How to get quality traffic and improve your rank

Posted by Les Scammell on December 3, 2007
Posted in: Blogging. Tagged: , , , , .

I do a lot of surfing (too much I am told) and all my surfing these days is blog based. I love reading other peoples blogs, particularly the personal or human interest type blogs. I also get suckered in by headlines like the one I have used here – forever trying to find ways to increase my traffic, increase my RSS or email subscriptions, increase my PR and of course increase my income (not that his site is really heavily monetized).


There are a lot of articles out there that are very helpful not only for the advice and content they provide, but also for the thought stimulation they provide. Andy Beard from andybeard.eu is one such writer that always has tips and advice on how to improve your blogging. One of his latest articles SEO Linking Gotchas got me thinking. Then I read an article by Mert Erkal from searchforblogging.com on 10 Blog Traffic Tips.

Now I wonder, how many people have already read these articles? How many people have just clicked on these links to have a look at what I am talking about? How many reader will click on those links after reading this article?

Those two guy don’t know about this article, yet. I dare say they will see their links when they happen to drop by at some time – or if this post pings them.

Enough of the dribble. Down to business. I feel that being part of a blogging community such as BlogCatalog is that as bloggers, we help each other out. That does not mean making friends. It also means visiting blogs, reading the articles, leaving comments where appropriate and perhaps even subscribing. I feel however there is more we can do for each other. I have looked at swapping links and whilst this is a ‘friendly’ thing to do, is it really of any benefit? And what effect does it have on traffic and PR? So I have been looking a little closer at these issues and come up with the following conclusions. If I am wrong please let me know.

When it comes to traffic, I have very rarely clicked on a link in a blogroll. I know when it comes to PR that exchanged links probably have more of a negative effect than positive, particularly when the link is to a site that is not niche related. So what links do work?

The best links to have are the article to article link where the content is matched. This article is on bloggers helping bloggers, gaining traffic and increasing PR. The above two links fit this article well. I believe these are called deep links and are the highest rated links. I could have just linked to the home page of the above sites but that would have had a lower value.


So those two links, particularly if I had a much higher PR than the pages I linked to, would have a very positive effect (albeit it is only one article and one link out many). If just 10% of my readers click on the link then there is extra traffic flowing to that site. All positive particularly if I have the no-follow disabled (I have no idea how to check – perhaps someone could help me there). The other issue that I could use some info on is the ‘pinging’ of articles and the ‘trackback’. Both I believe can be used to great benefit.

So where am I going with this. I would love to set up a database of bloggers interested in swapping links, but links that are in articles. Have a look at the last couple of articles you have written and tell me you couldn’t have included a link to another relevant article on someone’s blog. I know everyone of my articles could have these deep links. If you get 20-30 or more bloggers working together and inserting these article to article links over time traffic would increase and so would the PR value of each of the sites.

If anyone is interested in trialling this, and you can see how easy it was for me to include a couple of links, then please let me know. I think it is a fairly simple way for bloggers to help each other out. I am working on the details as to how we could run it, I would appreciate any feedback.

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17 comments on “How to get quality traffic and improve your rank”

  1. Hi less.
    I fully agree with your view point about building backlinks, and in fact I have been working on the same lines on my blog. Deep linking with niche keywords, is the best way to pass on Googel Juice and help others.
    You can check my post here at
    http://webtoolsandtips.com/blogging/free-backlinks/

    I think, we can start working together. Contact me at desinet1 [at] gmail [dot] com

  3. Thanks for the post.I would definetly visit those two links to see the real one.Though you visit my blog at http://kasakk.blogspot.com to see the tips about traffic.Hopw we will gather some new idea and could create a friendly atmoshphere for blogging.Thanks and thanks.Same from catalouge.See you there dear.

  5. I think this is true and a great idea. I do think though that an important point you made that should not be overlooked is that the blogs linking to each other be of similar content. As I don’t normally write about improving traffic or blogging, that’s not something I would link to. However, I do link to articles about family, pets, etc. If you’re ever writing about those types of things, let me know, I would be happy to link back. :-D

  6. I think you have a great idea here. I don’t have the sort of content that your are writing. My site is strictly fashion related. I already do a few post per week where I link to other fashion blogs. In return they do the same. I just need to get more fashion bloggers on board. Thanks so much for for the great information and I will for sure take a look at the links in your post. Thanks:)

  7. Really good article on in regards to (I have looked at swapping links and whilst this is a ‘friendly’ thing to do, is it really of any benefit?) I feel that you need to whatch who you trade links with and make sore you dont do ricprical linling just a seo Tip” ;)

  11. I am one of those guys :) I certainly agree with you Les. I wonder why don’t you immediately update your “About” section. I am very curious about you but i can not read your story from your blog. This will add more value to your blog. Looking forward to see it soon.

    Cheers,
    Mert Erkal

  12. Thank you all for your comments. I have updated my theme and as per request – included an about me page.

    Further to the article – there is a misconception that in content links need to be to like content sites. That is not really true. So long as the content is natural and stays within YOUR sites theme/genre, then where you link to is not so important. obviously like sites linking is good but even a blog dedicated to stamp collecting goes on holiday or travels to see stamps so a link to a travel site in that instance is relevant and within content.

    Don’t just look to related sites for linking, except in blogrolls etc, then it is pure link exchange and the only worthwhile links are content links.

    Thank you all for visiting and commenting

    the radical blogger

  15. Great idea you have there. To build up a blog is hard work and networking is definitely required. As you know, I run a family-type of blog and a poem/relationship blog. If you get a list going of people willing to trade links this way, I’m happy to try it out. Perhaps, I can write a post about this at my blog to see if it helps to expand the community? Let me know if you have moer details.

  17. Thanks for the conents.Please add me in your blogroll.Or you may subcribe my blog’s contents,while I’m subcribing your.Thanks and left a comment for me.

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