Ways to Optimize Your Blog for Maximum Traffic on Internet

Blogging Oct 15, 2022

You are going to have to work to build some traffic and readership to your new blog. It is going to be hard to earn any income, let alone make a profit, on your blog site if no one is reading it.

Before starting any aggressive advertising campaigns it is important to make sure your blog is search engine optimized. There are plenty of companies that will charge you a pretty penny to make these changes for you, but it is easier (and naturally cheaper) to do things yourself.

Meta tags must be included in your blog in order to catch any random search engine traffic that might stumble your way and to make sure your site is indexed to appear in a search engine in the first place.

Two free tools that will generate quality meta tags for your site are the Submit Express Meta Tag Generator and the Submit Corner Meta Tag Generator. I have used both of these tools to generate meta tags for all of my existing blogs.

This helps ensure that my blogs get indexed and that I can receive traffic from search engine results that display my blog. Both of these tools are completely free and only require the user to answer a few questions and fill in a few blanks (site description, keywords, etc.). When you are done both tools can be used to analyze your newly created meta tags and give suggestions on how to optimize them (make them shorter or longer).

Depending on your blogging platform your newly created meta tags might have to go in different parts of your blog. Using WordPress I usually place my meta tags in the header and main index page of my blog layout. If you are not sure where to place the meta tags consult your blog platforms FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) or search for a help forum dedicated to your specific blogging platform.

Once your meta tags are created and in place, you can now start submitting your blog to major search engines. There are plenty of companies that offer to submit your domain to search engines, for a fee, and I recommend against using them.

If you have some time at the beginning of each month to submit your domains manually it will be just as effective and save you money. I usually use Submit Express to submit my blog to search engines. Also, because of the constant updating, blogs get indexed faster (and stay indexed longer) than traditional websites.

Next step for your blogging traffic.

When you have gotten comfortable with blogging, and your chosen platform, it is time to beautify your blog. You want to make sure that your blog stands out in the crowd, and the only way to do that is to have a unique blog theme/template. The worst thing that can happen to you in the world of blogging is for readers and clients to confuse your blog with that of your competitors.

There are many websites that sell pre-made blog templates for reasonable prices. One that I have personally worked with is Template Monster. They sell WordPress, Joomla, and Mambo templates for anywhere between $30.00 and $70.00. For an additional fee, they offer another service, Template Tuning, which will customize your heading and other parts of the blog design for you. However, if you know anything about Adobe Photoshop then you should be able to make any necessary changes to the template yourself.

It is also possible to hire a designer to create a completely unique theme/template for your blog for a fee. These services can cost anywhere from $30.00 to $300.00 depending on the designer and the complexity of the design. In most cases, you will need to provide images for the designer to work with. These images can be purchased from stock photography sites like Dreamstime (http://www.dreamstime.com). Dreamstime will also, occasionally, have free images available for use as long as the photographer is credited somewhere in the design.

Some of the best places to find designers who will work for reasonable fees are Craigslist and deviantART or Fiverr. If you are looking on Craigslist for a designer go to the Creative and Computer services section, and perform a search for blog design, blogging, or your platform by name. Be sure you search all major cities to try and find the most affordable designer. When looking on deviantART you can browse the Job Offers forum for designers who are currently accepting projects or register and post your own job opening. On Fiverr you can find freelancers for cheap prizes to make the job for you, but some of them are from other countries around the world.

Blog tips for more readers

After you’ve found a designer, or before you purchase a pre-made template/theme, be sure you take readability into account. Your reader shouldn’t have to strain to view small text or get headaches because of overly bright colors. I have extremely poor vision and nothing will make me leave a site or blog faster than small font and bad colors.

Take readability into account when you are writing individual posts as well. Make sure that you always use a decent-sized font and that you use punctuation when needed. Also include line breaks between paragraphs or statements. Even with decent-sized font reading text with no breaks or punctuation can be frustrating, and will cause your blog to lose readers.

Once your blog is beautiful and readable, and you are ready to start posting content, make it easy for people to subscribe to your content. If you are providing content that your readers want to read on a steady basis they shouldn’t have to tear your site apart looking for an RSS feed. Also, offer an alternative to RSS feeds just in case your readership does not like dealing with feeds. Services like Feedblitz will let readers sign up to receive your latest content right in their email inboxes.

Now that your blog is optimized you have to start maximizing your traffic. A lot of blog income opportunities can only be maximized if your blog is receiving a good amount of traffic.

Participating in a pay-per-impression ad program is useless if only two people visit your site a week. Make sure your blog is listed with as many blog directories and communities as possible so that you can ensure a good amount of traffic. Here is a list of 11 of great blog directories and communities that can help your blog's traffic and popularity skyrocket.

Blogarama: This is one of the largest free directories on the internet. Once your blog is listed on Blogarama users will be able to rank your site, and many users using Blogarama will comment on your posts and refer your blog to other users.
Blog Catalog: The Blog Catalog is a directory of blogs around the world. This directory contains high-quality, content-rich blogs. Having your blog listed in this catalog will increase your blog's popularity and reputation.
My Blog Log: Unique in the sense that this blog directory lets you create your own free widget to display your recent readers and their information. It helps you track traffic and communicate with repeat readers. My blog log also has many communities that are great for networking and establishing link exchanges.
Blog Rush: Rather than simply list your blog in a directory, blog rush adds your latest posts to their widget which is seen by thousands of viewers. Your site headlines are shown on blogs with content similar to your own, which means readers that will be interested n your product or news are going to be seeing your headlines. This tool is great for generating massive amounts of traffic to your site. In order to get the most out of Blog Rush keep your post titles short and attention-getting to encourage readers to leave the blog their reading in order to visit your blog.
Blog Flux Directory: In addition to letting you add your blog to their directory Blog Flux offers a variety of tools that will help you promote your blog and increase your revenue. Blog Flux offers a button maker, online now codes, advanced tracking, and much more.
Blog Universe: A directory of text blogs, audio blogs (podcasts), and even video blogs (vlogs) that are organized based on subject/content.
Blog Toplist: This is a top list just like the name suggests. Blog Toplist has built up years’ worth of fantastic blog traffic and has an excellent reputation. List your blog and benefit from this toplist’s traffic and various advertising campaigns.
Blog Search Engine: Finally, a search engine dedicated entirely to blogs and blog-related tools. Users visiting this site are only seeking blogs so you don’t have to worry about attracting visitors who are completely uninterested in blogging.
Bloggernity: A combination blog directory, search tool, hosting company, and forum. An all in one resource for new blog owners to promote blogs, search for tools and connect with other blog owners.
Blog Hop: Add your blog to this directory and searchers will be able to find your blog through other blogs with similar content. A great source for targeted traffic.
Blog Sweet: This directory is composed of some of the most popular blogs on the internet. Blogs listed here benefit from higher search engine ranking and usually see a large increase in traffic.
Blog Watch: This service offers a little bit of everything. Inclusion in their search engine, tools for your blog, and even great templates for you to use to make your blog even more unique.

Facebook is a good site for promoting your blog and getting the attention of new clients, readers, and even local businesses. Quite a few bloggers have groups set up on Facebook and network with each other. Also, they are often helped by friends and relatives who are also on Facebook and who don’t mind sharing news of your blog through word of mouth. Many Facebook applications make it easy to add feeds to your blog and promote your domain or blog without getting into any trouble.

Social bookmarking sites are also popular for bloggers to promote their blogs and gain more traffic. Social bookmarking sites can also be used to increase the number of other blogs and sites that link to your own blog. This linking can increase traffic and, if the sites linking to you are quality sites, PageRank. The popular social bookmarking sites are:

Blog Marks: http://www.blogmarks.net
Blink List: http://www.blinklist.com Bookmark Sync: http://bookmarksync.com
De.Lirio.Us: http://de.lirio.us
Del.Icio.Us: http://del.icio.us
Digg: http://www.digg.com
Faves: http://faves.com/friends/dots
Feed Marker: http://www.feedmarker.com
Feed Me Links: http://feedmelinks.com/portal
Furl: http://www.furl.net Fuzz Fizz: http://www.fuzzfizz.com
Jump Tags: http://www.jumptags.com
Link Roll: http://www.linkroll.com
My Progs: http://myprogs.net
My Web: http://myweb2.search.yahoo.com
Reddit: http://reddit.com
Stumble Upon: http://www.stumbleupon.com

Last, but not least, don’t forget the power of the signature. If you participate in any online message board communities that allow posters to have signatures, include a link to your blog. Not only will this increase traffic but it will also increase your backlinks since many of these directories are indexed and listed on major search engines. Also, add a link to your new blog in your email signatures. You would be amazed at how many people who receive your emails will click your link out of curiosity.