Today, I’m going to list down for you my fav top 12 steps/methods that if used to market blogs, will drive some real traffic and boost your ranking as well!

1- Writing Articles

I will always give articles a high priority. Simply one of the best ways to market your blog, and drive huge traffic to it. You just need to write from while to while, short quality-content articles (with good keywords titles) and submit them to good article directories. Be sure to place your blog’s url in the article’s resource box (if possible include both: the regular blog’s url and a strong clickable keyword, that leads to it). Wait some time for it to get published, and for the traffic to come.

You can refer to my post on writing articles here, for some useful resources and services. I also recommend using a submission software for best results. I currently use Article Post Robot, and I’m more than happy with it! It literally reduces the work of days and weeks, to one simple button click. Read my review on my fav article submission software: Article Post Robot.

2- Use Internal Deep Linking

This kind of linking is different from the traditional known linking. It is when you link to an article within a top domain, or a site with good PR and/or Backlinks. This can also simply be your own blog. Google and other search engines count both types of linkings, when determining your ranking and placement in their search results.

When you write your blog’s posts, you should always try to deep link to some of your previous older posts. What others link to on your blog, is something you can’t control… but you can control what you link to. By deep linking to your older posts, you help your readers discover posts that they may have missed. You are also helping Google do the same. When you deep link, use strong keywords and not the post’s url or it’s title.

The main rule, is that you should deep link when the older posts you are linking to are relevant to your current new post. However, there are exceptions, and you can always be creative in finding ways to deep link to other non-related posts as well

3- Running Competitions In Your Blog

Try to run some competitions in your blog. You can offer readers and other bloggers prizes for reviewing your blog, or a post in your blog. Call it the “best review competition”, and carry it out monthly! You can also start the “top commenter competition”. Offer generous prizes, be it cash or otherwise.

These kinds of things work like magic, but you gotta determine how much it’d cost you and set yourself a budget.

4- Build Your Own Search Engine

Build your own little cute search engine, related to your blog’s topic! Fill it with as many keywords as you can. Make sure to include your blog’s link in both, the introductory sentence or paragraph and the first position in the search results. You can do that in the settings/options.

Submit your search engine to directories, and share it with other bloggers in the blogging communities. They can include some of it’s cloud tags in their blogs, which will benefit both of you. You get new traffic, and they benefit from your tags as new keywords, especially if they choose strong tags.

Read about my own make-money-online search engine. You can visit it here:
and if you like it and want to include it in your blog ;), you can do so by getting the code from here.

* This is a new one I recently created, related to legal topics:

http://legal-search-swicki.eurekster.com/

If you run a legal blog, you can include it by getting the code from here.

5- Join Mybloglog

Not only join it, but embrace it and make it one of your fav sites and a daily habbit. Currently the biggest blogger’s communities resource and an innovative idea that has been very well executed, with a site beautifully made for all bloggers around the world to meet and hookup. You can join others communities, become friends and add each other, leave comments on your friends profiles/communities’ profiles, just like myspace and stuff. You can also announce a new post you’ve made or a service you are carrying out for all the world to see.

Be an active member in Mybloglog, just as you do by participating in other online forums and communities.

Mybloglog is cool because it also provides you with visitors stats, where they came from and what they clicked on on your blog. This is not the only thing… you can also have a widget to put on your blog, that shows you recent mybloglog members who have been to your blog, by avatars. You can then visit their profiles by clicking on their avatars…. visit their blogs, leave them comments or add them asfriends/contacts/family members/ fans/ lovers/ stalkers/ aliens…etc. (you get the pic) ;).

6- Join Hittail

Hittail is a free service that will analyze the search terms leading to your blog’s traffic, and spit out high quality keywords you should be focusing on that you might not have thought of. This can help you focus and optimize your future posts as you are already getting traffic for those keywords.

This is called the “Long Tail” strategy. The concept is simple: Instead of competing with the big boys on the most wanted and searched for keywords, or trying to search for good keywords that have high no. of searches, yet not very much competition (also known as having a high “KEI” factor), why not quickly discover the little hidden keywords that if used, will already list your blog in the first page of the search results. When you use these keywords in future posts, you boost your traffic in a way that is similar to you discovering top keywords with high KEIs. How cool is that?

7- Join Digg, Stumbleupon.. And Other Social Bookmarks

Digg is a bookmarking service that is gaining lots of popularity. Stumbleupon is a similar service. With Digg, you can submit your posts to the site straight ahead and/or add a “digg this” mini banner footer to all of your posts for people to digg and get your post hovering in the Digg’s community. The more diggs you get, the higher it ranks and the more people see it and maybe link it.

A tip: focus on creating great content, make friends on sites like Digg if they allow you to, and submit your stories/posts. Also make sure to include the “Digg This” Footer.

8- Use Youtube Marketing

Youtube is currently one of the most visited websites around the world, if not the no.1. Why not make use of this, and try to get some traffic from it.

Though most searched for videos are adult related stuff, I don’t advise you to come up with an adult video clip, or even a sexy clip that doesn’t violate the terms, and try to upload it to youtube in hopes for traffic. Doesn’t work that way.

The idea is you need to make a video RELATED to what your blog is all about, be it making money online, marketing, adsense….etc. Teach them a tip or two. Even better if you uncover a secret you use. Also TAG your clip accordingly. Do NOT put tags like: “sexy, adult, porn…etc.” This DOES NOT work. Though it might get you huge video views, but they won’t be long term visitors or even bother staying more than 3 or 5 seconds to view your blog after clicking on the url you inserted inside the video. (Only exception is if you use a lead capture page’s url, and not your blog’s, at the end and/or begining of the video, and entice viewers to put their contact details, by offering them free stuff or info they rarely find…. This way, you can always follow with them later, and while they currently are in the “porn-mood”, later they might be in the “I wanna make money online!-mood” or whatever your blog is all about!).

Use this method to upload several short clips and tag them DIFFERENTLY, but still relevant to your content.

Another method is that you make a short video, with your blog’s url advertised either at the begining or the end, or both..(this time it doesn’t need to be related… can be a funny video, or a rare video about anything), upload it to youtube and tag it properly. Then you need to take the code of the video from youtube and embed it in a post you create in your blog. After that, you need to place the same code under the video screen in your post. Write something like “share this video”, so that if your visitors find the video hilarious, they can take the same code and put it in their blogs’ posts, to display your video. Viral marketing at its best.

9- Build A Blogs Directory

Might be a clever idea to build your own blogs directory. See all those directories you submitted your blog to? Make one like them.

Create main categories and branch categories. Take your time to build a great directory with cool features. (P.S. Looks also matter!). Include your blog’s url address somewhere visible in the directory. Submit your dierctory to search engines, or find other alternative ways to get listed fast in search engines, without submitting to them (Tip: check no.1 up ;)). Bloggers will have to provide a link back to either your blog or directory (or both), in order for their blogs to get listed. Spice it up by adding a voting system (a “vote for this blog” clicakble image to place in their blogs), and giving away prizes to the most voted sites of the month.

Share your directory everywhere in the bloggers communities, just like your search engine.

10- Giveaway Free Scripts

If you know how to code, you can always make little scripts and offer them for free in your blog. Make something useful. Post about them.

How would that help to get you traffic? Well, you must be smart enough to realize that you are going to EMBED your blog’s url in your scripts. Talking about Viral Marketing!

11- Giveaway Free E-books

Much like the scripts, and way more popular among webmasters and marketers. Create ebooks that contain your blog’s url address, and give them out for free. Webmasters and bloggers can recommend your ebooks and give them out to their visitors, as long as they keep your info inside intact.

12- Join Spotplex

Spotplex is an interesting site. It is similar to the bookmarking sites, but Instead of you submitting your own stories to be voted on, websites and blogs that want to participate include some javascript code on their sites, which monitors what stories and/or posts are read. The more times a story or post is read, the higher it appears in Spotplex. The very popular stories will make it to the Spotplex homepage.

One thing to consider though, is that the site only works by invitation. IE. if you want to be a member, you have to email them and ask for an invite.

‘Nuff said now. Go on and work on implementing the above, if you haven’t already done so

An Update to this Post can be found here: 8 SOLID Ways To Turbo - Boost Your Blog’s Visitors For 2008 !

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Technorati Tags: Articles, Article Post Robot, Google Adsense, Marketing Tools, Marketing Tips, Marketing Resources, Article Directories, Reciprocal Linking, Internal Linking, Deep Linking, Blogs Competitions, Top Commenter, Best Review, Personal Search Engines, Swicki, Legal, Online Advertising, Mybloglog, Bloggers Communities, Hittail, Digg, Stumbleupon, Youtube, Viral Marketing, Directories, Free Scripts, Free Ebooks, Spotplex, Blogs Traffic

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