Tips for driving traffic to your blog.

Purple Dangles 2
Originally uploaded by Dancing Monkey Jewelry

Hooray for spring! Man, am I ready. Today, I'll be heading over to the university for my last computer class. Of course, I'll be taking my trusty camera along in the hopes that there the cherry trees will be blooming (probably too early).

So, this morning I was looking to my Flickr groups and came across this post that I wrote in answer to another member of that group question on how do you promote your blog. I thought to myself those are all good suggestions -this person has some really good suggestions. Then it dawned on me - those were my words and the person I was me - I sounded so knowledgeable! ! I've since learned that the person I was answering probably knows more about promoting a blog than I do and was very gracious in accepting my answer. So, if you are interested in receiving my sage advice - read on!

To drive traffic to your blog - here are a few suggestions:

1. Check out other blogs and leave comments and/or sign their guest book. I've found that when I pay attention to other blogs, my blog receives a fair amount of attention from others (ie: traffic).
2. Look in the Flickr groups - you'll see lots of discussions that are about your blog - some asking you to provide a link to your blog so that other members can take a look.
3. Post a link to your blog in your email.
4. Update your blog on a regular basis. A static blog attracts no attention. Use lots of pictures - people like to look at pictures.
5. Sign up on Blogcatalog.com and fuelmyblog.com - they'll drive some traffic to your web. There are other web sites that do the same thing - these are the two that I can think of off the top of my head (If you scroll down towards the bottom of myblog - you'll see how many services I've linked my blog too).
   
6. If you have an Etsy account - include a link to your blog on your profile page, post in the forums (especially the Promotions forum). Also, post in the Flickr forums - get to know the other members of Etsy and Flickr - they're a curious lot - they'll want to check out your blogs, shop and photographs.
7. Promote other artisans work and/or their blogs you come across while viewing your favorites sites (Flickr, Etsy, PoshMama, Capitola Girl and the like) - and let the artist know - everyone likes to know that they are receiving recognitions for their hard work. I'll put links to all my favorite sites later on today or this evening - there are so many great groups out there.
   

These are just a few suggestions to get you going. Hope they are useful for you.

Welcome to the group (Flickr's "Got Blog/Discuss"). If you have any other questions, I'm just an email away. Also, you're going to find lots of support from others on Flickr and Etsy - not only will you meet some creative people on both of these sites, you'll find some very generous people who will be able to give you lots of good advice.

Best regards,

Martha @ Dancing Monkey Jewelry

Check out my blog at: www.dancingmonkeyjewelry.com

Check out my Etsy shop at: www.dancingmonkeyjewelry.etsy.com

See - there's nothing like a bit a of shameless promotion. If at first it seems strange, keep on doing it. It won't take long until it's second nature to you to promote your shop.