Ultimate part. Ultimate male. Almost.

Let’s recap really quickly.

Part 1: A bunch of people in Westminster brought you 11 setup tips to bring in traffic.

Part 2: Then Megan Fox presented 10 content ideas.

Part 3: Finally, Emma Watson finished off with 12 more content tips.

Oh, alright, they weren’t really presented by celebrities. Pffft, you readers are so picky!

Today’s ultimate part of the list isn’t presented by Johnny Depp, the ultimate male. Yes, I know he’s usually voted second to Mr. Pitt but he’s married to a Frenchwoman, so he’s cooler, alright? Jeez, talk about pedantic.

Mr. Depp will (not) be bringing you 16 “other” ways to bring extra visitors your way. These include linkage, social, advertising and other-other things. Off we go!

Part 4: Other Drivers

a. Linking

34. Back scratching

The best links are reciprocal links. You scratch my blog and I’ll scratch yours. Most people have a blogroll or some kind of “friends” list on their site and, if you can convince someone popular to add you, you can get some free traffic.

Be careful of untrustworthy types, though. It’s not unknown for site owners to add you until they see your link to them, then wait a few days and whip your link off their page. Run round every now and again to make sure your back’s being scratched, not stabbed.

35. It’s good on the inside, too

Internal site links do improve an individual page’s PR. They won’t help the whole site’s PR but that’s not really the idea. You’re building a spider’s web for your visitors, where they go from post to post because they’re all so interesting.

The longer someone stays on your site, the more likely they are to want to come back – assuming you’re adding content, anyway. People who land on a page then click away aren’t the visitors you want if you’re trying to build a community (or get lots of click-through revenue off AdSense).

36. It’s better on the outside

Ever heard of trackbacks? They’re like reciprocal links between blog posts rather than whole sites. As a rule of thumb (or any other appendage), you should always link to someone else’s content if you mention it or use it in any way. Like for research or something. If you’re lucky, that person will link to your post and give you a trackback. If you’re luckier, they have lots of traffic.

These links improve PR and can bring millions of visitors to your site. Well, OK, so that’s not likely… lots of visitors, anyway. That’s also the idea behind the bookmarking sites.

37. Ooh, look!

If you find something really cool, point to it. It doesn’t matter if no one’s ever heard of it – in fact, that’s probably better. “Discovering” a killer app for whatever your niche is, an amazing article, a profound yet strangely profitable piece of advice… anything that other people will like. Point to it. Jump up and down and go “Ooh, look!”

And mention your post to whoever created the thing you’re pointing at. A little recognition from their side can’t hurt.

38. In other news

If your site’s advertising something that you can do press releases about, do them. It doesn’t really matter whether you have anything new to say about your product/service these days: people post releases about nothing all the time. Even a release like “Nothing new to announce but the product’s still cool” will go down just fine with the vast majority of brain-dead web-wanderers and tabloid journalists with a column to fill.

Put your announcement on as many free press release sites as you can. I honestly don’t know if anyone reads them but if they do, you might pick up a bunch of extra hits. I was going to link to Mashable‘s list of sites but it’s only got 20 and it’s seriously outdone by the pure simplicity of Avangate’s 50-strong version (plus LOTS more in the comments). So much for the big, popular site having the best info. Ooh, look! Press release sites!

39. Take your shoes off

Ever considered letting someone else post on your site? Why not? Guest posts save you the trouble of coming up with something creative for a day and give your readers a break from you, too. Another point of view is always a good thing.

If you’ve had a barney with another blog, try inviting the owner to guest post and rebut or refute your accusations. Not only will that make you look cool, it’ll give you some fodder for a follow-up. I want a good, clean fight… no hitting below the waist…

b. Social

40. Eggs and spam

Do not spam. I’ll say that again: do not spam. Spamming is any unsolicited email, which means that sending an update to your blog subscribers without their permission is still spam. They only signed up to receive new posts, not your random updates.

Spamming is the worst thing you can ever do unless your business is one of those vomitous Get Rich Quick things, in which case everyone already knows you’re a vile, obnoxious, unethical scum-sucking asshole.

41. How many roads must a spam walk down?

OK, so you’re not spamming. But you can inform people about your amazingly cool site update through as many channels as possible: think Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Plaxo, LinkedIn, Bebo and wherever else you have accounts.

Don’t forget the bookmarking sites, either – Digg, StumbleUpon, Delicious and all the others can pop more people over to your site, especially if you can convince your readership to add their oomph to your listing. That’s how I got a viral thingy – a bunch of people Dugg it.

How many social sites/networks are there out in virtualcrazyland anyway? Wiki knows.

42. Don’t ignore people

You know this, right? I don’t have to tell you to answer comments and email, do I? I do? Yeesh, alright. Answer your comments and email. This is just as critical for a blogger as it is for a business.

A business is measured not only on profit and product/service delivery but on customer service. I’ve written about this several times, both good and bad.

A blog is measured not only on content and originality (and other stuff) but on community participation. If you’re not talking to your readers, how the hell are you supposed to know what they want?

43. Make your mark

Your signature is a great way to publicise your site. Make sure you put your URL in it – and in every version of it. That means in email, forums, social sites, messaging services and absolutely everywhere else you sign your name online. Just a simple URL; no more, no less. Then people know where to find you. Just pray they’re not hiring a hit-man.

c. Other Stuff

44. Sub me, baby

Make sure your visitors know they can subscribe to your site. It can be an RSS, an automated email or some kind of weird subscription list that you manage manually; it doesn’t matter as long as they can subscribe. People rarely cancel subscriptions unless you suck so badly you deserve it.

Feedburner is now owned by Google but still does the same thing it always did: handles RSS and email subscriptions to blogs and sites. Easy to set up, fire-and-forget. My kind of woman. Er, site.

(No, I wasn’t serious: I just couldn’t let such a good joke opportunity pass me by.)

45. Advertising

If you’ve got money to burn or any kind of marketing budget, use it. Print some business cards with your site details and a single-line summary of what you do (your ‘elevator pitch‘), then leave them in public places.

Pay for a PPC campaign on your primary keywords to bring in extra traffic and spread your reputation to a broader audience. (Though don’t end up like those Shoretel IP telephony ads that appear absolutely everywhere at the moment and are therefore annoying.)

If you don’t have money, visit forums that cover your niche or that interest you and post on them. Not spam – actual, useful posts. You do have your URL in your signature, don’t you? Good.

Create links to your site from article directories. You are posting your best content as articles, aren’t you? You’re not? Go back and read Part 3 of this series, then!

46. Freebie jeebies!

Giving something away is a great way to bring new people to your site. It doesn’t have to be anything immensely valuable. Some people give copies of an ebook, some give vouchers, some give a CD – anything you can think of will encourage folks to visit.

The smart cookies always try to get more than just a visit for their freebie: using an email subscription service to make the offer (you’ll need a landing page and some other stuff) is an excellent option: the visitor gets the freebie in return for being subscribed to your feed or newsletter.

47. Follow up

Remember the viral posts suggestion? If you’re ever lucky enough to get one of these – or just have an exceptional day when loads of people visit – make sure you follow up on it. Otherwise you have good intentions and no follow-through, like a castrated dog sniffing a bitch in heat. And that’s sad.

Take time. Sit down and put together a couple of exceptional updates. Then post them over the following days. A lot of that traffic peak won’t ever come back but some will – following up makes sure you have something cool for them to see and encourages them to subscribe or bookmark.

48. Ping…

Blog updates are automatically sent to your email subscribers but what about RSS readers? Most of them are smart enough to remember the last update they checked but some – especially those built into blog aggregators and the like – need a poke in the arm to tell them you have new content.

This is called ‘pinging’. Like a submarine, your site sends out a ping and anyone listening (i.e. sites that have your blog listed) hears it. They can then add you to their update list and pick up the entry excerpt so everyone knows you’ve written another world-shattering article.

And here’s a tip: Ping-o-matic will send pings to all the major services in one go. It’s free. Neato.

49. Vital statistics

Most site and blogging plaftorms have built-in stats for you to analyse. Make sure you do. Stats give you insight into what your readers like, though you need an awful lot of background info to make sense of sudden peaks and troughs. Even so, keep an eye on them and figure out what’s popular and what’s not.

And there you have it – 49 ways to get a bunch of extra visitors on your site. I’m sure it’s by no means a definitive list…

So help me out here… give me a 50th traffic tip!

Not quite on the wagon. But still adorable.

You’re still there? Excellent. So far, I’ve covered 11 setup checks and 10 content ideas that’ll bring extra traffic to your site.

Just dropped in? Get on the bandwagon and grab yourself a slice of the traffic pie!

Let’s keep things moving with a dozen more bits of advice on the critical part of your site: the content!

Part 3: Content Continued

22. Strict English Omitted

SEO – Search Engine Optimisation – improves your ranking on sites like Google by focusing your content on keywords related to your subject. It’s a complicated ‘science’ but the basics are pretty simple: repeat the thing you’re writing about. A lot.

Because of the repetition, SEO articles sound stilted, as though they were written by a semi-sentient robot who’s smoked a bit too much wacky-baccy. It’s made even worse by keyword phrases (precise search terms) like “sell car quickly” which are really hard to include in normal sentences.

Of course, you can still do a bit of SEO without sounding like a bad translation of a Jackie Chan movie. Check out Peter Hoggan’s superb (free) guide on HubPages to kick-start your learning.

23. The word is not enough

God, that was an awful pun. If you’re using SEO, think about phrases rather than single words. No one types a single word in a search engine. Well, no one who wants to find anything, anyway. Single-word searches return millions of crap results; phrases provide much more useful links.

More learning for you: Google’s keyword tool is the most useful thing for SEO writers since the invention of… er… SEO. Plug words into it. See the results. Run, Spot, run.

24. Important, sentence structure is

Yoda may well be the most awesome invention to come out of the Star Wars franchise but his sentence structure sucks for getting traffic. Sure, he’s understandable but no one types stuff like that into Google when they’re looking for useful websites.

Make sure your content is written to include proper search term sentences that your target audience will type. Even the really weird ones who look for things like “can my dog make me pregnant”.

25. Read it now!

Posting topical content on your website is a great way to get a lot of extra hits. If you can break news, do it. If you can’t, get on the wagon as soon as you can. How long after Bin Laden’s death did you have something to say about it? Were your Royal Wedding photos posted within hours of the new couple slobbering over each other on the balcony?

If you’re not posting current news or commentary, you can ignore this. Then again, isn’t there always something going on in every niche imaginable? Be (one of) the first to cover a subject and grab readers while they’re hot. Use oven gloves.

26. I’m a tree with leaves in winter

The converse of 25 is to post articles that are always useful. It’s called ‘evergreen’ content. Advice or analysis that’ll be useful for years to come is fabulous for attracting hits – it’ll stay on the search engines until Ragnarok and every time someone looks for your topic, you have a chance at getting a new long-term reader.

The most popular article on ScrawlBug is evergreen content. It regularly gets hits from all over the web – search engines, backlinks and places I’d never even heard of. That’s because it’s been around for over two years and is still valid!

27. Don’t make it personal

No one wants to know about your transsexual grandmother’s operation, your boyfriend’s obsession with cereal boxes or your dog’s urinary tract. Seriously. The only personal stuff on your blog should be related to your subject – or advance warning of a holiday period when you’ll post less.

28. Don’t make it personal v2

Unless your website consists entirely of rants and trolling, never put down the competition. That doesn’t mean you can’t contradict them, review their services or compare their work to yours; just do it with respect.

Shouting and screaming makes you look tacky. It’s not big and it’s not clever. Sure, teenagers will think it’s really cool but the whole rebellion/angst thing is just so 1980s. Leave it where it belongs, back there with big hair and shoulderpads.

29. Franz Liszt

Lists are a great way to get a lot of traffic. They’re direct, to the point and don’t clutter up the page with endless pontification and digression. Just about every top post on an average blog will be a list post, something with bullet points or an outstanding article with a single important message.

On the other hand, don’t make every single goddamned post a list or people will think you’re a Hungarian composer. And don’t make them too long, either. No one seriously wants a single entry with 101 of anything in it – at least, not unless they’re single-line entries with no explanation (or it’s tabloid fodder like the 101 sexiest men/women in the world).

30. Use photos. Sexy ones.

Adding an image to a post gives you more scope for search terms. Would it surprise you to know that the post on ScrawlBug with the most hits is also the one with a very sexy image of Jessica Biel on it? It shouldn’t. She’s one of the most searched-for celebrities on the Internet.

Of course, she has at least something to do with the article. That’s a given. But most of the people who land on that page are there for her assets, not mine. Want to know what’s even scarier? That page has almost four times as many hits as any other here. Boobs FTW.

31. Go viral

I’m assured that there’s a science to the art of ‘going viral’. These posts are the ones that someone picks up and sends to their friends, who send it to their friends… and so on and so on. They’re insanely popular. Of course, the people who say there’s a technique to it are a bunch of scam-ass “gurus” who want my money to show me how. So I don’t believe it.

I honestly think they’re mostly created by (a) overpaid marketing departments who blow their entire budget on paying people to pass on the link or tag it on all the bookmarking sites or (b) luck. I had one of these once. It brought in over 2,000 hits in a single day, at a time when the site was averaging about a twentieth of that.

32. PDF it

If you’ve got a good bit of content, turn it into an article. Post it on the directories around the web so that more people see it. Link back to yourself from it. Even better, turn it into a PDF eBook and give it away.

Freebie eBooks are like the one you pay for in ‘buy one get one free’ offers, except that you’re not actually selling them. They attract traffic because they’re free, they’re useful, they’re pretty and they’re free. Yes, I know I said “they’re free” twice. That’s the point.

33. Go insane

Every once in a while, do something completely mental. I mean totally off the wall. Something so utterly bonkers that people will think you sold your brain for medical research (and didn’t get much for it).

Give away something valuable, post about something totally obscure or abstract, write prose, take photos of your elbows, type with a frozen fish… it doesn’t matter what it is: the idea is to be unpredictable and have fun. Wake up your audience, get them to participate (remember the whole teapot blowing thing?) and see what happens.

There are no new ideas. There are only new angles on completely silly ideas that someone else failed to make popular. Be sillier.

One more part to go! 16 ideas to create traffic though linkage and being social. Watch for it tomorrow: same time, same channel (well, nearly).

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Pretty packaging does not compensate for lack of content

Yeah, I know the first post in this series was called “49 Ways To Bring More Traffic To Your Blog Or Website” but I really didn’t want another enormous title made worse by adding “Part 2″ on the end!

In the first post I suggested 11 things to do when you’re setting up your site, all of which should bring in extra traffic. Now that you’ve sorted that out, it’s time to batter your content into submission!

There are so many ways to suck in extra visitors through content that I’m going to break this into two pieces. Otherwise you’ll be reading here all day instead of wrangling your own words into order!

And don’t get all freaked out because this list starts at 12… it’s a continuation! D’oh!

Part 2: Content

Awesome content is the backbone of every successful website. And unless your business is entirely centred around images you’re going to need words. In fact, you need text content to be listed on the search engines (unless it’s all in meta tags), so you’d better make sure it’s as good as possible!

12. Don’t steal

In writing circles, stealing’s called plagiarism. And I can assure you that it’s not considered the finest form of flattery. Even scraping a bit of a post off someone else’s site and linking back to it is a definite no-no – you’re taking their time and effort and using it to make money for yourself. Scummy.

Make sure your site offers free, original, quality content that gives your readership something they want. Filling your pages with keywords crammed into half-assed attempts at normal sentences sucks just as badly.

13. Get enough fibre

Fibre in your diet will keep you regular. The same goes for content. You might have the best site in the whole world but if people don’t know when you’re going to produce something new, they’re not going to come back. You don’t have to be amazing every day – just on a regular schedule.

The only effective way around this is to get people to subscribe by showing them your content is worth it. Then they don’t need to know exactly when you’re going to update because their funky RSS reader will do the checking for them.

14. Spelink an grama count

Don’t listen to the grumpy old buggers who tell you that spelling and grammar have to be perfect – they don’t! SEO articles are proof of that. But if you want people to come back, they have to understand what you’re rambling about.

Whether English is your first or second (or other) language, make sure your audience understands. Unless your site’s not in English. Though visitors still have to be able to read whatever language you’re writing in. Try Chinese – there are millions of people out there who speak it.

15. Post in rush hour

Not the film, the peak traffic days. More people read blogs during the week. Fewer bloggers post at the weekend. Both times are ideal for traffic.

Sucks, doesn’t it? Especially if you can’t post every day. But hey, even on 2-3 posts a week you can manage one in the week and one at the weekend. Oh, and remember the audience is different at different times.

16. Stick to your Nietzsche

Whether your niche is Nietzsche or your subject matter is special effects chatter, make sure you know enough about it to be considered an expert. Then write about it and nothing else.

On the other hand, don’t write about it in exactly the same damned way all the time or everyone will get bored. Throw in another angle or three – especially ones that don’t seem related – or your audience will fall asleep. It’s not like you can shake them awake over the Internet. Make ‘em laugh. That’ll do it.

17. Focus on your readers

As Nietzsche said: “A good writer possesses not only his own spirit but also the spirit of his friends.” (How cool was that for a follow-on from 16?)

No, I’m not encouraging you to become a stalker. I mean you should understand who your target visitors are and write for them. Focus is incredibly important: more often than not, people will come to your site through a search engine and if you give them something they’re looking for, they’ll bookmark you and come back.

Most search engines watch out for sneaky liars, too. If you’re putting keywords in your text that have sod all to do with what you’re actually writing about, they’ll slap you down and put you on page 412 of the results. Don’t do it.

18. Long, short and tall

Mix your post length. If absolutely every entry on your site is four pages long, you limit your readership to people with hours to spare to go through masses of text. It’d better be damned useful, too. I know I don’t want to read four pages just to find out Winona Ryder’s skirt size. (I’d much rather measure it myself, but that’s beside the point.)

Some folks just want to spend two minutes reading. Others have time. If you mix and match post lengths, they’ll all be a little happier. And the ones with less time can bookmark and come back later for the really useful four-pager.

19. Make sure it ain’t broken

What’s more annoying than a site full of Flash ads? A site full of Flash ads with broken links all over the place! What’s the point of having links if they don’t work?

Your visitors should never, ever see a 404 once they’ve landed on your home page. Every link should work or some poor schmuck’s going to get stranded. And by the time they’ve called their parents to come and collect them from the middle of nowhere, you’ve lost their interest.

There are so many sites around that’ll check your links, you’d have to be stupid not to use them. And you’re not stupid. So use them.

20. Leave them hanging

If you’re writing about a big subject (this is mostly for blog-format sites), don’t put everything in one post. Go back to the beginning and divide it up into pieces so that your readers keep coming back for the next bit. As long as each part is useful, they won’t mind: it gives them time to digest what you’ve said.

This works really well if you’re running an advice or training site. Courses can go on for months. Want a couple of examples? ProBlogger’s 31DBBB, which started out as 31 daily blog posts. Oh yeah, and this post you’re reading right now.

21. IWOOT

No, not the retailer – the expression. Make sure your content is stuff that people want to read. Even better, make it stuff they want to share. If they’re looking for a way to copy/paste your articles or save them on their computer for later, you’re on the right track. If they’re looking for a ‘send to a friend’ button, even better.

All your content should ideally be useful, interesting and valuable to your readers. If it isn’t, it shouldn’t be on your site. Well, OK, so that’s harsh. You can put some stuff on there that’s pointless… just don’t make a habit of it, alright?

Stick around for another 28 ways to generate traffic for your blog or website. Up next: more content tips.

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It doesn’t matter whether you’re offering the best blog content in the world, working on affiliate sales, promoting a product or service, analysing financial data or just using your site as an online presence – no one will ever see it unless you make it visible and generate interest.

So, the critical question is “How do I get more traffic to my blog or website?”I’ve been asked this so many times that I figured it was about time someone put together a honking great big list of ways to attract dozens (or even millions) of new visitors to your site.

Part 1: Setting Up

My dad always told me: “Get it set up right and it’ll pay off in the long run.” Actually, I’m lying. I just wanted to use that phrase and I figured it’d sound more like venerable wisdom if my dad had said it. Just go with it.

1. Get your own domain name

These days, a proper domain name will set you back a massive $10-15 a year unless you want something really popular like “olympics-2012.com”. It’s one of the easiest and best ways to improve your visibility and your traffic.

Let’s face it, who’s ever going to visit www.wobbly-site.com/users/dave/blog when they can visit www.wobbly-dave.com? The latter’s much more memorable, even if Dave is a bit unstable.

2. Submit to search engines

Yeah, Google and all the other little web-arachnids will eventually wend their way to your obscure corner of reality – but they’ll do it a lot quicker if you manually submit yourself.

For starters, you can notify Alexa, AltaVista, AOL, Ask Jeeves, Bing, DMOZ, ExactSeek, Excite, GigaBlast, Google, Kanoodle, Lycos and Yahoo that you exist. I’m sure they’ll be very happy.

3. Don’t trust auto-submits

You’ve seen the ads for those automatic submission apps and companies that promise to get you listed on 2,500 engines you’ve never heard of for a mere $25. Forget it. It’s not worth it.

You’re far better off taking the time to do the major ones yourself – not only do they handle well over 90% of all online queries but you can make sure you get yourself categorised correctly if you click the buttons yourself. And before you whine about all the hard work, just do Google. That’s over 90% of queries on its own.

4. Feed your meta monster

Meta tags are extremely useful for any site: making sure you have the title tag alone will help pump search results your way. But don’t do something stupid like putting “Wobbly Dave’s Blog” in the field – put something useful and descriptive in there, with words that people will actually search for.

Oh, and don’t do the old spam trick of including a meta title that consists purely of  about 200 keywords. The engines know all about that one and they’ll give you a spam-slapping you won’t forget.

5. Submit to directories

Go to Google and search for directories that cover your subject matter. If you’re writing about real estate, find property directories. Submit your site. How hard was that?

They won’t bring in as many hits as the main engines will, of course, but anyone visiting from a privately-run, categorised directory is much more likely to actually be interested in what you’re babbling on about. Targeted traffic, they call it. (Terminology bonus, yay!)

6. You’re rank

Oops, that should say “your rank”. Page Rank, as defined, governed and screwed around with by Google, is absolutely essential to traffic. At Rank 0 (pond scum), no one’s ever heard of you. Around Rank 2 (sentient life), you probably have some regulars and a steady flow of visitors. Ranks 9 and 10 (I’m not worthy) have so much traffic they need to employ virtual policemen to stop the junctions getting clogged.

How about a couple of resources for the insanely complicated and top secret system behind Ranks? Well, if you insist. There’s the geeky maths version, the Google tech version, the obligatory Wiki page… oh, just look it up yourself.

There are  PR checkers on PRchecker.info and WebPRRank.

7. Stick to basics

Unless your readership is a very specific, bizarre niche that likes their links to be displayed in yellow, their text to be green, everything to be written in italics and the most useful pages to be hidden away, don’t do it.

Look at all the big sites and follow the format. Sure, you can fiddle a little but keep the links obvious, put your best content somewhere visible and don’t use that dog-ugly expandable Blogger entries-by-date mess anywhere. Ewww.

8. No flashing

An ode to my hatred of Flash: Flash be nimble, Flash be quick, Flash sucks really badly because it isn’t either. Thank you.

Don’t use Flash. Don’t use massive graphical menus. Most visitors want your page to load quickly and don’t want all the bandwidth-munching crap. The search engines won’t even index images or flash content, so there’s no traffic advantage to using them except to break up a text-only page.

9. Pop goes the weasel

Pop-up ads, pop-under ads, pop goes my brain ads. I do not know a single person who likes any kind of popping ad. They suck. Browsers even have built-in defences to stop them.

Take the hint. Don’t use pop-up or pop-under. People will not only leave quickly, they’ll never come back. Kinda defeats the purpose of all the traffic-generation work, doesn’t it?

10. Careful categories

Especially important if you’re blogging but just as vital for all sites is careful, obvious, simple categorisation. There’s no point having great content if no one knows how to find it or it’s listed under “sandwiches”. Well, unless you’re running a sandwich business, of course.

Make sure you use your categories, too. Keep them tight, assign a couple to articles that cross over and refrain from creating new ones every time your kids pour mayonnaise on whatever they’re eating.

11. No ads?

This one’s optional. Some folks like to hold off on all advertising until they have a readership. The thinking’s simple: don’t put off new visitors by stuffing special offers in their face as soon as they arrive. You can always add them later once you have a steady flow of traffic.

You’ll notice there are no ads here. That’s deliberate. But there won’t ever be any, so it’s a bit different.

Stay tuned for another 38 ways to generate traffic for your blog or website.

Subscribe via RSS or email to make sure you don’t miss advice about your content – there’s so much it’ll have to be in two entries!

Look! It's Jessica Biel again!

One of the most popular posts on ScrawlBug appeared at one of the worst times for me – when my posts became irregular for a variety of reasons. As I said back then, in 5 Ways To Save Your Blog’s Life, every blog goes through the same throes.

Almost every person giving advice to bloggers says it: persistence and regular posting are good ways to get traffic¹ and make your blog earn. As I’ve always said, “earning” is a relative term and can mean money, popularity, a following or the feeling of a job well done.

Today, for your consideration, I’m presenting another 5 ways to save your blog’s life and keep your posts regular – all of which have come from my lovely, friendly visitors.

1. Come As You Are

As the very funny Jan Geronimo of Writing to Exhale said, “be your quirky self and keep showing up”.

This is one of the fundamental basics of blogging. No, it isn’t – it’s two of them. Unless your blog is a dull regurgitation of current events or factual information, your visitors don’t just come by to read the words. They come to read your words – your style, the way you say things, your humour or phlegm, your rants and silliness, your absurd conclusions from simple data.

What to do? Producing content regularly, in your own inimitable style, is key to continued success as a blogger. Running low on energy and inspiration? Create another style!

Personal choice: I adore Kate, of Itisi. She’s absolutely hilarious in her own, opinionated way and is a very genuine, wonderful person. Check her out. Not in that way.

2. Mind Map A Series

Another great guy, Andy at Comings and Goings, took a more logical approach to the problem of waning posts. Start with a simple idea and mind map² everything it leads to.

From this map, you can build a series of posts looking at the different aspects of the subject. I see two advantages here: it gives you something to write immediately – thus shooing away the beast of imminent blog death – and it gives you the chance to produce a batch of interlinked articles – thus creating a barrier of ongoing posts to keep said beast in someone else’s garden.

Two birds with one stone. Smart, efficient and makes a gooey red mess.

What to do? There are several free online mind-mappers around to get you started. All you need is the central idea. Keep reading, we’re getting to some ways to find those!

3. Keep A List Of Things That Make You Go “Hmm”

Another aid mentioned by Shack, but originating with Deb Ng of Freelance Writing Jobs, is keeping a list of interesting articles you read. As a blogger, you surely must spend a lot of time reading other folks’ content, browsing the web and generally wasting the time you should use to create a new post, right? I know I do. And at least some of that content is interesting, right?

Keep all those interesting links and thought-provoking posts in a document somewhere. A spreadsheet, a list, a text file… it doesn’t matter how you store it. You could even add a thought to each link, so you remember why you were reading about people who don’t wash, colours that attract sharks or things to build with Jell-O®.

What to do? Start a list right now. Put it on your desktop, so that it’s easy to find. Organise it (yeah, I know I’m Mr. Disorganised, but I can still suggest it). When you’re stuck for something to write about, refer to your list and pick one.

4. Pay Someone Else To Do It

This one might grate on your writing aesthetic but there’s really nothing wrong with it. As Steven, of the unfortunately now-defunct wordsworm and the still active (and rather yummy) My Magic Art, suggested, it’s entirely possible to plop a job offering on the freelance sites (Elance, Guru, oDesk, etc.) for $1 articles. As we all know, you’ll likely get crap in return but you can edit, rewrite and beat them with a halibut to produce something postable.

An alternative that’s cheaper is to fish for guest posters. Surely there’s someone out there who’d get a kick out of posting on your blog? Someone who’s just starting blogging and who’s impressed by your 20 daily hits? Or just someone who’s generous, kind and doesn’t need the money?

What to do? Cheap articles are the bane of writers who need to earn more but, assuming you can quiet your conscience to the point where it releases control of your fingers, they’re easy to find. Stump up a few quid and slap something on a freelance site. Then convince yourself that the people doing the $1 work can actually live on such small amounts.³

5. Consider The Loss

Geek-goddess awesomeness incarnate.

Lori, who retired her blog, suggests a bit of introspection. Consider what you’ll be losing if you stop posting and let your blog die. Think about lost revenue. Think about losing an online presence that could potentially bring you work, pleasure, relaxation or invitations to dinner with Natalie Portman.

Think about the gains as well: more time to do other things, less pressure to produce regular updates, no one calling you a pillock and insulting your writing, no spam to handle and no disappointment when those dinner invitations remain conspicuous by their absence.

What to do? Consider everything – both sides of the coin – before you make any decisions. It doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing choice, either: you could maintain regular posts less frequently or mix a decision in with some other ways to keep things alive.

Once again, thanks go to my visitors for the extra tips. Anyone for any more? Leave ‘em in the comments!

¹ In the real world, they’re not the best ways. Being famous, posting naked breasts, talking endlessly about Jessica Biel or pounding out exclamation-mark-filled marketing spam all over the place work a lot better.

³ I am so not going to get into whole “how much should I charge?” debate here. Don’t even think about it. I’m not listening! I’m not listening! Lalalalalalala!

Today, I’m making an exception. I am, in fact, not only going to say “OMFG”, but I am going to type it in capitals and embolden it. I might even add an exclamation mark afterwards.

“What,” you ask, “has so possessed our poor, reliably-grammar-nazi-esque old bugger of a blogger? What could possibly affect him to the point where he produces such nonsensical gibberish?”

Well, I’ll tell you.

Carrie Fisher blogs and tweets.

OMFG!

This has to be one of the best days of my geeky life. Not only is my Princess Leia obsession fed (yes, I know she’d probably hate me saying that), but one of the best, funniest, smartest writers I’ve had the good fortune to be obsessed with is online.

You cannot possibly imagine how long I have been waiting for this. How many Google searches in the past have just turned up a bunch of slave-bikini pictures² and out-of-date news.

The only bad thing is that – from what I can gather – she started blogging in January last year and I only just found out. Poopy bottoms, I say. Poopy bottoms.

And with that, I shall leave you with a link or two, because I’m going to be spending my day reading the most absolutely freakin’ hilarious (and other superlatives) web content.

Carrie Fisher on Twitter

Carrie Fisher, the website and blog

¹ By far the worst of the dewdspeak is the batch of second-generation terms, including “zomg” and “1337″. That last one particularly gets my goat (or okapi, whichever you prefer), since the original “l33t” was quite bad enough.

² Not that I minded the pictures, though I always preferred her author shots. She wears glasses in those. Rawr. And no, Miss @Speedmouse, you are not being replaced by the original. Even Ms. Fisher cannot compare with your TweetLeianess.

No, I'm not going to sing.

Instead, this is link love for the people I follow, the people I admire and the talents I aspire to, out there in interwebnetland. They are bloggers, Tweeters or just folks I have been lucky enough to run into somehow. Click through and see why.

She of the carpet shampoo

Kate writes her blog at Itisi and also produces content for a bunch of clients like Danger Here (a football thing). She knows all about WordPress and is also a graphic designer, but is so modest you’d never know how talented she is until someone tells you. She wields carpet shampoo in times of aggression and flings chips with frightening accuracy. Above all, she always makes me laugh: I wish I had her way with words when it comes to humour.