We all want traffic to come to our blogs. That goes without saying. What isn’t so clear however is generating traffic. I don’t mean just general traffic, but traffic that serves a purpose beyond incrementing our page views. That is the kind of traffic I am speaking of in this article. Generating it can be equally challenging and rewarding, but if you break it down to the basics it goes much smoother.

How do you get this traffic? Try some or all of these methods if you don’t use them already and see if it doesn’t greatly increase your blog traffic.

Be ahead of the curve

Breaking news is breaking for a very finite period of time. If what you have to say has been said by 500,000 other blogs you won’t reap the benefits. Instead of trying to figure out how to rehash the same old stuff all over again spend some time figuring a way to be innovative.

Prime example of innovation at work would be John Cow’s being *cough, cough* hacked. How did it turn out for Mr. Cow? Not bad at all from what I’m seeing. Innovation drives success. This is especially true in saturated markets like blogging.

Build strong relationships

There is no substitue for building strong relationships with other bloggers. Both big name and no names. They can and will all influence your success to one degree or another. There are some keys to building theses relationships.

• Communication – Successful relationships require communication
• Desire – If you don’t desire a relationship you won’t get one
• Commitment – Without commitment no relationship can flourish
• Honesty – A dishonest relationship is a dead relationship
• Trust – No relationship can survive without trust
• Respect – If a relationship does not have mutual respect how can it continue on?
• Loyalty – A relationship with divided loyalties is not going to stand

All of these elements need to be incorporated from the beginning. If not it is that much more difficult to establish them later on down the line.

Do not rely on others

I’m as guilty as anyone of trying to rely on other bloggers to send me traffic. I’ve learned that my greatest surge in traffic comes when I’ve put a true effort into writing an article. Sure I get a ton of traffic from Stumble Upon, but it is utter rubbish as far as a type of traffic goes. By type I mean traffic that converts. Traffic that will come back tomorrow, and the next day and the next, and the next. Traffic that will click on my ads and buy stuff through my affiliate links.

Don’t neglect others

By the same token you don’t want to neglect other sources of traffic either. Am I being duplicitous? Not at all! It is important to remember that ultimately you must rely on yourself, you own drive, determination, and your own skills to get the majority of good, qualified traffic. At the same time don’t be afraid to exploit other traffic generation methods for all they are worth. As it comes in consider it gravy on top.

Make your articles viable both now and then

By this I mean don’t write articles that are only valuable to a reader in the current season. If you don’t think you could read your post a year or three down the line it is not viable for future use. Make sure it is or you’ll alienate an entire demographic of your viewing audience. Namely those who find your articles via search engines.

Don’t write for yourself

Have you ever had to suffer through an eight year old reading his or her short story? That’s what it feels like when I have to read a blog post that is all about me, me, me!!! That probably sounds a little harsh, but think about it. Why would I come back again and again to read a blog like that? Better yet, why would you?

Develop and implement a traffic generation plan

We all have big plans for our traffic once we start getting hundreds of thousands of hits a day, but what about in the here and now? How do you plan to reach a hundred thousand if you can’t even reach 100? I developed a traffic generation plan when I first started this blog back in July. My intention was to have 500 daily viewers on average by January. I’ve since revised it to 5,000 unique viewers because of the growth I’ve experienced. That has only been possible because of my traffic generation plan.

The question I have for my readers is simply this… We all love traffic, but are you more appreciative of traffic you’ve developed yourself or traffic that a few stumbles has driven to you?