How to Get Free Traffic to Your Blog

Blogging is all the rage. You set up a free blog account, write a few posts and…nothing happens. No one seems to be reading, commenting, or caring about what you’re writing. It takes some time to build up a blog audience, but here are a few things you can do at the start to build up blog traffic so your personal musings reach readers.

1. Step 1
   

   Blog regularly. The more you post, the better chance you have to reach a wider variety of readers.

1. Step 2
   

   Add the blog to blog search engines There are dozens of blog search engines out there and more being added everyday. Create a good, concise description for your blog, as well as relevant keywords. The simple way to go about this is to search on google.com using the key words "Search engines"
   

2. Step 3
   

   Add the blog to toplists. Put the link to the toplist on your blog: every time someone hits the link, your blog moves up in the ranks.

3. Step 4
   

   Write comments on other people’s blogs. People are always grateful for a comment. More often than not, they’ll click on your link and return the favor.

4. Step 5
   

   Comment on people’s comments. A blog is meant to be a community. Respond directly to people’s comments—either in the comments or in a new blog post. This will engage readers so they’ll come back more often.

5. Step 6
   

   Post on forums. If you write a niche blog, post answers to questions on forums—be sure to put your blog address in your signature. Don’t spam forums—make sure your posts are relevant.

6. Step 7
   

   Write to other bloggers suggesting a link trade. Put up a link list of your favorite blogs and let those bloggers know about it. They might just reciprocate.

New: Big List of International Blog Search Engines

In alphabetic order:

Name: 2RSS
URL: http://www.2rss.com/
Description:RSS Feed Directory
Add your blog here: On front page
Note: Requires RSS Feed

Name: Bligz
URL: http://www.blizg.com/
Description:Focus on "Metadata"
Add your blog here: On front page
Note: Two step-process where you have to "Ping" site once listed

Name: Blogarama
URL: http://www.blogarama.com/
Description:Small search engine
Add your blog here: http://www.blogarama.com/index.php?show=add

Name: Blogdex
URL: http://www.blogdex.net/
Description: Hot topics listing and search engine
Add your blog here: http://blogdex.net/add.asp
Note: Requires email confirmation

Name: Blogdigger
URL: http://www.blogdigger.com/
Description: Small search engine
Add your blog here: http://www.blogdigger.com/addFeedForm.jsp
Note: Need RSS feed

Name: Bloghop
URL: http://www.bloghop.com/search.htm
Description: Small search engine
Add your blog here: http://www.bloghop.com/addblog.htm

Name: Bloglines
URL: http://www.bloglines.com/
Description: Search and aggregate RSS feeds
Add your blog here: No submission process, users add feeds they wish to track

Name: Blogmatrix
URL: http://www.blogmatrix.com/
Description: Blog tool provider, offers search as well
Add your blog here: http://www.blogmatrix.com/join

Name: Blogrunner
URL: http://www.blogrunner.com/
Description: Hot topics listing and search engine
Add your blog here: http://www.blogrunner.com/docs/partners-register.html
Note: Some sore of revenue share program going on

Name: Blogsearchengine
URL: http://www.blogsearchengine.com/
Description: Blog search engine
Add your blog here: http://www.blogsearchengine.com/add_link.html

Name: Blogstreet
URL: http://www.blogstreet.com/search.html
Description: Metasearch
Add your blog here: http://www.blogstreet.com/bin/add.cgi

Name: Blogtastic
URL: http://www.blogstreet.com/search.html
Description: Metasearch
Add your blog here: http://www.blogstreet.com/bin/add.cgi

Name: Blogvision
URL: http://www.blogvision.com/
Description: Small search engine
Add your blog here: Doesn't appear to be any way to add a site

Name: Blogwise
URL: http://www.blogwise.com/
Description: Categorized Blog search
Add your blog here: http://www.blogwise.com/submit

Name: Bloogz
URL: http://www.bloogz.com/
Description: Blog search engine
Add your blog here: http://www.bloogz.com/man_en/add_your_url.php

UPDATED! Name: Boogieplay
URL: http://www.boogieplay.com/
Description: Blog search engine with audio and video content
Add your blog here: Doesn't appear to be any way to add a blog.

Name: Daypop
URL: http://www.daypop.com/
Description: News oriented search
Add your blog here: http://www.daypop.com/info/submit.htm
Note: Requires your site to be "frequently updated"

Name: Eatonweb
URL: http://portal.eatonweb.com/
Description: Blog search engine
Add your blog here: http://portal.eatonweb.com/add.php

Name: Fastbuzz
URL: http://www.fastbuzz.com/
Description: Search and aggregate RSS feeds
Add your blog here: http://www.fastbuzz.com/channels/insert_public.jsp

Name: Feedster
URL: http://www.feedster.com/
Description: Blog search engine using RSS feeds
Add your blog here: http://www.feedster.com/add.php
Note: Need RSS feed

Name: Get Linked
URL: http://fried-spaghetti.com/links/
Description: Small search engine
Add your blog here: http://fried-spaghetti.com/cgi-bin/links/add.cgi

Name: Globeofblogs
URL: http://www.globeofblogs.com/
Description: Blog search engine
Add your blog here: Click "Register" in upper-right corner of front page
Note: Strange site, requires extensive classification of blogs

Name: LocalFeeds.com/GeoURL
URL: http://www.localfeeds.com/ , http://www.geourl.org/
Description: Blogs and headlines by geographic region. GeoURL is by lat/longitude while LocalFeeds is by ZIP or country.
Add your blog here: http://www.geourl.org/add.html (for both)
Note: Complex instructions, you must edit your blog's meta tags prior to submission.

NEW! Name: Memigo
URL: http://www.memigo.com/
Description: Customized news portal
Add your blog here: http://www.memigo.com/feed

Name: NewsIsFree
URL: http://www.newsisfree.com/
Description: Search for RSS feeds
Add your blog here: http://www.newsisfree.com/contact.php

Name: Pepys
URL: http://pepys.akacooties.com/
Description: Geographically categorized blogs
Add your blog here: http://pepys.akacooties.com/cgi-bin/links2/add.cgi

Name: Popdex
URL: http://www.popdex.com/
Description: Hot topics listing and search engine
Add your blog here: http://www.popdex.com/addsite.php
Note: "Fast Track" if you link to Popdex

Name: RDF Ticker
URL: http://www.anse.de/rdfticker/findchannels.php
Description: Search and aggregate RSS feeds
Add your blog here: http://www.anse.de/rdfticker/addchannel.php

Name: Read A Blog
URL: http://www.readablog.com/
Description: Blog Search Engine
Add your blog here: http://www.readablog.com/AddFeed.aspx

Name: Rootblog
URL: http://www.rootblog.com/
Description: RSS Aggregator
Add your blog here: http://http://www.rootblog.com/Ping/
Note: Can also be pinged automatically with every post.

Name: RSSFeedsDirectory
URL: http://rss-feeds-directory.com/directory/
Description: RSS Directory
Add your blog here: Not clear

Name: Search4Blogs
URL: http://www.search4blogs.com/
Description: Blog Directory
Add your blog here: WIthin each category
Note: A lot of adult blogs.

Name: Search4RSS
URL: http://www.search4rss.com/
Description: RSS Search Engine
Add your blog here: Not available, must be added by site owners.

Name: Sindic8
URL: http://www.syndic8.com/
Description: Search and aggregate RSS feeds
Add your blog here: http://www.syndic8.com/suggest.php?Mode=data
Note: Need RSS feed

Name: Technorati
URL: http://www.technorati.com/
Description: Index of links between millions of blogs
Add your blog here: http://www.technorati.com/ping.html

Note: Programmatic interface available as well.

NEW! Name: Waypath
URL: http://www.waypath.com/
Description: Keyword searches and "find similar" searches
Add your blog here: Automatically adds blogs through a spidering process.

NEW! Name: Zopto
URL: http://www.zopto.com/
Description: Index of links between millions of blogs
Add your blog here: No submission process, Zopto indexes all pings to blo.gs into a search engine.

Technorati has a High Priority Indexing Queue - you go to http://www.technorati.com/ping.html to let it know to index your blog/site.

We also have an XML-RPC interface, for programmatic access. More details here:

http://www.sifry.com/alerts/archives/000302.html

Dave

Posted by: David Sifry on January 2, 2004 06:55 PM

Nice job, but in Spain we have "http://www.weblogabout.com/".

Posted by: DrAvenarius on January 3, 2004 03:43 AM

a) Become a source at Moreover.com
http://w.moreover.com/main_site/aboutus/contact-us.html
mailto:edmanager@moreover.com

b) Newsknowledge - Recommend news sources
http://tinyurl.com/28tav

c) DayPop Submit A Site
http://www.daypop.com/info/submit.htm
(when it works)

d) Suggest an RSS feed to Memigo
http://www.memigo.com/feed

e) YellowBrix - ISyndicate Content Provider Inquiry
http://tinyurl.com/2upg7

f) Add a newsfeed to the Genecast News Service
http://www.genecast.com/news/create.jsp

g) Consider also the potential of creating a simple way for your readers who have other Web sites to easily syndicate your content on their own pages.

Lockergnome has a great example of this at work, though there are other good ones out there. Check out his page at:
http://rss.lockergnome.com/syndicate/

h) Learning and educating your audience in syndicating and easily republishing your headlines or entire articles gives long terms major results while increasing your credibility and authority in the field. Here are some resources to learn more:

How To Get Your Web Site Content Syndicated
http://tinyurl.com/3cbuo

How To Syndicate Web Site News Through RSS Feeds Technology
http://www.masternewmedia.com/issue24/rss.htm

Resources on Syndicating Your RSS Feed
http://tinyurl.com/cd49

i) Tip:
You can also create custom RSS feeds on the spot through GoogleAlerts on specific keyphrases that cover your content and then resubmit them to RSS Web aggregators like Bloglines and Feedster.
http://www.googlealert.com/

j) Also consider the one that is going to outpace them all:
del.icio.us
http://del.icio.us
Simply bookmark what you need to promote and give more visibility and if it rocks the rest will happen by itself. This is the wave of the future. Social bookmarking and knowledge resource discovery tool. Highly recommended.

Robin Good
What Communication Experts Must Know
http://www.masternewmedia.org/

Posted by: Robin Good on January 3, 2004 09:27 AM

Blogwise: There are currently 1242 blog(s) in the queue. Your blog is expected to be added within 27 day(s).

Posted by: justin on January 3, 2004 04:29 PM

Just use google.

... to list your blog

Posted by: mina on January 4, 2004 03:49 PM

Thank you for doing this. Very handy. I stumbled across you via webloghype.com shortly before I stepped barefoot on a 3-prong English power adapter. So, I kind of associate you with pain in my foot, but a very helpful pain nonetheless.

Posted by: Brian on January 4, 2004 05:28 PM

My addition to this list:

www.zopto.com

No 'submit url' functionality - just ping blo.gs and ensure rss autodiscovery works for your blog. :)

Posted by: Ben on January 5, 2004 02:44 AM

In Germany there are also some engines/directories :-)

First there is a new Directory for RSS-Feeds where you can also post your Blog-Feed (it's international, but german-speaking)
http://www.rss-verzeichnis.de/

You can submit the Feed-URL here
http://www.rss-verzeichnis.de/anmelden.php

Then there is a directory for german-speaking Blogs
http://www.weblogverzeichnis.de/

Submit-Form here
http://www.weblogverzeichnis.de/anmeldung.php

And two weblogs.com-Clones (also for german blogs)
http://www.blogbot.de/

and a commercial one
http://www.blogg.de/

These two you can ping to via xml-rpc or HTTP

Posted by: Thomas on January 6, 2004 08:59 AM

Aaargh. I hate the way you've formatted links. I move the cursor over one, and it changes case and size...and if it's long enough, it rolls over to a new line, which means it's no longer under the cursor. So it changes format again and moves back under the cursor. And so forth.

It basically means I can't click on them, and trying to use them triggers a horrible headache inducing oscillation.

Please, please fix this abominable misuse of css.

Posted by: PZ Myers on January 6, 2004 10:32 AM

Here in the Great White North, bloggers can register with our Yahoo-style directory of over 7,000 blogs. http://www.blogscanada.ca/directory

Blogs are categorized by topic and region. Listing is open to bloggers living in Canada and Canadians blogging from elswhere in the world.

Posted by: Jim Elve on January 6, 2004 12:28 PM

Blogstreet can be added - look at the bottom of the page! This is the link: http://www.blogstreet.com/bin/add.cgi

Posted by: Dick Ettema on January 6, 2004 06:39 PM

Great
Links!

I am not sure how useful this will proved end up...

http://ablogfather.blogspot.com/

Posted by: Jozef on January 7, 2004 11:24 PM

Spanish blog searches

http://www.bitacoras.com/
http://www.bitacoras.net/

Posted by: John A on January 8, 2004 02:58 PM

Here's another search tool to query weblogs in newspaper view format ... hope someone will find it useful ... currently in alpha development. :-)

Posted by: Rene Feliciano on January 9, 2004 10:05 AM

Hello really cool Blogsite! Ralf

Posted by: Kreditkarten on January 10, 2004 07:44 AM

Gee, am I the last to reply in this thread? :-)

An important mention is Topix.net: Topix scans blogs and online news sources and sorts articles based on location and topic: http://www.topix.net/

It uses creepy AI and a big knowledge base to catch references to streets, towns, jails, schools, rivers, parks, etc. and assigns a latitude/longitude to stories.

In addition, it detects references to sports teams, celebrities, politicians, companies and company officers, products, etc. and produces thousands of subject pages tracking in-depth news categories.

Posted by: Rich Skrenta on January 18, 2004 08:17 AM

Hi there, I was wondering if you would list our Blog SE here under "Big List of Blog Search Engines" Thanks Jennifer

Posted by: Jennifer on January 31, 2004 10:54 PM

Great job,

Thanks

Posted by: Omar RABHI on February 1, 2004 04:43 PM

Hey guys,

Thanks for listing my Blog Directory but it shows www.rootblog.com all though the link does go to Search4blogs.com

Just thought you should know... and thanks again.

Posted by: Jennifer on February 13, 2004 04:34 PM

This is NEW!

Posted by: todor on February 20, 2004 05:07 AM

Great list! Thanks.

Two articles you might want to mention are:

Web Blogs Defined, Explained and Understood
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/article21.html

RSS - The Making of a Feed
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/article18.html

Posted by: S. Housley on February 21, 2004 04:20 PM

Really interesting Blog!

Posted by: Kontaktlinse on February 24, 2004 10:48 AM

Here is another one:

http://www.blogdump.com/

Posted by: kendeji on March 31, 2004 08:33 PM

Thanks for the list :)

Posted by: MaThIbUs on April 19, 2004 02:13 PM

what regions do you cover?

Posted by: martha on April 26, 2004 11:16 PM

Found this new search engine for Blogs and web.

http://www.objectssearch.com/information/index.jsp

Posted by: Mike on May 13, 2004 06:09 AM

blog consacré a mylene farmer
mise a jour reguliere....

Posted by: chuck4201 on May 18, 2004 06:24 AM

The entrie site will be moved on MT soon. Submissions are welcome.

Posted by: Human-Culture on July 29, 2004 01:56 AM

New Blogs Directory

Posted by: Leon on July 31, 2004 04:16 PM

Might consider Blogory (http://blogory.com) too. It's a personalized weblog reader. It aggregates tens of thousands of weblog articles, learns from the articles you read, and helps you discover other interesting weblogs and weblog articles.

If your blog isn't already listed on Blogory, you can submit a request to add it at http://www.findory.com/cgi-bin/blogory.cgi?blog=1.

Posted by: Greg Linden on August 16, 2004 09:38 PM

Don't forget BlogPulse.

URL for submitting your blog: http://www.blogpulse.com/submit.html

Posted by: Natalie on August 17, 2004 01:45 PM