7 Ways To Get Traffic To A New Blog

I strongly believe that engaging in conversations and networking with other bloggers is very important. I find it’s much more important to build a sense of community than monetize your blog or try to get a nice Page Rank. The fun stuff usually happens in the comment section.

But, in order to get new readers you need traffic! You certainly want people to talk about your brand new blog, don’t you? So here are 7 ways to get traffic to your new blog! By now you probably figured out that this post is more for people that are just getting started than the experienced bloggers. :)

Commenting On Niche-Related Blog

Many will say that commenting on blogs won’t get you much traffic, but commenting often and adding value can go a long way! Not a lot of people will click on your link in your comments, but these people are very likely to subscribe to your RSS feed!

It is also a great way to grab the attention of the blog owner. If you write meaningful and value-packed comments, the blog owner will notice. A lot of bloggers are stats addicts (some are more addicted than others) and I’m sure we all check for new comments a couple times a day.

The Power Of Digg

Unless you’ve been living under a rock you must have heard of Digg. While it’s getting harder and harder to get posts promoted to the frontpage, if your post does make it eventually, you can expect a shit load of traffic!

You have to be prepared though. Imagine 80,000 (or more!) people visiting your site in the span of a day. Most likely a lot of people will talk crap about your site and leave some nasty comments. It’s fine, at the end of the day you got more subscribers (read: people who really liked your blog) and your Alexa rank looks much better!

Tutorial on social media and social networking coming up in the next couple days/weeks :)

The Greater Power Of StumbleUpon

If you’re just getting started maybe you haven’t heard of StumbleUpon yet. If that’s the case just go sign-up, you’ll thank me later! :)

Some of my other blogs have been on the Digg frontpage several times, and honestly, I much prefer StumbleUpon traffic. People tend to stay longer on the site and the subscription rate also seems higher.

But the cool thing about StumbleUpon is that traffic will also last longer! With Digg the traffic will usually slow down after a day or two and almost completely stop after 3-5 days. With StumbleUpon you can expect traffic to keep flowing for weeks or even months after your page has been submitted.

The Even Greater Power Of De.Icio.Us

I personally really like Del.Icio.Us. It’s a bookmarking site, so that means when you hit the frontpage it’s because people bookmarked your post. On Digg and StumbleUpon, many people will just vote after reading the title, and may not really care about your blog. With Del.Icio.Us you know for sure people liked it. Hey, why bookmark something if you don’t like it or don’t think you’ll want to visit again?

While Del.Icio.Us won’t send as much traffic as Digg or StumbleUpon, the traffic is of very high quality (again, it’s a bookmarking site!) And Del.Icio.Us is also great for getting links. For instance if you look in the sidebar on this site you’ll see the ‘Blogging and Design Links‘ section. These are my latest Del.Icio.Us bookmarks. And I’m not the only one doing that, many bloggers display their del.icio.us bookmarks on their own blog(s). Links are always nice :)

Does Your Code Validate?

I know many bloggers don’t care if their code validates or not. But if it doesn’t you’re missing out on some nice traffic.

You see, there are a lot of sites like CSSMania, CSSCollection, CSSRemix and Nice Stylesheet that showcase well-coded and appealing designs. Basically you just have to make sure you don’t use tables and that your CSS and XHTML validates. Oh, and search engines might like your blog more too! :)

Should You Start Guest Blogging?

This is not only a nice way to get traffic but also a great way to get your name out there! Folks like Steven Snell, Ritu B. Pant and James Chartrand are very good examples to follow.

You can see Steven guest blogging on pretty big blogs like FreelanceSwitch, MostInspired and others. Ritu writes on FreelanceFolder, Marketing Hackz, Geekpreneur and many more. And James, when he’s not on Twitter, is writing guest posts on CopyBlogger (that’s kick-ass!), FreelanceFolder and other blogs.

I’m sure these guest blogging gigs are helping them quite a bit in getting traffic to their own blog(s) and projects. :)

Linking Out Is Very Important

You remember I said that a lot of bloggers are addicted to checking their stats? Well if you link to relevant posts from niche-related blogs in your posts, chances are these bloggers will eventually come check out your blog to see what you have to offer and read your stuff.

Of course if you link to Problogger or ZenHabits, it may not work so well because these guyz are crazy busy, but you can go back to point #1 and comment on these blogs instead. Or keep linking to them if what they write is relevant to the post your writing.

Your Turn To Talk

I’m sure if you’ve been blogging for a while you’re already doing all of the above, but please share your own tips and tricks in the comment section below so we can all learn from each other. What have you tried already? Did it work as expected or not? Let’s talk! :)