Monetizing Your Blog: Building Traffic

Build your traffic My post about Monetizing My Blog sparked a lot of interest from bloggers and non-bloggers alike. Since so many are interested…I decided that I would start a series of posts titled “Monetizing Your Blog“. This series will serve as a helpful jump start for anyone wanting to begin monetizing their blog, or just to get some new ideas.

You can sign up for all the affiliate programs, have several Google Ad Sense banners running, and post your referral links until you are blue in the face. If you don’t have traffic, you can forget about making any money from your blog.

How to Get Traffic To Your Blog

So how do you get traffic? Well the internet is wide and vast and if you want traffic you have to go out there and get it. I recently wrote this article on Quick Online Tips about Why New Blogs Fail. First and foremost, make sure your blog isn’t making any of those big mistakes. Make sure you have a Twitter account and Facebook fan page associated with your blog. Promote your posts in social media. That is the easiest and most predictable way to get your content out to the masses.

What Else Can I Do To Get Noticed?

These are my 5 best traffic boosting suggestions as of right now. I have had good success with all of these methods.

• Promote your writing and your niche elsewhere. I freelance for Associated Content and Ezine Articles. At times I re-purpose content I write here to submit over there. Associated Content can also earn you some money. These sites rank very high in the search engines, so by association…your articles will get a boost. You can link to your blog from your bio, so if someone clicks on your author profile, they’ll land back on your site.
• Guest Post. I posted about why guest posting works for me already, but it bears repeating. Guest Posting has been my #1 traffic booster
• Comment GENUINELY on other blogs in your niche. This means you read what is written and you write a comment that says more than “Great Post! Rock On With Your Bad Self.”. No one expects a 3 paragraph monologue in their comment section, but well thought out comments make people take notice and might drive some traffic back to your site.
• Take the time to build up your email list. The more people who see you in their inbox every day, the more people that will come to your blog. I subscribe by email to VERY few blogs. Those that I do subscribe to, I visit almost every day. I’m currently running a monthly giveaway right now for those that subscribe by email. I’m also about to release my very first e-book! It will be free with email sign up (don’t worry, if you are already subscribed you will be the FIRST to receive the e-book!)

So I Have Traffic, Now What?

Now you have to keep your traffic. This pretty much means that whatever it took to get them there?

You need to deliver on.

Be a responsible, trustworthy blogger and you shouldn’t have much trouble keeping your audience. If you give your readers what they want, they will stick around! I love my readers, I think hard and long every day about what they want, and what they need from me. I’m here to help them and once I stop delivering on that promise…they’ll go elsewhere.

Another thing to think about is how targeted is your content? Be sure not to lose focus on what the primary content of your blog should be made up of. Family Friendly Frugality is a family blog about frugal living.

If it doesn’t fit in those categories, it shouldn’t be a part of my blog. Don’t get me wrong, my personality and my life is ever present.

I’ve learned through this experience that my readers expect a certain stream of topics from me. They want to see hot deals, money saving tips, frugal recipes & activities and ways to earn money!

Topics outside of that focus don’t do much for the blog or my readers.Be Patient!

You aren’t going to build an email list overnight. You aren’t going to have 60,000 visitors a day in a month. It takes time to build up a readership.

Have patience, keep plugging away and be an authoritative voice within your niche and you will succeed!