Bloggers: I could use some pointers in pimping my blog?

[backscatter712]

In case you haven't noticed, some of my most recent posts have been those of shameless self promotion, as I'm testing the waters with a new blog at http://www.meldroc.com .

Anyways, I don't want to get too carried away with my shameless self-pimpage, lest I be accused of spamming, so I need to find more ways to get noticed.

I've found I have some luck getting page views by going to sites like Reddit and Digg, and I've gotten some traffic just pimping my blog here, but I need to work on ways to take it to the next level. Ideally, I would get enough traffic that I get some regular readership, and maybe even make a little pizza money with Google Adsense.

I'm interested in "white hat" ways of generating traffic. In other words, honest ways. No spamdexing or google-bombing or splogging or otherwise gaming the system. I know, rule number one is "Write something interesting that people want to read." I'd like to think I'm not too horrible at this, but hey, pointers are welcome.

Who else has had success in this sort of thing? Any tricks I should know?

[oshyposhy]

1. What I did...

I have a smallish blog, 100-200 readers a day, average. I blog about daily life with an Aspie teen, bipolar, and just how much fun that is. I joined an online Aspie/autism community that pushed my readership up.

I would suggest joining different groups that your target audience would belong to as well.

[LeftyMom]

2. Your blogroll is really limited.

Most of the blogs I find out about I either hear about via message board posts or I find them via the blogrolls of blogs I already read. So link a few more blogs you like and hopefully they'll do the same in return.

Oh, and I don't bother with blogs that don't update frequently with new and interesting content. You have four posts. On two topics that don't seem immediately related. If you can't explain how one has something to do with the other, they should really be separate blogs. Add more content, then worry about driving more eyes to see it once you've got something to look at.

[backscatter712]

3. Yeah, I put a few sites on there. I'll work on expanding my blogroll.

And in my defense, my blog's brand new - only a few days old, which explains why it currently only has four posts.

[Missy Vixen]

4. I've had a blog for two years now

I write about all kinds of stuff. I typically get 2-300 readers a day, unless I've written about Patrick Fitzgerald again. (Let's just say my blog got SLAMMED with traffic when he announced Blago's arrest a couple of weeks ago.) I've been linked to by the Washington Post, CNN, AOHell news, and other media outlets. It's also fun to get e-mail from people I've written about, and the vast majority are complimentary.

Unless you can think up something like I Haz Cheeseburger or the puppies webcam, your traffic will grow slowly but surely as you put up content daily. Also, make friends with someone who has a monster traffic blog. They may mention you on their front page, which will also get people who haven't read you before to give you a try. ;-)

Good luck!
Julie

[MineralMan]

5. Be unique. Be creative. Be blogging.

Find something that interests you but that isn't blogged about a lot. Make that part of your blog, and discuss it often. That'll get some folks there, where they'll read other entries, too, and they'll create links. Rare or unusual subjects get found quickly in searches. These don't have to be the main theme of your blog, but they help find readers. It could be anything.

For me, it's an old, closed, military base and unit that I was part of way back when. I have it as part of my blog, using the full unit name, along with the branch of service and the city where the base was located in that page's title and in metatags. It shows up as the first listing in searches for that unit. Lots of visits.

Use blog story titles well, always considering how people use Google for searches. Never be vague in titles. My blog also covers murders in a large city. I have a murder count for the city, and a search for the city and murder count puts me usually in the first position.

Be creative with your blog's metatags, again, thinking always of how people might search.

And MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL, always be blogging. Daily entries keep a blog current, and current blogs attract visitors. Dead blogs don't get read.

[MineralMan]

6. Oh, yeah...pimping your blog...

Don't do it directly. Participate in discussion forums, but just be creative there and active. Put your blog's URL in your profile. If you're interesting on the forum, folks will click your profile and find your blog, which they'll also click.

Putting your blog in a sig line or something is risky.