On Problogger today, Darren believes that the key to a successful blog is to write great content and the links will come.

That is partly true, but it is fruitless if no one reads it because they don't know it is there. It's like inventing Coke and having no one but yourself drink it everyday.

If you have been a long-time blogger and socialise online fairly frequently, it is easy to build up a regular following over 2 years or more of blogging.

Since I got interested in SEO and analytics, I was surprised that both my earlier blogs have a Page Rating (PR) of 4 each. Both blogs have regular visitors and many new ones, according to StatCounter, and I have friends, offline and online who link to me and stop by often.

The best way to introduce traffic to your blog, imo, is through regular surfing and posting to your own communities in forums or social networking groups. You'll attract like-minded people who will add you to their blog and continue to visit.

I have always focused on content. Writing's therapeutic to me and I would write (and have for years) just for an audience of one. Having others read it is just the icing on the cake.

Hence, learning to drive traffic to my blog is something brand new and exciting to me, and as a lover of learning, I'm relishing the journey and hope you will too.

Technorati: page rating, seo, analytics, content, links, writing