Ladies and gents, I’ve done plenty of research and compiled 12 of the most successful ways to permanently increase your website’s traffic. By reading this post, you will gain valuable insight, knowledge and understanding of what it takes to generate large amounts of web traffic. I guarantee that even if you only choose to do several of the items on the compiled list below, you will significantly increase your overall number of blog readers and become aware of things you can do with your blog in the future to constantly, steadily increase site followers.

1) Comment on other blogs - Commenting on other blogs is a phenomenal way to increase traffic. Blog owners truly enjoy seeing new visitors or commenter’s blogs. If you contribute to other blogs with positive comments and aren’t commenting just to intentionally “spam” your website link, people will like you as a commenter and you will gain credibility. More people will be willing to check out your website if you write your views or response to dialogue already in the comments section. I recommend commenting on blogs with similar interests to your own. One big plus to commenting on other [sometimes popular] blogs is that some (i.e. JohnChow.Com) have a “top commenter’s” section. I frequently follow his blog and enjoy seeing a my name (with a link to my website) in the “top commenter’s” section. Especially since buying a link on this site for a month costs around $100! If you aren’t already commenting on other “like-minded” blogs, you are definitely missing out on getting your website some free extra exposure and a great opportunity to interact with fellow bloggers. I will be introducing a “top commenter’s” section to this blog, so unless you are going to offer me free or even cheap Viagra, don’t spam and be sincere.

2) Share “link love” - If you have a friend, or even are acquaintances with a “like-minded” blogger, it definitely helps to share “link love” with each other. What do I mean by sharing “link love?” I mean put them in your blogroll, write a free website review for each other, put their site in an advertising square on your blog; there are a large number of things you could do for each other. Many blogs require that you “buy a link” from them and use programs like “scratchback” to help their website generate some extra money. (I may give “scratchback” a shot in the future and write up a free product evaluation for my readers). The fact is, if you aren’t currently sharing any link love with other blogs, your blog is missing out, and other blogs are missing out! Now, it may be completely unfair to exchange links with a site that has considerably less traffic than your own because only the site with less readers would stand to significantly benefit. Try to find a site with similar traffic, similar content, and similar content quality to your own.

3) Use social networking programs (i.e. StumbleUpon, Digg, Reddit) - Lately, I have been experimenting with the program StumbleUpon and the social networking site “Digg.” I have been somewhat successful with Digg and very successful with StumbleUpon for increasing pageviews! StumbleUpon doesn’t really get me more readers because most StumbleUpon users want to keep “stumbling” through random web-pages on the web. After all, that’s the reason for which most people download StumbleUpon). However, S.U. does definitely increase my overall site views (sometimes up to 1,000) a day! It also helps me to build up a network of “like-minded people on StumbleUpon and Digg. If your article does well on Digg, it will most likely get your website very many extra readers because Digg users are not as eager to keep stumbling through the web. Digg can also put quite a load on your website server, so be prepared. A few of my friends have had tremendous success with Digg, but most people will agree that StumbleUpon gets your website way more pageviews per month. However, S.U. won’t necessarily build up RSS subscribers or a large base of frequent readers. I definitely recommend trying social networking programs like Digg & StumbleUpon if you haven’t already. All it takes is one article to skyrocket on Digg and you are set! If you haven’t already Stumbled or Dugg up AndrewPavelski.com, I would highly appreciate it! It is good to get your article some free exposure with plenty of views across the web. I feel that if my website gets 30 new readers from 7,000 pageviews, the social networking programs have served their purpose!

4) Get a customized website layout - Getting a customized layout could just be the best thing you ever do for your blog. A custom layout has potential to generate huge increases in overall traffic! A good custom layout can literally take your blog to the next level. Though there are many quality free templates on the internet, getting a custom template may very well be worth it. As far as templates, you get what you pay for… If you do not currently have a customized layout, I recommend checking out ChiQ Montes’ website and asking her any questions you have…get a quote! I also recommend checking out dnSEO.net as the website owner is knowledgeable about and sells Wordpress layouts. If you are looking for the highest quality of themes, be prepared to shell out $2,000 dollars. UniqueBlogDesigns has created layouts that I really enjoy like JohnChow.com’s and FatManUnleashed.com’s. As far as layouts go, you get what you pay for. If you do not already have a customized layout and are looking to make money blogging, I recommend you buy one. If you have enough money available, it may be one of the single most effective investments for your website. BloggingExperiment.com currently has a nice looking, quality theme for $75 dollars that I’ve considered buying for this website. John Chow reported a “125 % increase” in traffic after buying his current layout! My current favorite layout, if you don’t already know, is John Cow’s. This layout is perfectly customized to fit his blogging purpose and persona. My guess is that just one visit to his site has most bloggers ‘hooked’ from the layout alone!

5) Tell friends and family - If you haven’t already told your friends and family about your website and blogging plans, I highly recommend that you do! Family and friends can turn into loyal website followers that sincerely enjoy watching your website progress. Show them how to bookmark your website and make sure that they all know how to access their bookmarks or favorites. If you are extremely dedicated, you will have your family and friends bookmark the website and have them recommend your website to their families and friends. Word of mouth can go a long way in the blogging community and is definitely helpful when looking to increase website traffic. Another great thing about telling your family and friends about your website is that they help to serve as blogging motivation. I don’t know about you, but just thinking about having people I know monitor my progress is a huge motivation. They will ask questions about your website progress, tell you what they think about your site, and can offer some very helpful suggestions. So, if you haven’t already notified your family and friends about your site and plans, do it now!

6) Make a T-Shirt - This strategy worked particularly well for Gyutae Park in the recent contest “Winning the Web” Vs. “Tyler Cruz.” Gyutae ended up not only winning the contest, but getting plenty of free website advertising through the distribution of his customized “Winning The Web” T-Shirt [to his first 50 voters in the contest]. If you don’t currently have a customized shirt for your site, it is something you should definitely consider getting in order to boost traffic and gain promotional status. By wearing your T-shirt out in public or having others wear it in public, people will ask the T-shirt “wearer” about what their shirt says. The shirt “wearer” will then tell the person about the website that they got it from and explain or promote your website. The person who asked about the shirt will most likely be motivated to check out the website. Once they check it out, some of them will become frequent future readers and followers. I currently have plans to create customized shirts for AndrewPavelski.com contests and to sell them in a mini-store for my blog readers to purchase. If you haven’t thought about creating a custom website T-shirt, keep in mind that website shirts can be successfully utilized as a great promotional tactic and can definitely have an impact on traffic increases.

7) Join Blog Carnivals - If you aren’t already involved in “blog carnivals” I highly recommend you get involved. For those of you new to the concept of “blog carnivals,” I will explain them. Blog carnivals are a compiled group of blog posts or articles that all pertain the same topic. Each day at blogcarnival.com, there is a featured “carnival” pertaining a certain niche with all of its submitted posts. If you submit your best articles to a blog carnival under the correct niche, you can definitely gain increases in future website traffic. If you want, you can even get the coding from blogcarnival.com to host a blog carnival on your website. I am not sure how well ‘hosting’ a blog carnival works for increasing traffic, but getting your article into one or several carnivals definitely can help your website gain some more loyal followers. A helpful tip is to submit some of your highest quality articles. By submitting your highest quality articles, you will naturally attract more visitors than just submitting your latest blog entries. Blog carnivals also provide free ‘backlinks’ to your website, always are good for increasing traffic and getting your website name around the web.

8) Guest write on other blogs - Guest writing on popular blogs is definitely one of the best ways to cause a huge permanent increase in the number of visitors and RSS subscribers to your website. Just one guest blog post on a popular blog like John Chow, John Cow, or even Tyler Cruz’s website can bring in huge amounts of traffic. When writing an article for another site, it is important that you get the credit in which you deserve and that you choose some of your best content. If popular site readers find a very well-written guest post, they will definitely have plenty of motivation to check out your website and even subscribe to your RSS. Though some blogs have strict rules stating: guest writers are not allowed to publish this post on any other website, the huge traffic increase is worth this small sacrifice. If you do not want to guest write on a popular blog, consider posting an article on EzineArticles.com. Ezine articles can definitely get you more exposure as an author and boost your blogging status. Ezine articles also ranks pretty well with google so more people will naturally find their way to your website. A note to all of my readers: If you ever want to write for AndrewPavelski.com, send me a a message in the contact form. I will review your content and then post it up if I think it fairly represents the values of this website!

9) Have a contest - Having a contest on your own website with your readers or with another blogger is always something that attracts attention. Where attention goes, people follow and want to get involved. If you haven’t yet had a contest on your blog, it will definitely make more people aware of your website and will even motivate you to promote the living daylights out of your blog. Having a contest that gives away Entrecard credits, a free book, a free template, or a free layout, will definitely attract attention and subscribers. If you do have a contest, I recommend making it a requirement for your contest participants to subscribe as a reader via RSS. This will keep the crowd returning and will make visitors remember your site in the future. If you are having a contest with another blog or website, I recommend finding good competition and someone that you feel will help you generate a great web ‘buzz’. Tyler Cruz and. Gyutae Park definitely each benefited from the contest by getting free ‘backlinks’ from all of the contestants and a huge increase in future RSS readers. More people now know about their websites! If you would like to have a contest with AndrewPavelski.com at some point in the future, (know this: you will lose…) send me a message via the ‘contact’ section. I’d love to increase my traffic (while having some fun of course) and help a fellow blogger buddy increase theirs!

10) Write quality content - Quality content is the number one reason that people return to most blogs. If your site lacks quality content or you are too lazy to put in the necessary writing effort, your site won’t succeed. It takes consistent quality content to become successful in the blogging world. Another key is to write content that is useful to your readers; make them benefit from reading your site! Check your blog: can anyone benefit from reading it? When writing, I always make a conscious effort to keep my audience in mind. I ask myself: Who am I writing for? Would my audience find this post helpful? Is this post quality enough to put up on my blog? Take the time to edit your posts too. There isn’t really anything uglier than reading a post which is unedited and full of errors. One or two is fine, some blogging jargon is fine, but make an effort to minimize grammatical mistakes.

11) Buy advertising - A small ad can definitely go a long way on the web, depending on its location. Recently, I’ve been informed that FatManUnleashed is having a sale on his site’s advertising space because he needs to generate money to pay off his medical bills. His website has over 1,000 RSS subscribers and he has price-cut the advertising spots down to $28 dollars a month (which is a good deal for the number of subscribers and pageviews he gets each month). An advertising square on John Chow’s website will cost you a few hundred dollars each month, but it will also give your website a future permanent increase in the number of visitors and RSS subscribers to your website. In the blogging world it takes money to make more money! If you have the money, buying a quality advertisement will definitely work out well. In fact, you will most likely make back the money spent on advertising and then some! If you do currently have the money for advertising, look for the best ‘bang-for-your-buck‘ websites to advertise on like FatManUnleashed. Buying an ad on John Chow dot com will get you plenty of extra visitors, but if you shop around, you can easily generate a significant traffic increase by advertising other sites for less of a total expense!

12) Post in forums - When posting in forums, I recommend that you always edit your ’signature’ immediately after signing-up to include: your website URL beneath the statement of your website. I currently post in several blogging community forums like Digital Point, Blogger Forum, and even personal development guru Steve Pavlina’s community forum. When posting in forums, I recommend that you begin by offering useful advice to other bloggers. By posting helpful responses to other bloggers and not just ’spamming the forums’ with personal website links, you guarantee yourself the opportunity to get some extra blog readers. But, not only should you help other posters, you should find ways to promote your website [without actually spamming the forums and getting your account banned]. Be courteous to other posters and don’t just throw hyperlinks to your site around like hot potatoes. People will be extremely turned off and much less likely to visit your website if you are bombarding the forums with links to your blog. Forums are also a great way to get extra ‘backlinks’ to your website…(more backlinks = more possible traffic). Remember, when posting in forums: be courteous, be helpful, and promote yourself whenever possible without making the impression of a spammer!

After reading this comprehensive guide that includes 12 great ways to increase website traffic, you now have the ability to maximize success and increase traffic! Good luck to all bloggers and website owners. Be sure to keep following my progress.

AndrewPavelski.com