How to Keep Your Blog Traffic - Tips for a
Stickier Blog
So you finally figured out how to get those visitors to your site, huh? Well, partner, it's not
over. Now you've got to keep them there if you hope for your blog to be effective.
So, how do you keep your blog traffic? I knew you'd ask that...
1. Your Audience Is More Important Than Your Search Engine Rankings
Who knows what way the wind will blow in years to come. You may be able to do without
traffic from Google one day - just like you're probably doing without traffic from Hotbot right
now.
However, you'll never be able to do without your clients and prospects. If you could you
wouldn't be in business, would you?
So pay attention to what your audience wants to hear. If you configure your blog correctly
in the first place, you won't have to worry about a good ranking so much.
2. Don't Add to the Noise.
It's okay to be silent for short periods if you have nothing interesting to say. In the
meantime, while you're keeping your lips tight, find something *really* interesting to say.
Of course, I believe that there's never nothing to say. But I'm a writer and not everyone
thinks that way.
After the first six to eight weeks, post every day if it suits you and you have words of
interest. But after that, if you can sense that your posts aren't full bodied and home
brewed, it really is fine to make us go without for a few. We'll live. We won't think so, but
trust us, we will.
Just make sure you have something darn near-earth shattering to share when you get back,
so we will all sit up and take note... and realize that we missed you.
3. When You Do Talk, Do It Loud and Proud
(Even if you find out later you were Loud and Wrong)
It's considered impolite to behave like a Rock Star when you're having a business dinner,
even if you are one.
But guess what? When you're blogging, you aren't at a business dinner. That's not to say
that you must indulge in Rock Star behavior if it doesn't suit you..
You don't even have to be *a* star. But you definitely want to be noticed, maybe
referenced, and hopefully linked. A great way to do that is to be different. The most unique
thing about you is You. Inject your personality in all that you do online.

So if you have news, share it. Heck, if you have gossip share it, just always, always, always,
link to your suspicions or sources. On the rare occasion that a high-profile blogger's
information is totally off-base, they print a retraction. So don't be afraid to suppose. Just let
us know whether you are sharing a rumor, hunch, a fact or opinion.
4. Do Unto the Blogosphere, and Make It Easy for Them to Do Unto You
When I have credible sources, I link to them. Even if I read something from the Google
Blog, but know when I first saw it first at Micropersuasion, I'm still linking to
Micropersuasion. That's all there is to it.
(And let me tell you - it's a Huge deal when Steve Rubel links to an article that you wrote
even when it's not posted on your site - think about that the next time you're tempted not
to link out because "they have enough traffic.")
For the majority of people, I realize, that situation may never be in consideration. Most of
the people reading this have nothing to do with search engines, public relations, or internet
marketing.
Well, I'm here to tell you that even if your business is timeshare resales, you should still link
to your sources. You never know who is reading and who is going to link back. Especially if
you're in a business niche where twenty visitors eventually means at least one sale, find out
what the neighborhood is like in your part of the Blogosphere, look around, and play nice
with the other kids.
5. Blog Like You Talk - But if You Talk "Funny" Get Someone Else to Blog with You
Nothing will scare your visitors away faster than landing in techno-babble by accident. I
landed at a friend's site about search engines, and the first paragraph I saw said something
about (a+n) times the square root of pi and I clicked out before I even remembered why I
went there.
Don't get me wrong - if that's how you talk, keep it real. But if that's not the language your
clients speak, you might want to either have an employee represent your company in the
blog, or do a team blog that represents all the prominent voices.
6. Give Every Subscription Option Under the Sun
Most people paying online are going to use their credit card or debit card, by far. How crazy
would you have to be to say, hm, 90% of people use credit cards, but the hell with that. If
they want my binoculars, their only choice is to send me a $20 check by snail mail on
Tuesday mornings.
In this same way, refusing to turn on your site feed, because most people are currently
following you by email, makes absolutely no sense. Refusing to start an email list or offer
subscriptions to your blog headlines, summaries or posts via email is equally nuts,
particularly now that there are tools in place that will translate feeds to email for you.
Not serving as much of your audience as you can is turning down money, plain and simple.
Hopefully these tips will help keep visitors coming back to your blog. It's like the old adage
said, it's easier (and cheaper) to keep your present customers than it is to constantly find
new ones.

The same thing goes for your blog visitors.
Tinu is a web site promotion specialist who writes about many different
ways to get more visitors to your web site. If you want better search engine
results, more visitors and return traffic she invites you to take a free
eCourse on business blogging at http://www.freetraffictip.com/blogtraffic/ today!