Project Heavy Traffic: Episodes

I have learnt alot these few months from trial and error. I wished that there was someone out there who could tell me from the start what to do when creating a blog and to attract good traffic so that i would not have to waste precious time, much heartache and energy going around in circles.

But i also understand that i could not have learnt without getting my feet wet. Any way, it is the purpose of this blog to try all methods.

Ok. These are what i have learnt on hindsight. Hope it is useful to you.

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***10 Must Have Tips for New Bloggers***

#1: Use WordPress instead of blogspot

Personally i find that Wordpress is better in terms of design and functionality than blogpot although many bloggers like to start with blogspot or blogger.com. Consider carefully and plan well from the start as it is quite costly in terms of Ranking (technorati, PageRank etc.) and traffic to switch later on. Many bloggers do not think long term when starting a blog (that includes myself and that is why i am still stuck with this blogspot although i have a wordpress one at projectheavytraffic.com).

#2: Place Google Adsense only when you have good traffic

Ever wonder why those professional bloggers earn hundreds of dollars from Adsense and you earn only a few cents?

Another mistake i made which i have realised from hindsight is that new blogger should not be too eager to place google adsense on their blog else they will be placed at lowest Ad Band which is meaningless as you only earn a few cents. Place Google Adsense (or any other click per pay ads) only when you have good traffic and when you are eligible for a higher band.

What you should do is to concentrate on churning good articles.

#3: Have a traffic counter right from the start

This is not so much to show how many visitors you have but to measure your traffic flow. It is a must have tools for new bloggers. You get the counters from Sitemeter, statcounter or any other traffic measuring tool. Just type 'counter' in google will yield you a long list. Without measuring tool, you are like driving to an unknown place without a map or doing business without a business plan.

Measuring is only part of it. You have to do something about it once you know the numbers.

#4: Technorati, My blog Log, Blog explosion and RSS FEED

I recommend new bloggers to sign up Technorati, My blog Log, Blog Explosion and RSS Feed right from the start to attract traffic. A site is only useful when you promote it. I received good traffic from each of these sources. Technorati is a THE BLOG LIST, a must for new bloggers who want their blog known. My Blog Log is a community site where you can promote your latest post and ask bloggers to join your community. Blog explosion is a manual traffic exchange site and it is getting popular!

Many new bloggers (including myself) have ignored RSS feed at the early stage of blogging, which can cost much traffic. I have since learnt the importance of RSS and is now constantly monitoring my feed at feedburner.

#5: SEO and Keywords are important

We cannot be always replying comments, visiting blogs and exchanging links. We need organic traffic from search engine to be sustainable. That is why Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and keywords are so important. New bloggers should start right from the start because it takes time to build up traffic from Search Engine. Read my post on 5 tips to increase keyword success and Search Engine Optimisation Part 1

#6: Do not Clutter your blog

Personally, this is one of the hardest points to master. Although we know that cluttering the blog will slow down the loading speed, we still face many tamptations of adding interesting widgets and affiliate badges to our blog sidebar. We keep fighting the lure of decorating our blog with awards and chat box and blog directory buttons. What i do is to trim my blog fats from time to time. And for this blog. i have changed to a simplier template. You have to keep trying...

Compare this blog with my projectheavytraffic.com blog.

#7: Experiment on Different traffic methods.

This blog is a result of experimenting with different traffic methods. I dare say that it would not be what it is now if i did not participate in meme or tagging game. Some says that it is not an orthodox method but says who? All methods are ways of beating the system. And who own the system anyway. Do you want to let one system, say PageRank, rules the blog universe? Have an open mind, you will receive surprising result!

#8: Having the correct Attitudes

Having the correct attitude is important . Do not start a blog to milk for money immediately. it will not be sustainable Please read my post on 5 Attitudes in making your blog Successful and Don't just blog for money

#9: Do not be Obsessed with PageRank

I have written many articles on PageRank. My PageRank went from 0 to 4 back to an unjustified zero again within a short span of a few months. Although i tried to Explain PageRank, discussed about the Page rank mystery, Facts and Fictions on PageRank, i came to a conclusion that PageRank is only a tool. We don't know what are the actual criteria for its ranking.

Although i did said it is a brilliant tool (see In Defence of PageRank). I am now not so sure after they revised the system. I have learnt not to be too bothered about PageRank. It really does not matters unless your blog is all about writing paid post.

#10: Build traffic one comment at a time.

I have learnt to build traffic one comment at a time. Comments are important. I wish i have time to put comments on all my favourite blogs but we have limited time per day and other commitments (work, family, social). Nevertheless, i have built up a network of friends, which to me is the most valuable asset since i started blogging.

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You can read the rest of my struggle and journey on how i increase website traffic.

Cheers!

I am going to publish my Blog theories on my subsequent posts.

If you want to jump start your new web site, it is good for you to have a link back from sites which have high PR, you not only benefit from the flow of traffic but the search engine will also treat your site as trustworthy and grant you instant PR. It is true. Not a myth any more. (read my post Pagerank Facts or Fictions? ) I have done it myself.

As you already know, I have registered my own domain for http://www.projectheavytraffic.com/. For full story read Project Heavy Traffic 2.0 reinvented)). I placed a link back of my new blog from this blog and the last time i checked, it has achieved a PR of 3 in a shortest possible time. Of course this is also not possible without huge support and link backs from my blog communities.

That proves there is a method out there. The question is how to get others link to you? The simplest way is be yourself, be sincere. Another good way is through blog directories (please read my previous post for more methods) . I am not really there yet. I started this blog from scratch. My wish is to have some big boys link to me. it is not easy. Hence i decided to make traffic instead.

Below are the 5 ATTITUDES (i will keep to 5 , easy to read and remember) in making your blog successful. These are my insights i have gathered through my research, which I am still striving to achieve.

1. Be Sincere.
Sincerity and friendship must be invested. A good example is my friend Janice's blog whose blog traffic and links is increasing by leaps and bounds.

2. Focus
I believed in niche marketing. Focusing on a particular area makes you spend time and effort on it and eventually makes you a sort of specialist. If you put your time into something (e.g. Hobby) wouldn't you excel in it. Be it fishing, golf, sports etc. Dare to be different. Find something you like and drill into it. Research and do not be afraid to share. Sooner or later, people will be attracted to your site. One day, you might be an expert in your field. It will stand out from the rest of the millions of site out there. As the value of the blog is increased so will the traffic.

3, Interest.
You must have an interest in whatever you are writing. Be it parenting or photography. If not, one day the well will runs dry and the blog will not be sustainable. Blog is a reflection of your interest. Blogging for interest (and not for money) should be the main motivation. The rest i believe will follow. Don't get me wrong, i believe in the commercialisation aspect (it is still a long way). Interest sustain the writing and traffic will follow.

4. Hardwork
Blogging is hardwork. If you see a fellow blogger, give them encouragement from time to time. I wish blogging platform has feature like giving 'Hi 5' similar to the one in the facebook. Traffic will reduce or stop if the blog has few or no new posts. I was away for business trip recently and my web traffic drop quite alot. Fortunately, i have a bunch of 'diehard' blog buddies that is supporting me. Hardwork, little by little can make a blog successful. If at first you don't succeed, try and try again (in includes exprementing on themes, skin, header, design, post, adverts, PageRank etc).

5. Be humble
Blogging is fun and should be interactive. It is the main component of Web 2.0. I hold the attitude that i am not an expert and the readers out there knows more than me. This type of continuous learning will sharpen your knowledge and expertise and the interaction makes your blog better and more interesting. Even if you are an authority, having an open mind will broaden the horizon.

Next topic, Consumer nowadays do not wait for new products, they sought out information on new products via the Internet. Is Blog advertising the future?

As mention in my earlier post, i will be focusing on viral tag to massively increase my spread of my blog for a while. If you like to join me, instructions are in my earlier posts. Please do not hesitate, VIRAL TAG now!!! to increase your traffic. Cheers!

Are you feeling disappointed that your internet marketing effort did not seem to pay off. All the ebooks you have collected is collecting dust in your PC harddisk.

Are you feeling frustrated that many people are able to claim success and you can't seem to able to reach that level.

Do you seriously think that they will reveal all their secret to you in a $78 ebook about earning $10,000 a week? Wouldn't they be creating another competitor?

Sure, they must reveal some secrets (because you paid for them). But Are they revealing ALL they secrets to you for that price? Sometimes i wonder are they making the sort of money they claimed?

Don't get me wrong. I believe there are good products and good methods out there but i also believe that there are many scams.

At many times, it is very difficult to discern (many know how to use graphic softwares nowadays). Hence the motivation for Project Heavy Traffic.

If you find that a particular product or method is useful, do inform me and i will post a review it here for all my community readers' benefit. Conversely, if you find a product not useful, please also email to me so that i can remove it from my blog or post the information for all readers here.

I believe Internet Marketing success is possible (look that it's global reach) but one have to careful in choosing programs and do their own research.

Finally, In my course of research, i have always come across many Internet marketing Gurus mentioning the word "Action", "Do it!" in their webpage, advice, eBooks and products etc. I totally agree. You have to try, take risk, even if you don't get the result that you want, you learn something and that momentum (Law of physics-I called it law of success) will push you on to success. It takes only a simple action.

Act on it! Every baby step counts!

Do you believe that the most important element of successful on-line business is generating traffic? With high traffic you generated, you can promote any ideas or business.

If you think the Big Boys of internet marketing made it because:
1) They were lucky
2) They were there first

You are wrong! They have a systematic way of generating traffic (they are selling their secrets by the way) and i am going to find that out and publish here for FREE!

so no more "i cannot make it big in Internet marketing" because:
1) I am not as lucky
2) I am a bit too late to enter the Internet Marketing game
3) They are already the marketing leader.

I believe in and being the UNDERDOG! If you don't believe, look at my traffic figure (it is growing steadily) and the traffic (new visitors) i generated for other sites linking to my page. One thing i do learnt is
YOU CANNOT DO IT ON YOUR OWN! You learn from friends, blog buddies, from others' successes and mistakes.

I have learnt alot from my blog buddies and friends.
Their support is invaluable! I am not a guru (or else i would have called myself 'Trafficguru' or something) but i have this relentless spirit of finding out the methods of traffic generation (called secrets by the Big Boys)

I am still compliling the list of methods i used and will post them once i gather enough empirical information.

So stay tuned...cheers to FREE traffic!

I have decided to have this new tag of my own. It is called the "friendship badge". Very simple to implement.

******start copying********
Friendship badge-tagging your blog buddies.
You just have to place your own link plus links of your 5 other blog buddies (position after 'Maketraffic' - the tag originator) and foward them and ask them to tag 5 more as well. Very simple, no need to think of answers to any topic. Ok. here we go.

My friendship badges include:

Maketraffic *
Janice
Jean
nafa
Mr Fong
revellian

****End copying******

This is my 1st try at creating tag. Please support me. Thanks

Maketraffic

While I was doing my research, i found something interesting. One of the characteristics that top sites/blog have in common is this four letter F* word...don't be mistaken...it is the word FREE!

By offering FREE information or product, you are getting the attention of the Internet community. It is like the sample or freebies that magazine or are giving out to increase circulation. It is the marketers' method of "A foot at the door". Once they find your site interesting, they will come back again to visit your site (increase traffic), tells others to visit your site (mutiplying effect) and perhaps buy from you (if you are offering other products).

If you want to increase traffic, offer some freebies on your blog or site.

-Write good content to give away free (basic)

-Create your own product and brand it and give it free is the best way to go (i am in the midst of doing so, this method requires time).

-If you don't have your own product, you can also join an affiliate program (you have to do your won research and choose wisely)

Note: If you have a blog or site that offers the above traffic methods, i would love to interview and feature you as on my blog as success stories. Please email me or leave a message on my chat box. Cheers!

I am now focusing on 'links' aspect of the traffic. Would need your support for link exchange.

It is a win win situation. Linking to this website will increase its traffic rank and yours! As this site grows (and it is growing very fast. It started only one and the half months ago) it will get your website visitors and also increase your own ranking and traffic. ALL THIS FOR FREE!

You too can get the traffic you want. Don't just wait for traffic to drop. MAKE TRAFFIC, CHASE DREAM! Cheers!

Blog Communities can IMPROVE Traffic! It has been proven! Look at my visitors counter=> (on the right panel). It has been increasing by leaps and bounds after I begin to leave my comments on other blogs so much so that i do not enough time to leave a thank you note to each and every visitors or friends to my blog. I like wanna to say a big THANK YOU here for your visits and support. Your every note, chat, vote and comments means something to me.

AND THE BEST THING IS.. It is NOT JUST ABOUT TRAFFIC, I BEGIN TO MAKE NEW FRIENDS!!!! That is the most enjoyable part.

I should have done it from the beginning. I can make more friends! I feel like kicking myself
(just a metaphor. Don't take it too seriously)
:-)

**Note: to new bloggies, do it as one of your 1st step. Don't make the same mistake as me**.

Anyway, this blog is suppose to share my experience...

ok. till next time. stay tune to...(i love this part, it is like having your own tv show...) Project Heavy Traffic

MakeTraffic

I found out while finding and trying methods to increase web traffic to this site is the fact that in the process of giving out traffic (i think i mentioned before), traffic really comes back (compunded and all)! It is the law of attraction...RECIPROCITY.

I am gathering all the statistics and will publish the top ten web traffic methods soon (based on feedbacks, comments, emails, and my own experience on this blog). And so far Blog communities RECIPROCITY rank very high! so stay tune...give me some time to compile as i am only a part-time blogger. lol.

I am also going to start to review blogs in my blog communities. To share some 'success stories' (not of the 'big boys' with mega traffic numbers) but of small site who has shown results by methodologically applying good techniques.

And the 1st blog i am going to review in my next post i chanced it while surfing the blogs in my bloglog. The blogger is an excellent example of one who knows how to use viral marketing (or tagging) effectively.

Who is the blogger? what is the blog about? why is it a success story? Stay Tune to the next episode of...Project Heavy Traffic.

Make Traffic

Classified ads are another great way to draw traffic.

There are free and paid classifieds ads.

Listed are some FREE classified ads sites.
*Please adhere to the rules of the sites.

http://www.usfreeads.com/

http://www.classifiedsforfree.com/

http://www.adpost.com/

http://www.theadnet.com/

http://www.freeadvertisingforum.com/

I have accidentally found a way to expand the "traffic horizon". It is to add a translation feature on your site or blog for readers to translate at an instance. This will appeal to international readers! You can get the link to the translation service - Babel Fish on my blog left panel.

Make Traffic

As you can see from my left panel, Blog directories section, i have joined several blog directories to increase Web traffic to my blog. They are all free. It is a win-win situation really. The blog directories need your listing and you need a directory to list your blog so that readers can find you. But don't just join any blog directories. Join those that are reputable. If you find that you do not gain any visitors (statistics from your web tracking counters), you can always delist from it.

Make Traffic

You can earn money on your blog by participating in good affiliate programs.

I thought at first, i have to depend on just Advertisements.

I was quite skeptical about affiliate programs and besides, there are so many...how do you choose a good one that will direct traffic to your site as well as earn you some money.

Until i tried Ewen's Chia Secret Affiliate Weapon and off course the convincing part only came when i earn my first commission!

I am quite excited, i am determined to learn more. Will post my findings in subsequent episodes.

MakeTraffic

Pinging is letting a blog directory (or RSS feeder) knows that you have updated your blog.

You can use feedshark and Ping-o-matic to regularly ping updates of your site. This is important as you can generate new traffic as well as returning ones. If you have any other pinging site, please share it with us.

Forums are good way to extend your web traffic reach. Please do not just post your ad or link, you will be banned. Add value by contributing to the forum, participate in discussion, share information. Lastly, please abide by the rules of the forum.

The following are some forums you can visit:

talkgold.com
webmaster-talk.com
ceowebsites.com/forum
freelancemom.com/forum
thehyipforum.com
biz-whiz.com
worldwidefreelancer.com/forums
webproworld.com
wahm.com/forum
traderonlineforum.com
theadvicepro.com
talkfreelance.com
sitepoint.com/forums
moneymakergroup.com
work-at-home-business.info
dollarfriend.com/forum
bigfooty.com/forum
ryze.com
ablake.net/forum
hebdeveloper.com/forum
webmasterworld.com
cina.org/forums/category2
innovateurs.com/forum
entforum.caltech.edu
ntrepreneur-web.com
teneric.co.uk/forums/index.php
entrepreneur-web.com
entrepreneurs.about.com
http://www.internetbasedmoms.com/bb/z
getpaidforum.com
moneymakergroup.com

Note: Honestly, i have not tried every single one of them. Will try one at a time. Please leave me a comment on how you feel about the forums that you have participated. Thanks

Add a small text and web link at the bottom of all your emails, comments or posts
Be sincere in giving comments in forums or blogs. People will sense your sincerity and reciprocate (at least, this is what i believe)

I have added some new widgets. Check them out!

Widgets will make blog panel more interesting.

i just learnt from the internet there are advertising networks like Bloggerwave, LoudLaunch etc which offers money for blogging via sponsored posts. However, the blog must be at least 3 months old, updated regularly and no auto generated content.

My blog meets all criteria except for the 'blog must be at least 3 months old' rule

Well, till next time...

Will find out a list and post it in my blog.
If you have any to recommend, please post in my comments. Thanks!