Blogs (in particular self-hosted WordPress sites) are an absolute necessity for creating an online presence for business.

WordPress does need some prior knowledge, but once your blog or site is set up, you can begin posting content immediately.

But before you begin, you should know that for every successful blog, there are many that fail.

How can you prevent your blog from failing? The management of your blog has to be taken as seriously as the rest of your business site — you will have to put in time and lots of effort to write content that is interesting and that people will want to come back to.

Often people new to blogging aren’t prepared for the effort that goes into creating a successful blog. With the millions of blogs out there, it is actually very difficult to get found online.  There has to be something that makes people want to read your content.  Building a blog does not guarantee an audience — you have to give them a reason to come and see what you have to say.

Here are 9 simple ways to bring in the traffic to your blog:

• Blog Content – a sure way to lose your readers is to not update with new content. No one wants to visit a blog day after day and see the same stuff.  Whenever possible, update your blog at least twice a week.

WordPress Tip: Whenever you find yourself in the midst of a very creative spell, write as many blog posts as you can.  You can then post date them to go out every 2 or 3 days until you run out of posts.  Click here to see my Youtube video that shows you how to do this.

• Use Articles to Market Your Site and Business – You’ve (hopefully) chosen a niche for your business/blog because it is something that interests you, and you probably know a lot about the topic. When you write blog posts, think of ways to repurpose your content so they can be submitted to article directories such as http://ezinearticles.com .  Be sure to use the resource box to talk about your site and add a link so people can find it.

• Social Networking – There are many sites you can join to network with others.  There are the Big 3, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. But there are others such as Squidoo, where you can create your own “lens” and even NING where you can create your own membership site. Look around and do lots of searching on the net to find the groups where likeminded people hang out.

• Word of Mouth  Marketing – Spread the word about your blog and/or site. Tell everyone including friends, family and strangers alike.  Put your blog address on your business cards and hand them out at networking events.

• RSS Feeds – RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication” and it is exactly that. You set up an account with Feedburner so that people can subscribe to your blog posts and updates.  They can receive them through their RSS reader or they can get them by email.  The best part is that you don’t have to do a thing — it is all professionally managed by Feedburner.

WordPress Tip: There is a plugin you can easiily install on your WordPress site that connects to Feedburner where everything is managed for you.

• Forums – as a budding entrepreneur, you want to start by marketing yourself to first find traffic, and then profit.  Join business forums, work-at-home forums, and any others that might be interested in you and what you have to say, to meet new people and share ideas. You are allowed a “signature” that contains pertinent information about you. Be sure to add your link to your blog in your signature line so others can find you.

• Visit other’s blogs – Read posts on others’ blogs and comment on their posts. Doing this shows others you are not just out to advertise your blog alone, but that you are trying to become part of a community.  You can add a link to your blog in your comments.

• SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Marketing – Be sure to use relevant keywords and good placement of them in your content. Learn about keywords and keyword density, as well as other (very simple) things you can do to optimize your posts for not only good ranking in the search engines, but so that your audience/clients can find you

For more information on SEO, sign up for my “Simple SEO for WordPress” tutorial:

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WordPress Tip: WordPress self-hosted sites are naturally optimized for the search engines. All other steps you take are bonuses.

• Social Bookmarking – submit posts to some social bookmarking sites.  Members of these sites will be able to track you back to your blog. They really are wonderful for exposure.

WordPress Tip: There are plugins for WordPress that are so simple to install, that allow visitors to your site to submit your posts to the bookmarking sites as well.

Each point has a common theme, and that is that you have to get the word out about your blog by first creating attractive content and secondly, using all means available to get it into the hands of (or on the monitor of) your ideal market.  Using any (but preferably all) of these ideas will start the traffic moving in your direction.

It takes a bit of time and tweaking, but you can get a loyal following and a great readership.

I don’t think there is a better product available for helping business to get found online, and my clients agree (as you will see in the testimonial below).

#FF @thesavvyva WHY? because she has saved me an immense amount of time & I highly recommend her! Plus she is a whole lot of #awesome!  (Written by Anastasia Valentine aka @AVV)

If you are new to online business, or you want to move your existing site to WordPress, contact me. I’d love to help you get your business rolling. Call me today toll free at 800.921.4812

I am known for:

1. overdelivering on my promise to you
2. being able to take complex ideas and making them easy to understand
3. creating pretty snappy looking sites too

What tips and tricks have you used to build the loyal following you have to your blog posts?