When bloggers start out they are so often fixated on the sheer numbers of people visiting their blogs. You also see this with Twitter and Facebook users. They're constantly on the lookout for how to get more likes and fans.
Quality beats quantity
While it's nice to get more of something, you've got to remember that it's the quality that counts. Much better to get 100 readers who are genuinely interested in the content of your blog than thousands who are just bouncing straight off it. Quality, interested visitors are more likely to read your posts fully, respond to them in comments, and share them on social media. They're also more likely to buy something if you are promoting stuff on your blog.
This is one of the reasons you should stay away from traffic exchanges. They are all full of people just wanting to promote their own stuff. They're not interested in reading other people's blogs. While using them might get you on the radar of a few other bloggers who ultimately link to you at some stage, I don't think the time invested is worth it.
Be unique and insightful
So how will you ensure that you have quality readers? Obviously, you should write quality stuff on your blog. It has to be unique content, meaning that it's not spun form other sources or plagiarized. But that doesn't that the concepts have to be completely unique. (There's nothing new under the sun, as they say. It just has to be written by a human, and be a never before used arrangement of words.)
That said, if you can find a new angle on something that's been covered a million times before, then that helps a lot. Blog readers always appreciate interesting insights into a subject. If you can consistently deliver these, they're sure to keep returning.
You'll make your blog even more distinctive if it has a unique voice as well. This might come from a humorous or ironic deliver, or the use of unusual and colorful analogies.
Be useful
Remember, too, that many readers come to blogs to blogs looking for answers to various problems. So you should give them that if you can. You can get a really good sense for what questions people are asking from Google's drop down suggestion box. Question and answer sites like Quora are worth browsing from time to time, too.
Be persuasive
Your blog also has to be persuasive. So write confidently. If you've got some research data to back up a point, then use that.
But loads of facts and figures from other sources aren't absolutely vital. Often authority comes from your own experience. So use personal stories to illustrate your points whenever possible. This is a great tactic to use because articles and blog posts will tend to flow naturally and quickly. And people often find them more compelling than data-laden pieces.
Quality beats quantity
While it's nice to get more of something, you've got to remember that it's the quality that counts. Much better to get 100 readers who are genuinely interested in the content of your blog than thousands who are just bouncing straight off it. Quality, interested visitors are more likely to read your posts fully, respond to them in comments, and share them on social media. They're also more likely to buy something if you are promoting stuff on your blog.
This is one of the reasons you should stay away from traffic exchanges. They are all full of people just wanting to promote their own stuff. They're not interested in reading other people's blogs. While using them might get you on the radar of a few other bloggers who ultimately link to you at some stage, I don't think the time invested is worth it.
Be unique and insightful
So how will you ensure that you have quality readers? Obviously, you should write quality stuff on your blog. It has to be unique content, meaning that it's not spun form other sources or plagiarized. But that doesn't that the concepts have to be completely unique. (There's nothing new under the sun, as they say. It just has to be written by a human, and be a never before used arrangement of words.)
That said, if you can find a new angle on something that's been covered a million times before, then that helps a lot. Blog readers always appreciate interesting insights into a subject. If you can consistently deliver these, they're sure to keep returning.
You'll make your blog even more distinctive if it has a unique voice as well. This might come from a humorous or ironic deliver, or the use of unusual and colorful analogies.
Be useful
Remember, too, that many readers come to blogs to blogs looking for answers to various problems. So you should give them that if you can. You can get a really good sense for what questions people are asking from Google's drop down suggestion box. Question and answer sites like Quora are worth browsing from time to time, too.
Be persuasive
Your blog also has to be persuasive. So write confidently. If you've got some research data to back up a point, then use that.
But loads of facts and figures from other sources aren't absolutely vital. Often authority comes from your own experience. So use personal stories to illustrate your points whenever possible. This is a great tactic to use because articles and blog posts will tend to flow naturally and quickly. And people often find them more compelling than data-laden pieces.