Everyone could use a little extra traffic, let’s explore some ways to get it.

1. Comment - This will always be first on my list of ways to generate traffic. Although there are plenty of methods that will produce faster results, commenting produces the BEST results in terms of quality. Although it’s slower, it gives you a chance to catch up on what’s going on in the blogosphere, and to network with other bloggers… which may be the most important traffic building technique of them all.
2. Visit Forums - This ties in with commenting. You need to be visiting forums on a regular basis and interacting with other bloggers. In order to survive in the blogosphere you need to build relationships. There are no better ways to build a relationship with a blogger than to comment on their blog, or chat with them via your favorite forums.
3. Write Quality Content - I’m sure by now this goes without saying, but quality content is what keeps people coming back. Any idiot can get someone to visit their blog, but a good blogger will be able to keep them there with riveting content. You need to be able to catch, and hold peoples attention using nothing more than the words on your page.
4. Take Advantage Of SEO - Search engine optimization will bring you a ton of visitors, but it takes time. I’ve managed to secure some SEO help here at OMG from Robert Holland, who is my guest blogger & SEO consultant here at OMG.
5. Social Bookmarking - Every post should be submitted to at least the “big three” social bookmarking services. The big three are Digg, StumbleUpon, and Del.icio.us, but you should also add Reddit to the mix if you have time. You may be missing out on a ton of traffic just by skipping this easy submission process.
6. Linkbait - Get bloggers attention. Whether it be something controversial or a helpful list, get someones attention. Successful articles can generate hundreds or even thousands of backlinks. And having that many backlinks out there is bound to get you a few more readers. My first big linkbait success at OMG can be found here. It’s an article that took a lot of research, but it got me a lot of attention, including my first link from an A-List blogger… Darren Rowse from Problogger.net
7. Encourage Your Readers - Whether they be new bloggers, or seasoned professionals, everyone appreciates a little recognition. Make sure to congratulate people for accomplishments, and make sure to let your readers know how important you are to them. Another one that doesn’t sound like a traffic building tip, but let me assure you that this is one of the most powerful methods of all. It’s more about retaining readers you do have, but a happy reader is always quick to tell friends about you, link to you, etc.
8. Respond To Every Comment - Whether you respond on your blog, their blog, or via email is up to you, but you should be acknowledging those that take the time to leave comments on your blog. It may not sound like a traffic building technique, but it certainly works out to be one. It ties in with #1 (commenting), and allows them to return the favor by (again) commenting on your blog. Plus you’ll pick up the occasional straggler from their blog and convert them to a long-term reader or yours. You can also read this - How To Get More Comments.
9. Write An Authority Article - If you are an expert on something, write about it. If not, do an experiment of some sort. My experiment - Paid Traffic Deathmatch - involved a healthy sum of cash, but yours doesn’t necessarily have to. Get out there and find something to be an authority about.
10. Write An Ebook - Write an ebook about something.
11. Get A Sponsored Review - You can get one on OMG for the low sum of $60. It appears to over 500 Rss readers, and everyone that visits the site, and it remains on the homepage for at least 5 days. You can get these on just about any blog, and they are a fantastic way to find new readers. Ok, this isn’t free… but effective! There are ways to get free sponsored reviews though… you could always trade reviews with another blogger, or simply ask them to plug a post or product for you.
12. Guest Blog Somewhere - You’ll never know how powerful this method is until you’ve tried it.
13. Write Titles With Numbers In Them - People like to read, bookmark, and link to posts with numbers in the titles. For example - 51 Great Places To Find Wordpress Themes, 9 Reasons Why I’m Cooler Than John Chow, 101 Wordpress Plugins That You May Not Have Known About, The 7 Types Of Visitors, and a big one… How I Generated Over 3,000 Backlinks In 6 Weeks. Notice a trend here? If you look in the sidebar and click on the “popular” or “comments” tabs, you’ll notice that most of the posts that are featured there have numbers in them.
14. Blog Carnivals - A great way to build backlinks and generate new traffic. Read more about blog carnivals.
15. Spend Hours On A Huge List - The two posts that took me the longest to write, miraculously still bring traffic to OMG to this day. And both of them are at least a few months old. It’s worth the work!
16. Offer A Free Resource - You can use an Ebook, a report, a plugin, a Wordpress Theme, or a giant list. Anything you can think of that will provide value to your readers falls into this suggestion. Try it!
17. Link To Other Blogs - There is something in a bloggers mentality that remember those that link to him or her regularly. They are often quick to return the favor, which may bring you new readers. Do unto others…
18. Have A Contest - I had my first contest within a month of launching my blog, and the results were fantastic. It still falls into my “popular” category to this day. It’s also one of my most commented posts.
19. Interview A Blogger - It doesn’t have to be an A-Lister, just someone that you find interesting. Chances are if you find the blogger interesting, at least some of your readers will too.
20. Submit Articles - By now, I hope you are using the Article Submitter from IM Wishlist to submit all of your articles. I use it here and I preach about it daily to other bloggers. Not only does it generate quality backlinks, it brings in traffic from time to time when your article is picked up by a huge source.
21. Create A Podcast - I have created exactly ONE podcast for OMG, and it’s something that I need to do more often. My one and only podcast is still getting downloaded to this day, and it is a few months old now.

Popularity: 8% [?]