If you’ve done any research into blogging, you’ve probably been exposed to the standard formula for blogging success. This formula has been promoted by countless gurus and web marketers trying to sell blogging advice and “systems” and it goes like this:
- Pick an interesting topic for your blog
- Write interesting posts with catchy titles
- Optimize your blog posts for the Search Engines
- Promote your blog on blog directories and bookmarking sites
If you do these things, the forumula says, you will get the attention of the Search Engines (especially Google), and they will send you a “stampede of targeted traffic”.
In case you haven’t noticed, this formula relies almost exclusively on the Search Engines for traffic, and because of this it is seriously misleading. I can state with no hesitation at all that if you use this formula to get traffic to your blog you will almost certainly be disappointed by the results.
Yes, there are bloggers who get tons of traffic, and much of that traffic is driven by the Search Engines. But what you’re not told is that these bloggers have built up their list of followers over quite a long period of time, usually using a strategy other than simply relying on the hit and miss results you get from the search engines.
And if you are a local business – a real estate agent, accountant, lawyer, chiropractor, restaurant, landscaping company, etc., etc. – you are addressing a narrowly targeted local niche where the fact is only local followers matter to you. You will soon find that to rely on the search engines to deliver a lot of traffic from such a relatively small target market will be extremely disappointing.
For more ideas on traffic strategies that do (and don’t) work, get this free report called Blogs That Work.