Building Traffic and Subscribers

Whether you are a writer who just wants an audience (don't we all?) or a dedicated blogger seeking to go pro (who knew that would be a job description?), or somewhere in between, traffic and subscribers are key to success as a blogger.

Let's face it, if you write a fabulous post and no one reads it or leaves comments, it feels a little - lonely? sad? pathetic? Even if you are a mom blogger and are supplementing the family income by venting a little about teething or grocery bills or the bottomless laundry bin, getting subscribers and traffic will open up doors to more types of income.

Here are some of my ideas for driving traffic and converting readers to subscribers, please let me know if you have others:

-Great content - of course this goes without saying.
-Consistent content - the more you blog, the more chance readers will come, and keep coming.
-Know your audience - your blog should be narrow enough in focus to reach a core audience but have enough give in the framework to allow for posts that make your blog unique.
-Develop a product - an ebook is a great idea for a giveaway that will keep on giving, spreading your blog's name as the book is passed along via email or by other bloggers.
-Give away someone else's product - Check my sidebar, I'm offering Yaro Starak's excellent ebook Blog Profit Blueprints as a free download for subscribers by email or RSS.
-Enter a Blog Carnival - You can find a bunch of them here, and earn free links and new readers.
-Host a Carnival or Contest - This not only brings readers but gives you content for your site.
-Post to Groups or Forums - Check Yahoo Groups or MSN for likeminded groups and participate in discussions. But really participate - don't just plug your blog.
-Leave Comments on other blogs - Again, make your comment relevant, not just a self reference.
-Use all of the free sources you can - MySpace, FaceBook, Twitter, Squidoo, etc.
-Ping your posts - use a service like Pingoat to submit your new posts to blog logs.
-Submit to Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon - works best if your friends vote for you too.
-Write articles - submit articles relevant to your blog topic to sites like eZine Articles.
-Ask and You Shall Receive -ask people to sign up, submit you to Digg, send to a friend.
-Make it easy - make sure to include social networking and Technorati widgets so it is easy for folks to submit your blog or post.
-Be a Friendly Blogger - offer link exchanges, guest posts, make sure people know how to contact you, and just like mom says, mind your p's and q's (you are writing for the world to see)
-Pay for a Review - you can get an established blogger to write a review about your site or product at Get Reviewed At ReviewMe! That's my affiliate link, so please, please use this if you buy a review : )

It may seem overwhelming at first, but you don't have to tackle it all at once. Set a goal to do one thing every day to drive traffic. Just one thing a day, like we are doing one post a day for NaBloPoMo. Today find a new blog to leave a comment. Tomorrow find out how to ping. Then it will build up and eventually, hopefully, reach a critical mass that explodes traffic for your site.

Hey, did I mention that I'm giving away an ebook for subscribing?

How a Beginner can Make Money Blogging.

Since I started blogging, I've really grown to love it, so much so that I'm beginning to wonder about making an income from it. I've gotten selected by a couple of blog carnivals (see that Adoption Journey Blog Carnival at Making Of A Mom and Carnival of Real Estate ), earned a few new subscribers, but I want to go bigger!

I have read several posts lately by professional bloggers about how they earn their income. While I appreciate that they reveal their sources, most require developing a steady stream of traffic. Obviously earning GoogleAd income requires having visitors click on ads, but even joining an ad network like BlogHer or signing up for sponsored reviews at Review Me require a minimum traffic level.

So what does a beginning blogger do to earn an income while building traffic?

One option I found is Suite 101, which offers revenue share for writing articles. I just signed up and my first article on staging a home for sale during the holidays is under review, so I'll let you know how it goes. Performancing also posts paying jobs for bloggers. Sometimes the pay is only a link back to your site and fodder for your resume, so read carefully. I also signed up at eHow , another site similar to Suite 101, but I haven't decided yet whether it is better to attack one such site full out or spread my talent across several sites : )

If you have any other suggestions you'd like to share, please do so in the comments.