Creating Traffic to your Blog is important and you can do this with a little time and effort...
and best of all... you can do all this for FREE.

The sites I use most often are listed below:

Facebook.com - This is one of the best ways to get traffic to your Blog. After creating an account,
search for groups on your topic. Once you join the group, you can often add the link to the group page.
If this option is not available, start a discussion and ask a question with your link as a reference or you
can do the same thing on the wall. The key is to not spam the group! Be sure to make quality, relevant
comments that add to the group and not take away. Remember that both your name, and your Blog name
is at stake. I have seen several users get chastised for posting spam comments with links to their blogs.
This really looks bad and is a big no-no.

MySpace.com - MySpace is another popular and effective way to gain traffic and links. Post a link to your
blog in your intro or any of the other About Me modules. Start a blog through MySpace and leave reviews
of your blog posts as you create them. Again, the key here is to add quality content. Quality content is the
way to captivate viewers and get them to take action by visiting your blog.

YouTube.com - It is insanely easy to make a video and post it on YouTube. Sign up, add your video, and
insert several keywords and keyword phrases to attract viewers from search engines and YouTube searches.
Add a link to your blog and give a call to action in the video’s description. YouTube is well loved by the search
engines like Google and Yahoo and a great way to pick up traffic.

Answers.Yahoo.com - You need a Yahoo email address to log in (free to get). Then, you can either ask a
question about your blog’s theme or topic and add a link and wait for the answers to pour in, or you can search
for questions on your blog’s topic and post an answer with a link to your blog. Again, the key is NOT to spam.
Make your comments or questions sound “real” and remember to add to Yahoo Answers with quality input.

Clipmarks.com - Clipmarks is very easy to use, and even comes with a button you can add to your browser.
To use it, click the button, highlight some text from your blog, and hit save. From there you add a quick review
and keywords.

Del.icio.us - Del.icio.us is a popular bookmarking service. Most Blogs makes using this site easy - there are
ways to add a Del.icio.us button on every blog post! Don’t forget those relevant tags.

digg.com - On digg.com, people share what they feel is the best stuff on the Net. Blogs can have a digg.com
button on each post. You might generate a little bit of traffic through digg, but the trick to getting real long-term
traffic, and links from blogs that pickup on digg, is by putting up plenty of quality links and news stories. You
want to digg more than just your own blogs. digg what you consider to be the best of what the web has to offer
and others will soon follow you by friending and reading your posts.

Faves.com - Faves is a really easy way to pick up links, and also offers a browser button. After publishing a
blog, I hit the Faves button and add it to my list. When you Fave your blog, you can rate it, add tags and leave
a review.

Feedbite.com - With Feedbite you create what is called a bundle, or news blog. Write a couple of paragraphs
on the topic of your blog and put the link to your blog in the title of the short article. Others will vote up or down
your article and the most popular articles get a pretty decent amount of traffic.

Gather.com - Gather is a very active community of writers. To use Gather effectively it is best to write a short
article of original content. You can add links to your blog in the keywords placed within your article. Here, you
will find nice and helpful people who love to read and review articles and stories.

Google Alerts - Making comments on other Blogs relevent to the content on your own Blog will give you
backlinks. Go to Google Alerts and get updates when a new blog post comes out with keywords you choose
to follow. A simple way to find blogs with similar content and tht readers will follow back to your blog.

Hubpages.com - Hubpages is a popular site where you create a Hub, which is basically an article. Within
the article you can place a link to your blog in a keyword. The key to Hubpages, like Gather, is writing quality
original content and not abusing the link system by over doing it. Hubpages shares their AdSense revenue
with members, which is a nice perk.

Leave Comments - Interesting enough... leaving comments on other blogs will create a link back to your blog.
Try to comment on 10 blogs per day! See Google Alerts on how to find blogs to comment on or go to
My VM Team and post comments on your team blogs.

Mixx.com - Mixx.com’s tag is “your blend of the web”. Submit a link to the mix for others to vote up or down
and leave comments. This site is extremely easy to use and it only takes a moment to add a link. Remember
to use good keywords when submitting your link, as this helps the right people find your blog.

Reddit.com - Reddit is much like Mixx.com. It is very easy to add your link, a quick review, and keywords.

Stumbleupon.com - There is a Stumbleupon button you can add on each blog post and you can also add
Stumbleupon to your browser. Give a blog a thumbs up or down, add keywords, and leave a comment.
Stumbling your lens can really bring in a decent amount of traffic if used effectively.

Twitter.com - Twitter is a site where people meet, share their thoughts, make friends, and talk about what
they are doing. The key here is to take part in the community. Do not simply post link after link to your blog.
Instead, join in discussions, talk about what you are doing, and from time to time, talk about the blog you may
be working on.

Zimbio.com - Zimbio is great! It is very easy to submit your blog and add it to a related group. You can also
use your RSS feed to put your blog on autofeed - bonus!. Search engines like Zimbio, and I have been able
to track sales directly coming from Zimbio traffic.

There are other sites to help build links and traffic for your blog, but these are some of my favorites. You can
use these to help your blog get indexed quicker, to gain traffic, and to become more search engine friendly.

One last thing: I cannot stress enough how important it is to be responsible with Web 2.0 sites. Do not spam,
and do not pester others. Instead, contribute with quality content. Be nice to others and leave comments and
reviews of others work, as this will help to gain the trust and have others follow your work in return.

Three Important Keys to remember are:

1. Quality content is mandatory
2. Don’t spam!
3. Contribute as a useful user

Get started with any of these services today, and watch your readership grow.

Happy Blogging!
Scott OBrien - Google Me


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