I’ve said it many times, I lack perspective and go begging for it often. Last night I was trying to get my husband’s view on something which can be difficult at times. It’s not that he’s not forthcoming. With Jupiter in Sagitt...
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Karen of Ravenesque
Along with daily tarot card readings Karen writes elegant pieces on lunations and planetary aspects. Of special interest, however, are pieces on little used asteroids adding depth to a subject sparsely discussed. This reason alone makes Ravenesque a worthwhile blog to visit.
(Astroblogging)
Today we’ll look at strategies to improve your blog traffic. Here is the mud I sling at the wall.
Blog Traffic
Where does your traffic come from? For a long time with the first Astrology Explored, most of my traffic came from the aggregator’s which at the time was Elsa’s Top Ten Astrology News (which is no longer up), Jeffrey Kishner’s Astrology Blogger (same thing). Along around the one year mark, Google started to send me traffic. Apparently, after a year of blogging I made the search engines. It was a very long year. Once Google recognized AE as an authoritative source it sent me 60% of my total traffic. Along the way I learned the following:
Post Often and Regularly
During the first year of AE I made it a point to post everyday. I had a monetary incentive to do so, to be true, since the network paid me per post but it turned out for the best. Having an extensive body of work out there made it juicy pickings for the search engines.
Use Keywords in Your Posts
Yeah, it seems counter intuitive to the creative process, but sprinkling your posts with common astrology keywords is like saying “Here doggy, doggy” to the search engines. Use keywords in your title, and repeat them in your post. It helps, I swear.
Link to Other Blogs
I’ve mentioned before that you should make new friends. You should also link to their blogs. Julie Demboski does it by mentioning posts she likes at the end of her post. I do it by referencing the blog within the piece itself. Either way, when you link to other people, they are likely to return the favor.
List Your Blog in Directories
At one time this was the only way to get your blog noticed. Now there are more social networking tools out there and it is tempting to rely on them. While I personally recommend Networked Blogs through Facebook and Twitter to jump start your blog traffic, you should still spend the time to list your blog with directories. Blog Catalog is good if you take the time to log in fairly regularly and make sure your page is updating with your latest posts. List with Invesp.com and Top Listed.net/astrology at the very least.
Timing is Everything
Get your posts up early. If you are writing about an event in the future, like an eclipse, get your piece up at least a week ahead of the event.
Not Last and Certainly Not Least–Content
Posting regularly is good but not enough. If you want to build your traffic you might find you’ll have to stretch yourself as a writer and astrologer to build a broad body of work that captures the notice of the search engines. Jeffrey Kishner does it by having different writers on his blog, but we all don’t have Jeffrey’s luxury.
Topics that capture search engines’ attention are horoscopes, current events, crime topics, and celebrities. Specific astrological events that get hot play are eclipses, full moons, and equinoxes. Devote some of your posts to these topics and you’ll see an increase in traffic on those days.
Question: How have you improved traffic on your blog?
Image posted under a Creative Commons license from Flickr.
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Beth Turnage authors Astrology Explored as well as being publisher of Astrology Media Press. Beth is available for private consultations. You can contact Beth at starrynightastro@aol.com.
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Read more »
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