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The indibloggies nomination for the year 2009 has been announced. Apart from the usual suspects like greatbong, prem panicker’s blog, jugalbandi and others, there has been a steady influx of interesting up-coming blogs (like twisted-dna, lets put da). On the other hand, blogs like india-uncut and desipundit have been left out of the competition owing to their already dominating vast presence (being inducted into the hall of fame is the official reason). Now here’s a thought that every amateur has to grapple with: how to effectively induce a steady traffic flow into their blogs? I shall list a few points that might ease their concerns-

1. First and foremost importance should be on content. Study has shown that 91% of seasoned bloggers say consumer content is the primary focus. It’s always a good idea to prioritize your content rather than going for anything-under-the-sun approach. It’s okay if your blog does not have a central theme- there isn’t one in many good blogs- although it would be a wise idea to have your trademark topics or signature posts. Notice how Amit Verma attracts visitors to his hilarious ‘cow posts’ in india-uncut, or how Arnab Ray delights hundreds of visitors with his trademark reviews on C-grade Bollywood flicks in greatbong, and you get the general idea. Pick your cue carefully: it’s important that your readers appreciate the content as much as you do. Good content seldom fails to attract a steady flow of traffic.

2. As for self-advertisement, be careful not to cross the point of over-selling yourself. Readers don’t take kindly to unctuous bloggers who try to impose themselves on people. On the other hand, don’t hold back too much either. Research has it that one word-of-mouth has the impact of 200 television ads. It has been found that 87% folks trust a friend’s recommendation over a critic’s review. Hence, the bottom-line is: Use your friends. In a world where thousands of new blogs get churned out daily, it’s common sense to predict that the first few visitors would be those who are personally interested in your blog, notably friends and relatives. Use your blog’s URL in your email signature and Gtalk status (don’t push it too far, though). Orkut communities and Facebook groups are good places to suggest your blog to like-minded folks. Post your blog URL on tweeter. Highlight new blog posts as the status message on Facebook and Orkut. If your blog has a central theme, join similar groups on social networking sites. Enlist in popular blog network sites like Blogcritics and Desicritics. All these steps would lead to greater exposure, thus ensuring a wider audience that would normally be beyond your scope to reach out to.

3. Many bloggers commit the potentially fatal mistake of not taking the comment space seriously. Do engage the readers in frequent and stimulating conversations. Try your best to answer questions and participate in debates on your comment space. Always remember: you owe it to the readers. Bloggers who have ignored this simple piece of advice and acted holier-than-thou have withered away with time. Commenting on others’ blogs is a good practice; however, don’t do it until you have something worthwhile to say. Randomly advertising your blog as a comment is not a good idea- it runs the risk of being irritable to the point of driving people away. Providing coherent arguments and useful information as comments on a peer’s blog site is, on the other hand, an intelligent way to lure traffic to your own blog.

4. Irrespective of your publishing application, keep your blog simple and unornamented. Use tags to keep notes of entries. Don’t clutter the site with excessive advertisement or applications. Keep track of your followers and encourage them to subscribe to your blog feed. Make your blog search-engine friendly. Use moderate sized fonts. Avoid using sms-text all together (not because language snobs tell you to do so, but for the simple reason that sms-lingo is hard to decipher than ordinary text). And you all know this: No over-the-top bright background colours, please!

Most importantly, you should understand that you ought to have patience- lots of it. It’s almost impossible to achieve stardom in blogosphere from your first post. Many renowned bloggers had lamented about the lack of interest in their blogs at their inception. A couple of years down the lane, they went on to become the biggest names in the virtual world of blogging. Provided you enjoy blogging, and that you do it with sincerity, you might as well join the ranks of them.

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