How do I get people to visit my blog? How can my blog get noticed?

This is the number one question all new bloggers ask, for without visitors you’ll just be sitting there, day after day, blogging to yourself.

Here is my list of 10 things to do that will get your blog noticed. When you first start, you should do all of them. Yes, it’s a slog, but it’s the only way to break through and get people to find you.

1. Post on other blogs

Search on Google Blogs for other blogs in your niche. Add a nice helpful comment that adds something to the post. Don’t just say ‘great post - look at me’ - contribute a genuine comment that the blog owner will approve of. Include your URL in the post if you are allowed to do so.

2. Post on forums

As above - don’t spam, don’t pitch, just add useful, helpful, constructive comment. Include your URL in your signature. If the forum doesn’t allow signatures on posts then don’t bother with that forum.

3. Yahoo Answers

Search for people asking questions about your niche in Yahoo Answers. Provide helpful answers, quoting your appropriate blog post URL in the link box at the bottom of your answer. If you don’t have an appropriate blog post, write one that answers their question first and then post your answer quoting the post you just wrote.

4. PPC

Buy traffic on a pay-per-click basis: Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing, etc.

5. Join Blogrush

Blogrush is John Reese’s network of blogs. But don’t join until you have your blog fully set up with at least 5-6 posts/pages. Each blog is manually approved and they might reject you if your blog is too thin.

6. Keep on blogging

Bigger blogs tend to get higher rankings in the search engines. Just keep on adding posts naturally over time with the aim of becoming an authority blog in your niche.

7. Make friends on Facebook

Join Facebook and find friends to network with. Don’t spam, don’t pitch - just be natural.

8. Squidoo lens

Create a Squidoo lens in your niche. Have your blog’s RSS feed on your lens. Contact other lensmasters in your niche, sign their guestbooks and work to get your lens ranked. Squidoo is great for getting indexed fast.

9. Write articles

Write articles about your topic and send them to ezarticles.com, isnare.com, goarticles.com etc. Have your blog URL in your resource box.

10. Blog carnivals

Join in a blog carnival at blogcarnival.com. A great way to plug into other people’s traffic!

Then rinse and repeat. Keep doing this, day after day, and gradually you’ll get traction. Above all, don’t give up!