Need some suggestions on getting more traffic

[UltimaniumX]

I have a website that's been around for about 6 months now, but noticed that it's quite tough to get traffic flowing in and out of the website.

Without advertising or paying companies to advertise, does anyone have any suggestions on how to get more traffic?

I've already added it to google's "sites" and registered it with Google's Webmaster Tools, but I can't think of any other ways to attract more people.

Publicly advertising on forums is illegal and will get me banned, so I can't go about doing that either.

Any suggestions? Anything that's worked in your experiences?

[Soryon]

For what reason if I may ask?

[UltimaniumX]

Well the website itself is a blog, so the more users reading and interacting with the website, the better!

There's no ads or anything to generate revenue for me, so it's just solely for entertainment and those that are interested in the same kinds of things the blog talks about.

I guess ultimately the more people coming and giving feedback, the more I feel happy about writing and sharing my thoughts with others. (Like every other blog)

[datora]

.
Do you know much about SEO (Search Engine Optimization)?  Like, use of key words, regular content updates, linking to other sites and getting links back ,,,those sorts of things?  Posting one content update each day of the work week (most especially if it's highly relevant content!), such as a news article on a current topic, goes a looooong way.  If you can get short videos up and even get a newsletter once a week/ten days, get an RSS feed happening ... all Very Good Things.

Establish a Facebook account that coordinates content with the blog ... tease Facebook visitors to go to the blog (with thumbnails, video links, etc.) for full content.  Facebook is huge right now, but evaluate what other free social media sites you have time for, also (Deviant Art, Twitter, etc.).

From one of your other posts, I understand that it's (mostly/all?) about anime & Japanese/eastern culture ..?  You have pretty stiff competition in those categories.  You need a niche that will move you up the search engine.

I took several sites into the google top five slots between 2006 and 2010.  It was dedicated work for 12 to 18 months to break the top 20, then it was work to keep them there.  Even so, they only got into the top five in specific key words, not larger categories or more common ones.  However, "owning" certain keywords/keyword combinations in the top 20 hits for one or two major search engines gives you traction to leverage more traffic.

Unique content.  Never forget, unique content.  Write in your own words, even when reporting what other news outlets/blogs/etc. post.  Make sure all your images are properly tagged with title and alt, all your pages have ~10-15 keywords that are directly related to content (20 or more get 1) ignored and 2) flag you as a stat-hacker, especially when keywords don't match actual content).

The first the first 50 rendered text words should be of your real, main, unique content.  Search engines parse and weight those for their key phrases and words the heaviest.

[Xiong Chiamiov]

Have a reason for people to return and recommend it to their friends.

[UltimaniumX]

.
Do you know much about SEO (Search Engine Optimization)?  Like, use of key words, regular content updates, linking to other sites and getting links back ,,,those sorts of things?  Posting one content update each day of the work week (most especially if it's highly relevant content!), such as a news article on a current topic, goes a looooong way.  If you can get short videos up and even get a newsletter once a week/ten days, get an RSS feed happening ... all Very Good Things.

Establish a Facebook account that coordinates content with the blog ... tease Facebook visitors to go to the blog (with thumbnails, video links, etc.) for full content.  Facebook is huge right now, but evaluate what other free social media sites you have time for, also (Deviant Art, Twitter, etc.).

From one of your other posts, I understand that it's (mostly/all?) about anime & Japanese/eastern culture ..?  You have pretty stiff competition in those categories.  You need a niche that will move you up the search engine.

I took several sites into the google top five slots between 2006 and 2010.  It was dedicated work for 12 to 18 months to break the top 20, then it was work to keep them there.  Even so, they only got into the top five in specific key words, not larger categories or more common ones.  However, "owning" certain keywords/keyword combinations in the top 20 hits for one or two major search engines gives you traction to leverage more traffic.

Unique content.  Never forget, unique content.  Write in your own words, even when reporting what other news outlets/blogs/etc. post.  Make sure all your images are properly tagged with title and alt, all your pages have ~10-15 keywords that are directly related to content (20 or more get 1) ignored and 2) flag you as a stat-hacker, especially when keywords don't match actual content).

The first the first 50 rendered text words should be of your real, main, unique content.  Search engines parse and weight those for their key phrases and words the heaviest.

I think I've pretty much done all those things. I'm not trying to become the next "big" thing when it comes to the internet. By the sounds of your post, I think you misunderstand that when I said "getting more traffic" it meant becoming the number one website in regards to what I post about. It's not. Ideally yes it would be great to be on the top end of search queries, but I'm not expecting that for a while, especially since my website only recently switched over from its original content.

I appreciate your recommendations though, I try to post as often as possible, usually 5-6 posts per week depending on how busy the authors are. I'd like to think my website is unique and offers a more wider range of readers too. RSS Feed is also working and implemented too. I dont know about a Facebook account. It just seems like I would have to promote on the FB account AS WELL AS the website itself. Meta Keywords and descriptions are always on my web pages.

It looks like patience is key. I'll try to stick to what's going for me now and improve as much as possible through proper means. Thanks again for your suggestions!

Have a reason for people to return and recommend it to their friends.

Are you trolling or actually being serious? =/

[rostheferret]

Along with SEO, it's all down to WHAT you post. If you post something that's popular but nobody writes about, then it'll get a lot of hits. Too obscure and unusual, nobody looks for it. Too popular, you'll be trumped by other larger blogs.

Patience is also pretty important.

[datora]

.
SEO (+ time) = traffic.  Xiong Chiamiov posted the distilled essence of all my many werdz.

But, you are totally correct about patience.  But (also), patience with a plan yields profit.  You can do a lot in 10-12 months.

Give me keywords to search for you, and how will I know your site when I find it in the results?  Like, you've got a good, unique Title= element, right?  Two things: 1) You've interested me enough to want to see what you're posting and 2) I'll do it with search engines and give you a few pings from my IP and help click you up the ranking a touch.

You seem to be for-real enough that you can identify your site & URL this once, on-topic, without getting hammered as a SPAMmer.  I seem to have got your content mixed up with another poster, so I don't really know what your theme is.  May we assume it's somewhat related to this community?  Then there is legitimate interest.  If you want to be 'really safe,' I'll play the search engine game; it's one I'm used to and I enjoy it when I've time  Who knows, I might even dig your blog if our interests cross over.  If I can't find you, I'll PM you for the exact URL.


Anyway, if you consider the Facebook thing (or, other maybe more targeted community, depending on your content), you can do it minimalist from the beginning so you don't sink huge amounts of time into it.  Sort of like a business card or hanging your shingle out with pointers to the page(s) you really do put your time into.

If it's Facebook (for example), it's such a huge network that you'll legitimately plug into sub-communities that really are interested in your content ... and you begin to feed teh Beastie.

[UltimaniumX]

How does that facebook page work? If I were to start one, wouldn't I have to somehow promote that as well? It seems like it would create more work, but I don't really know much about facebook pages and all that. Please enlighten me?

[Guru Zeb]

Have a reason for people to return and recommend it to their friends.

Are you trolling or actually being serious? =/

No offence m8, but the fact that you could even consider Xiongs comment as trolling says volumes about why your probably not getting more traffic.
Xiongs comment is THE most relevant and concise advice you've yet been given.
The web is awash with blogs, millions of them. Most have nothing to offer internet users at all, other than inane nonsense about an individuals personal life or personal likes/dislikes. So make sure yours is not one of those by building it around content that is actually interesting or useful to people.
What is your blog about, you still haven't explained why anyone should be interested in it, sharing personal thoughts isn't really all that compelling for most users unless you are a famous writer/director/artist/sports person/celeb/etc.
Focusing on specific topics is a start, do you focused skills or knowledge in any particular area to be able to share your knowledge with others?
Or maybe focus on some aspect of content review thats not too well catered for elsewhere.
Read a few well established blogs you'll maybe get an idea of the kind of topics and approaches that will work.
Whatever it will probably involve quite a bit of work, as most of the niches have already been filled by large well established websites.
If you just want to discuss things with other people then join a newsgroup, or get a you tube account ...... you can garner huge numbers of people on you tube with minimal effort.

Please don't think am trying to knock you down m8, am just trying to make you aware of the realities.

[UltimaniumX]

Have a reason for people to return and recommend it to their friends.

Are you trolling or actually being serious? =/

No offence m8, but the fact that you could even consider Xiongs comment as trolling says volumes about why your probably not getting more traffic.
Xiongs comment is THE most relevant and concise advice you've yet been given.
The web is awash with blogs, millions of them. Most have nothing to offer internet users at all, other than inane nonsense about an individuals personal life or personal likes/dislikes. So make sure yours is not one of those by building it around content that is actually interesting or useful to people.
What is your blog about, you still haven't explained why anyone should be interested in it, sharing personal thoughts isn't really all that compelling for most users unless you are a famous writer/director/artist/sports person/celeb/etc.
Focusing on specific topics is a start, do you focused skills or knowledge in any particular area to be able to share your knowledge with others?
Or maybe focus on some aspect of content review thats not too well catered for elsewhere.
Read a few well established blogs you'll maybe get an idea of the kind of topics and approaches that will work.
Whatever it will probably involve quite a bit of work, as most of the niches have already been filled by large well established websites.
If you just want to discuss things with other people then join a newsgroup, or get a you tube account ...... you can garner huge numbers of people on you tube with minimal effort.

Please don't think am trying to knock you down m8, am just trying to make you aware of the realities.

I didn't mean to sound as if I wasn't appreciative of the comment or didn't understand what Xiongs was saying. I only said that because I thought it was fairly obvious that having a unique style and blogging on relevant content is important. I am aware that the anime blogging niche is very saturated. I was actually thinking of getting more advice on the marketing or promotion aspect of the website, which I think a few others covered with the topic of SEO. As for the content, I think my website will be fairly unique in that aspect.

I don't want to sound like i'm advertising so I'll just say that there's going to be quite a bit of new content that people haven't seen before on the website. Whether it works, we'll see. Sometimes things just have to be tried before you see that it doesn't work. But don't worry, it's not going to be me just regurgitating what I saw in the last episode of ____ and _____.

I appreciate the advice though and again, I didn't mean to sound like the comment wasn't relevant, I guess I just understood that before he needed to say it.

[datora]

.

How does that facebook page work?

Here's one of my favorite webcomics:

 - http://www.legendofbill.com/

Here is the Facebook page he built to help promote it:

 - http://www.facebook.com/legendofbill

David interacts with his Facebook pages probably a bit more than necessary.  But, he is responsive to people who visit, and he keeps linking back to content on his main page.  Actually, he has several pages, but just study how he does it with Legend of Bill.  It's a "community" of half a billion people ... his page attracts a niche market that then finds his comic and graphic arts pages.  He could have set up a Deviant Art page (which I recommended to him), but he felt the larger Facebook population would serve his purposes better for the amount of time he invests.

BTW, go to google and type "Legend of Bill" ... you can't even finish typing because the suggested page comes to the top very rapidly.


Also, BTW.  I've done this sort of work for years as part of my professional consulting in IT.  I'm usually paid fairly well to provide "enlightenment."  You're welcome.