Boomerpdx Explains Blog Traffic One Way

Find the right shoes and get running.

Baby Boomers and blogs? It even sounds like a perfect match.

So simple yet so elegant, like a Victoria Secret model’s wardrobe.

And like that model, your blog needs legs. Bloggers call it traffic.

Traffic? They call it traffic, like cars?

If you’ve ever had a yard sale, you know the drill.

Get all your stuff organized, price it out, and throw it on the lawn. That’s one way, but you won’t get rid of much.

If that’s your garage sale tactics, better to put everything in the trailer and take it to the dump.

The other way is organizing and pricing, then putting up notices and listing the sale on craigslist. Go the extra step by using multi-colored files folders as signs to guide buyers along. List big ticket pieces for sale on specific craigslist sections.

Now you ask, “What’s a yard sale got to do with blogging?” Recently a writer said he liked getting up early in the morning to write, not so much to market.

“I enjoy the process and don’t care if anyone else reads my stuff. And that’s enough. And yes I have a blog, but I haven’t updated it in months.”

He meant to say, “I’m afraid to find an audience, that no one likes my stuff as much as I do.”

But he didn’t say that because like most writers he’s already good enough. He makes an effort, enough of an effort to satisfy his communication jones.

If you’ve gotten this far, here’s the deal: bloggers and writers deserve the audience they earn, the one they work for. Sure you’re an independent free spirit. Who isn’t? But you are a writer first, and writers do their work, then do more. They step outside their ivory tower and get dirty.

Since you’re an adult with a GED, high school diploma, college degree, or advanced degrees, you know it all, right? Why would you take another class? You do it for the same reason you change your undies. No one knows you do it, but it helps your presentation.

Start with a class like Better, Smarter, Richer and Jackie B. Peterson. You won’t learn to write blog posts that start, “Well, you know, I apologize for not being more consistent. Here’s why I’ve been away…” If you don’t have an audience, who do you suppose is reading your apology?

• Find your audience first.

Decide who you want to read your blog and learn how to reach them. Call it a niche if you have to, just pronounce it right. (No matter how you pronounce niche someone will correct you so have fun with it.)

I write to, for, and about, Baby Boomers. In Portland, Oregon. Call it a narrow niche, but since Portland is on the minds of the nation’s cities trying to Portland-ify their Rust Belt, Sun Belt, Wheat Belt, or Corn Belt towns, it’s a deceptively broad niche.

• Use blogger magic.

Ricky Gervais gives advice on how to be a cocky little nobody. If you know a cocky little nobody you might not want to take that road. Well, get over it. Write a post and drop the link in emails to businesses related to the post. Let them know you enjoy them enough to make contact.

Link to businesses and people in your post, then email them to let them know. Message them on facebook, follow them on Google +. You’re not hurting anyone’s bottom line. They may ignore you completely. But they might schedule a call to see what you’re all about. Then you feel the glow of blogger magic.

• Seek good blogger direction.

Two mainstays are problogger and copyblogger. One comes from Australia, one from Colorado, but I could be wrong. It could all be the same people and place, but what matters is they speak blogger language interpreted for the masses. That’s you and I.

Darren Rowse seems like a real person. So does Brian Clark. And they nail blogging.

Look at your files of abandoned ideas, then look at your blog. They should look different. Once you join your ideas and your audience you’ll get the sort of traffic you deserve.

Go back to the garage sale. Let’s face it, you don’t want to throw your stuff away. If it was good enough for you, it’ll be good enough for someone else.

Make it easier to be found.