You work hard on your blog post, and you want to see results. You’ve been heeding the advice of experts, and you’re proud of the work you’ve accomplished.

Fast forward to several months later…

You’re still writing blog post after blog post, and you’re putting your heart and soul into every word that goes on that page. Yet, you’re getting no comments, nobody is visiting your site, and you’re beginning to entertain notions of giving up.

I’ve been there, and I’ve learned through years of tough labor, experimentation, and dumb luck what works and what doesn’t.

The reality of the situation is that nothing is going to happen if you simply write stellar content and put it on the web. You need to do much more with your content these days. In order to get your work out there, you’re going to need to do some heavy lifting with those fingers of yours. Yes, you’re going to have to connect with the right people to see your numbers rise.

The Internet is a constantly running vacuum. If you’re ideas aren’t a substantial piece of furniture in the ecosphere, you’re going to get sucked up in the noise never to be heard from again.

So, how do you become more than debris that’s just waiting to get thrown out with the rest of the trash? What techniques really work? How do you promote your blog post?

I’m about to do something that many people would consider remarkable. In less than 2,000 words, I’m going to tell you the exact steps you need to take to pull yourself up, get some recognition and start getting that blog traffic that you crave. Follow the advice in this column, and you’re certain to see substantial growth on your blog.

The Content Does Matter

Before anybody is going to take you seriously, you must first create great content. Did the opening of this blog post resonate with you? Or do you think you could do better when it comes to creating your content?

It takes much more than 30 minutes to write a fantastic blog post that people are going to read. Think of it this way:

Would you want to read something that someone put no effort or thought into? Don’t you skip when you come across a website with content that’s obviously poorly organized and hastily written?


Nobody wants to read subpar content that can be found on a million other sites. Here’s a secret that you probably already know. Many bloggers spend hours writing a single blog post. It’s not that they can’t churn out a fantastic post in 20 minutes. Many bloggers can probably write a complete post in less than 30 minutes.

No, bloggers spend hours on their post because they care about their readers and they want to make sure they are offering truly useful information that brings in loyal readers. They don’t want casual readers, they want the kind of readers who eagerly await the next blog post, and soak up each word.

You need to realize that your readers value their time; and, if you’re writing substandard articles, it shows you’re not valuing theirs.

So what is good content?

That’s a question you’re going to have to figure out for yourself. But, basically, great content is content that provides so much useful information that it places you as an expert in that particular topic.

• Great content gets to the point without meandering.
• Great content has a purpose, and your readers are able to learn something new from it.
• Great content is content that people want to share.
• Great content is content that makes your competitors stop and take notice.

One caveat though: If you do manage to create groundbreaking content, you need to watch out because others will want to copy your content. It’s a blessing and a curse since when people copy your content it shows your ideas are valuable, but it also means that you’re creating your own competition.

Which brings me to another point…

Avoid writing more than two to three sentences per paragraph. Make each sentence easy to digest, and keep in mind that the average Internet user has a short patience for large walls of text.

In a newspaper or magazine article, it’s okay to write several sentences per paragraph. The reader can change their reading position, put the paper down, or come back to it later and the page is still there waiting to be read.

Do you know what happens when someone takes a break from your article?

That’s right. They close the browser never to hear from you again. For this reason, it’s important to write in a way that they can easily follow and understand. Plus, short sentences and paragraphs just look better on a computer screen.

Use a Content Aggregator Site

You would be shocked to find out how much content is being written every day. There are people hired by the thousands to write blog posts, product descriptions, and content of every kind under the sun. It’s everywhere, and unless you have a way to get your content out in front of people, you’re going to have a very hard time getting through the noise.

Imagine you had a page of code with one million words in front of you. Now, randomly place your well-written article somewhere in that mass of words. How long do you think it would take someone to find your article?

On the Internet, it’s even more difficult to find your article because other people are also writing amazing content.

This is where a content aggregator comes in.

By submitting your articles to sites where people up-vote or down-vote your article, it’s possible for you to gain followers. Here’s the catch though:

Your content has to be exceptional!

Even if your content gets upvoted to the top of the pile and everyone sees your article, you still may not get the type of following you’re looking for. You need to grab people’s attention. Show them that you have something to say, and get them to click over to your website to read more.

Once you get people to your website, the challenge is to keep them coming back. This means that every single article you post has to resonate with your audience. Even one lackluster article is enough for you to lose visitors. It’s not just about throwing a bunch of facts and figures into your article either, you have to really provide something that readers crave.

Perhaps it’s beginning to become apparent why those bloggers spend several hours on each piece. You have to think of each new article you write as a potential pink slip. If you mess up, you might lose readers. If you do well, maybe you’ll get a promotion.

There are content aggregator sites for web design, food, marketing, music, health, and many other topics. Figure out your niche, and search for a site that you can feature your article on so your article gets into the hands of readers.

How do you find relevant niche forums capable of sending thousands of people to your site?

Keep reading…

Head over to Google and enter the following search strings –

“keyword” + “forum”

“keyword” + “forums”

“keyword” + “powered by vbulletin” (vbulletin is a software used to create and manage forums)

“keyword” + “hot thread with new posts”

“keyword” + “board”

These search strings should give you a bunch of relevant niche forums to investigate.

Build Your Email Lists

The webmaster that relies solely on Google is doomed to fail.

There are some major content farms out there that did very well when Google was use an old algorithm. Basically, if you wrote content and lots of it, Google would rank you highly. Over the years, Google has changed their algorithms more times than I can count. Each time, there are always webmasters have discovered that they are suddenly losing large amounts of traffic.

Just check the Google Webmaster Forums to find out how often this happens. There is always a great gnashing of teeth, screaming, and crying to get Google to give them some reason for why their livelihood has just been destroyed…

This is the most important part of the article because it discusses techniques to get people to actually visit your page.

Once you have written a few articles and promoted them on various social media sites and content aggregator sites, you need to have a reason for people to come visit your website.

This is where it get really serious — You need to create a free eBook to help grow your list.

Take all of your expertise and knowledge and spend a lot of time creating an eBook that people are really going to value. It needs to be chock-full of current resources and additional information that people can use to learn more. It’s going to be the best thing you’ve ever written, and yes, you’re going to give it away for free.

But, you are going to ask for something in return. You’re going to ask your readers to sign up for your newsletter to receive your offering. This will help shield you against the fickle beast that is Google, and even if your website drops in the rankings your visitors will still be only an email away.

Another thing you should really consider doing is to start making your own videos.

People enjoy a mixture of content. If you don’t want to make your own videos, at least post relevant videos from other sites on your website. Just makes sure to link them and don’t try to take credit for the knowledge.

When I was training teachers, I used to tell them not to worry about using resources that already existed. People are paying you (or visiting your site) to find out valuable information that you know. Giving them some resources that may be difficult for them to find is a great way to beef up your content and help them learn in the process.

Use videos and images sparingly, but make sure each post has some sort of media attached to the post. This will make your posts more engaging, and it will give readers a chance to take a break from those walls of text.

Don’t rely entirely on search engines

They are important, but you need to start building your list now. There are many ways to do this, and here are a few possibilities:

• Use a content management system and allow user registrations.
• Create an email sign-up box to allow readers to quickly sign up. Make it easy and give them something free for signing up.
• Use an email subscription manager to make it easier to manage your newsletters.

I personally use MailChimp on many of my sites. I like how it works, it’s easy to use, and my website visitors tend to love it. You may also consider Aweber or GetResponse too.

If you use a content management system, look for a plugin that allows you to convert your registered users into subscribers, and make sure you always have an opt-out option and get their permission first.

Social Media Sites

You’re going to have to get a bit personal here.

First off, you should have a Facebook page at the very least in addition to your own private social media page. A Facebook page makes it easy to purchase ads and target specific demographics, but that’s a more advanced topic for another day.

What you want to do is use your social media page to get people where they are most relaxed.

Recruit all of your Facebook friends and give them the option of subscribing to your page. Don’t post articles to your personal profile since frankly, that’s going to make you seem full of yourself and people probably don’t want to read your articles in that forum. The Facebook page is there for people when they want to see your content.

One nice thing about Facebook is that it keeps a record of everyone that visits your page. This only works when you get a certain number of followers, but you can also pay for advertising credits to boost your Facebook page numbers initially. After that, if you have good content, your numbers should grow organically.

Don’t Monetize Too Soon

The last thing I’m going to talk about is the issue of monetization.

I know you want to make money from your blog, but you shouldn’t do this unless you have at least 500 visitors a day. And of those 500 visitors, at least 100 of them should be recurring visitors.

The reasoning for this is simple. You don’t want to scare people away with ads. When you put ads on your site, it can look messy.

Focus on building your following and get people to trust your content.

If you get enough visitors you start using Google Adsense or one of these alternatives on your website. The important thing is to build trust with your visitors first. Advertisements are difficult to implement correctly, and they can push your visitors away if you haven’t yet established trust.

Invest the time and do the research to provide superior content, and in a few months you should begin to see those website visitor numbers rise.