How To Build A Community And Get More Blog Traffic
How To Build A Community And Get More Blog Traffic
Blogging is a fascinating thing. It’s my favorite online marketing/traffic generation strategy and it’s safe to say I’ve just about tried everything. In fact, I tried about 12 different marketing strategies for about six months before I came across blogging.
Then it took me another six months to get my blog off the ground. Then another year to really start kicking ass and getting thousands of daily visitors.
The truth is it doesn’t have to take that long. Most gurus tell you it takes years to build a successful blog just so they can sell you some BS shortcut. In the beginning I thought it was all about traffic and Google rankings.
Those damn Google rankings, they were all I cared about. I kept seeking new ways to trick Google into loving my blog. Two years down the line I’ve learnt that the fastest, easiest and most effective way to get more blog traffic is by building a real community.
A community of followers that read every post I publish, leave comments, share them on their social networks and really care about what I say. So here is how to get more blog traffic by building a community of loyal followers.
Ways To Get More Traffic
First, you need traffic. Without traffic, you can’t build a community. The only way to build a community is by converting generic visitors into subscribers. Subscribers who cherish your content, join your email list and all of the other stuff. You could start by doing the SEO thing as honestly, SEO is the fastest way to get CONSISTENT traffic if done correctly.
However the way to blogging success is community building. So there are two sources of traffic that are easily converted into community: guest blogging & blog commenting.
Not what you thought? Think about it for a second, it’s quite obvious…
If someone asked me what the best way to build a community is, I would say “steal from other communities”.
…And that’s exactly what you can do through guest blogging and blog commenting. Plus it’s totally ethical, it’s not really stealing. You essentially steal from other established communities. As you have two options; build a community from scratch i.e. generic traffic or steal from other communities. The fastest and most effective strategy is option 2.
With guest blogging, you write and publish blog posts on other people’s blogs. Other people’s blogs who have established communities and LOTS of traffic. So when one of your guest posts goes live, their communities rush over and read it. If it’s a good guest post; many of their community “members” will scuttle over to your blog, read some stuff and become your loyal subscribers for years.
Then there’s blog commenting which is completely different, but the same concept applies. You just have to comment on other blog posts of the successful blogs in your niche. Again, you’re stealing their community. Real loyal blog followers always read the comments, engage in the community by replying and sharing content.
So if you post super meaningful blog comments on the top 10-20 blogs in your niche every time they publish a post you can steal some of their readers. Their readers will see your insightful comment, click through to your blog and subscribe. That’s the idea anyway.
Since this part was so broad, read these:
That’s about it for traffic generation. Those are the two best strategies for generating community based traffic. Of course, at the same time you can be doing SEO or whatever else to promote your blog content. I would say guest blog on the large blogs in your niche twice a week. It takes at most 1 hour to write a great blog post if you research the subject beforehand.
If you post twice a week on blogs that have just 5000 subscribers, you could receive a good 1000+ visitors a week. If the subscribers are active, maybe 2-3000 of each group of 5000 will read your posts. Then maybe a total of 1000 people will read your posts and click through to your blog. At that rate; you can expect enough traffic to build a solid community in a few months.
As for blog commenting, I would set up an RSS alert so when the top 10-20 blogs in your niche publish posts, you’ll be the first to know about them… And when you do get the alerts, rush over to the posts, read them through and comment!
We respect your privacy!
Comments
Anj1776, December 16, 2011, 14:34
Thanks David..This is definitely going to help in getting traffic..These are really good tips..Thanx a ton..
Amy Findley, December 16, 2011, 15:20
So true David! Thanks for the awesome tips! Love the rss alert as well lol.
Tim Walsh, December 16, 2011, 15:45
Hey David this is great info. As usual all your content is off the charts. Please do not stop
Maria Gutierrez, December 16, 2011, 16:00
This article was so informative and supportive! It really helped me understand the importance of building a community. I have been struggling with getting traffic to my blog, and your tips on guest blogging and blog commenting are just what I needed. Thank you, David. I am excited to implement these strategies and see the results. Your insights are always valuable and appreciated!
Hassan Al-Farooq, December 16, 2011, 16:30
I learned so much from this post! The tips on guest blogging and commenting were particularly useful. I have been blogging for a while but never considered the impact of building a community through these methods. It’s eye-opening to see how guest posts on other blogs can drive traffic to my own site. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I’m definitely going to start implementing these strategies right away.
Elena Popov, December 16, 2011, 17:00
I have a question about the RSS alerts you mentioned. Can you provide more details on how to set those up? I am particularly interested in understanding the tools and steps involved in creating these alerts. Are there any specific platforms or services you recommend for this purpose? Your guidance on this would be incredibly helpful as I try to stay ahead of the latest posts in my niche.
Marcus Nguyen, December 16, 2011, 17:30
While I appreciate the tips, I think some additional insights into other traffic generation methods would be helpful. For example, could you elaborate on how social media can complement the community-building strategies you’ve mentioned? Overall, this is a great post, but a bit more information on integrating various traffic sources would make it even better. Thank you for your continuous efforts in providing valuable content.
Lara Schmidt, December 16, 2011, 18:00
Hi David, long time no see! How have you been? We should catch up soon. This post is fantastic, as always. It reminded me of the times we discussed blog traffic strategies. Your approach to building a community is spot on. I’ve been implementing similar strategies, and they’ve been working well. Thanks for this awesome post. Let’s connect soon to share more insights and experiences.
Alejandro Lopez, December 16, 2011, 18:30
I faced a similar issue with my blog. Your strategies on building a community have given me new hope. Initially, I struggled to get consistent traffic, but focusing on community-building has started to show results. Guest blogging and meaningful comments on other blogs have really made a difference. Thank you for sharing these insights. They are truly motivating and helpful for someone like me who is trying to grow a blog from scratch.
Cheng Wei, December 16, 2011, 19:00
For those interested, there’s a great tool called ‘Community Builder’ that helps with these strategies. It has features specifically designed to facilitate guest blogging and managing blog comments. Highly recommend checking it out. It’s been a game-changer for me in terms of engaging with readers and driving traffic to my blog. Thanks, David, for your valuable tips!
Fatima Zahra, December 16, 2011, 19:30
I find it hard to believe that such rapid results are possible. Do you have any evidence or case studies to back this up? It would be great to see some real-life examples or testimonials from people who have successfully implemented these strategies. Understanding the practical application and seeing the actual outcomes would be incredibly motivating. Thank you for your insights, and I look forward to your response.
