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An Interterview (with Me) on Getting ‘Fast Traffic’ to a Blog Posted: 27 Jan 2009 06:21 AM PST A couple of weeks back I was sent these questions as part of an interview that someone wanted to do in the writing of a book. In the end the person doing the interview couldn’t use it - so I’ve decided that rather than waste the significant time I put into responding that I’d post the answers here. The focus of the interview seemed to be going down the route of getting ‘fast traffic’ to a blog. You’ll see this theme coming up numerous times in the questions and probably sense a little of my frustration with the idea in my answers. I hope you find the interview useful. 1. Please introduce yourself to our readers…My name is Darren Rowse, I live in Melbourne Australia with my wife ‘V’ and two boys (aged 6 months and 2 and a half). I’ve been blogging for a little over 6 years. It started completely as a hobby but gradually grew into a part time and then full time job (and then beyond). I’ve written a book on blogging (called ProBlogger), am the cofounder of the b5media blog network and over the years have started around 30 blogs (although only concentrate on 3 today). I’m also a keen photographer and love to read. 2. What blogs do you own, which one is your favorite, and why did you start it?I personally own and edit three blogs today - ProBlogger (a blog about blogging), Digital Photography School (a blog to help digital camera owners get the most from their cameras) and TwiTip (my most recent blog - a blog focusing upon Twitter Tips). I enjoy each blog for different reasons but I guess if I had to give up two and keep one the one I’d keep would be ProBlogger - simply because it is the oldest of the three (although not the biggest - DPS is gets more traffic) and one that I’ve put most time and effort into over the years. I started ProBlogger simply because it was a blog I wanted to read myself. I was experimenting with making blogging a business but no one else was writing about that at the time - so I thought I’d start it and journal what I was learning. 3. what is the number one thing you learned about blogging that has impacted your bottom line, that thing that makes the difference between succeeding and failing in this business?There are so many things and to isolate one is difficult (and perhaps not that helpful as great blogs are built upon many factors and rarely just one thing). However if I had to choose one thing it’d be that successful blogs are ‘useful’ blogs in one way or another. Blogs need to meet a need or solve a problem that potential readers have. The need might seem frivilous (the need to be entertained for example) or it could be a need for information, community, news etc. Meet a need and you give people a reason to subscribe to your blog and to pass it on to others. Create a blog that doesn’t really prove useful in any way and you’re unlikely to build a successful blog. 4. If you have to bring instant visitors to your blog in the next 30 minutes, what steps will you follow?If you’re expecting big traffic quickly you’re asking the wrong guy. My strategy has always been to write content that people will want to read now - but also for years to come. Some call this ‘evergreen’ content and it takes time to write. It might not bring traffic quickly but if you write something that is still relevant in a year or more you’ll continue to draw traffic to it. I’m sorry if that doesn’t answer your question but to be honest there’s a lot of bloggers looking for quick traffic and quick money and a lot of people promising to teach them how to get it - but that’s not my experience of blogging. Take a long term view, build something that matters and you’ll build a blog that grows in traffic over the long haul. 5. Most bloggers like to get passive traffic… What are the one time actions we can do which will keep on bringing traffic without any effort after that?Once again I’m afraid my answer could disappoint…. I’m not really someone who has found too many actions that will bring traffic (or income) without any effort after you do them. The only real exception to that is to write brilliant content. When you do this it has the potential to bring traffic to your blog (via search engines) for years to come. This in turn can lead to ongoing income. Other than that I’ve not really found too much about blogging that is ‘passive’. It’s a lot of work over the long haul. 6. What’s your most effective traffic generating strategy which works every time for you and gives the best return in terms of traffic regarding to your time spent?Outside of writing useful and high quality content (am I sounding like a broken record yet) I’d say it is engaging in social media communities. For me one of these has been Twitter (for others it’ll be sites like Digg, StumbleUpon, MySpace, Facebook etc). These social networking and social bookmarking sites have the potential to spread word of your site or posts on it virally through the network and beyond. It takes a lot of time to build up these networks to the point that they are effective at driving a lot of traffic. Start building your networks now. 7. What are your top 3 traffic sources and how exactly do you attract traffic from each of those sources?
8. Let’s say you lose your name, contacts and everything. You have to start from scratch as a “nobody”. What will you do then for the next 30 days so that your blog will start getting 1000 unique visitors each and every day?I’m not sure it’ll make 1000 visitors a day within 30 days the way I’d do it but I’d probably spend time investing into
Other than that I’d be wanting to take a longer term view than 30 days and concentrate on building a useful blog with lots of content over time. 9. What else would you like to share, something that our readers can immediately apply to their blogs and see results fast?Forget the word ‘fast’. Really - forget it. You can probably use some techniques to get fast traffic but a more profitable strategy over the long haul is to build a blog that people become loyal to and proud to belong to over the long haul. Do this and they’ll pass on word of your blog to others for you and in the long haul you’ll see bigger growth. In my experience - the only times I’ve had ‘fast traffic’ to my blog is once a blog has been going for significant time and after I’ve invested a lot of time and energy into it. While the traffic might come in fast - the reality is that it was only as a result of a lot of hard work in building the foundations of the blog. |
Read this Free 22 Page Report and Case Studies on Growing Your Online Business Posted: 26 Jan 2009 06:49 PM PST The team at the successful Teaching Sells training program have just released a Free 22 page Report and 3 great Free Case Studies which I think make great learning tools for those wanting to learn how to start successful online businesses. The report (that also comes as an audio file) covers:
With the report also get access to three very useful case studies from Aaron Wall, Joseph and James Bridges and Chad Board who have used the Teaching Sells philosophy to launch very successful online businesses. All of this is free and contains great teaching and good information to give your online business a boost. For those wanting more the Teaching Sells course has also been overhauled, restructured and edited and is opening its doors for the first time in quite a few months. Brian Clark and Tony Clark (no relation) are the founders of Teaching Sells and have helped many ProBlogger readers take the next step in making money online. I participated in the first version of Teaching Sells and still regularly return to their teaching as I continue to expand what I do. Whether you just take advantage of the free stuff or signup for the ongoing paid membership I highly recommend you check out what Brian and Tony have put together as you move forward into 2009 - what they do is always a great investment. |
Content Production and Diversification - Strategies for the Blogging Evolution Posted: 26 Jan 2009 06:24 AM PST This post is the 4th in a series of posts by Hendry Lee. Check out part 1, part 2 and part 3. No matter what other marketers say about content, it is still an integral part of a blog. People who argue about the importance of content, in my opinion, is complicating the issue. My argument is simple. Blogging is writing and writing produces content. People always go online to peruse some kind of contents. What I agree on is that, content by itself worth nothing. It needs consumers as much as a blog needs readers. Currently contents are not only limited to text and image, but also audio and video. Consumers have more options to choose from. Not only they may choose which content to consume, but also the channel they prefer it to be delivered. This is a huge opportunity for bloggers, which should now label themselves as content producers or information publishers. Content Production and the Success of Your BlogContent production is so important that you should spend quite a significant portion of your time for it. By content, it doesn’t mean random page of text that lure the search engines and visitors to come to your site. That may work in the past as people who want to click away choose to click on ads, resulting in revenue for the site owners. As search engines become smarter, and if you want to build long term readership, you should focus on creating strong, interesting and engaging content so not only the consumers are eager to read, listen or watch it, but also looking forward for more. RSS and email play a significant role in building your audience. In fact, this may be your major goal when it comes to content promotion. More about this later. Again, with so many blogs nowadays, the last thing people want is just another blog. On the other hand, people are always looking for fresh and unique content. As a blogger, you should create content that people look forward to consume. That’s the first step to building a successful blog. In my experience, content creation accounts for 40-50 percent of total time spent on the blogging business. That includes writing content for the blog and producing various articles as a guest blogger on other people’s blogs. Bloggers who extend their content beyond text to include audio and video spend about the same amount of time doing so. Your experience may be different, but the point is that content production should not be overlooked. Spend as much time as you need to produce really solid content. Remember that for a blog, content is conversation. The quality of your conversation depends on the content and people you attract to your blog. The Role of ContentDuring hard times when people tend to cut down cost, content remains a solid strategy for bloggers because anyone with even no budget can afford to create content. One of the latest buzzwords is content marketing. There really is nothing new about it but strategically put content into use is one of the evolution I was talking about in previous post. Your content strategy should be tightly integrated to every move you take. That way, you already make a focused effort with your content. By targeting on one or a handful of goals, you are more likely to gain results. Scattered effort on contents yield random result. While that still works to certain extent, in the long run, that will be more of a noise rather than signal. Let me elaborate a bit about integrated content strategy. An Indonesian idiom goes as “Rowing once to surpass two or three islands at a time.” Integrated content strategy is like rowing smart. It allows you to gain the following benefits at the same time:
One big thing about integrated content strategy is that it is an orchestration to achieve a purpose. At the end of the day, your content needs to cater to your target market and grow your business. Diversify Content for Your BlogAs said before, nowadays, consumers have choices. If they prefer to listen rather than read, not having audio content (podcast) sometimes means you are losing audience. Diversifying your content formats is necessary if you want to capture a wide spectrum of audience. Also remember most people don’t stick with one format or channel. For example, personally, I subscribe to RSS feeds and browse web sites and blogs, but also watch online videos regularly, visit discussion boards and am active in Twitter. For audio, I still listen to a few, carefully selected, audio podcast during weekend. What does the above scenario show? Two things:
With that said, here is a list of content formats and channels you should consider. Note that you don’t have to adopt all formats / channels for your content distribution to be effective. In fact, you should not try to put too much on your plate when you are just getting started unless you have the resources to do so.
Some bloggers find that they prefer to record their voice because writing simply is not their cup of tea. That’s fine. There are ways to work around the diversification. Whichever formats you choose, ensure that you weigh in your resources and time commitment to content production. It is better to do one thing very well than scattering your effort into multiple formats with little result. I know I’ve said it before but it is worth repeating because of its importance. How can you shoot different content formats down different distribution channels? The next post in the series tells you how, including tips and strategies to leverage your content for online marketing. Hendry Lee helps bloggers overcome strategic and technological challenges in starting and growing their blogs. He also writes about make money blogging on his blog Blog Tips for a Better Blog - Blog Building University. While you are there, download your free eBook and subscribe to his blogging e-course where he reveals his secret about blogging and content writing! Follow Hendry on Twitter (@hendrylee). |
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