This post was guest blogged by Steve of IveTriedThat. They lose money so you don’t have to.
All startup blogs share the same two common goals: increase readership and promote valuable content. There are literally hundreds of ways to accomplish these two goals. Here’s one more that will help you accomplish both with just one post.
Most blogs normally don’t feature new material on Sundays. Personally, I like to take time off from blogging and just catch up with what’s been going on elsewhere throughout the week. You’ve probably seen a blog feature its popular posts from the past week, or sometimes they will share link love with others. Rarely will you find a blog that features both and this is where bloggers are blowing it.
Simply combining link love and featured articles in one post can work wonders to increase your blog’s popularity. If you use appropriate trackback URLs, a link back to your blog and a short snippet from your post will appear in the linked post’s comments section. Authors usually follow trackbacks and check out the referring blogs. It’s just human nature—we love to see who’s talking about us. Now here’s the evil of it all: when the author checks out your post, he or she will be greeted with your best work from the previous week. Toss in an RSS subscription link at the bottom of each post and you’re well on your way to gaining another regular reader…or a hundred!
If you link to similar blogs each week, at the very least, you’ll be sure to see an increase in traffic. Other perks can include shared link love, an increase in RSS readers, an exchange of guest posts, or even a developing friendship. I utilize these techniques each week on my blog and also watch others continually do it wrong by making poor use of their front page real estate. So combine the “Best of” and “Link love” posts into one; it’s a beautifully simple way for startup or struggling blogs to increase traffic.
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It’d be interesting to see how many visitors and how much PR you get from writing a guest article to attract new visitors…
i agree. i think it’s easy to create friendships with other blogs just by linking to them and maybe commenting on their blog to. excellent post!
It is indeed a good strategy to gain some PR juice and traffic, tho it depends on the blog and depends on how you write the article.
Tho this is a definitively nice article and a good free way to self promote your blog and to contribute to your “friends” blog too.
I agree, someone should do a report on the results!
Excellent suggestion. I never thought of that, but will definitely give it a try. I’ll watch my stats too to see if it does increase traffic at all.
definately does, significantly is the question at hand.i vote 70% it increases traffic significantly.vs. 30% not neccessarily
Yeah, this sounds like a good idea.
‘It’s just human nature—we love to see who’s talking about us’
Yeah, but isn’t it a bit frustrating to be barly mentioned in a single line with a link to one post among 20 others?
I think they basic idea is pretty good, but imagine you have 50 trackbacks as a owner and it’s so obvious that someone wants you to link back…
If you have game, don’t overdo it.
Yep I agree – I think the moral here is: a good idea but one to be used sparingly.
That applies to most things in life…:)
It is a good idea but maybe the best way to spotlight a blog. The best way still review and blogroll. Maybe I will try this..
Do a review without being paid and they’ll love you for a long time…
Good advice to generate some more traffic and a steady readership. What blogger doesn’t like receiving free links!?
Good idea! Though as Jakob/Blacksky above said, the link love can be better if you don’t put too many outgoing links in that one post, and also do a more substantial writeup about what you are linking to.
the most important statistic i think i look at is RSS. i experimented with adding my rss link in my post-post and it’s been doing well. i recommend that as well for new bloggers like myself.
This one works great.
Thanks for the idea
Interesting! I think I’ll do that.
Hey John, do you have a blog in Chinese ?
Thats a great tip! I have always tried to combine both (not explicitly) but in my description and related posts.
In the line of all your articles…good stuff. What else can I say?
Keep working John. Lot of people will thank you.
Kisses!
Very nice post. It is in fact better to see the web as a big social network. If you help others, chances that you will get helped will certainly increase. All bloggers like their articles linked back. So, if you link to other blogs there is a great chance to be linked as well. If it doesn’t happen, at least you didn’t lose nothing.
Link love’s important. I keep neglecting it too much, should do it more. It actually is a good thing to do on a day where you have nothing to post.
John Chow, I do hope you are reading your comments.
Bryan at One Mans Goal has suggested that he is cooler than YOU!
http://onemansgoal.com/89/9-reasons-why-im-cooler-than-john-chow
Another thing he has suggested is that successful bloggers should have a shaved head.
So I have suggested that Bryan should shave his for charity!
http://onemansgoal.com/89/9-reasons-why-im-cooler-than-john-chow/#comment-972
http://misdoclub.blogspot.com/2007/08/one-man-should-shave-his-head.html
Mr Chow, I’d like you to challenge Bryan to shave his head for charity. After all, he thinks he is cooler than you.
If he shaved his head he’d be alot cooler than Chow
Any person who has to explain why they is cooler is by default not cooler.
Hey guys. I wrote the article. We try to link back to at most 5 sites. Anything more than that looks like you are just trying to gather links. To really gather attention, it’s important to link to relevant blogs/articles.
I never really thought about bloggers not posting much on a Sunday.
I would have thought Sunday would be an important post day because lots of people spend a portion of the day relaxing and catching up on blogs they maybe missed during the week – I know I certainly do.
Sunday’s are also good for sitting down to think about content for the upcoming week – it’s always important to plan ahead.
Visitors drops a lot on Sunday. Maybe it’s because they don’t expect anyone to be writing any new, original content!
I guest blogged on “Paid Blog Review Services” at http://jakeldaily.com/get-paid-with-blogging-review-services/ few days back. He thought he would be busy on his business trip and asked me to take over for a post. It was nice to write on some popular blog than ours and get a link love as well as little bit of popularity.
I liked to blog as guest and I would not mind to guest blog at someone else’ blog either.
Provided the blog is worth spending time with.
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Great idea! It makes total sense when you think about it.
I think a lot of blogs get caught up in posting all the time, they forget that most people would just rather read the highlights, or best material, and get out.
As for guest blogging…
Not a fan?
Its useful, but you got to pick the right guest bloggers and proofread the post.
Ahh… i totally am not using featured articles. This will change once my new blog design is finished
I always try to get a trackback somewhere in every post… can’t hurt, especially when you are starting out.
sounds like a great idea..i will give it a try
I like the idea, I am trying something similar as well.
I like the idea, I am trying something similar as well.
definitely give it a try.