Bringing in Blog Traffic With Micro Niches

Today I’d like to talk to you about a technique for generating more search engine traffic. This is something I stumbled on in my own blogging and I am shocked at how well it works. Obviously it isn’t fool-proof, but if it is done right, you will see a huge amount of supplemental traffic coming to your blog. For lack of a better term, I’m going to call it “blogging with micro niches.”

Most bloggers have identified at least one niche in their industry and have based their blog on it. For example, simply blogging about “Business” would be difficult to develop and focus in-depth content unless you further defined it as “Online Business” or “Home Based Business” or “Women Owned Business.” Each of these niches provides you with a substantial enough subject that you can write every day—yet it limits your topics and gives your blog clarity. Blog readers are often drawn to niche blogs that speak to them personally, and are more likely to subscribe to these blogs as well as recommend them to other people.

But in addition to your main blog subject, it is possible to dissect your blog further and add even more refined niches that create an even finer point to the subject matter. You don’t have to try to manage a huge number of these micro niches—even one or two can be effective.

The key is choosing a micro niche that is not covered extensively in the blogosphere but which still ties into the main theme of your blog. So, for example, if your blog is about your catering business, you could choose to write about the latest season of Top Chef—the Bravo Network reality show contest for professional chefs. Each week you might write a recap of the episode, or dish about who won and lost the challenge. What does this do? For one thing, it brings in traffic that has nothing to do with your catering business. Many people watch Top Chef and do online searches for information about the show regardless of their interest in catering. By writing about it every week, you’re building up a cache of keywords that will bump your blog up to the top of the search engines when people make specific searches about the show, the contestants, or the guests.

Another example: If you write a blog about entrepreneurship, you might regularly post book reviews by popular business gurus. Having their names and book titles on your blog will bring in traffic long after the post is archived as people do searches for these books and authors. You’re going to be reading them anyway for your own use—why not make the most of your reading by blogging about it, too? Or if you have a favorite business guru, you may choose to follow their career on your blog, writing about new book releases, speaking engagements, television appearances, etc. The more content you have about this particular person, the more likely your blog will come up in the top results when someone searches for them.

Micro niches are also a great way to keep yourself motivated. Writing about these topics can be fun and help you break out of the mold of the same old style of posting. You can have fun with these micro niches—use humor and a little sarcasm to make them entertaining. Investing a small amount of time each month into building up a micro niche or two on your blog will help your blog stay fresh, current, and give it a broader appeal.

Are you blogging on any micro niches? Leave a comment and let us know what has worked for you!

Boost Your Blog Traffic Today

If you have any desire to make your blog profitable, traffic is the name of the game. But for a new blogger the task of bringing thousands of people to your site each day seems almost impossible. You write great posts, you send your links out on Twitter, and you exchange links with a few other blogs; but still it seems you are not getting the attention you deserve.

There are many ways to boost your blog traffic, but I’ll briefly discuss some of the most important here.

Be topical.

People are on the hunt online every day for information. If you have a track record of providing up-to-date content about topical issues, you’ll be part of the daily routine for thousands of people. Find ways to incorporate current events into your blogging, even if you don’t specifically write about politics or business. Subscribe to major news sites and power bloggers so that when news breaks, you hear it right away; then as soon as possible afterward write a post. You will find that you draw in a wide range of people who may not have initially been attracted to your blog simply by writing your opinion on the day’s news.

Anticipate high traffic days.

Some days are going to be busier than others: Election day, the day of the Oscars, New York Fashion Week and the season premiere of American Idol are just a few examples of times that you know in advance internet use will be high. Plan around those dates (and other dates that are pertinent to your blog’s main subject matter) by preparing posts in advance, or making sure you have time open on your calendar to blog as events occur.

Participate in online communities.

Blogs, message boards, forums, and social media sites like Facebook are excellent ways to stay connected to people and alert them when you have fresh content up. It also exposes you to thousands of other potential readers who happen to be ‘friends of a friend’. Make sure that any site you participate has a complete profile filled out, linking people back to your blog.

Use regular features to keep them coming back.

Regular posts such as a monthly book review or a daily “top ten” list is a great way to get people coming back to your site again and again. They’ll be more likely to link to your blog, and refer friends to it and make it a part of their regular online reading if they have something enjoyable to anticipate.

Learn to Read Your Analytics.

These programs help you track your traffic. They can tell you everything from which site referred each reader, to how long a particular visitor spent on your blog and how many pages they viewed while they were there. You will be able to tell which efforts in marketing your blog are most effective this way, and you’ll have a concrete way of knowing which topics you write about get the most attention.
Free traffic tracking apps:

• Site Meter http://www.sitemeter.com
• Stat Counter: http://www.statcounter.com/
• ShineyStat: http://www.shinystat.com/
• GoStats: http://gostats.com/
• GoogleAnalytics: http://www.google.com/analytics/
• FreeStats: http://www.freestats.com/
• OneStat: http://www.onestat.com/

I would love to hear from you if you’ve got personal experiences you would like to share in boosting your site traffic.