Sunday, March 1, 2009
How to get RSS traffic to your Blog and website!
People often turn to traffic exchanges. Quite simply, a traffic exchange is a program where you sign up and agree to surf sites in exchange for some credits. These credits are then used when other members of the exchange surf to your site. This traffic is not highly targeted traffic. In fact, if this were your only method of advertising your website, you'd probably fail. BUT it is a great method of getting traffic to your site in addition to the other methods listed above.
So, why do people use traffic exchanges? Here are a few of the benefits:
- Increase your Alexa rating! Did you know that some search engines factor your Alexa rating into their algorithms? More traffic means higher search engine placement!
- Increase your branding awareness. Any marketing expert worth his salt will tell you that branding is extremely important to stand out amongst the billions of websites out there. More traffic equals more sales. A percentage of people surfing will be enticed by your ads and click on them to find out more information. Another source of revenue. Many traffic exchanges will actually pay you money to surf. More importantly, as you refer other people to the network, you'll earn a percentage of the money that they earn! It may be small amounts but if you work the system it could amount to a lot of money.
Now, before you head over to Google and search for Traffic Exchange, I'd recommend knowing a few facts:
- Some traffic exchanges are simply out to get money from you and will refer very little traffic to you.
- Some traffic exchanges have poor systems in place to stop cheaters from running programs to increase their credits faster.
Finally, some traffic exchanges will allow popup, active x controls, site rotators, etc. in their network. Any of these can stop your auto surfing from working, or even worse, allow your computer to be infected with a virus.
The best part about Traffic Exchanges is that you really have nothing to lose and everything to gain. The worst thing that could happen to you is you get a little bit of traffic which increases your Alexa rankings and you don't get any money.
Of course, for the system to work, you've got to make sure that you do some surfing yourself. The makers of the exchange programs realize this and some of them even have an auto surf feature where you get a reduced number of credits while your browser happily loads page after page every 10 seconds or so.
RSS streamlines communication between publishers and readers. Since RSS has had a popularity surge, webmasters have been experimenting and using RSS feeds to deliver content in new and innovative ways. Typically, RSS feeds contain news headlines and content summaries. The content summaries contain just enough information without overwhelming the reader with superfluous details. If the reader is interested and wants additional information they can click on the item in the feed, accessing the website which contains additional details. RSS readers aggregate multiple feeds, making it easy for individuals to quickly scan information contained within each feed. Feeds are generally themed, allowing users to opt-in to feeds that are of interest.
Does Blog Post Frequency Really Affect Traffic?
WHY?
There are three main ways in which blog post frequency affects traffic:
- More posts = more indexed pages = more search engine visitors = more pageviews (this also applies to blogging consistency.)
- More posts = more content for readers to absorb = more pageviews.
- More posts = more resources for the reader = more likely they’ll return to the site/link to you = more pageviews/publicity
SO, IN CONCLUSION…
Posting on your blog more often generally leads to more traffic. Can you still have a successful blog and post once a week? Yes. Will it be harder than if you posted daily? Generally. Just remember that frequent posts should take a backseat to post quality and marketing - you can be successful with the latter two but expecting visitors just because you crank out a bunch of generic, boring posts every day is folly.
The 10 Best Ways To Increase Blog Traffic
Without a doubt SEO has been my favorite way to get traffic to my blogs. The Google algorithm loves blogs, which makes SEO a very good way to get traffic to your blog.
Commenting
Leaving comments on blogs in related niches is a great way to get new targeted traffic to your blog. It is also an excellent way to build relationships with other bloggers which leads me to number 3…
Networking
Networking is possibly the single most important skill for making big money online. It is also a great way to build traffic to your blog.
Word Of Mouth
Simply tell your friends and family about your blog and/or specific posts on your blog. You will be surprised by how much traffic that can generate.
Linkbait
Create posts that are designed to grab people’s attention. Controversial posts are often associated with linkbait, but there are plenty of other ways to create linkbait. 101 lists make for good linkbait and so do posts that are out of the ordinary in some way.
Link Out
Link liberally to other blogs in your posts. Many bloggers keep track of incoming links to their blog and will come check out your blog when you link to them. This can also help you get comments.
Stumbleupon
I am a big fan of using stumbleupon for getting traffic to your blog. If you haven’t signed up for it you should. Stumbleupon is this blogs third best traffic source, behind retuning visitors, and Google.
List Posts
I have found that posts with lists (like this one) generate more traffic to your blog. They tend to get bookmarked and voted on more on social sites. The more list posts you write the more traffic you will get.
Blog Memes
Create a blog meme and tag other bloggers. Participating in blog memes has definitely increased my blog traffic. One blog meme in particular really helped this blog out and I never even participated in it.
Quality Content
Quality content is the key to keep people coming back for more. If you write posts that people enjoy reading, they will come back regularly to read your posts. Having regular readers is a great way to increase blog traffic.
Those are the ten best ways I have found to get traffic to my blogs. What are your favorite ways to get traffic to your blog?
5 Ways To Earn Money With Flickr
1. Market A Book
Creating your own ebook these days is very easy. You don’t have to be Hemingway and you don’t have to produce something the length of War And Peace. People will be quite happy to download sixty-odd pages explaining how to do one thing, whether that’s photograph birds, buy a camera or improve their workflow.
Set up a group. Give some practical tips that let people try out your niche. And keep reminding them where they can download your ebook if they want to become experts like you.
2. Sell Your Photos.
It does happen occasionally that a buyer will contact a photographer on Flickr about using an image for a commercial purpose. But it doesn’t happen often and the image has to be pretty exceptional. If you’re going to sell your images on Flickr then, you’ll have to be proactive. Look for organizations or businesses that will need the sort of photos that you sell and invite them to look at your photostream.
So if you like taking pictures of your local soccer team, contact a soccer magazine and tell them that you have a bunch of images ready for them to use. Keep the prices relatively low and with some careful marketing, you should be able to sell a few pictures to a select market.
3. Offer Microstock Freebies
One of the difficulties of selling photos on Flickr is that there are so many images available for free. But that also means that there’s no shortage of potential buyers browsing the sites, many of whom would be prepared to pay a buck or three if it cut their search for quality.
Post a few old microstock images in your photostream, and place a link on your profile to others on your favorite microstock site. Let the microstock buyers browsing Flickr see what you have to offer and where they can pick it up.
4. Create Products With Flickr’s Partners
Flickr itself is pretty simple. The real creativity now is coming from people like MOO, Zazzle and Blurb. Don’t turn your nose up at these easy ways to move your photos onto cards, t-shirts, cups and books. More people buy coffee mugs every day than digital photos.
5. Give Your Portfolio Some Extra Reach
There’s always something a little strange about seeing someone’s wedding photos on Flickr. They’re the sort of images that are only interesting to the couple and their families — and to other couples thinking of getting married and wondering what to expect.
Putting your best pictures on Flickr is no replacement for a professional-looking online portfolio. But it can bring people into that portfolio… and that portfolio can win you jobs.