Sorry, it doesn’t work that way.

Blogging takes time, commitment and hard work.  But it can be a worthwhile investment and reap great rewards for yourself and your company – if done well.  The question most bloggers (including some of my clients) end up having is  have is, “How can I get more traffic to my blog?”

This is not an exhaustive look at how to get more readers, but here are 4 good ways to get started:

1. Write Great Content

It doesn’t matter how flashy your site looks or if you post 5 articles a day – people read blogs for the content.  Make sure your content is high-quality information that the niche you are writing for cares about and people will come to read it.

Tip: Use Google Analytics to see what pages and posts people are reading the most as well as what keywords they were searching for when they came to your site.  Write more content accordingly.

2. Post Consistently

How often you post is up to you.  But don’t leave your readers guessing if you’ve given up on the blog.  Make it obvious how often your blog is updated and make sure you stick as close as you can to your timeline.

Tip: Future-post!  Prewrite a few great articles, then change the publish date on them to the future (super easy to do with WordPress).  Viola!  You’re already on target for posting consistently in the next few day or weeks.

3. Guest Post

Write somewhere other than on your own blog.  This helps new, more and different readers see what you write about, and if they like your post enough they will click through to see your blog.  Ideally you should guest post on a blog with more visitors than your site has, and with readers that would want to learn about the same general topics that you write about.

Tip: Make sure you read the blog that you are submitting an article to.  Get a feel for the writing style, length, and content.  If you don’t know where to start, try guest posting on blogs you like to read often anyways.

Check out the spike in visitors the day one of my clients guest-posted on a bigger blog.

4. Participate

Blogging is all about sharing information, ideas and opinions.  Make sure your sharing doesn’t stop when you hit Publish.  Engage your audience continually to build a sense of community around your blog.  Reply to comments on your own blog and go comment on other blogs.  Use social media to interact more directly with readers.

Tip: Make sure it is easy to leave comments on your blog.  If the form takes too long to fill out, or if it is obvious the blogger doesn’t respond to comments many people won’t waste their effort.

Some further resources for getting more traffic to your blog:

How to get traffic for your blog by Seth Godin

13.2 Easy Ways to Build a Thriving Blog Community from Men with Pens

9 Things to Do To Make Sure Your Next Blog Post is Read by More than Your Mom at ProBlogger

Or, read one of these:

1. When You Should Not Blog
2. Guest Blog Post on Creating a Healthy Work/Life Balance
3. Overtime Guest Blog on Zen Family Habits

For the past few months the Gold’s Gyms of the Wenatchee Valley have been doing a great job of connecting to their members in a variety of ways, and not only while they are at the gym working out.

The Gold’s Gyms have been updating their blog often with great fitness and nutrition tips, as well as lots of overall wellness advice.  But as the year began Melissa Schwab, a Gold’s Gym member, began blogging on the site about her experience trying to lose weight and get in shape as she participated in the Gold’s Gym Challenge.  Hits to the site and comments on the posts are way up as people are excited to hear about someone’s experience from the trenches.  They get to hear about the highs and the lows, the good times and the bad – told with the power of a personal voice.

At the same time Gold’s Gym staff ramped up work on the local Gold’s Gym Facebook fan page. And fan numbers and interaction there jumped significantly too.  Staff created contests like “Post a picture that best says Strength to you,” kept Challengers and members updated on important times and events, as well as just providing a space for members to interact and support each other online.

To top it off the Wenatchee Valley Gold’s Gyms cross-promoted the blog, Facebook page and corporate site – all linked to each other and displayed in-gym.  Members now have a great network online to get information about they gym, receive free fitness advice, hear about other’s experiences and get to know one another.

Your Person-ness

That’s one reason why writing a blog  can help your online presence so much. People get that personal voice.  They want to know that your company is more than just a big factory churning out goods. With a blog your personality comes through, and so does your person-ness.  That’s not the only reason for a blog, and they certainly take time and energy to do right, but showing customers who you are is important.

But maybe even better – what are you clients and members and customers saying?   That’s what people really want to hear about.  How often do you buy something online without reading at least a few reviews first (witness the power of sites like Yelp)?  Being involved in social media – having a Facebook fan page or Twitter account, allows for a centralized hub for discussion about your company.  Just like Melissa’s blog, that involves people hearing the good and the bad.  But it involves people, and it involves hearing – both of which are good for your company.

Take a minute to think about it.  How could a blog or social media help you say something?  Or, how can you use those tools to let others talk about you?  How could you harness the power of a personal voice?

Or, read one of these:

1. Gold’s Gym Blog
2. Inner Circle Gym Website
3. 4 Ways to get More Traffic to Your Blog

If you are an author and you need a better website (one that would make this list) please contact me today.  I can help you create a custom-designed site that is easy for you to update yourself.  Let’s not let this industry wallow in 1998 any longer – its time for authors to embrace good web design!

For inspiration and to offer a bit of hope here are a few stand-out websites for authors I’ve found on the web:

Absolutely stunning site that makes great use of a minimal design approach and limited color scheme.

Peter goes big and bold.  You definitely know whose site you are at, and the navigation is well done too.

Brash and colorful, Augusten certainly has the best use of illustration of any author website I’ve seen.

Mr. Brown’s site perfectly mirrors the mystery in his books.  Navigating the site is like unlocking a great puzzle.

Clean, simple, beautiful and functional.  Not much to go wrong with here.  Nice emphasis on the books right from the start as well.

Trevor gets extra points for his use of social media and blogging.  The way these are sorted and posted down below is brilliant.

Many sites try to be too artsy and leave the user behind.  Rachael’s site pulls off the scattered design well.

Spark’s site is clean and pretty and does a great job appealing to his target audience.

Get your own great author website! Click here to learn more »

Or, read one of these:

1. 18 Beautiful Websites built with WordPress
2. e3 Website
3. New Google Browser

Why be good at what you do?  One reason is because people notice when you’re bad.

I was reading this article about Design Drop-Down menus and thought about how horrible it would be to have your website listed in the section of “Poorly Constructed Menus.”  Or, even worse, to have your logo show up on Your Logo Makes Me Barf.

In today’s world of people being able to instantly post reviews of your company on the internet for the world to see, word-of-mouth is more important than ever.  And though the two examples above are from the design industry there are certainly people writing about the bad in your industry as well.

People notice when you offer something sub-par, whether it be your customer service, your product, your communication, or the cleanliness of your retail store.  One reason not to be bad is so that people don’t notice anything bad to complain about.

On the flip side, they also notice when you’re good, and with word-of-mouth sometimes that’s all you need to keep your business alive.

Or, read one of these:

1. Be Good
2. 2010 Client Survey Results
3. Customer Service

From their materials:

More than 5000 people from Wasilla to Walla Walla, have attended the 90 Minute Marketing Workshops and walked away with practical, common sense strategies to help grow their business or organization. In just 90 minutes (that’s a promise) you will learn the basics for writing your own easy-to-use marketing plan and dozens of proven tactics you can take back and put to work immediately. This fast paced, real-world, hands-on  workshop was created especially for small, local businesses and nonprofit organizations that are the backbone of our local economies and communties. For more information and testimonials, please visit www.90minutemarketing.com.

Staying on top of your company’s marketing is more critical now than in times of a booming economy (though you should remember to continue marketing even when things are going well).  With many years in the marketing industry under their belts, the Hokes are sure to present a program to help you find the best ways to promote your company or organization.  You can find more registration information on the Chamber’s website.  I hope to see you at the seminar!

Or, read one of these:

1. A New Site for Apt
2. Apt Nominated for Business of the Year
3. The 2011 Apt Design Ebook – Creating Work/Life Balance

On another note, following my rereading of Cameron Moll‘s old but good post at A List Apart (Good Designers Redesign, Great Designers Realign), I am making some slight updates to the site.  You may notice a higher-contrast color scheme and a new menu that emphasizes the pages my visitors come for most.  If you have any feedback, leave a comment.

See you on Twitter!

Or, read one of these:

1. 10 Excellent WordPress Plugins to Make Your Site Better