majiknetwork

For some who have been here before you would notice that I have been a little absent from this blog lately.  I have been having some software issues and have hardly been able to post at any of my other blogs.  If this has happened to you than you know what I am talking about.  Anyway if you have been away from posting for a while don’t forget to publish an update to let your readers know that you haven’t been abandoning them.

I have not forgot about this blog and I have been trying to keep up with some of the friends I have made while blogging.  I have not forgot about them but recently I have not had much luck with my software issue but the important thing is that I have been trying to visit their page and drop a comment before I leave.  One very important thing about social networking in terms of advertising your blog is to take the time to visit those that stop to visit you. I will be taking some time to try and get back to a regular schedule here.

 Right now I have been following the Canadian election on one of my other two blogs and have been finding some political leaders on websites such as Twitter which gives you updates from others that you are following and you can update what you are doing at the time.  Most importantly I have been going back to forums to see what is happening in the world of blogging. You can miss a lot of traffic by forgetting about forums.

For now I will be publishing on an slightly erratic schedule for the next few weeks as I try and sort out my software issues and return to publishing regularly.  I hope you will drop a comment and I’ll visit your blog in return.  Anyway, back to the forums!

Some people will know exactly what I am talking about and others will need more information. What I am talking about is your comment section. The section for comments on your post is a mini forum that you have to keep up. When people leave a comment it is important for you to remember not to ignore the comment.

The comment section is an excellent place for you to build your blogging community. As I have said in other posts, your comment section is a mini forum for your readers to exchange comments and ideas on your post. Replying to some of these comments is absolutely necessary as most will come back to see what you have replied to what they have said and are encouraged to add another comment.

Comments are essential to the popularity of a blog. The more comments on your posts the more appealing your blog looks to others just finding your blog for the first time.  Relevant comments will give you more to say in response but other spam like comments should be deleted.  It is very important to recognize your readers by responding to their comments.  Building your community is extremely important to the health of your blog and responding to comments helps to build your community and encourages readers to come back more often.

In the past I have neglected to respond to comments and have had trouble building a readership for my blog.  Since I have started to respond to comments more people are encouraged to comment on my posts.  It may only take a minute or two to respond to a comment but a lot of bloggers (your main source of traffic) find it rude when you don’t respond to comments and will not come back.  In closing, remember to respect your readers and when they take the time to comment on your post, take the time to respond to their comment.

Being active in forums help bring in traffic; right? Of course it does. You have to get your own brand of blog out into the marketplace for people to read. Advertising alone will not bring you the traffic you desire but staying active is crucial to the health of a blog.

I have been working on a posting schedule for this blog and I have not yet nailed it down. Part of it is because of the demands of being a specialized employee, the other part of it is that it is hard to keep four blogs active at the same time. Thank God for weekends and scheduled posting.  This allows me to work on posts ahead of time and spend more time socializing with other people in forums throughout the work-week.

It is important for your readers to have something to read every time they stop on your blog to visit.  The more active you are on your blog the more you have to discuss in forums.  Think of writing as an exercise for your mind while you are working on creating new content for your readers.  Exercising your muscles is important to a healthy lifestyle; so is exercising your mind with writing.  One thing I have learned while I have been keeping a blog website going is that the more often you post the better your traffic tends to get.

Keeping your blog active can be difficult if you are not a full time blogger.  Most people who run blog websites part time are hoping to monetize their page enough to eventually quit their day job.  I must admit the life of a pro blogger  is definitely appealing; but you are not going to get there if you randomly post.  Your readers need some kind of idea of when you will be posting next or you will lose them; not to mention that you may encounter a spell of writers block.

 Staying active is good for both the reader and the person writing the articles that people are flocking to read.  The reason for this is that it keeps you thinking and enhances your creativity so you can write higher quality posts.  Quality and quantity are very important.  When you have quality posts and you offer them quite frequently the reader has more to explore on your page keeping them there longer and hopefully inspiring them to comment.  Plus you have more to advertise in the forums you frequent.

Staying active in both post frequency and socializing on forums is crucial to growth.  Everybody is looking for the next big thing, keeping active and current helps you with not only attracting new readers but also keeping your loyal readers appeased.  What do you think?  How active are you on your own blog website?

How many times have you been on a forum and read something about a blogger’s post making the front page of digg? What is digg? Well it is another social media website. I have not been a member of digg for very long but have already had two posts of mine dugg. You may have even seen the badge on some websites with a number with diggs beside. That is the number of users that have thought the article needed some attention.

Basically the website allows you to see who’s posted what and how popular the article is.  Another thing to keep in mind while using the website is the number of friends you have and how active you are determines how much weight your “diggs” are given.  Submitting others posts helps you to create friendships within in the sight but also on other social networks.

Most people who blog join more than one site to help bring traffic to their page.  Some people even go as far as hosting their own forums.  I have seen a few websites that will allow you to host your own forum on your own domain, but none that are free so far.  Anyway if you want to help boost traffic to your blog joining this website is a good idea.  Just remember that with all social media websites, if you want people to view your opinions you need to stay relevant and active.

Can websites like Facebook bring in lots of traffic to you website or blog? The simple answer to that is only if you use the website properly. You can create a page just for your blog and advertise your page through their social ads that they insert into everybody’s home page. Will you get a lot of traffic from simply having a page up with links to your blog? Only if you are marketing your product.

Facebook is a good social networking tool to keep up with your friends; but if they are not into blogging than your chances of turning them into readers are slim. However there are groups on Facebook that are for bloggers and you can find most bloggers on Facebook as well. I have not yet added any blogging friends to my Facebook profile; mostly because I don’t think it is a very good tool for advertising ones blog.

If you want to use a mainstream social media website you should look for a website with a forum at the very least. Any website that connects a blogger with another blogger should at least be investigated at the very least. Take your time while looking for a good website that offers you the ability to advertise your blog, and try to remember to add something relevant to gain others trust and respect for your opinion.

Using blog directories are a definite must in the world of blogging. Finding good directories can be difficult but if you are already networking to advertise your blog you have an excellent chance of finding one. One thing to remember about blog directories is that if you just submit your blog and never go back to the site; the blog directory will not bring in more than one or two hits every once and a while. Joining blog directories are great; but do you know how to use them.

The simplest way to use them is to submit your blog and head over to the discussion forums. This is where the action is. The people you find on blog directories are people like yourself and they can give you some advice as well as traffic. One thing you have to remember is that most people who blog belong to more than one directory and are active on more than one website. The reason I mentioned that is because every time you log into your account there is a cookie that the website leaves in your temporary folder which is unique to your own profile on the website. Most directories have a tracking widget that will show your avatar and profile name every time you visit one of their blogs.

It is important to remember that logging into you social media accounts on the web just because of the cookies that get put in your cache. Just seeing your avatar is almost enough to get others to visit you, leaving a trail of bread crumbs to your page is essential in building traffic. Adding friends and joining “Neighborhoods” will also capture someones attention. Little things can make a big difference in the grand scheme of things.

These are only a few tips to help bring you traffic with blog directories. In future I will be posting more on blog directories and how to use them to your benefit. But one thing you have to keep in mind while using different blog directories is to take part in the discussions and keep the same avatar for each directory.  Most people have a widget to display the avatar of who visited their page and if you are using the same one for each of these sites then they will always know it was you who visited their page.

One of the easiest ways to create a buzz to get your product/blog out there is by word of mouth. Word of mouth advertising is the oldest form of advertising and is sometimes the most effective. I have a business card with a list of my blogs on it and when ever I’m asked about my blog I hand it out. You can find printing companies on the web that will offer you 100 business cards for free; you just pay the shipping.

The value of a business card is hard to measure, mostly because you don’t have a way to track where direct traffic came from. An increase in your direct traffic will tell you that your word of mouth advertising is working but other than that you cannot tell for sure if anybody has found your blog from your business card.

When go out and network with your friends at parties or just at a bar, carry your business card with you. If you meet some one you are interested in you can write your number on the back of it, and if the person is interested in you they will check out your blogs on the reverse. Also remember that it takes time and paper to write down the URL of your blog. Carrying a card with URL already on that saves time and keeps your potential reader interested.

This is a tip that you should keep in mind. I have had my business cards for about two weeks now and haven’t handed very many out, but have already seen an increase in direct traffic. The website that I found to get my business card was Vista Print a Canadian company. There you can design your own business card and get the first 250 free + shipping. That’s a great deal if you ask me. Stop by Vista Prints website and get your own business card so you can continue to network while you are off line.

One of the most important parts of blogging is networking. The more you build your network the more traffic you will be getting. Traffic to a blog is like the air that we breathe; it is essential to sustaining oneself or ones blog. Social Media is becoming more and more popular among bloggers and there is a definite reason for this.

When you participate on forums you begin to gain not only friends but readers as well. There are many different social media pages out there on the Internet. In my humble opinion, any website with a forum can be considered social media. All of these forums are tools to help you get your name out there for everyone to see. You need to create an online presence using these sights to actually begin to bring traffic back to your page.

From personal experience with a few different social media pages the more you mention your blog the less traffic you get, unless how you mention it is in context with the discussion. Just creating a online presence will help drive traffic to your blog. Remember to stay active, get your name and views out there and you will keep people interested.