In a month and a half, I've got almost 60 insightful and unusual posts. There's been a bit of comments ( half from people who don't like to think, by the looks of things ), and maybe 30 readers on a good day. I've done no SEO work whatsoever, haven't submitted to a single directory, or anything else. I was hoping to prove that organic marketing by providing quality content, and to a very small extent I guess I did that. I mean, a few readers is better than none, and people have given me links because they seem to like a different point of view.

On that note, I'm hoping people can tell me how to reach a wider audience, but still be as organic as necessary? I've commented on a few blogs that have covered similar things to mine, to complement them when they write a good article and bring up points (in other words, not spam), and this has got visits, but hasn't lifted me to part of a conversation across the blogsphere. Should I stop, or step that up? Any other tips?

If people will forgive a link drop, I think it would be appropriate to point to some of the content as part of my question so people can give me a better answer.

Good:
Are humans still evolving?
Don't like copyrights? Be exempt!
Middle Eastern Geography > Food

Bad:
Rest in Peace, Kurt Vonnegut
Guess who has blog!

I don't like writing bad content, but I have to be honest to get good answers. And I felt like I had to say something about both of these topics, even if they left me speechless.

I read "Are humans still evolving", but although it was good, you didn't elaborate on it like i did with my comment.

Also you need to advertise your site everywhere to get noticed but be honest with yourself... Is your content worthy to be read?

I read some of your other blogs too, but they all seem to be less than half a page, and not very detailed. example: Why didn't you discuss the enormous Turkish cuisine, or detailed Saudi Arabian, Israeli, or Iranian foods? You didn't discuss the similarities between Middle Eastern food and Western food, because they are almost identical.

The copyright article seemed pointless and dull... Didn't seem like much info. Anyway as you write more interesting blogs like the human evolution one, you need to advertise... And also perhaps change your name, since Alexander the Great doesn't exactly fit your theme, since that is a historical figure not a blog writing figure.

And also perhaps change your name, since Alexander the Great doesn't exactly fit your theme, since that is a historical figure not a blog writing figure.

You need to know your history a little better. Not Alexander the Great.

But the Great Library of Alexandria hence the blog title "A Modern Great Library"

Here's what I'd do if I were you, John:

1) Do exactly what you're already doing as far as content goes. Some content will get commented on, and some won't. Some people will post to your blog, and some won't. Some will come up and talk to you about it (like my girlfriend does all the time) and some won't. It doesn't necessarily mean that any piece of content is better or worse than the next...it just means that each post draws a different reaction.

In your case, I don't comment all the time simply because I haven't got any additional insight or thoughts on what you're doing, so I don't want to clutter your blog with "Nice post, John!" or "Yeah, that's right."

2) The skin. This is your biggest, and probably only, weak point. It's a slight adaptation of a default Blogspot skin and doesn't reflect the content that's inside. You need something that has the dichotomous effect of being both modern and historical. Maybe a picture of the original Great Library in the top right corner, with your Modern Great Library in the left, and make sure your body is black text on a light or white background.

3) Keep doing what you're doing as far as promoting it. Yours is the type of site that won't gain overnight success, but it will continue to grow and gain in popularity as soon as people realize that you're someone with a clue and whose site deserves to be read on a regular basis.

I have created a widget for my blog and added it to football related sites.

This has helped me get about 200 visitors in 6 days!

Hi Learning Newbie,

I saw your Blog and I think it's good enough... My suggestion is make your background white is more easier to read your article...

"...organic marketing by providing quality content..."

Love it. So noble!

I've always equated getting consistent (operative word here) blog readers with picking up women in a bar - though I tend to equate a lot of things with picking up women in a bar.

You got your typical guys in the bar. There's the deperate virgin who's burning desire to get laid is all but offset by his burning fear of committing an embarassing faux pas. There's the semi-confident guy who strikes out 1 out of 5 times, but keeps coming back dreaming of that 20%. And then there's the laidback hound dog who doesn't know exactly why, doesn't know exactly how, but nonetheless gets all the honey his sweet tooth can handle.

Bloggers aren't too dissimilar. Everybody wants traffic, and nobody's 100% sure how to get it. Oh, I can give you tips on how to increase your traffic for a month or two, but to keep it consistent? Or better yet, to really grow it? That's a secret recipe known to so few my friend.

One thing I will recommend: blog readers, like women in a bar, are attracted to the ******* (can I say that here? Arsehole?). It's all about content, and in your content must be engaging. Be funny. Be authoratative. Be confident. Be an expert. And don't be afraid to make mistakes.

You need to post often, maybe twice daily. Get a decent blog roll up and make sure sites on your list don;t have a page rank under your own. Link exchanges.

You seem to write on a myriad of topics, which might make writing keyword-friendly content more or less easy, depending on one's point of view.

Here' s neat idea. How you thought of linking social networking sites to your blog? Facebook's got some great blogging tools, beleive it or not.

How about doing vidcasting? Maybe a 1-2 min video introduction before every post, briefly explaining it's topic and why we should bother reading it. Post it on youtube and link back to it on your blog. This is GUARANTEED to increase your findability, and might earn you a solid youtube audience that will trickle down to your blog. Note: this works better if you're a hot woman.

PS why isn't your blog url in your forum signature?

Well, I think you need to change the design of the blog. And, also go and join Feedburner. Not to optimize anything related to feed popularity but Blogger and Wordpress feeds can malfunction sometimes. But Feedburner never lets me down. I say this because I've had experience with your feed going down one day.

And, I think you could post more How-To guides to attract a lot more people in. People love How-To guides and Procrastination and Productivity are ever-hits.

Post an interesting and informative article in your blog.

Post an interesting and informative article in your blog.

Do we take it from that comment, you didn't actually read the posts that were linked to???

What's your opinion on writing a blog on a popular search item? Is that the best thing to do? Or are you better off writing a blog about something that you can get content for?

Let me see if I can clarify my question. Basically, is it better to write about something you know or something that you don't know?

The top searches on Yahoo! right now are Tony Romo, Shrek the Third, and Mark Cuban. Let's say I don't like football, movies or sports owners. Am I still better off writing a blog about one of those three topics over a topic that I'm actually interested in?

Let's say I'm using this blog just for AdSense purposes. Would a site with mediocre to bad content about a top search item get a better response than a blog with good to great content about a medium to poor search item?

One additional question - do the big search engines update quickly enough to follow trends this way? I think you'd have to be at least three weeks ahead of trends to be effective. I mean, who guessed three weeks ago that Sheryl Crow would be a top search? Just because she wants everyone to use less toilet paper. This would be EXTREMELY hard to predict.

Thanks for reading my ramblings...

Blog about something you love to talk about.
Otherwise it will just be the same old boring crap that every wannabee SEO thinks they know.

What is going to motivate you to write about something you know nothing (or very little) about?

"What is going to motivate you to write about something you know nothing (or very little) about?"

Other than hits? Nothing I guess.

So the old adage of "write what you know" holds true.

Thanks.

To attract more readers to a blog is to post article that is informative, interesting and with unique title. The title that can catch the attention of the user. Or I suggest to participate in the forums or the social networks.

Originally Posted by sheena

To attract more readers to a blog is to post article that is informative, interesting and with unique title. The title that can catch the attention of the user. Or I suggest to participate in the forums or the social networks.

Okay, if you guys are going to comment on John's blog, I suggest you pay a great deal of attention to what Chris said and don't just offer generic SEO forum rhetoric.

If anyone around here has posted things that are informative and interesting, it's John. He takes the time to think through his posts (which is a lot more than you TVAddicts people do) and provides content that I don't think exists ANYWHERE else on the web. He's got the unique title aspect figured out (or Blogspot does for him), and he participates on forums and blogs, always offering something useful and intelligent.

Either do the same thing that he does and show him the same respect he shows all of us or don't bother to comment at all. Seriously, this is getting really old, really fast.

John I have some suggestions, but I'm a little tired at the moment and getting ready to sign out. Next time I sign in I'll post my suggestions.

I just wanted to comment here now so I'm subscribed to the thread and can find it quicker.

Let be honest. Traffic is NOT completely related to quality content. Certainly, it helps, especially in the beginning but seo can make miracles.
Anyway be constant in posting. Blog what you love and try to stay on topic, original if possible. Get a niche and go on with it.

When you are at the top you'll have a good time experimenting a bit more.

just my 2 cents

give me a pm and ill link your blog to my website were always looking for writers and blogs, may help you alittle

Originally Posted by loganeast

The top searches on Yahoo! right now are Tony Romo, Shrek the Third, and Mark Cuban. Let's say I don't like football, movies or sports owners. Am I still better off writing a blog about one of those three topics over a topic that I'm actually interested in?

I really don't care at all about any of those things, except occasionally a really good movie. I'm not going to look at any pages devoted to these topics. I don't know what it is that you're interested in, but if it's not one of the three things you mentioned, it might be something I'd read.

The last search I did was "North Cascades" National Park, both web and image. Probably not a topic you've covered ... but there are a lot of people like me who have off beat taste. You might not pick up as much traffic as from Shrek 3 ( although the competition for that is pretty severe, I would guess ) but there's still a lot left to go around.

Originally Posted by loganeast

Let's say I'm using this blog just for AdSense purposes. Would a site with mediocre to bad content about a top search item get a better response than a blog with good to great content about a medium to poor search item?

Dunno. I don't use Adsense. Either you can go for maximum traffic and hope hope some percent clicks an ad, or you can write about some consumerist topic, in my case it might be digital SLRs and lenses, expecting plenty of ads people interested in these topics would be in the market for.