Comments on Random Thoughts in Marketing: How to attract blog traffic?? READ THIS!

"I encourage my readers (contributors as well) to ...

2008-10-03T08:11:00.000-07:00

"I encourage my readers (contributors as well) to Comment, Digg or even Tweet me."

Something to consider: that tactic says, "come here and give me extended praise." It relies on your requests for attention versus giving someone something they can do. Here's another way to get the same result.

In the participatory web, can you give your community ways to add to what you've written? Can you solicit their ideas, the way you asked for mine? The more times you ask someone in blog-ville for an opinion, the more most people want to react and give you that opinion.

Your other tactics and ideas made lots of sense. It's a big cycle, though, and takes a lot of effort to get that conversation flowing.

I've been pushing hard to get more people to pay attention to Dad-o-Matic, and yet, it's been a slow climb. With 30 authors on the blog, and new content more than once a day, we're still not exactly roaring off the shelf.

How am I trying to raise awareness?

Twitter. Word of mouth from dads who contribute. Stumbling the best of the posts (not ALL posts, the best ones). Linking to other people's sites which gets more awareness back to our site because the authors want to know where the link came from.

So far, I haven't found the magic formula. Maybe you've got it here.

I found this article from your tweet on twitter, o...

2008-10-03T07:59:00.000-07:00

I found this article from your tweet on twitter, of course. I agree all of these techniques help grow your audience - and I think it's also important to be what you term an 'SME'.

Sure, it's good to add general blogs and add your contribution on a burning topic of the moment, but people like to follow a specialist and expert who they know they can identify in a particular niche.

Visiting and commenting on other blogs is of course vital too - it's a conversation we're all part of, and it has to be two-way for anyone to listen to you.

One element that you may want to consider, however, is being bound to a blog provider. Your own domain name and free choice of blog software, and thus blog design, can help to establish a personal brand more effectively.

Regards, David
Digital Biographer
@clarocada

This is exactly how I found myself here. After see...

2008-10-03T07:50:00.000-07:00

This is exactly how I found myself here. After seeing a few quality comments on other blogs, I followed on Twitter, and was then led here.

I never really 'got' Twitter until I joined this week, and am more amazed every day at how powerful it can be.

www.twitter.com/GregBates

and the commenting on other blogs is exactly how I...

2008-10-01T15:46:00.000-07:00

and the commenting on other blogs is exactly how I found my way to follow you on twitter and as of today ultimately here.