with solid, reliable, dependable answers, and take note of the feedback they leave by using it, and putting it into action. If someone states that your text is hard to read, change the colour to stop it clashing so much with the background, or simply make it slightly larger.

There are lots of ways you can show consideration to your audience, and it shows just how loyal you are to your readers through this. If someone spots an inaccuracy in a blog post and tells you, don’t be lazy. Go change it! They’ll keep coming back, they’ll tell their friends, and in turn this C will do word-of-mouth marketing wonders.

The Element of Surprise

You’ve looked at both SEO, content and the ‘C’s now, but my last tip is probably what has brought me the large majority of my visitors, both loyal and one-off traffic hoppers. Differentiate yourself, do something different. Be daring, be random! Try something wild, or something completely unheard of, whether it’s outrageous, or greatly beneficial to the reader. Sometimes, even beneficial to the writer! (http://www.techzi.net/donations/) Mad things work out great sometimes, other times, they really can lower your reputation, so it’s time to take calculated risks here.

My advice? Follow your instincts. Be an entrepreneur. Take that risk. Make it happen. Throw a competition (http://www.techzi.net/competition/), for all the good it will do. Stand out and be different. Darren will sure know what I mean by that…

David Wilkinson writes at http://www.techzi.net/

Subscribe to ProBlogger’s RSS feed

About Darren Rowse
Darren Rowse is the founder and editor of ProBlogger Blog Tips and Digital Photography School. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Comments
  1. Wow !! He’s a real prodigy. I remember when I started my blog. I was 15 then. Now I’m 16. But, I’m not a prodigy as this kid. How could he know so many things when he’s 12 ? I guess age doesn’t matter in SEO. Anyway, I love the “Three C’s” concept. :)

  2. Everyone should always be a learner. Experience comes with age, but one should never stop to learn new things.

  3. […] David Wilkinson wird diese Tage viel gelobt. Der 12-jährige ProBlogger hat gerade den Relaunch seines Blogs Techzi hinter sich und schon den nächsten Coup: Einen Artikel beim ProBlogger sen. Darren Rowse. Dann wurde er “gediggt”, bisher fast 500 Mal. Selbst der alterwürdige Sam Sethi schreibt seinen Kommentar dazu: “time to consider stepping aside me thinks ” [”Zeit über Abzudanken nachzudenken, denke ich.”]. Viel Lob, das ist er gewöhnt. Zu hören, aus ihm wird mal was in Zukunft, das ist er gewöhnt. […]

  4. When I was 12, as I recall, all my energies went into finding new and creative ways to get out of helping with the dishes. David, That’s a well-considered and well-written piece – good to see literacy & articulation go hand in hand with tech know-how. We’ll all be working for you in about 4 years…

  5. wow.. great advice. I really learnt something new today :)

  6. I would have never quessed the author was only 12 years old if I wasn’t told before hand.

    A very well written article with great recommendations and content. Well done!

  7. Jen, I love the idea of hiring Darren Rowse… What a turn on the tables, eh? Anyhow, I plan to lie low for a bit now, do a bit of guest blogging from time to time for various websites and continue to work on my own website, Techzi.net

    That said, I’m working on a couple of big things, that may not be under the cover for all that much longer. :D Very exciting stuff.

  8. Excellent and well-written article with some advice I probably should focus more on. Thanks for the reminder.

  9. […] Can’t get traffic to your blog? A 12 year will show you how!read more | digg story […]

  10. […] The Problogger has a guest article published by the infamous 12-year-old successful blogger named David Wilkinson. […]

  11. […] Today I read a great article by 12 year old blogger David Wilkinson of the Techzi blog. David has some great insights and is wise beyond his years when it comes to driving traffic to your web site. […]

  12. Amazing insight for the age.

  13. Thanks alot guys! Hopefully Darren will let me come back and do some more blogging! ;) The post seems to have gone down fairly well.

  14. Outstanding article. You’ve got a great future ahead of you!

  15. Good article, well written, very imressive for a 12 yo kid!

  16. I like to keep up on the latest SEO. At first I though that this was a joke just more SEO professional infighting but there are a few good points. What I don’t think anyone gets is that while you are SEO-ing your brains out, do something compelling and do it well.

  17. The kid had help with that for sure.

  18. Wow !! He’s a real prodigy. I remember when I started my blog. I was 15 then. Now I’m 16. But, I’m not a prodigy as this kid. How could he know so many things when he’s 12 ? I guess age doesn’t matter in SEO. Anyway, I love the “Three C’s” concept. :)

  19. Very insightful for a 12 year old. Just goes to show you can make money on the internet at a young.

  20. Well written David! I love the advise. I use several of your suggestions at StepTalk.org on a daily basis and I’ve seen really good results.

    Keep up the good work and thanks for the tips!

    Dawn
    StepTalk.org – Where Stepparents Come to Vent

  21. Wow David–this is great advice. Everything you say is spot-on, now I just need to work on actually DOING all the steps!

    I’m amazed at your success and really happy for you.

    Hope to see more posts from you in the future at Problogger.:-)

    Cheers,
    Sharon

  22. Great post! Go lil man! :-)

  23. Great post

  24. Hey, that was a great article which offers a good bit to think about to make my site more effective, You write really well for a 12 year old, I thought I would be one of the youngest out here blogging at 17 years old, but you have me beat, I enjoy the blog though, stop by sometimes at my site!

    Nicholas Pruett
    http://www.techboggle.com

  25. […] Hey, what were you doing at 12-years old? Were you blogging for a worldwide audience? Were you balancing growing up and a blogging career? Didn’t think so. David Wilkinson is doing it all however, and he’s guest-blogging today over at ProBlogger about driving traffic to your blog. Follow along with his “3 C’s Plan” — Community, Communication, and Consideration. […]

  26. […] A maioridade é calculada tendo-se em conta fatores científicos que estabelecem que aproximadamente aos dezoito anos o ser humano é plenamente ciente e, portanto, responsável pelos seus atos. Isso não significa, por óbvio, que após a data de seu aniversário de dezoito anos um ser completamente imbecil (no sentido vulgar, não científico), se torne um homem plenamente responsável. Tampouco que um indivíduo de doze anos não possa, com seu trabalho, já estar sendo capaz de sustentar a si e à sua família, como o menino identificado pelo sítio problogger.net. […]

  27. […] How To Drive Traffic to Your Blog – The Advice of a 12 Year Old Great website, from a 12 year old blogger check out his weblog as well in the following link. It shows a good weblog will receive a lot of attention whatever age you are. Do you think my weblog follows his Three C’s rule for attracting readers? (tags: blogs web2.0 gcseict) […]

  28. […] How To Drive Traffic to Your Blog – The Advice of a 12 Year Old When Darren Rowse comes up to you, and asks you to write a post for ProBlogger.net, it’s not something you can really say ‘no’ to. Not that you’d want to of course, but more the fact that it’s the opportunity of a lifetime. Why should I write, o (tags: blogging seo marketing tips technology) […]

  29. I see darren is doing very well with the digg effect taking place on this blog and this kid is amazing…nothing out there like him when I was 12 they grow up so fast…lol

  30. Wow – amazing. Thanks so much David for the tips.

  31. […] Lär dig blogga och dra trafik till bloggen. 12-åringen David Wilkinson lär dig hur du gör. […]

  32. No problem guys. Glad I could be of some assistance!

  33. […] How To Drive Traffic to Your Blog – The Advice of a 12 Year Old […]

  34. 12 years old, lives just a few miles from me (I’m in Oldham) and already so knowledgeable and informative. I might as well give up now!! Looks like Darren has a mini me in the making :) and maybe the UK version of Bill Gates (meant as a compliment) a few years down the line. Good work fella!

  35. Hey,
    I am new to blogging and monetizing blogs. Thanks for the advice!

  36. […] How To Drive Traffic to Your Blog – The Advice of a 12 Year Old (tags: Blogs Traffic tips) […]

  37. […] What is Techzi you may ask? Techzi, my friends, is a blog run by 12 year old pro blogger (his blog is quite pro I must admit), David Wilkinson and Co. And I thought I was good (I didn’t really). His style of writing is so similar and advanced to that of an adult, I actually mistook is article on ProBlogger as that of an adult. I actually found out that the webmaster had stopped talking, and he had begun. Crazy? […]

  38. […] How To Drive Traffic to Your Blog – The Advice of a 12 Year Old Smart kid (tags: blog blogging seo howto marketing advertising business) Sharing is Caring:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. […]

  39. […] How To Drive Traffic to Your Blog – The Advice of a 12 Year Old Twelve year old blogger David Wilkinson talks about how to drive traffic to your blog. (tags: blogging blogs community culture search seo tips) […]

  40. […] I recently saw a post on Darren Rowse’s site, problogger.net. The post was about a 12 year-old kid from the UK who was talking about SEO. Now I have nothing against young people on the internet as I myself am only 15, but it was the way this kid came across in the post, as well as in his own posts, that struck a bad cord with me. […]

  41. nicely spoken and very comprehensive

  42. hectic… *starts working feverishly*!!!

  43. [Flagged] Inaugural Edition…

    An oft-updated list of links to interesting stories I find in my RSS feeds that I couldn’t really add to, and I think you’ll find interesting, as well. Advice 10 Blogging Mistakes To Avoid Er, so…#2…ahem…er…why do I do……

  44. […] How to Drive Traffic to Your Blog – The Advice of a 12 Year Old […]

  45. I think he’s really 12 and a half!

  46. You cant juge by age, wth?

  47. […] Update: Dicas de um jovem de 12 anos em como atrair tráfego para um blog . Links: […]

  48. 12 years old ?! He will be a great blogger when he grown up !

  49. […] How To Drive Traffic to Your Blog – The Advice of a 12 Year Old — posted Feb. 13, 2007 at ProBlogger. Well written piece by a teenager. Don’t let his age fool you. […]

  50. This will help me get my blog off the ground. Glad I didn’t miss this.

A Practical Podcast… to Help You Build a Better Blog

The ProBlogger Podcast

A Practical Podcast…

Close
Open