Finding a good Blog Directory

There are quite a few different blog directories out there and the one that I usually spend the most time on is Blog Catalog. Just by taking part in the discussions on their forum you can drive anywhere between 10 to 50 visitors a day when you are just starting out. As I have said in a recent post, "Traffic is the life blood of your blog" this is so true when you are trying to find the best blog directory that will get you the most traffic for your effort.

The most important part about finding a blog directory to join is one with an open discussion forum. I really enjoy the forum over at Blog Catalog. There are many interesting discussions on the forum as well as discussions found in the groups. It is very easy to network with Blog Catalog. Entrecard also has a forum but the design of it does not appeal to me also it is mostly for questions related to Entrecard and not much else is discussed.

One thing to remember when on the forums is that the number of responses you give to different discussions will help boost your popularity. What has worked for me is that I take part in discussions that I have something valuable to add. When you have something valuable to add to a discussion other bloggers will start to get to know your opinions and begin to respect what you have to say.

As with any forum, you have to take part to get noticed. The more active you are in discussions the more traffic you will drive to your blog. It is important to remember that your responses should be relevant to the discussion and not always accompanied by your URL as a signature. Your avatar in the forum serves as your signature so it is not necessary to leave a link to your blog every time you take part in discussions.

The most important thing to remember about blog directories is that you are there not only to network but to socialize. You have to connect with people to give them assurance that there will be something there for them to read when they visit your blog. Another thing to remember is to make sure you update your content on a regular basis so your readers will have something new to read every time they stop by. I will end this little tip now, I hope you take something with you after reading this post. Ciao!

Get Targeted Traffic

Welcome back to Earn Online with Majik. This time I will be talking about targeting the right type of people to visit your blog. Now as I have mentioned in my previous post, 95% percent of your traffic will be from other bloggers. It is very important to make sure that you are aware of who your audience is; it is very hard to attract readers to your blog with out some kind of gimmick.

When writing your blog the only gimmick you should be using is quality posts that appeal to the type of reader you are looking to bring in. If you are writing a blog about making money online you should orient your posts to appeal to bloggers who are interested in making money online. If you are writing a personal blog you should be writing it in such a way to invoke thoughts and emotions. In any case the best thing to do before deciding on which way you want to go in terms of niche, take the time to do some surfing through the category you think your blog will fit in.

One thing that has been changing through out the past few years is that alternative media is becoming more and more popular. You could almost say that "Bloggers are the journalists of tomorrow." With that in mind you could always start a blog on current events. My first dabble into the world of blogging was with a blog oriented towards current events, unfortunately current events does not give you a niche blog but more of a page with out a strict niche. This first adventure into the world of blogging has been the most popular of my now three blogs. If you want to go see the blog that has grown the most out of my trio visit Majik's Thoughts and see a Canadian view on current events.

Now another thing to remember when you are looking for targeted traffic is: where can I find other bloggers to visit my blog? The answer is simple, hang out on blog directory forums. Every day there are hundreds even thousands of people constantly jumping in and out of discussions on these forums. Before Entrecard I was able to get an average of 30 people to visit my blog just by spending about an hour on the forums. Another key point is not to get too long winded in your posts, like this one! Forums are always good to bring traffic to your blog. Remember traffic is the life blood of a blog. But that's enough for now, till next time, Peace out!

Where Does Everybody Get Their Traffic From?

I am sure that any new blogger is going to be asking that question right after they check their stats for the first time. One of the biggest sources of traffic that I have found is Entrecard. I don't like the high bounce rate that goes with the traffic from Entrecard buy you could easily go from 1 or 2 visits a day to averaging two or three hundred visits a day; that is if you have the time.

If it is quality traffic you are looking for than you should be trying blog directories. There are hundreds of people on blog directories just looking for quality blogs to read. There are also a lot of different social bookmarks that you can use to help drive traffic to your blog. But the best method for driving traffic to you blog is word of mouth advertising.

Word of mouth advertising is one of the most effective forms of advertising for your blog. I have had more people visit my blog just because I told them I can make money from blogging than people from some social bookmarking websites. Here's a tip for you, if you want to start spreading the word about your blog, go out and get some business cards with you URL on it. Give your card to random people you meet throughout the day. Chances are that you will get some quality traffic from it as well as the possibility of loyal readers.

You can't go wrong with blog directories though. One thing you have to remember about blogging is that 95% of your traffic comes from other bloggers just looking for something to read or to bring you back to their blog. As a blogger you will need to visit other blogs, not just for layout ideas but to leave a comment for others to read and hopefully bring traffic back to your pages. One of the good things about leaving comments is that you can leave a link to your blog which helps with Google's PR (Page Rank). I will get into some of the factors that affect your PR in future posts, but there are a lot of factors that determine your PR and a lot of factors that get your PR dropped. Anyway I've gone on long enough, till next time, Peace out!