Throughout various blogging communities, a frequently asked question by all new bloggers is “how to I gain more traffic to my blog?”

1. Optimize your posts for search engines. Use your keywords in the title of your post.

2. Submit your blog to Dmoz, Yahoo Directory and blog directories.

3. Claim your blog at Technorati.com.

4. Ping the search engines and directories after you have updated your blog. Be sure to bookmark pingomatic.com, so that you can ping a number of services at once.

5. Post often. Not only will your visitors return; you’ll draw the search engine robots and spiders right in.

6. Write and submit articles to various ezine directories on the net. Include your link in your author byline. Like my example below.

About the Author

Rose DesRochers is a published poet and freelance writer. Rose has been writing poetry for more than 20 years. She is also the founder of http://www.todays-woman.net/ , a supportive online writing community for men and women over 18. She is also the Assistant Administrator of http://www.invision-graphics.com/.

7. Use FeedBurner.com to publish your RSS.

8. Read and comment on other blogs - I spend a great amount of my time involving myself in the blogging community. I pop into a number of blogs and offer feedback and take time just getting to know my fellow bloggers. It’s both fun and rewarding. In doing so, I have managed to build a small readership and I’ve made some new wonderful friends.

9. Add a link to your blog in your email signature.

10. Add other bloggers links to your site. But, don’t beg other bloggers to link to you. If someone likes your content then they’ll link to you.

Have fun with your blog and don’t forget to use a counter to track your visitor stats. http://www.sitemeter.com/

Please feel free to add your own tips. I’m sure that there are many that I’ve missed.

Rose DesRochers