Blogging is a funny thing. You write to get more traffic to your blog, you publish, you wait, and wait, and wait for readers to come, to find you and fall in love with the way you put words together. And then…your blog becomes an overnight sensation, much like the Beatles back in 1964, and you live happily ever after.

WAKE UP!!

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it usually doesn’t happen that way. Blogging is a lot of work. It takes time, commitment, and well, work…A LOT OF WORK.

Plus, in the world of blogdom it takes a village; building a group of people who will support you. THIS is probably the best part of blogging, finding your tribe and going to work to help each other build their blogs and achieve their goals. It is sometimes hard to believe that these bloggers you come to know and love through their posts, comments and social media venues are people you haven’t met face-to-face.

That’s not always the case. I met MAMA Kat at BBC Minneapolis. We did lunch. BFFs now. And I shared my first-ever taxi ride with Kendra from Stop Lookin’ Get Cookin’ , my favorite foodie blogger. Eventually I hope to meet Chris from The Mom Café, and Adrienne from The Mommy Mess, and Jenn from I Make Myself The Queen, and, and, and…

But until then I came across a few tips from Seth Godin’s blog about how to get more traffic to your blog. This is an older post of his, from the dark ages in fact, 2006. A lot has changed since then but a lot has stayed the same.
Here are a few of my favs from the list:

How to get traffic for your blog

1. Use lists.
2. Be topical… write posts that need to be read right now.
3. Learn enough to become the expert in your field.
4. Break news.
5. Be timeless… write posts that will be readable in a year.
6. Be among the first with a great blog on your topic, then encourage others to blog on the same topic.
7. Share your expertise generously so people recognize it and depend on you.
8. Write short, pithy post.
9. Write long, definitive posts.
10. Write about your kids.
11. Be snarky. Write nearly libelous things about fellow bloggers, daring them to respond (with links back to you) on their blog.
12. Coin a term or two.
13. Start at the beginning and take your readers through a months-long education.
14. Assume that every day is the beginning, because you always have new readers.
15. Have relevant ads that are even better than your content.
16. Write posts that each include dozens of trackbacks to dozens of blog posts so that people will notice you.
17. Run no ads.
18. Keep tweaking your template to make it include every conceivable bell or whistle.
19. Write about a never-ending parade of different topics so you don’t bore your readers.
20. Edit yourself. Ruthlessly.
21. Give credit to those that inspired, it makes your writing more useful.
22. Don’t be boring.
23. Write stuff that people want to read and share.