The answer to this is a resounding yes! STOP… before you rush away and start leaving comments on as many blogs as you can I would like to say that there is a RIGHT way and a WRONG way to do it. The right way will earn you a nice bit of traffic while the wrong way will make you look like a spammer. Are you ready to learn the right way?

Adding Value

This may seem obvious but you’d be surprised how many times you will come across the following:

“Great post”

and

“Thanks for the information”

and so on.

Although it is nice to show your appreciation for a ‘great article’ it is better to try and write something to it that extends upon the post.

Do you agree with the post?

Do you disagree with the post?

Have you had a similar experience that worked for you?

Have you had a similar experience that didn’t work for you?

Is the post about something you would try?

The benefits to adding a comment that moves beyond the typical ‘great post’, is that it allows you to share your expertise. This is the important part to blog commenting, sharing informative tips and experiences that extend upon the blog post will show you to be an authority in that area and encourage people (those that would like to find out more about you) to click through to your website.

Looking at the image above you will be see that my name (in blue) is hyperlinked to this website. You see, if people like your comment or are just curious about who you are they will click on your name and visit your link.

Wise Hyperlinking

When Hyperlinking out from a blog I recommend you use your name. This is because you want the readers to know who you are and if they want to find out more they will click on the link. You’ll often see names that look like this:

Derby SEO Company

or

Website Submission Software

Personally I think this looks spammy and I only recommend hyperlinking like this when the blog you are leaving the comment on has KeywordLuv installed. To find out more about this plugin and how to find blogs with KeywordLuv installed then you can read my previous post here.

If you contribute value to a blog over-and-over again through regular commenting the blog author will be much more accepting of you linking out to an external post. Let’s say I was commenting on this blog post my comment could look like this:

I agree with you that blog commenting is a great way of generating traffic and establishing yourself as an authority within your niche, especially when you are focusing on finding related blogs in your target market. I recently wrote an article about The Fundamentals of Traffic Generation that I think covers the core of getting more visitors to our websites and I believe it resonates with the message of adding value.

Regards,

Karl

Be sure to not just write blog comments that have the sole intention of getting you a deep link back to your website, this will be the fastest way of having your links removed before your comment is published or, worse, having your comment marked as spam. I’d mix it up and leave more comments without links than I do with links.

Multi-Author Blogs and Guess Bloggers

When you start finding blogs that you like in your niche you may notice that some are run by a group of authors while other blogs have guess bloggers that write the occassional post. Please be sure to credit the blog post author and not the blog owner when leaving a comment, this makes it look like you haven’t really read the post. It only takes a second to double check.

If you own a blog yourself, make it easier for your readers to engage with you by having your name as the author and not ‘admin’; you’d be surprised how many blogs I come across where it is like that.

WordPress Plugins That Reward Users for Commenting

The great think about WordPress is the many plugins that a site owner can use to increase the user experience. When you start incorporating blog commenting into your traffic generation strategy you’ll want to focus on blogs that will give you additional rewards.

The first plugin to note is the Top Commentators plugin that rewards the top commentators with a sidebar link back to their website. You can view this in action by visiting John Chow’s Blog and taking a look to the right of the page (you will have to scroll down a short way).

I recently wrote about the KeywordLuv WordPress Plugin and I recommend you read the post and even use the neat KeywordLuv search engine that will help you find KeywordLuv enabled blogs.

Additionally, you can also read my post on another great plugin, the CommentLuv WordPress Plugin, and you can also find the CommentLuv search engine that will help you find CommentLuv enabled blogs.

To find blogs in your niche in general you can perform a google search as illustrated below:

your keyword “blog”

Now, to stand out from the crowd.

Gravatar

When you start visiting blogs on a regular basis you will see that many commentators will have a pic accompanying their comment. Gravatar allows you to register with their website and upload a photo. Now when you leave a comment, using the same email you registered with, your pic will appear next to your comment for the world to see.

This is a great way to add a touch of personalisation and help you stand out from the crowd.  This site uses Gravatar so if you wish to leave a comment and show the world your beautiful face then feel free.

Making It Real Easy

Okay, you’ve probably started to think that this is really hard work. Well, you can make it very easy by using iGoogle as your dedicated homepage (control panel in my case). Now, for every blog you visit and like simply grab the RSS feed and add it to your Google Reader and then add your Google Reader to your iGoogle homepage so you’ll now when a new blog post is live (I’ll create more detailed post in the near future walking you through the steps of how to create an iGoogle homepae and make it a killer resource).

One of the reasons you’ll want to know when a new blog post goes live is so you’ll be able to head straight over to the blog and be the first to comment. If the post is on a high-traffic blog you will receive a decent number of visitors to your blog.

Final Thoughts

Blog commenting is a great way of spreading your links across the web but your success of finding targeted visitors will greatly improve when you focus on finding blogs that are related to your niche and when you provide value to other blog readers.

This is also a great way of gaining additional exposure from blog owners who may invite you to become a quest blogger on their blogs.

Please never spam anyone and leave intelligent links for all to enjoy.

To your success,

Karl Foxley

P.s. For more information about makeing money from blogging then take a look at Atomic Blogging.

photo credit: bradleygee

BlogCatalog is a great blog community that you can tap into if you have a blog. Register with the website and add your blog to their listings and then every time you add a new blog post to your blog it will be shared on the BlogCatalog website for the entire network to see.

BlogCatalog also has a groups area where a wide range of topics are waiting for you to join, share your knowledge and build relationships with other BlogCatalog users.

Why not start your very own group and lead the discussion!

You can also plug in your social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, etc so that all your activity on these sites will be updated on yourBlogCatalog profile (even more exposure for you and your company).

What are you waiting for? BlogCatalog is free to join and a great source of blog traffic and blog exposure.

To your success,

Karl Foxley

I’ve decided to start blogging regularly about link-building and traffic generation. Instead of writing a 30 tips to more traffic etc, I’m going to share each one individually as I come across them, test them and get a decent result.

I am going to qualify each tip I share as a successful traffic generation tactic if it generates, at least, a few visitors to my website per week.

Although only a few visitors to my website a week isn’t heaps of traffic by any stretch of the imagination, the cumulative affect of having lots of links all sending a handful of visitors each week will turn out (over time) to be a good sized piece of traffic that’s not to be sniffed at.

The tips will cover:

• Link building for traffic generation.
• Link building for search engine optimisation.
• Link building for local search (great for businesses operating in a particular region).
• Traffic generation best suited for squeeze pages (lead capture pages).
• Traffic generation through search engine placement from alternative websites (those that you do not own).
• New places to share your RSS feed.
• What ever I consider to be ethical, whitehat and to the benefit of your website and business.

So, what should you do now!

The first tip is going to go live tomorrow so I recommend you grab our RSS feed and stay-up-to-date with our latest posts as they go live.

If you have any traffic generation methods and link building tips you want me to trial, test and share then use the contact form or leave a comment; no affiliate links please.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for the first post!

To your success,

Karl Foxley

P.s. I’m giving every page that is related to this topic the tag [lbtt] so you’ll be be able to pull them all up together when you do an on-site search.

Adding a variety of online marketing strategies can help you to diversify visitor streams and below you will discover a list of alternative ways you can do this.

I recommend you only us the traffic generation methods that you feel comfortable using. Below you will find some of the usual suspects and maybe a few that you hadn’t heard of or thought of using. Enjoy!

You Tube

Create videos that you can upload and share on YouTube and other video sharing sites. You can use free screencast software, Jing, or the more powerful Camtasia. You can use the popular FlipMono to make videos of yourself and others.

You Tube

Also try:

Revver

Blip.TV

Daily Motion

Scribd

Scribd is the You Tube for PDFs. You can create quality looking PDFs for free with Open Office Writer. Open Office is every bit as good as Microsoft’s offerings but will cost you nothing.

Make sure you complete your profile and add a link to your website.

Also try:

DocStoc

SlideShare

Not only can you create PowerPoint presentations and record them using the screencast software above allowing you to share them over the video sharing sites, you can also add them to SlideShare. SlideShare is a powerpoint presentation sharing site. Be sure to include your website link in your profile and within your presentations.

Also try:

Author Share

Slide Boom

You can create presentations online with 280 Slides.

Facebook

Join Facebook, complete your profile, add your website and then connect with people. Create groups and fan pages for extra exposure. You can upload your images and videos to share with the people you are connecting with.

You can find me on Facebook with my own easy to remember link: www.facebook.com/karlfoxley.

Also try:

MySpace

Bebo

Hi5

Friendster

Flickr

Create images to share with the world using Flickr. Upload free graphic packages for people to share and download. Create a profile and include your website URL. Have a complete package on your website and point your shared images to the full package. You can share also share photos.

To create your own graphics or eye-catching images you can use the free GIMP software or Adobe’s Photoshop.

Also try:

Photobucket

Write Articles

You can write articles and share them on popular article directories. You can get more info by signing-up to our 7-day Mini-Course where article marketing is covered or read the document on Scribd by clicking here. I recommend starting with Ezine Articles, be sure to complete your profile and include a link to your website.

Also try:

Go Articles

Helium

Join Forums

Find and join forums in your niche. If you are into online marketing then I recommend your join the Warrior Forum and Conquer Your Niche. Read more about how to use forums for marketing by visiting here.

Twitter

Join the ever popular micro-blogging community and start Tweeting. Twitter has a profile section that you can use to include some info about yourself and your website and include a link. Start following people and you’ll soon start gaining followers yourself. Connect with me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/karlfoxley.

To learn how to create your very own custom background then I recommend the video series that Dave Guindon has inside his membership site. Take a look at all the video series that Dave has uploaded over at Daves Online Videos.

Further reading: Micro-blogging for business.

Also try:

Tumblr

Plurk

Linked In

Linked In is the Facebook for professionals. Join, complete your profile and add your website links. Now join some relevant groups and be an active member.

Killer Startups

Killer Startups is a review site for new websites released on the web. List your website on here and you will get a lot of free exposure.

Pimp This Blog

Pimp This Blog is a place for bloggers to share their best articles and blog posts. Pimp This Blog will share the content over many other networks such as Twitter.

Join Freelance Services

If you are a service provider such as a writer, coder, SEO consultant etc you can join the many freelance services and use them for extra exposure of you and your company.

Take a look at:

Hire My Mom

Project 4 Hire

Guru

Advertising Directories

Add your services or products to the popular advertising directories such as Craigslist. You can read more about this by visiting here.

Also try:

INetGiant

1 Stop Classifieds

Ebay

Join eBay and sell your products on the popular auction site for extra exposure. You can also create an About Me page where you can promote your website or send people to a profile page that then links to your websites and product pages. Always include details about your website in your products packaging.

Amazon

Similar to eBay, sell your items on Amazon and make sure you include your website information where ever possible and certainly in your product packaging.

Kindle

Read documents on a wireless reading device; introducing the Kindle. Sell your documents to Kindle readers through Amazon’s eBook program. Make sure you include a bio and links to your website.

Podcasts

Take your content, articles and blog posts, and turn them into podcasts. You can use a simple USB Microphone to record your voice and download the free Audacity for editing. You can learn a lot more about podcasting over at Geek News Central. You can submit your podcast to popular podcast directories such as Podcast Alley. To see what you can do with a great podcast take a look at Blog Talk Radio (you can even register to start your very own show).

Groups

Groups are a bit like forums in that you become a meber of a community and establish yourself as an expert, sharing advice and tips. Point to relevant documents on your website / blog that answer peoples questions.

Try:

Google Groups

Yahoo Groups

Answer Questions

Answering questions and helping people to solve their problems can be a great source of traffic. Join Yahoo Answers and answer questions in your chosen field of expertise. Great a profile and include a link to your website.

Shopping Comparison Sites

This is a great way of generating a lot of exposure to your products. Simply register with the popular shopping comparison sites and list sign-up for a merchant account. Get started with Shopzilla (BizRate), scroll down to where it says ‘merchant listings and advertising’.

Write A Press Release

Write a press release about your latest website or service. The benefit of doing this is that you will get lots of search engine optimised links (if you do it properly) spread across the web on authority sites pointing back to your website. Do you have anything news worthy to write about? I recommend you use PR Web for handling your press releases. Submitting a press release is well worth the fee.

Also try:

1888 Press Release

PR Leap

Employ An Affiliate Workforce

Do you have a product or service? Why not recruit an army of affiliate marketers to go out and promote your product / service for you! This can method of traffic generation can see you get masses of traffic.

If you have a digital product then list it on:

Clickbank

Pay Dot Com

E-Junkie

If you sell a service or tangible products then try:

Affiliate Announcer - get your affiliate programme in front of thousands of affiliates every day.

Joint Ventures

Joint ventures are one of the best traffic generation methods around. I’ve written the Guru Traffic Secret Report that covers this method further. You can find JV partners from dedicated websites such as JV Network. Alternatively, find website and product owners that are a good fit for your business and contact them regarding a link, ad or email swap.

Advertising Browser Ads

Free Traffic Bar sites on your browser and displays ads for every page you surf. For each page that you surf you earn credits that can be used to show your ad on other peoples browsers who have the Free Traffic Bar installed. This means that you will earn credits for surfing the web as you would normally. Works with Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers.

Also try:

Instant Buzz

Further reading:

Free Traffic Bar Advertising

Instant Buzz and Instant Buzz Mastery

Traffic Exchanges

Not everyone likes these websites so using them is at your discretion. Register with the sites below, add your website details and then manually surf other peoples websites. You’ll earn credits so that you can send a number of visitors to your website. The best way to use these is to create a splash page (has a headline, an eye-catching graphic and a call to action that encourages surfers to click through to your actual website) For more details on this method and a list of the best exchange then click here to read Top Traffic Exchanges.

Safelists

Safelists are another controversial traffic method but if you know what you are doing then this is a great traffic generation method. A safelist is not spamming, people opt-in to receive your email. I recommend you create a squeeze page (look at Guru Traffic Secret for an example of a squeeze page) and use AWeber or iContact to capture leads that you can then engage with using email marketing.

I recommend Blast Your Ad.

Resource: Online Selling For Newbies

List Builders

Build your mailing list by joining list-builder sites. To really benefit from these types of websites you need to upgrade your accounts from free to paid membership. For example, if you upgrade at Downline Builder Direct you will be able to email 20,000 random members every two days. This method of traffic generation is not for everyone so only use it if you feel comfortable in doing so. I recommend sending people straight to a squeeze mail and getting them onto your email list.

Also try:

List Dot Com

Build My Downlines

List Auction

Software

Have you developed software  or widgets that you would like to give away for free. Maybe you have a trial version. Then you can get a serious amount of traffic from adding your software to Download.com.

Also try:

Brothersoft

Free Download Center

Website Directories

Add your website to dedicated website directories. Only submit your site or blog to directories that are what they say they are and not link farms. I recommend DMOZ, Best of the Web (they also have a blog directory) and Yahoo’s Directory.

Pay Per Click Advertising

Pay per click advertising allows you to advertise across content networks and in the search engines sponsored results driving you lots of targeted traffic. You will need to understand how PPC works to fully capitalise on this marketing method but, when you do, the payoff can be huge.

Recommended networks:

Adwords

Bidvertiser

Adbrite

Yahoo

Ask

Hub Pages

Hub Pages allows you to create Hubs on particular topics you wish to write about. Your hubs can receive trememdous amounts of traffic and you should create a complete profile pointing back to your website.

Squidoo

Very similar to Hub Pages except you create lens. Visit Squidoo and create your first lens. For both Hub Pages and Squidoo you want to create each Hub / Lens about an individual topic.

Ezine Advetising

Ezines are newsletters that people have signed up to in their area of interest. What this means to you as an advertiser is that you can pay a small fee to advertise in an Ezine that is sent to your target market. To learn more about this form of marketing you need to take a look at The Directory of Ezines. Visit The Ezine Directory to find Ezines in your niche.

Posterous

If you want a bit more Twitter but not as much as a blog then Posterous is the perfect middle ground for you. If you have short blog posts that you question are right for your blog then post them on Posterous. You can get a good amount of traffic from using the site.

Blogging

Creating a blog is a great way to drive traffic to your main website or products. Blogs are loved by the search engines and are readily indexed. You can set up a blog on dedicated sights like Blogger or WordPress. However, I recommend you host your own blog using either WordPress.org‘s self hosted blogging platform or Blog i360.

WordPress Plugins To Make Your Blog A Traffic Generating Machine

Feedburner – let Feedburner handle your RSS feed making grabbing your feed a breeze.

FD Feedburner Plugin – seemlessly manages your Feedburner RSS for you without you having to mess with the theme.

All In One SEO Pack – helps you optimise your blog for the search engines for better search rankings.

Tweet My Blog – sends a Tweet to Twitter to let your followers know you have a new blog post.

Sociable – allow your readers to share you content easily with just one click of a button.

Referrer Detector - give your visitors a welcome message and an opportunity to sign-up to your RSS feed. The message is customised to match the referring website.

Google XML Sitemaps – creates a Google friendly sitemap (plus Yahoo, MSN and Ask).

Subscribe To Comments - allows your readers to receive an email each time another comment is added to a post they have commented on.

No Ping Wait - alert many other sites that you have updated your blog. No ping wait does this instantly!

No Self Ping - prevents WordPress from sending pings to your own site.

Minor Edit – this plugin allows you to make small changes to a post without resending a ping (and possibly getting you listed as a spammer).

Blog Networks

The following sites are places you can list your blog, join communities and earn lots of traffic. You can also add widgets onto your blog like the community widget from MyBlogLog on the right sidebar.

MyBlogLog

BlogCatalog

Technorati

Pijoo

Blogarama

Best of The Web Blogs

Blogging Traffic Tactics

Blog Commenting – visit top blogs in your niche or business sector and comment on the blog posts. Add value and provide a solid contribution to each site and you will be rewarded with visitors to your website who want to learn more about you. Most blogs will allow you to add your website URL so make sure that you do.

Become A Guest Blogger - like a blog in your niche? Why not submit a guest post with the only requirement is that you are allowed to link out to your website.

Share Your Posts - let your readers and other blog owners know that they can use your content as long as they link back to your website.

Conclusion

Getting visitors to your website can be easy when you know how! I hope you’ve enjoyed this post. If you thing there is anything I’ve missed then drop me a line and I’ll add it in there somewhere.

To your success,

Karl Foxley