My Personal Blog Sent Hundreds of Hits to my Triond Content in June
Here’s how to make more money by using your personal blog to drive traffic to your Triond content.
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My personal blog, the Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette, has proven to be a gold mine. On the blog, I refer to myself a lot as the Old Soldier. That’s because I’m 62 years old and fought with the 1st Cav (Airmobile) as an artilleryman in a towed 105mm howitzer battery in Vietnam when I was 19. So, the Old Soldier fits. It’s my Gazette persona. And since I won a K. LeRoy Irvis fellowship that gave me a generous three year stipend and paid for my MFA in creative writing that I got in 2006 from the University of Pittsburgh, I feel I have some useful information to pass on to the readers of the Gazette. They must think so, too. The Gazette averages over 600 hits a week. If I would spend more time on it, it would average much more. The Gazette sends around eight visitors a day to my Triond content. You say that’s not much? That’s 240 hits a month. Why am I doing all this loutish bragging? To give myself credibilty in your eyes. To prove that I know something about writing and about using a personal blog to drive traffic to a writer’s Triond content. If you don’t already use a personal blog to drive traffic to your Triond content, let me give you some tips on how to do it. Then take what I know and add it to what you know and you’ll know more than I know.
First off, unless you’re a celebrity (even a celebrity in a small group of people) you probably won’t drive much traffic to your Triond content if you blog about your personal life. Few people want to read about what you had for breakfast. Few people want to read about your Aunt Harriet. Few people want to read about your dog.
People want to be entertained or they want information they can use.
These two things will have people reading your personal blog. Isn’t it the same on Triond? The reason I write stories on Triond like Sex Videos www.authspot.com/Short-Stories/Sex-Videos.739687 and Girls Loving Girls www.writinghood.com/writing/flash-fiction-girls-loving-girls/ is to entertain. The reason I write articles like Writing Great Dialogue Made Easy www.writinghood.com/style/how-to-/writing-great-dialogue-made-easy/ and Advice About Writing Flash Fiction www.writinghood.com/style/advice-about-writing-flash-fiction/ is to give readers information they can use. I do the same thing on the Gazette.
Now, since the Gazette is a personal blog I also add commentaries on whatever is going on in the world that I think might interest my readers: sex in literature, sexuality in general, Palin, Obama, the economy, life in Pittsburgh and so on along with passing remarks about blogging and writing in general. The commetaries give me things to write about every day. When I post 10 flash commentaries two or three days in a row I get up to twenty hits on my Triond content. One time I got thirty in one day. That was my high. When I’m lazy and only post maybe one or two commentaries I might get three or five hits on my Triond content. When readers come to my blog they know they will read short stories, articles on writing short stories and daily commentaries about life. Many of the short stories and articles are nothing more than hyperlinks back to my Triond content. The Gazette now has nearly 1,000 postings. Even on the rare days that I post nothing, people find the content on the Gazette and then click on the links back to Triond. In one 48 hour period I posted nothing and got 12 hits on my Triond content from my personal blog.
So, if you don’t have a personal blog you might want to get one. My personal blog is with www.wordpress.com. Luckily for me, the tools of my WordPress blog are super easy to use. I started out with a free one buy decided to buy my domain name and to get some more room for articles and whatever. The upgraded blog was $15 for one year. But the free blog will work just as well.
Oh, I almost forgot. The Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette is located at www.pittsburghflashfictiongazette.com. Most of my Triond links are in the sidebar on the right. You know I really should spend more time blogging on the Gazette.
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July 27th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
I am sure you should and would get more traffic in the future as the internet rankings go high. Compared to what it was a couple of months back, I get regular traffic even on days, rather weeks, when I don’t write a thing.
July 27th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
Good luck. You’ll do great.Like it.
July 27th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
Uma:
Yes, it’s rather amazing what can happen if you put in the hours. And I’m talking hours. One day I recently got 260 hits on my personal blog. I think that was the day my blog sent 30 hits to my Triond content. And of course at the same time that day I got hits from the Triond community and from several other seach engines. It was a good day. Well, I’m ready to do it now. Every day. I am now a professional blogger.
July 27th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
Mrs. Heart:
Thank you. I think I’ve finally found my niche. Better late than never.
July 28th, 2009 at 1:57 am
Thanks for sharing your idea to build the traffic.
July 28th, 2009 at 2:05 am
Another great article Guy:) I might have to seriously starting my own blog, it looks like fun and a good way to show off your content and creativity. I’m gonna check out your blog site right now.
July 28th, 2009 at 10:03 am
Hello, Purnomosidhi:
Thank you for stopping by. This article is getting a lot of hits. I guess the information really is useful.
July 28th, 2009 at 10:11 am
Hello, Ben:
I’ve decided to put all my time into Triond and the Gazette. I’m having all kinds of problems with Reddit, Digg and Associated Content. I’m sure I’m part of the problem.
So, why should I put content on these other sites when the Gazette is all ready established and I control it? I’m the Editor/Publisher. All I have to do is put in the time and I’ll get plenty of hits.
July 28th, 2009 at 10:20 am
Wow. Very impressive. You’re right, if you want hits, you must put in the hours. This is an interesting article. Cheers.
July 28th, 2009 at 11:22 am
Hi, BeatsMe:
I am now going to put in the time. I’m sure good things will happen.
True Love http://www.authspot.com/Short-Stories/True-Love.638929
July 28th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Great ideas and encouragement – thanks for the information and I will be checking out your Blog shortly. Maybe we could cross link for additional traffic.
July 29th, 2009 at 5:54 am
Thanks for the tips,Guy!.I am new to Triond and am now setting up my own blog.Checked out the Pittsburgh Gazette.Lots of useful stuff there.It`s a bookmark for sure.
Cheers!,
Anthony
July 29th, 2009 at 6:11 am
good article Ben. I too use personal blogs to drive traffic to my writing sites but you probably knew that since we seem to think alike. and you stole an article idea of mine “using blogs to drive traffic” lol. I also use wordpress. they have good looking graphics and user friendly tools to make your blog look really nice. I will email my sites to you. I also use blogger. you should too. you can monetize the blog with adsense which means you can make money two ways, from the blog and from your triond site. I will go into more detail in my email. you and I should communicate more. I’ll go into that in my email also.
good piece. you’re on the right track. be looking for my email in your inbox on your “community” tab
July 29th, 2009 at 6:13 am
oh by the way I average 7 hits a day from each of my wordpress blogs. I have two of them which is why I wrote about needing a secretary
July 29th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Hello farbhof1:
The nice thing about a personal blog is that the number of vistors you send to your Triond content is directly related to the number of times you put up posts on your blog every day. http://www.writinghood.com/writing/10-things-to-learn-about-writing-fiction-from-hemingway/
July 29th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
Heh, great. Too complicated for me though. I’m young enough that I just write and nievely hope people click on it. Good work
July 30th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Babyface Jam:
Young writers have things they like to write about, too. The more a writer writes the more he or she will begin to wite more about certain things instead of others. Just keep writing.
August 1st, 2009 at 11:00 am
I have read some of your articles and sex stories. The content is interesting and engages the reader. I just signed up with Triond and thinking about my first submission. I’m inspired by yours and the other writer’s articles to take a stab at it. This looks like a good place to get feedback to improve on my writing skills.
By the way I have several writing interests, but my guilty pleasure is writing Erotica. I don’t think I will be able to share mine here and risk getting banned.
August 1st, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Hello, Becky Boone:
Welcome to Triond. Erotica is very popular. I guess most writers of Erotica would not consider my sex stories as traditional Erotica. I wanted to write not so much about sex but about sexuality in a more or less realistic way with no profanity and no euphemisms for body parts or actions.
And I wanted the reader to participate in creating the story by leaving room for the reader’s imagination. I think this is why Triond has no problems with publishing my sex stories.
Triond did decline one story where a man and a woman were having a frank conversation about oral sex but that’s been the only story that was decline.
Keeping these things in mind, why don’t you submit one of your erotic stories? The worse that will happen is Triond will decline to publish it. http://www.authspot.com/Short-Stories/Orgasm.869803
August 2nd, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Hi! I haven’t tried Triond but I have recently started a blog on blogspot as a diary of starting a blog. It takes a lot of practice to keep up with posts & to figure out what you are doing. I agree if you have a blog that you can start to generate some traffic to your webpages. Thanks for the tips.
August 3rd, 2009 at 12:49 am
can you teach me how to make a blog?send to this email:
sylver.falkon@live.com
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:46 am
Hi, WindyWinters:
Just try to put up one post a day. If you can stick to that you’ll be okay. Later, once you get the hang of it and if you have the time you can always put up more per-day. http://www.writinghood.com/online-writing/how-to-come-up-with-more-great-writing-ideas/
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:55 am
Hi, sylvertech:
Go to http://www.wordpress.com or maybe http://www.blogspot.com and follow the easy instructions. If you have any problems, the Help Desk or the Support Team of each site will help you. http://www.writinghood.com/online-writing/money-and-the-writing-of-sexy-short-stories-on-triond/
August 3rd, 2009 at 5:19 pm
Great!
I was debating which blog site to use and you just helped me with the decision. I was inclined to that one, and your article is just what I needed.
August 4th, 2009 at 9:32 am
Hi, Marie Antoinette:
I’m totally happy with WordPress. The tools are easy to use and they have some nice looking templates. I like the way my blog looks. Good luck. wwww.authspot.com/Short-Stories/Tainted-Love.683751
August 6th, 2009 at 6:02 am
You are such an entertaining writer – I think this article is great and very, very engaging! It doesn’t surprise me that you get so many hits on your blog and on Triond. :0)
August 6th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Hi, Misty:
I have decided to concentrate on Triond and the Gazette. This will keep me busy and hopefully will increase the over all page views of the content on both sites. Anyway, that’s the plan.
http://www.authspot.com/Short-Stories/True-Love.638929
August 6th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
Great!Keep it up!
August 7th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
jengriver, I was lucky that I started my personal blog several months before I became a member of Triond. Now my blog sends me more hits a month then any other source. Still, I know I can do better not only with my personal blog but with every other source.
http://www.authspot.com/Biographies/Autobiography-of-a-Flash-Fiction-Writer.725629
August 18th, 2009 at 4:31 am
Thanks for your comments Guy, on my article: http://webupon.com/marketing/choosing-a-focus-branding-vs-seo/
I clicked on the link to your article and found it very interesting. I am thinking of starting a blog when I am not too busy. I also have a normal 9-5 job so starting a blog will probably take some time. I plan to use hubpages.com, it seems to have had good feedback. I already made an account, but haven’t posted anything on it yet.
These tips from you on starting a blog are great. I hope I can generate more hits and add more passive income. Thanks again.
August 18th, 2009 at 8:39 am
iggysaps, be aware of the demands that will be put on your time by working, blogging and publishing on Triond. Doing all three probably won’t leave you much time for anything else.
I’m lucky in that I have no other responsibilities but writing and blogging.
http://www.writinghood.com/writing/short-story-ideas-that-work/
August 14th, 2010 at 4:38 pm
Thanks for a great idea!