Read this post NOW if your blog isn’t getting enough traffic

Very few people wake up in the morning and say, “What in the world am I going to do with all this extra traffic I’m getting on my blog?”   A more common refrain involves wondering why you ever took the time to create a blog in the first place.  Here are a few tips to help remedy the situation and build traffic to your blog from a variety of sources.

How to Increase Traffic to your Blog

1. Add images and video to your blog. Sites that contain imbedded images and multimedia are easier on the eyes and will be more compelling to your visitors.    BE VISUAL and you’ll develop a larger, more loyal following.

2. When you’ve got linkbait, make the most of it. If one of your posts gets picked up by Digg, Reddit or another major player, you have got to take advantage of that spike in traffic.  People are going to be checking you out for the next couple of days following the post so write some of your best content ever - and whatever you do, don’t miss a post during this time.  If people look at your blog as one that isn’t updated regularly they are going to move on.

3. Stay focused. As much as you dream about it, your blog simply can’t be all things to all people.  If you focus on a particular topic - and show off in your expertise in that area - you are much more likely to develop a hardcore following that translates into big time traffic.

4. Use offline tactics. It may seem a bit odd, but you would would be suprised how much traffic you can generate by including your blog’s URL in direct mail pieces, business cards, print ads and other offline matierals.

5. Engage your readers. Give your blog readership a chance to get involved and come back for more.  Create polls, design quizzes and give away free stuff.

6. Get involved with social media networks. It should seem pretty obvious by this point, but you need to give readers a chance to share your magnificent content with their friends on Digg, Reddit and other high traffic sites.   Use Feedburner to fire up the links and bring in the traffic!

7. Don’t forget your core site! This isn’t a traffic generation tip per se, but if your end-game is to get people over to your core business site, be sure and give them ample opportunities to do so with links throughout your blog and blog posts.

Your blog should be doing a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of delivering traffic to your core site.  Pay attention to the tips above and you should be swimming in visitors in no time.

Harnessing the power of local search

If you live in an apartment or condo complex, take a walk out to your mailboxes.  See if there aren’t about a dozen unwanted chunks of bound paper sitting there in yellow plastic bags - waiting sadly for an owner who will never come.    These are the Yellow Pages - a once proud service that has lost its prominent place in American life.

It’s not an understatement to say that Google and Yahoo! are the new Yellow Pages.  Although space in the big printed book continues to demand top dollar, more people than ever now get online when they need vital information about local services and businesses.

If you’re going to reach these potential customers, it is important to start paying attention to your ranking in local search and your presence within the biggest customer review sites.

SEO with a local flavor

When someone need a plumber, they are likely to search on a keyword combination that features both their location and the type of business they are seeking.   So if you fix clogs in the City of Angeles, you should optimize your site to feature keywords such as “Los Angeles Plumber” or “LA plumbing”

While these keywords may not generate high levels of traffic individually, taken together they create a formidable amount of traffic.  And you can rest assured that those who DO use them are a very qualified lead for your business.

Keep up with your Reviews

Take the time to track down all the major review sites for your area.  Most commonly, local reviews can be found at Yelp and Google Local.  Monitor your reviews every day and do the following:

• Don’t just look at the positive ones. Positive feedback is a fine feather in anyone’s cap, but it is less-than-favorable reviews that provide real insight into how your customers view your business.
• Respond to every review. Say “thank you” to those who write up a nice mention of their experience with your company. Talk to the people who write negative reviews as well. Open up a dialogue with these people to try and find out why they are unhappy.
• Reach out to negative reviewers. Make a concerted effort to get negative reviewers to come back and give your business another chance. Create a special offer just for them. By showing that you are concerned about their customer satisfaction, everyone who sees the site will see that you are interested in providing the best levels of service.

By maintaining content with relevant geo-specific keywords and enhancing the trust level of your business through responding to customer reviews, you will be in a better position to own your target area online.  And as for the Yellow Pages…anyone need a good paperweight?