As I’ve been a blogger for a very long time now, I’ve learned quite a lot about increasing traffic and the importance of social networks. I can’t say that I’ve been much of a community-guy before, I’ve been a member of a few networks but I only recently discovered the great impact they have on blogs, when they’re used in the right way.
The first and probably the most important social network I’m recommending is Twitter. Twitter is an international community and it’s especially useful for us who are writing about Asian entertainment, or anything Asian really. With Twitter you can choose to aim your posts to an international audience or you can choose post in any other language you prefer, but if you’re from Europe I’d recommend using English or Japanese. However, there’s one little drawback, because you can’t just start “tweeting” (posting on Twitter) right away, well, you could but it wouldn’t do any good. Before Twitter becomes useful you need to start following people’s updates, and most importantly, get people to follow you. This might be a bit troublesome at first if you don’t know anyone using Twitter, but you know me so that’s not a problem anymore. The best and easiest way to get people to follow you is to start following them, and the best people to follow are those who have the same interests as you. Since you’re reading my blog, I assume you’re either interested in Asian entertainment, design and/or technology. Almost everyone I follow (and who follows me) are interested in at least one of those things. This makes it easier for you to start adding people to your network.
Keep in mind that just adding people at random is a bad idea, read people’s updates before you start following them. Also look for replies they’ve made to other people’s updates, I wouldn’t recommend adding people who doesn’t reply to other’s tweets, one-way communication is a bad thing in social networks.
Twitter is slow at first but as your network grows, you’ll find it both useful and amusing. A lot of people dislikes the idea of Twitter since you’re just doing the same thing all the time; telling people what you’re up to. But those who advocate those sayings are usually people who either haven’t tried Twitter or gave up on it after a week. Twitter is so much more than that and you’ll realize this when your network is big enough to be active at all times. But also keep in mind that following too many at once might be troublesome since you’ll be spammed with updates. At the moment I’m following 46 users and I have 52 following me, this is not a lot but it gives me more revisiting users rather than new one time visitors.
Using Flickr or any other photo sharing website for your image uploads is a great thing to do. If you provide a link in the description area of an image to the related post, your traffic will most definitely increase. How much it will increase depends on the image, if it’s a hot girl, you’ll get a lot of visits! I’d recommend using Flickr since that’s where the community is.
Digg
I love Digg, but my network there is really small (please add me!). I’d recommend submitting your post yourself once you’ve published it since a lot of people (including me) are too lazy to submit stories to Digg, it’s a lot easier to Digg something after it has been submitted.
Exchanging links
Exchanging links with other bloggers is a good idea, but think before you act. Only ask bloggers who write about similar stuff as you do, the ones who click those links are your readers and linking to “Gina’s Bird Blog” when you’re writing about technology is not a good thing, right? Because that’s not what your readers are looking for.
Remember, other bloggers are presumably your most precious visitors, but the interest has to be mutual for you to gain anything on a link exchange.
Comment on your friend’s posts
Leaving comments is always a good thing, making high quality comments will make readers click on your name (link to your site). But don’t post just to leave your mark, and never EVER reply to a post with “FIRST!”.
That’s pretty much everything I was going to include in this post, however, I’ll probably continue on this sometime in the future. In the meanwhile, feel free to throw your questions at me!
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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
great tips. I am a long time blogger as well. The Japan related blogosphere is really growing fast
I see that the active poster’s blogs get more views usually,even if they write about nonsense.(what they eaten today, and that they had school again today,these kinda junk) but still 4000-7000 watch it. You can get a lot of trafic with doing nothing to. Best example is magibon who get like 1-2million views for staering into the cam for 60secs and useing some Japanese what she picked up in sailormoon.
I dont like ida of twitter either, I think your blog is interesting, and people who know it will return. Also people sometimes reccomend interesting blogs to others. I don’t see you posting much on H!O lately. If you would be more active there I think many people would check out your blog. You couls use a countrer, or forum statistics.
Or write more about Idols. :D I think in case of H!O people like ti check out the blogs of people they know or find interesting. I check out almost every blog. And comment on those where I see some effort made into it.
Just posting a lot might work for some, it’s easier to get that to work when you have a blog in a community like H!O since it bumps to the top everytime you post. I don’t have much time to spend on H!O when I’m working so that’s probably why I’m not there as much as before. I do have statistics on my blog, but that’s private information.
I guess I could write more about idols, but I’m not really that interested in them… :P I’m fine with the amount of traffic my blog has, I’m getting more and more readers all the time too, so I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing since that’s what I like!
Good ideas here :D
I’ve been posting pics on flickr too and it’s very effective as you say.
Wherever the masses are at then that’s where you should be too.
Thanks.
being a regular member of a forum helps too. even more so if the forum is popular. Commenting on other bloggers’ post might only attract the blog author or a few people to click on your link but in a forum, your thread/post will be read by more people and every new post will bump the thread up thus increasing the chance people will click on your link. even more so if your thread/post is interesting.
I haven’t been anywhere where they allow you to have a thread like that, I do however have a “blog” on a community where I put my links, and that works pretty well too. It’s a good idea though!
I hardly see the point with spamming. It leaves a bad impression on you instead. Leaving your blog link in forum signatures is fine though, so long as it does not annoy others.
Nice post, Sano. Unfortunately I refuse to use Twitter lol. I do use the last two tips though.
That is true, I don’t think sending a link to your blog to your contacts is a bad thing, but doing it everytime there’s a new post is a bit too much.
Oh well, everyone can’t like Twitter after all =)
FIRST!
;) Anyways, really great post for beginners like me. Another easy way to increase blog traffic is simple word of mouth. Just spam everyone on your AIM or MSN list. xD A bit of self advertisement also wouldn’t hurt. Point to your blog in your forum signatures and other places where you can get more readers.
Thanks dude! Your tips are great too, I usually don’t spam my MSN contacts but I do put my link in forum signatures and other places where people might see it :)
This is a great article. I’m already on twitter and have had a flicker account for the longest time :-p I am in a very unique community on flickr.. some of which would join my blog I’m sure.
I’m a newbie blogger but having fun with it.. even if I don’t get a ton of readers or followers now, I’m happy to try and writes things that interest me.. you never know who will stumble upon your site. You gave great tips and I’m hoping my readers do grow but hey it’s only been a few weeks into blogging!
Thanks, it’s a little outdated though, will give it an update soon.
Blogging is slow in the beginning, just like Twitter is. It takes time to build up a reader base, so be patient :)