Excellent points and a good read!

Thank you!!

Yet again, another great post David. I think investment into a video camera would be a wise move for me.

I saw your tweet in Twitter about the new post, clicked, and was amazed to see my name. Thanks for the mention, I will definitely take your comments on board.

David, I think the underlying force here is the recognition that “traffic” is people. Multimedia content and Social Media distribution (and I would further argue active commenting) are just ways to reveal that you are an actual human, not just “content” sitting on a blog. Promoting a blog takes a lot of social engineering.

I totally agree with how blogs have to standout from others. If you look at all the popular blogs, you’ll see that most- if not all- use multimedia and social networking to keep and grow their audience.

I use to have that belief that if you build it, they will come simply because my blog (at that time) had excellent content. Man, was I wrong!

If you want to make it as a popular blogger, you have to do the work and get your name / brand out there. Otherwise, you really don’t stand a chance no matter how great your content is.

Wesley
The Geek Entrepreneur

Great post!

I really, really need to get off my butt and do some marketing if I want to see my traffic go up instead of sideways. I’ve kind of started to get into more social sites, but I know I can put more effort into it. I just have to find the time.

Dave:

Your blog outposts map is very impressive, and reinforces the fact that serious blogging involves serious work!

One thing you don’t mention that I’m curious about - what about traffic from other blog’s blogrolls? How important are they to your traffic?

Mrs. MoneyMerge: I don’t know, really, how much I get from blogrolls. My guess, though, is not much. Blog rolls are not nearly as clicked as a relevant link inside a blog post. I do get traffic from other blogs, but it is because I’m mentioned in a post, not a blog roll.

Hi Dave.

The reason I really like your stuff is that you put plenty of meat in the hamburger.

I made a visit to Darren’s site and to be honest (helpfully, I hope)I could not find a reason to go back. Worse still he has this link at the bottom of his “About page” which goes into an infinite link. The only way I could escape was to kill my browser which had several other important tabs open and I lost the lot! I suggest you lose the link really quickly, Mate.

I think Darren is making the same mistake many of us make. We see a successful site and we try to copy it lock, stock and barrel, by adding a lot of the latest gismo’s that have no real purpose. This often points to a need for clearer goals and strategies.

I have just written a post on the importance of defining our unique added-value to our success in the blogosphere.

I think Darren might find a lucrative value-add if he speaks to people of his age and background and inspires them to have a go with the courage he is showing. I found his “About page” to be really understated. In my opinion, he is a hero for having a go and I know he has a lot more he could say about what he has learned along the way. I certainly know how frustrating it can be to discover that “x-factor.”

My point is that we all must find our own unique x-factor.

Without our own unique voice, there is a danger that all our marketing will give us is a revolving door. We need to give our visitors a reason to come back.

Things go viral when they come back - with all their friends in tow.

So you are really off to the races when you give your visitors a reason to tell all their friends all about you.

And David, you are a real master of that strategy.

I wish I could go on a cruise and come back and find 200 new cashed-up clients queued up at the front door.

You deserve your success, Mate.

It’s not just that you produce useful video …

… you also include useful posts with them. That makes a big diff.

@Brian, I’m grateful for your comments and over the next two/three days I am going to look deep into my website and what I am offering.

I apologise to David for posting this here, but I couldn’t find any contact information for Brian on his website.

I was a little confused about your comment regarding the link on my ‘About’ page. There is a banner ad at the bottom of the page and occasionally I get a ‘Content Link’ or two from Kontera, other than that there are no links. Please could you clarify what link you were referring to?

The problem I had was with the banner ad at the bottom of the page. I clicked on it and when I wanted to return to your site a pop up appeared with a “please don’t leave” message. It then went into a loop that would not let me leave that site.

I guess I am being judgemental here, but I would not have a banner that did that to my visitors on my site. I know it was not your fault but I feel the whole experience will diminish your site in the eyes of a visitor.

That is just my opinion.

I would also be interested in how others view the tactic of the banner site in using a pop up to try to persuade a visitor not to leave. To my mind the downside in terms of loss of trust is not worth the very remote chance that someone will change their mind. If you are ready to leave, chances seem remote that you will change your mind and decide to buy.

Any thoughts?

Great post, and I really appreciate the advice given here. I wonder though - do we all need to get on the bandwagon of marketing tips and tricks and how to make money etc. to get any real attention? I know other types of sites do well, such as photography etc, but most are very much related to the same group of marketing topics. Is it just me, or is this section of the web totally self-absorbed? Any suggestions for sites that do really well traffic-wise that are not about marketing? There must be thousands but I don’t seem to come across them.

Kay, that’s a fair assessment and something I could respond to in a full post.

Market selection certainly helps. And the marketing “make money online” niche is a popular one. It is a good market because the audience is motivated. That said, it is a very saturated niche and that makes the x-factor ever MORE important than ever. It takes more to stand out - because so many people are talking about this.

So, no, getting on the bandwagon of internet marketing isn’t a ticket to blogging fame by any means. In fact, quite frankly, its probably a harder road.

[...] want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.A few days ago, I talked about the hidden x-factor and why some blogs seem to “make it” while so many others don’t get that much traffic. This [...]

Marketing is the soul of any business..There are diverse good tools to use in marketing. Thanks for pointing out some

One easy solution Darren is not to look at your stats everyday, maybe once a month max. Works wonders for your confidence.

I am quite impressed by your hard work and your precise instructions. I’m an English Professor, translator and blogger from India and I have a blog on education called Issues in Academics.

Social media is a big area that can help anyone’s blog generate traffic and readers. The readers need to know that it is a real person they are dealing with and not some cheap, underpaid ghost writer from a third world country and also it allows them to connect with you, the writer on a more personal level. I think your site is an excellent example Dave of how to use these tools properly. Because you are doing it, people will follow your example as well. Thanks!

I think it’s a lot to ask too of readers that they understand you are interesting, wonderful, funny or whatever else (read: entertaining). This is at the beginning, when you have little content and therefore little to no established reputation. Take six months. Heck, take a year. Build a ton of content that speaks to a reputation that you’ve earned through that writing. Focus on topics that you know, care, or want to learn about. Then go out and market, so that when strangers find their way back to your blog, they get what you are all about, subscribe, come back for more, engage in comments, etc.

So, so true. I spend about two months writing content every day, only to see no traffic. I finally started to learn SEO and link building, and the results have been, well, life changing. It’s all about marketing.

It certainly hit home about the marketing, but the most important point was the time factor involved to get off the ground and be successful. Patience is indeed a virtue.