We use a methodolgy called CTPM which is all about preselling your theme via content driven development. If you build it with the right thought process and keywords assoiated to a well written topic/page your readers will come and come back. Its the KEY to success in the ever changing fight for the elusive customers.

Get the passion on the screen. Write for humans not for rankings. Never stuff keywords unjustly. They will come and they will come back.

Our site is now in it’s 12th month. We went from a PR 0 to PR 4 in 10 months. At a PR 0 we had (on a good day) 10-15 unique visitors. Then we got to 100 pages of content and started to see positive change. Now we have a PR4 and our Adsense and Affiliate revenues have grown nicely. No retirement yet. But if we get to PR5 by end of summer the site will have taken a major shift in the right direction which is Leverage of the Web via Content:

CTPM : learn all about it…

For the past week or two, I’ve been researching for an article series. Through this research, I’ve discovered many new bloggers. Before I left, I dropped a relevant comment on a post of theirs related to my blog niche.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that many of them emailed me to say that they are now subscribing to my blog, and several have since referred to my blog in subsequent posts.

Although this technique is slow (one subscriber at a time), it provides relevant readers. And the best part is that you can accomplish it just through your regular article research.

Obviously I’m not spamming — my first motivation for participation is that it is a very fun site for me. And I sure do spend a lot of time with Google, trying to figure the puzzles out. And that has turned out more effective so far than some of the other methods I’ve dabbled with, such as posting to social media sites.

Bloggers are battling RSS overwhelm. While bloggers are more likely to click to add your feed, they’re also likely to cut you when they get overwhelmed. Non bloggers don’t have that to such an extreme.

In Dominique’s case, there are boatloads of mums and caregivers who aren’t already blogging or really into blogs or RSS. Target them through forums and places like iVillage or Workitmom, and make it extremely easy for them to understand email subscription.

2. In Dominique’s particular example, I would probably remove the Feedburner count. With the explosion of blogging that’s been taking place lately, the social proof factor has really come to the forefront.

3. Get friendly. This can obviously include relevant comments, social media, and guest posting, but also getting up close and personal with other bloggers. Send emails, really get to know people. Make them Friends with a capital F. The kind you’d go out for a drink with, not just the “friends” that social media created. Bloggers, especially mommy bloggers, are incredibly isolated. We crave true human contact. By making yourself a real person, you can separate yourself from the crowd of people who just leave comments.

Good luck Dominique!

Blog Carnivals
Forums
Leaving well crafted comments on blogs in your niche

And remember, content is the key. Provide great useful content and you will see your traffic increase

Regards,
Dominique (Happygirl08)

By branding yourself and your blog – you want to position yourself as an expert in the area, and as Darren said, ‘add value’, so that people want to join your blogs community.

Thanks for the post Darren.

I write primarily about frugality, but I also touch on parenting, careers, debt, etc. Attracting readers from closely-related niches brings diversity to your audience, and as long as your material occasionally touches on these broader niches you’ll retain them and your long-time subscribers as well.