If you keep an eye on your blog stats, sometimes you might notice a traffic spike on a specific post. Usually this spike comes from a link from another blog or website, linking to a meme or a social bookmark. (More on social bookmarking coming soon.)

Seeing all this extra traffic is exciting. But instead of just sitting back and enjoying the higher numbers, why not take advantage of this new traffic? After all, wouldn’t it be great to turn some of this one-time traffic into returning traffic?

When you notice this traffic spike, take a minute or two to add a few lines at the bottom of that post that’s bringing in all the visitors.

Something like this works well:

Welcome new visitors! I’m glad to have you here. If you like this post, you also might enjoy these (link to 2 or 3 of your most favorite posts). You can subscribe to this blogs feed by clicking here. (Add a link to your RSS feed.)

One of us moms here at Mom’s Blog Resource was convinced she could fix the problem on her own. So she stubbornly refused to ask for help and attempted to do what she could, which wasn’t much. Finally, she gave in and turned to Hostgator, the hosting company of the site, to see if they could help. Within an hour, one of the Hostgator techs had the site back up and running.

So if you’ve ever considered hosting your own domain, if you don’t already, but the thought of weeding through hosting companies was intimidating, Hostgator is a fantastic option. We recommend them with 100% confidence. Now, no one and no company is perfect all the time, but Hostgator comes pretty close.

Hostgator’s “Baby Croc” plan allows you to host an unlimited number of domains for just $9.95 per month. They also guarantee 99.9% uptime. And perhaps best of all, as we know from first hand experience, they have live chat support available 24 hours per day. They are currently running a special summer promotion off 20% off by using the code “BEACH.” This offer expires August 1st.

If you have any questions about hosting your own domain or Hostgator in general, please feel free to ask and we’ll do our best to answer.

Of all the successful blogs on the Internet, hundreds more have failed. Running a blog is like running a business website. Unless you are willing to put the time in and treat it seriously, you won’t be blogging long.

That is not to say that the failed bloggers weren’t serious about blogging. Mostly, new bloggers aren’t prepared for the work that goes into creating a successful blog. Just building the blog doesn’t mean that people will necessarily come to you. You pursue the audience and give them a reason to see what you have to say.

1.    Fresh Content – no one wants to visit a blog day after day and see the same posts. Update your blog content at least twice a week. This will be easier if you write several posts ahead of time and upload them at the appropriate times.

2.    Article Marketing – the niche you’ve chosen for your blog is one that interests you. If it is interesting you will spend more time doing it. Create content not only for your blog but also to be submitted to article directories. Use the resource box to advertise your blog so people can find you. There are tons of article directories out there. If you’re not familiar with them, here is a great list of the Top 50 Article Directories.

3.    Social Networking – these sites are everywhere. Join Facebook, MySpace, Squidoo, Twitter or a dozen others and make connections. You can join groups of like minded people who are also bloggers or entrepreneurs. These communities are loyal to those in their “following,” and in addition to upping your traffic, you can create friendships with loyal supporters.

4.    Viral Marketing – this is where you spread the word about your blog. Talk to friends, family and even strangers. Give out business cards that have your blog address on them.

5.    Use RSS Feeds – RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication.” Readers can subscribe to your feed and read in a reader or get email updates when new content is posted. It is an easy way for them to keep up with your blog without spending all day online. Visit Feedburner to set up your RSS feed.

6.    Submit Your Blog to Search Engines – doing this allows your blog to be ranked. Google and Yahoo! are two of the most popular search engines you want to crawl your blog pages. It doesn’t guarantee top ranking, though. You’ll have to do a little more work for that. This step is becoming less neccasary though as search engines, especially Google, are huge supporters of blogs and seem to crawl blog content without any extra work on your part. A quick way to test this is to “google” your blog or some topics you’ve written about and see where you come up in the search listings.

7.    Joining Forums – as a blogger you are a budding entrepreneur. Right now you are marketing yourself to find traffic and then profit. Become a member of forums to meet new people and share ideas. You can add a link to your blog in the signature line so others can find you.

8.    Visit other blogs – show your appreciation to those who visit you by also posting comments on their blogs. It is a kindness that shows others you are not just out to advertise your blog alone. Add links to your blog in your comments. But remember to keep these Commenting Do’s and Don’ts in mind.

9.    SEO Marketing – whatever you write, use relevant keywords. Keyword density between three and ten percent is good for getting higher page rankings in search engines. Base your keywords on a research you do to find the most popular words used in search engines for your niche. Wordtracker offers a fabulous free tool for researching keywords.

10.    Social Bookmarking – submitting posts to social bookmarking sites allows others who are members of those sites to track you back to your blog. Some of the most popular social bookmarking sites are Digg, StumbleUpon, Kirtsy and del.icio.us. However, make sure you read through the terms and conditions of these sites before you submit your own posts. Some of them will penalize you if you do that, perhaps even suspending your account. It’s also a good idea to have bookmarking links on your blog to make bookmarking easier for your readers.

Using any of these ideas will start the traffic moving in your direction. It takes time but you will build the readership you want.

If you’re interested in studying an in-depth course on blogging for profit, check out Blogger’s Paycheck. The program is chock full of information, ideas, tips, and proven methods.

There is! It’s called Blog Energizer.

Blog Energizer is a fantastic blogging resource site that is filled with endless content ideas, promotion opportunities, and networking and connection opportunities.

If you have a busy life with a strong desire to keep your blog full of content on a daily basis, even when the kids are sick or you’re on vacation, Blog Energizer is the answer.

There is a ton of free content on the site that is yours for the taking. Go grab some of it and put a little energy back into your blog!

The nicest thing about the drafts of a blog is that no one will ever see them but you. Until you hit that publish button, you can play around with your drafts as much as you want.

Say you have a great idea for a blog post and a few perfect sentences already written in your mind but no idea where to take it from there. Start a draft post, add those sentences, and then let it sit until you have more time or more thoughts.

Or say you are hit with a brainstorm of post ideas. Start a draft for each idea, give them a generic title (unless you already have the perfect title) and maybe a few words to remind you what you want to write about. Next time you are ready to blog but aren’t sure what to write about, you can just look through your drafts and see if inspiration hits.

Best of all, when you use your draft section, you’ll never have to worry about losing a handwritten list of thoughts or not having them with you when you sit down to blog. All of your ideas will be there already, just waiting for you to finish them.

We do this at Mom’s Blog Resource and it really is a great way to keep track of posting ideas.

What is HARO you ask? HARO is an acronym for Help A Reporter Out. The brainchild of Peter Shankman, HARO is a wonderful source that connects average people with media sources and vice versa.

On the HARO website, you can enter your name and email address to be added to the source list. Then, you will begin receiving thrice daily emails from Peter Shankman and HARO. These lists are filled with queries from reporters and other media sources looking for a qoute or more detailed information.

Some of the media sources that use HARO include:

• National magazines, such as Parents, Reader’s Digest and Ladies Home Journal
• Local newspapers
• Television entities such as FOX, The Mike & Juliet Show and Dr. Phil
• Large blogs and websites

And that is just a very small sampling. The opportunities are endless.

Here is an example of a query you’ll find in an average HARO email:

7) Summary: “Me” Time

Category: General

Name: ———

Email: xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Title: Freelance writer

Media Outlet/Publication: Redbook

Anonymous? No

Specific Geographic Region?  No

Region:

Deadline: ————————–

Query:

“Looking to hear from women (mid 20s – mid 50s) about your
15-minutes of “me time.” This is time you carve out for yourself
each day to get a second breath. So, 1. when is your “me time” (I
need an actual time i.e. 7am, 3:15pm, or 1am, for example) 2. what do you do–play guitar; deadhead flowers in your garden; play with your dog, whatever? Finally, what does this little blast of time do for you? Do you emerge calmerer, inspired, rejuvenated, joyful or what? Please include your name, age, city/state & one more thing: I also need a photo of you! THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO RESPONDS!”

Responding to a query is as simple as sending an email. It’s a great way to get your name out there.

If any of our readers have previous experience with HARO, we’d love to hear your thoughts!

• Tweet – Another word for a 140-character update.
• Tweeps/Tweeple – Short for “twitter people.” Your friends and followers in the twitter community.
• Hashtag – A hashtag is used to keep track of a topic that many people are talking about. The hashtag is the pound sign (#) followed by the chosen descriptive word of the topic. As an example, during the Blissdom conference, whenever someone wrote something about the conference, they would end their tweet with this – #blissdom09.
• DM – Stands for direct message. You can send a direct message to any of your twitter followers. DMs are private between the sender and receiver.
• RT – Stands for Re-Tweet. A retweet is when you copy and paste something someone else said and tweet it yourself. When you retweet, it is common to put RT followed by the original tweeters name and the tweet.
• Fail Whale – When something goes wrong on the backend of twitter, or when too many people are using it at the same time, you will automatically be redirected to the page shown below. That is called the “Fail Whale.”

As a new blogger you have high aspirations for sharing your endless knowledge, your funny stories, and your most humble (or not) opinions.  You want others to try your tastiest recipes and your favorite household tips.  You desire to unleash your inner writer and make a difference in your corner of the blogosphere.

But what do you really want? What you really want is for someone to read your posts! I can remember refreshing my stats page every hour 30 minutes after those first few posts, giddy when I saw that someone was reading.  Even better was when one of my posts received a comment.  Oh, happy day!

If you want readers, you’ve got to get the word out that you’re writing.

• Linking to memes, or blog carnivals, is an easy way to direct readers to your site.  Try this comprehensive list of memes to get you started.
• Read and comment on other blogs. Make it a thoughtful or thought provoking comment, and other readers might click on your comment to check out your blog and see what else you have to say.  Commenting is also an excellent way to build relationships with other bloggers.
• Use SEO friendly titles in your posts. Skip the cutsie stuff, and get right to the point.  You want a search engine to retrieve your article.  Think like a reader and use keywords that would help find your post.
• Join Twitter and/or Facebook and leave a link to your latest work.
• Write a guest post for another blog. I’ve seen many a request for guest posters via Twitter.  Also, it can’t hurt to email a blogger with a guest post proposal.
  
• Apply as a contributing writer for another website.  Blissfully Domestic and Happy to be at Home are often looking for bloggers.  Be prepared to offer writing samples from your site.

What other ideas do you have for increasing blog traffic?

Graphic by AllPosters.com

Review blogs are a nice little niche to explore if you like the idea of reviewing free products and sharing your opinions with your blog readers.

When it comes to reviewing products, you have a few options. You can create a blog just for reviews, start a second blog that focuses on reviews, or add reviews into your current blog content.

That last option is probably the best for newer blogs, although there are some ad networks that do not allow reviews of products over a specific dollar amount to be run alongside their ads. (BlogHer specifically has very set-in-stone regulations for reviews and giveaways.)

The perks of review blogging are many.

• You receive free products.
• Your name and your blog receive greater exposure, especially if you join a review network. (See the list at the end of this post.)
• You get to share your honest opinions with your readers.
• Companies that ask for a review often provide a product for you to offer as a giveaway on your blog.

If you are adding reviews to an existing blog, it is important to keep balance in mind. Out of respect for your readers, who have come to know and love you for your content, you should make sure you continue with that content. If you begin to write only reviews and leave behind your original posting habit, readers may stop visiting. That’s not good for you or for the companies whose products you are reviewing.

Here are some of the Review Networks you may want to sign up with:

• Family Review Network
• Team Mom
• Mom Select
• One 2 One Network
• Parent Reviewers
• Mom Central
• My Blog Spark
• Parent Bloggers Network

Stay tuned for more on Review Blogging information in the coming weeks!

Do you have experience with review blogging? What are your thoughts on it? Please share your thoughts!

I certainly have a ton of respect for bloggers who subscribe to that theory for the life of their blog. That’s their prerogative, and good for them if they are happy just writing.

But I don’t understand why monetizing a mommy blog has such a stigma. Personally, I spend around 30 hours a week working on my blogs. In addition to my time, I spend money on hosting and mailing out giveaways. Is it wrong to want a little income in return? I don’t think so.

Yet over and over again, I read posts where bloggers apologize when they begin running ads or feel the need to justify their advertising. I honestly believe that’s not neccesary.

Here are my personal reasons for monetizing my blogs:

• As a stay-at-home mom, I’d like to help with the income in any way I can. When that way includes my passion for writing and being able to stay home with my children, so much the better. And every little bit helps.
• I put a lot of effort and hard work into my blogs. I don’t have a problem with receiving a little something in return for that.
• I pay for my own hosting on a few of my blogs. I also pay to mail out giveaways to my readers. If the need ever arises, I will pay to have my blogs worked on professionally. Monetizing allows me to do those things without cutting into the household budget.

Those are basic but very valid reasons, I believe.

And reasons aside, I believe there is a limit to everything. I will proudly monetize my blogs. If an ad opportunity ever arises that I feel I would need to justify to my readers, I would not do it.

What is your stand on monetizing? What are your reasons for choosing to monetize, if you have or if you plan to in the future?