My First Blog

BiggerDubber

I'm new to the world of blogs and was just hoping some of you with a bit more experience could give me a few pointers. How do you get your blog seen?

Stargal

Here are the best things that I've found for getting traffic to my blog.

* Join irishblogs.ie. Whenever you update your site it will show up on this page. Really good.

* Join technorati.com. It will notice everytime you update too. Put a lot of tags each time you post (e.g. keywords that explain what you're posting about; a typical post on my blog has tags such as "election", "results", "media coverage", "Labour", "danger seats", "coalition", etc), and when people search on Technorati for these tags they'll find your blog.

* There's a big community of Irish bloggers, so a big step is to get involved with that. Start reading other people's blogs, and leave comments on posts that particularly interest you. They'll probably have a look at your blog, and if they like it they may link to you. Mulley.net is one of the best Irish blogs and he has a massive list of blogs on the right hand side of his page, if you want to get started. Look out for ones that are interested in the same things that you are. WARNING: Don't start spamming people and leaving crap messages just to boost traffic. This will just piss people off.

* If you know anyone with a blog, ask them to add a link to your blog on their page. This will add traffic, but also means that if people search for keywords to do with your blog on Google, you'll move up in the search results.

* Put your blog URL in your boards signature and start posting more!

* Add the URL to your email signature so it shows up at the bottom of every mail you send (unless of course it's a work email and you use it to deal with associates/the public).

* Update your site regularly. If people know you write frequently then they're more likely to check back to see if you've written anything new.

* If your blog is on a specific topic/issue then try to stay on top of all the news and developments in that area, so that people know you're up-to-date and informed. If it's just a random personal blog then keep an eye out for quirky bits of info from the interweb, instead of just talking about your own life every day ("omg, aileen came over today and said she's getting back with tom!") cos those kind of blogs rarely develop a big readership.

* Make sure your blog is attractive to look at. Use a nice template, make use of photos and videos and add relevant widgets to your sidebar.

That's just off the top of my head, but they're probably the main ways that I've added traffic to my blog. If you're not sure about any of the things I've suggested then just say so and I'll explain them better.

Otherwise best of luck with your blog - enjoy it, it's v addictive!

BuffyBot

Submit it to planet.journals.ie too