If you blog to make money online, here are three tools you need to use straight away. If you’re not already using these tools, they can make a difference to your traffic and your earnings. If you’re using them already and have some other tools that you find indispensable, we’d love to hear what they are!
RSS
A lot of blog templates have RSS built in. If not, you should add it. Really Simple Syndication can help you feed your blog to other places and have people subscribe to you. In a future post, we’ll talk about some of the things you can do with your feeds!
MyBlogLog, BlogCatalog or BOTH
I’ve talked a lot about these tools here on SeanSEO and it’s because they add a level of interactivity to your blog. Using these interactive tools puts you in a directory and provides you with colourful widgets for your blog that allow you to see who’s visiting. When you click on a widget you can be taken to blog communities, ratings pages, tag clouds and individual member lists which can help you find more followers to network with and is a great tool to use for finding places in your niche to comment and trade links with. There are many benefits to using these services as they’re a combination of a blog directory and social marketing tool.
Magic Traffic Formula
Now you should go ahead and follow your own magic blog traffic formula to get people to that blog post. Do you have one yet? This kind of formula will include a handful of actions that you do after each blog post that will bring traffic to your website. The tools mentioned above will start you off but your little formula for getting extra traffic will help you significantly. Do you have a formula yet? If not, stop back tomorrow and I’ll give you a few tips to help you brew up a formula for getting maximum mileage out of each blog post you write.
About Sean Rasmussen
I already have RSS, Mybloglog and Blogcatalog.
I can’t wait to find out what the traffic formula is?
Maybe it’s social media, blog commenting,etc Whatever it is it will be around spreading the word that there is a new post.
I already have setup a feed to my Facebook fan pages. I presume that will be in the mix.
Can’t wait
Hi Sean,
I haven’t been using MyBlogLog or BlogCatalog as yet. But, if you say that these are really important then that’s reason enough to go and do them.
Jazz
I would use them.
Quite often I have pages ranking via these sites. I also get ranking via other sites I have never heard of. I presume they are picking it up via these sites.
I guess the more you want to achieve the more out there you have to be. And the easiest way is to start with the biggest players in the field. I am on both, but not really using them at the moment. Too many areas to be active in I guess, I have to pick and choose, otherwise i am getting lost.
Hi Renee,
I have the same problem. I can’t seem to get around everything. I have to pick and choose what to focus on as I can’t do it all. I try to focus on the ones that give me the most traffic and spend my time there.
I don’t know if it’s a magic traffic formula but it’s the only one I’ve got.
Hi Sean,
I have started a little Magic Traffic Formula and I am sure I can improve on it by using My Bloglog and BlogCatalog. I will also definitely come back for the next installment to learn what else I can do to bring people to my blog.
Hi Sean
I appreciate a check list like this. I have the RSS installed on my blog but now have to get MyBlogLog.
I need to get my magic blog traffic formula written up. I will be doing this as part of my Marketing plan this week.
Thankyou.
I have been wondering what the purpose of RSS feeds is and how they work. You’ve referred to do a future post. Was this done? If so, could I have some direction to find it, pretty pleeeeeeeze?
I noted from the webinar to check on blogcatalog and blog carnival – so am glad to find this article – thanks to Elly highlighting it on Sean’s FB talks
Has anyone the reference to the next blog with the magic traffic formula?
I have written a note to Sean on Facebook Fanpage today and hopefully he can get a link to us.
Hi Sean,
I have some of the tools on one of my sites I must go and make sure I put the blogcatalog on the other sites. there is so much to think about and remember that some times things get forgotten.
Must print out my to do list.
With regard to the three things you should use with blogging, I normally enable RSS on any blog I’m associated with.and I have accounts on MyBlogLog and BlogCatalog but haven’t been utilizing them to the fullest extent. I’m just starting to familiarize myself with them again.
So now it a case of coming up with a checklist of actions to do after each blog post that will bring traffic to the website – my own magic blog traffic formula.
Getting the mileage from the timee you have spent creating your blog is a great idea so that you can maximise your impact. Will need to create a list of what to do with after I have written each blog to ensure maximum value
Hi Jayne
Writing a check list of all the things you need to do is a very efficient way to save time and stay consistent. I have had too many lists at times so I had to do the opposite and precis everthing down to an overall daily list.
The good thing about this is I had to memorise the details (or was it good? I can’t remember lol)
I have had a list for the past two weeks which has been absolutely great to sit down and work through instead of sitting in front of my computer getting flustered with too many tasks to do.
Pleased with myself!
Hi Sean
The following link for the Blog traffic formula is only opening up to a quarter of the page.
I am sure many of us would like to see it. Thank yuo.
It’s ok now Elly. It has some good info there
Thanks, I would have probaby moved on and forgot about it.
Ineed to go back into my blogcatalog as I think it getting me spams – is it mybloglog!
Really, that isn’t very good Peter
Did you install Akismet?
Kind regards
Elly
I just tried it again and it is still not opening up.
We will have to wait for Sean to get it fixed.