Looking for tips to improve readership

[suburbandollar]

I have been blogging for about a month now, and I am disappointed in the amount of traffic I am getting. I average around 10-15 hits a day and I haven't seen this number increase in about 1.5 weeks.

What can I do to improve views and get more subscribers?

[MoneySaver101]

I think the question I would ask you is "what are you already doing to gain traffic?"

I'm in the same boat as you are, but I'm working hard to improve readership. Right now, what I do is use Entrecard, I visit related blogs and post lots of relevant comments. I post articles almost everyday. I just joined this forum to help with this as well.

I also just started using Digg and pinging my blog regularly.

[DoYouDaveRamsey.com]

Hey Sub-Dollar... I've been at it about 3 weeks and I know what you mean. I'd really like to increase my traffic as well. But here are 3 things that have helped me so far...

1 - comment on other sites... it sounds hokey but when I check my traffic reports it is easy to see a single post generating 15-20 visits. They won't all be so profitable but if I comment 10/day and 1 is big... then I may have created 25-30 hits in all

2 - WiseBread - the Blog list and this forum...

3 - AllTop list has generated some traffic for me as well

Keep it up and stick with it... it'll happen

[remarkablogger]

Originally Posted by suburbandollar

I have been blogging for about a month now, and I am disappointed in the amount of traffic I am getting. I average around 10-15 hits a day and I haven't seen this number increase in about 1.5 weeks.

What can I do to improve views and get more subscribers?

You can do two things:

1. Improve your blog
2. Go get traffic by networking and engaging with others

Improving your blog
Your blog looks pretty good, but it doesn't answer a very important question in the mind of every reader who visits for the first time: what's in it for me? What is the number one benefit someone gets if they read your blog? Spell it out for them in your tag line. Beat them over the head with the obvious. This will also give people a reason to subscribe: they will know what they're getting.

Get traffic
Traffic, as you have discovered, does not just come to you. You have to go get it. There are three main ways that take only time and effort:

1. Commenting on other blogs
2. Guest posting
3. Social media

Guest posting and social media are more effective than commenting on other blogs. The two best social media sites you can get into are Twitter and StumbeUpon. Not to push my own blog, but I've written extensively on both of these at Remarkablogger.

Guest posting is a fantastic way to practically double your traffic overnight, because you are getting someone else's traffic. You can write a guest post on someone else's blog or invite someone to write on yours. When you guest post on another blog, make sure you tell your readers about it on your blog and in social media. When someone else guest posts on your blog, they are likely to do the same.

Commenting on other blogs can be effective, but it's very time-consuming, and unless you provide a lot of value with your comments and get your comment first or near the top of the comment list, it can backfire or be ineffective.

[suburbandollar]

Thanks for the tips, I will work on your suggestions, I just signed up for Twitter and I will look into StumbleUpon. I definitely agree on the comments, it is a lot of work but I try to only comment where I would comment anyways. I don't comment just to comment as it just seems tacky.

[rabidpotatochip]

Originally Posted by suburbandollar

Thanks for the tips, I will work on your suggestions, I just signed up for Twitter and I will look into StumbleUpon. I definitely agree on the comments, it is a lot of work but I try to only comment where I would comment anyways. I don't comment just to comment as it just seems tacky.

I don't have a blog or anything like that, I just read a bunch. Based on my observations I think it's very common for bloggers to advertise their own blog in comments of other blogs. I read a lot of financial blogs and what happens is that other financial bloggers will come in and give their thoughts on an article someone has written. Because both parties make a living off talking about the same thing you not only get some interesting discussion going, but you get a feel for what they're all about. I've even seen people from completely random blogs posting comments (someone from a parenting site commenting in a tech blog). As long as what you post contributes to the discussion, regardless of the site, I wouldn't worry about it.