by Charles Ray

Created on: August 27, 2011

If you blog, one of the things you want is to have it read – and, hopefully read by many people.  There is no limit to the articles on how to drive traffic to your blog, some of the advice useful, some a total waste of time.  The key to having lots of traffic is to have a blog that is popular; one that readers recommend to others, and that gets picked up on links from other sites. 

So, what’s the secret to increasing your blog’s popularity?  Learning search engine optimization (SEO) and good use of key words and phrases is helpful in ensuring your blog comes up high on lists of searches, but it won’t necessarily ensure that people will come back, or even stay on your site long enough to read anything.  In fact, using SEO and other techniques to get readers to your page without giving them value for the visit can have just the opposite effect; it can drive future visitors away. 

Making sure that people enjoy the time they spend reading your blog is one of the most essential ways to ensure high readership and popularity. 

It starts with writing on topics that people are interested in.  Watch what’s trending.  Yahoo, AOL and other sites often list the topics that are hot at the moment.  Writing on the subjects that people are searching for on the Web will get you some readers by default.  The next step, though, is really important; write well.  A story on a popular subject that’s poorly written will not help your reputation as a writer.  Well researched articles, that are written in an interesting manner, free of typos and grammatical errors, on the other hand, can help establish you as an authority on certain subjects.  In fact, well written articles, even on little known subjects, can attract readers. 

Another way of increasing your blog’s popularity is to advertise.  Link your blog to your Facebook or other social network page.  Posting links to your better blogs on sites like Google Buzz or Twitter also increases the potential pool of readers.  

Don’t over write your articles.  Most Internet readers want to get their information in relatively short bursts.  Article lengths of 400 to 600 words seem to be the preferred length, although really detailed or intricate subjects of a thousand words or more will sometimes make the cut.  If you can get your message across with 400 or 600 well-chosen words, though, it’s far better. 

Pay attention to the layout of your blog.  Make it easy to navigate and pleasing to visit.  A blog site that is impossible to decipher or move around on, regardless of how interesting the content is, will not rank high for most people who surf the Web.  Give careful thought to the first view people have of your blog site when they log on.  First impressions are lasting, so make it welcoming; then, if you deliver meaningful, well-written content in digestible portions, you’re well on the road to having that popular, frequently visited site that is the Mecca of all bloggers.

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