Written on January 14th, 2010 at 12:01 am by kellydiels
How to Boost Your Alexa Ranking (by a MILLION Places!) in Two Months and One Day
guest post by Kelly Diels
In November, I rebranded and relaunched my blog. I screwed up, I suffered, I sniffled, I refuted the advances of a pervy tech wizard. And I thought: I’d better track my results to see if this was worth it. This better have been worth it.
It was.
On November 10, my Alexa rank was 1,082,076.
Two months and one day later, it is 173,556.
So, in just two short months (and one day), I raised my Alexa rank by almost one million places.
In three months (in the screen shot above, look at the bottom right figure of 1,766,896), my Alexa rank increased by almost two million places.
How’d I do it? I’m so glad you asked.
Once you get past the first set of ingredients – have a seriously small and unpopular blog – the recipe is simple. It simply requires a ridiculous amount of work and a bit of creativity.
Still, I’ve itemized and analyzed what I did differently in the last two months just so I could whisper sexy blog secrets in your ear.
Here is a list of my torrid confessions.
1. Write unique stuff
Yes, this is just another way of saying “write great content! great content! great content!”. There’s a reason everyone says it, repeatedly: because it works.
I admit it. When I started blogging, I was a wannabe. I wanted to be Steve Pavlina, Darren Rowse or Yaro Starak.
Now, I just wannabe myself. I’m lit-on-fire for the written word, I have big, ballsy opinions, I’m in bed with surprise, and I love to love. That all shines through in my transparent and sometimes pulpy posts. I know the blogging and business-writing rules and alternate between obeying them and breaking them with abandon. It is roller coaster writing, to be sure, but it seems to be a ride with an lengthening line up.
The lesson: be you, write you, and write wild and free.
2. Get your great stuff out there
In two words: guest post.
I don’t have a commenting strategy – or maybe I do, but it goes like this: don’t really do it, unless profoundly moved or delighted by the post or am crushin’ on the writer and you know who you are – so guest posts are almost exclusively how I get in front of new audiences.
Guest posts bump up my traffic significantly. In the last two months, the single greatest driver of my traffic was, you guessed it, ProBlogger. There was even one day when I had two guest posts up on both ProBlogger and Write to Done.
That day was a good day.
(That day was the day I started making money – but that’s another post, entirely.)
You know who I blame for my promiscuous guest-posting?
Josh Hanagarne, World’s Strongest Librarian. He encouraged/pushed/nagged me to guest post, but I was too timid. (Really. I was scared. What if people said no? Rejection is not my thing.) When coaxing me to approach other bloggers failed, spectacularly, he took a new approach.
He demanded a guest post from me for his site. So I sent him one and his people loved me up. It was like rolling around in a meadow full of daisies and puppies and then a unicorn slid down a rainbow and gave me a cupcake. Magic.
Then, after more encouraging/pushing/nagging from Josh, I wrote a guest post for Darren Rowse at ProBlogger. Of course, I didn’t submit it for ten days until I got exasperated by my own cowardice, cursed myself out and straight-up courted that fearsome dragon – Rejection – by pressing send.
Darren accepted it in something like 15 minutes and made nice virtual noises. Later, he said he’d publish as much as I could send him. That was all I need to hear. I sent him A LOT.
Suddenly I had confidence and started sending pieces all over the place.
And my blog grew. So did my traffic.
The lesson? Guest posts work predictable magic on your blog. Go forth, guest post, bewitch and bedazzle.
And have big, strong, nagging friends.
3. Write more, more often
I used to post new pieces 1-3 times a week. Now I post 5-7 times a week. I’ve simply developed a habit of writing every night. It is sometimes painful, almost always exhausting, I’m wasting money on cable I never watch, Facebook misses me something fierce, and I have very nearly stopped dating.
(Very nearly. Not entirely. If I stopped dating, what would I write about? I romance in the name of research. THAT’S HOW MUCH I LOVE ALL OF YOU.)
And then there’s Twitter. I’ve written 322,560 words on Twitter, which is basically a novel in Tweets.
Oh. That just made me a little sad.
But other than that twinge – I could have written a novel in the time I spent Tweeting, oh yes that stings - I’m ecstatic. I’m having so much fun. I’m seeing results.
And my blog is growing.
The lesson? Don’t worry about statistics. Worry about quality.
I didn’t set out explicitly to raise my Alexa rank. I set out to improve my blog, light my writing on fire, and make a lil’ love to my people (and find more of them). And, as a result, my blog took off and took my Alexa rank with it.
You can do it, too. Please do.
And then tell me all about it on Twitter, where I still won’t be writing my novel.
_____________________
Kelly Diels is a wildly hireable freelance writer and the creator of Cleavage, a blog about three things we all want more of: sex, money and meaning.
150 Responses to “How to Boost Your Alexa Ranking (by a MILLION Places!) in Two Months and One Day” - Add Yours
tish grier
January 14th, 2010 1:05 am
some very nice advice! totally love the “ridiculous amount of work and creativity” advice–which is really true. Blogging’s tough–and it takes a whole lot of focus to do what you did. congrats!
Guillermo
January 14th, 2010 1:06 am
Old content, new title. Awesome use of the 31DBBB Workbook. Congratulations!
Firas Steitiyeh
January 14th, 2010 1:07 am
I have launched my blog in Oct. 2009 and it was like 20 million in alexa, in 3 months it is 190,000 and Google PR3!
The tips you mentioned do not only work with Alexa, they work with any ranking script/site since those tips motivate visitors to get back to your blog/site and expose it to the public!
Well said :)
Thanks
aureliano garcia
January 14th, 2010 1:14 am
Great advice for new bloggers like me. I have been writing for a yea and a half now and it has been quite an adventure. However, my numbers, altough growing slowly but steadily, are not even close to where I want to be. I will guest blog more and stop worrying about statistics. More frquent and high qualuty posts will be my thing! Thanks for sharing this and congratulations!
Robb Sutton
January 14th, 2010 1:15 am
“The lesson: be you, write you, and write wild and free.”
That needs to be BEAT INTO THE HEAD of every new blogger. No one wants a copy cat! They want something original.
Great guest post Kelly.
I tend not to watch Alexa that much…but your tips are just good common practice for successful blogging.
Tom Smith @ Studentspayless
January 14th, 2010 1:17 am
Hiya Kelly, I dont think I ever read your posts before, but this a great article and is really helpfull to me, as my blog is extremely new I havnt put much focus into Alexa, so I just checked and my rank in the world is 2,026,868, I will keep an eye on it now and try and use your techniques to raise my rank, thanks kelly!
http://www.studentspayless.com
RRH
January 14th, 2010 1:18 am
Great post, yes guest post help you to increase traffic as well as adsense click also, I think if your blog is new then you must habbit to post regularly on your blog as well as other blog
Tom
January 14th, 2010 1:18 am
I think it’s important to remember that an Alexa ranking is hardly an indication of blog popularity. You can easily increase your Alexa ranking by the quantities you have discussed simply by installing the Alexa toolbar into your firefox browser, and using it to look at your own site a few times everyday – you will soon see an increase. I have seen many websites achieve great Alexa rankings using this method. It is for this reason that web-related sites receive the best Alexa rankings, – developers are more likely to use the firefox browser with the Alexa plugin enabled.
With all this said, I’d be more interested to see how your points for success have effected your traffic figures and conversion rates – because that’s where the real value is. Perhaps you’d post this info?
HighRoadism
January 14th, 2010 1:23 am
Kelly,
This is confirmation that I”m heading in the right direction. I started my blog in November to the amazingly awesome Alexa rank of 10,736,000. After a few months and finally getting to posting just about every 3rd day and understanding the power of “Link Luv” today I’m at 3,235,000ish. I’ll celebrate when I break 1,000,000. :-)
Lately my mantra has been quality not statistics. I’m opening up to featuring like minded guests and doing some outreach of my own.
Jordan Osmond
January 14th, 2010 1:23 am
Great post! Guest posts is a great idea thanks. Cant wait to try it!
- Jordan
TechClicked.blogspot.com
Roseli A. Bakar
January 14th, 2010 1:24 am
I agree with Robb that every new blogger should think and write like you.
Great Job Kelly !
Aaron Reddin
January 14th, 2010 1:25 am
It’s no joke. I improved mine by just under 6 MILLION in 3 months.
Unfortunately for me, I’ve learned what little I know about growing my blog by trial and err.
I should have just read others’ advice and carried it out to begin with!
Elizabeth Evans
January 14th, 2010 1:33 am
Kelly, your writing always has me smiling – it has so much personality!!
I think “be you, write you, and write wild and free.” is the real reason your rank has gone up. Sure, guest posting helps get you in the eye of the public, but something has to keep the public coming back, and writing laden with unique personality is SO key!!
keep the posts coming – love ‘em.
Phillip Gibb
January 14th, 2010 1:42 am
very cool, well done.
I would love to guest post, but to be honest – I find it hard enough keeping my blog consistent. I would have to take a risk. But I would love people to guest post at my blog, woot, anyone game?
lol
but essentially, stamping your brand out there, at high ranked places like problogger and at the little guys (like me)!!!
Sudeep
January 14th, 2010 1:44 am
Well .. came at the right time … I have been trying to work on my Alexa ranking for the last few months and yes I got some views ideas from your post Kelly. Thanks for that help .
Kelly Diels
January 14th, 2010 1:51 am
@Tom You’re right. There are loads of people writing about Alexa as a flawed – and easy to game – metric. I have lots of other ways that I measure progress, and yes, I will write another post to list them – including my traffic – in detail. Great idea. Thank you so much.
ashok
January 14th, 2010 1:51 am
kert resembels the same thing like me before posting on my blog,I was thinking what people will say they accept or not
Beginners Guide to Blogging
Mihai Secasiu
January 14th, 2010 1:53 am
I don’t want to spoil your enthusiasm or anything but getting from 1 mil to 170k is not so hard so really 1 million places is really a small achievement.
It’s a lot harder to get from 170k to 50k or try getting from 170k to 5k. See the differences between those numbers is a lot smaller then 1 mil but the amount of work required is a lot greater.
Financial Samurai
January 14th, 2010 1:59 am
Seems like a no brainer to me. Top 50K or bust! lol
Sean McVey
January 14th, 2010 2:02 am
Tip number three sticks out to me because I often wonder how many times a week I should write in my blog. Some bloggers say once a week, some say every day; for me it’s just 3 times a week. How much of a boost did you get from posting every day? Is is worth it if you aren’t a professional blogger?
Thanks for the post!
Kelly Diels
January 14th, 2010 2:02 am
@Mihai you’re right…and sounds like a challenge to me! I’ll report back in a couple of months :)
Tom
January 14th, 2010 2:13 am
@ Kelly, you’re welcome. As I say, I’ve every confidence in the techniques/points you present as real traffic drivers. Guest posting on ProBlogger, as you mentioned, will be doing wonders for your web traffic I expect – I mean, at the time of writing this reply, the article has been retweeted over 100 times. That said, the point of my comments are to illustrate that Alexa Rankings are not statistics which your techniques are aiming to improve…you are looking to improve qualified traffic levels and real business.
Alexa is an outdated website scoring system and should be treated as such. Unfortunately, your readers don’t seem to see it that way – with many of them stating that they are actively looking to improve their Alexa rankings despite my comment. It’s frustrating when people seem to confuse such statistics with success. It’s time people focused on qualified traffic and conversions as a measure of web success.
Jason @ fort2fifty.com
January 14th, 2010 2:13 am
Hey Kelly… Superb article. I love your writing style, which is something I’m continuously trying to find.
I have also started guest posting just recently. I’ve had plenty of rejection throughout my life so that’s not an issue, but not feeling like the quality of my guest post writing is. Actually, the quality issue is across the board, even on my own posts.
Anyway, great read and I loved seeing your writing style.
Daniel Johnston
January 14th, 2010 2:13 am
What you said really is common sense, but nearly everything can be solved with good common sense. A lot of people simply don’t follow common sense and get distracted by things which aren’t even close to as important, as Darren pointed out in his What’s Your Blogging Vice video. Without writing good, unique content often and marketing, you will get nowhere. However, so many people waste time marketing or designing when they don’t have any content. Huge mistake.
Cosmin
January 14th, 2010 2:18 am
The tips you share are indeed, true.
However, as Mihai wrote above, it’s not very hard to do a big jump in Alexa – until a certain point.
For example, as far as I recall, my site jumped by over 2.5 million places in less than 2 months. It all depends how good and helpful your content is, that’s what I’ve learned.
Cheers!
Mary Ann Halford
January 14th, 2010 2:34 am
Kelly, I started blogging last year and have enjoyed the process. Yet, I have been pretty much on hiatus since mid-December due to a surgery [which I am recovering well from!] and moving my business website over to the Hubspot CMS. I am gearing up to start blogging again and your piece is inspirational. Also, I just got a kick out of visiting your blog! Clever branding and posts. Wishing you a great 2010.
Brian Satterlee
January 14th, 2010 2:43 am
I had a goal to make one new post per day in January. There is no way that I can write on a daily basis, but I can write several posts on certain days. So I just write posts and date them into the future so that I get one new post per day and I don’t have to fret about making today’s post. Just something to think about.
Si
January 14th, 2010 2:53 am
I’ve be striving to post one article a day for my new website. Luckily I can easily do this at the moment, because I just love writing the content I am doing at the moment, I hope it stays that way.
Terri
January 14th, 2010 2:57 am
Great guest post Kelly!
This is one of those real good kick in the pants that I need every now and then!
Free Article Directory
January 14th, 2010 3:00 am
Good post. As you mentioned, focus on your content and spend time adding new content on a consistent basis and your stats will improve on its own.
Alexa is not very accurate, however a good indication and the only true measurement at this time. I think your doing the right thing and writing what you want is great. Cheers
ZXT
January 14th, 2010 3:07 am
I agree on the tips as I raised my Alexa ranking from 1,537,401 on 9/15/09 to 349,067 on 10/15/09
Free Classifieds Blog
January 14th, 2010 3:09 am
This is entirely true. I have also found that no matter what you publish, if you publish everyday, Alexa Ranking increases dramatically. But if you publish quality contents, your retention rate and search engine traffic will definitely increase.
Srinivas Rao
January 14th, 2010 3:10 am
Kelly,
Glad I have been there since the beginning days and caught you in my interview series :). I think it may be time for a post revisiting all of the interviews I’ve conducted. Like I said now I can say “I knew her way back when”
Lisis
January 14th, 2010 3:41 am
@ Tom: You’ve really got me thinking now… I’ve been resting on my laurels ever since I got under 100K, but now I’m thinking that may be completely irrelevant. I might need to track you down (twitter maybe?) to find out more about traffic figures and conversion rates.
@ Kelly: Great post. I definitely can’t argue with the all-around effectiveness of guest posting… particularly at problogger. You have reason to be proud that all your hard work is paying off for you. :)
Tom
January 14th, 2010 3:49 am
@ Lisis: Thanks for your response, it’s nice to see that someone is finally looking beyond Alexa and wants to find out more.
I’d be happy to get in touch, you can follow me on Twitter @zuludigital, or you can visit either of our sites, http://www.zulucreative.co.uk or http://www.zuludigital.co.uk.
Thanks
Gift Idea
January 14th, 2010 4:06 am
More search traffic for us will translate into more traffic for webmasters who have listed their websites in ExactSeek. Gift Idea
Rob Sanchez
January 14th, 2010 4:13 am
Kelly, great article! Quality content, though it seems obvious, is THE primary key to blogging success and it can’t be emphasized enough. Glad to know this played out in your Alexa rankings. I asserted yesterday that it can have a significant impact on your AdSense results, too — http://bit.ly/7bbNGL — and I would think that it would hold true across the board.
I do have one follow-up question. As to guest blogging (a component I am seriously lacking) do you write the article first and then shop it around? Or do you pick the sites where you’d like to guest blog and ask them what topic they’d like to have covered? I should be having guest bloggers and also guest blogging, and I’m slightly embarrassed to have never thought of it. Thanks for this piece of inspiration!
Antti Kokkonen
January 14th, 2010 4:19 am
Good post and I’m happy for your success. All the tips are great for bloggers and good for growing your blog.
But please, forget Alexa ranking: Alexa is a joke. A system that relies mostly on a voluntary plugin / toolbar that no one else but web masters and bloggers benefit from, which boosts the rankings of “tech sites” and gives false bragging rights.
The only chance one has is to install the plugin and try to get all your readers, family members, cats and dogs to install it as well and then browse through your website without actually reading anything. My own site has monthly traffic of about 2000+ and Alexa ranking at 73k. There are sites that pull in 10000 and more every month and are way past 100k marker on Alexa.
Advertisers: stop staring at Alexa. Bloggers: Make sure you have Alexa plugin installed and browse through your own site at all times and ask your friends to do the same.
There, rant off. Apologies Kelly, this had nothing to do with your great post, it’s just that I think Alexa gets way more respect that it deservers :)
Eric C
January 14th, 2010 4:30 am
This is like the fifth guest post I’ve read with essentially the same theme: guest post.
I hope the market for guest posts doesn’t get too flooded.
Also, I think your post goes to show, a lot of blogging success is just about showing up. You didn’t get success until you guest posted. It isn’t an accident.
Rick
January 14th, 2010 4:33 am
Great advice, especially number (2). I really must start guest posting more often!
Stan
January 14th, 2010 4:43 am
Alexa ranking is a joke.
With a simple JavaScript and a fairly small network of people you can boost your rankings big time within few weeks.
My point is that it is easily influenced.
However, people that might be interested in purchasing your site don’t know this ;)
Lisis
January 14th, 2010 4:52 am
@ Tom, Antti, and Stan: You would not believe how dumb I feel right now. I had no idea how alexa worked AT ALL… in fact, I’ve often wondered that very thing. I may have to get my cat and my kid to start clicking through my blog’s archives. ;)
@ Darren: Have you written about alexa and it’s lack of reliability as a metric? If so, might you point me in the direction of that post?
Jens P. Berget
January 14th, 2010 4:56 am
All your tips are great, but what’s also important is to install the Alexa toolbar. Installing this will help your ranking, without hardly doing anything other than visit your own blog once in a while :-)
Kelly Diels
January 14th, 2010 5:13 am
@Lisis – This is true – much ink has been spilled on how game-able the metric is, and therefore unreliable. BUT: advertisers and PR people pay attention to it. So it still counts. (see Tom’s comment above: it shouldn’t, but it does.)
A good post on Alexa rank as a metric and how to influence it:
Dosh Dosh – http://www.doshdosh.com/20-quick-ways-to-increase-your-alexa-rank/
A funny post about increasing your Alexa rank:
http://www.arksark.org/blog/2009/12/08/the-best-way-to-raise-your-alexa-ranking-a-most-ingenious-paradox/
Also: just want to note that I don’t have the Alexa toolbar installed. The rank increase was organic, and, as I said, not explicitly intentional.
It is just a way to tell a story. All metrics are.
John Hoff - WP Blog Host
January 14th, 2010 5:32 am
Guest posting works wonders. I’ve seen it first hand build small blogs into big blogs with lots of followers.
Nice work by the way.
So did you ever pop a bottle of champagne and say nice job to yourself for all the hard work? Sometimes, it’s good to reward ourselves.
Steven | The Emotion Machine
January 14th, 2010 5:44 am
Congratulations! I definitely hope to be in your situation a couple months from now… Great advice.
Amanda
January 14th, 2010 5:44 am
Another great post, Kelly. Moral of the story: write great content and the stats will work themselves out.
Rockin’.
Lisa Olinda
January 14th, 2010 6:16 am
I love the post Kelly. Great sense of humor and drama. Great work on the blog. It gives me hope!
Josh Hanagarne
January 14th, 2010 6:33 am
Thanks Kelly. You always have my permission to blame me when things go well for you:)
Davor Gasparevic @ Internet marketing ebooks
January 14th, 2010 6:47 am
I am not intimidated or frightened to be honest. At least not much.
But, you have an interesting situation where you have a blog about sex, and you don’t suppress yourself, you write from heart. That is what makes your blog different, standing out from the crowd. That’s one part, which then leads to people (me first) getting interested in following your blog, because people (read “I”) love controversy.
I, however, don’t have such an interesting situation.
Ken
January 14th, 2010 6:57 am
Thanks for the tip Kelly. I dont’ really pay much attention to rankings, but I do appreciate the tip about guest posting. Interesting concept!
Jannie Funster
January 14th, 2010 7:31 am
But what about Guest Posting?? Is that a good thing to do? :) :)
Awesome. And funny. Thanks.
Merlyn Sanchez
January 14th, 2010 7:32 am
Excellent advice Kelly.
This post is really interesting. I must consider guest posting myself!
Aly
January 14th, 2010 7:43 am
Thanks for the information. Creating a fantastic blog is a challenge… thanks for the tips!
http://alittlegreat.blogspot.com/
James Humphrey
January 14th, 2010 7:55 am
Great Post and Thanks for the details. It seems to always come back to solid content and syndication of post. Another great way to do this is to re-write your articles and put them on you blog. It increases your post rank and your Alexa rating over time.
Thanks Darren good stuff man.
Talen
January 14th, 2010 8:09 am
All the great writing, guest posting and tweeting has no influence on your Alexa rank unless those coming to your blog have the Alexa toolbar installed…simple fact.
Tomas Stonkus
January 14th, 2010 8:21 am
Oh yes!
I can relate to this so much as I am on the same journey and have gone through similar lessons as you.
Right now, I am focusing on guest posting, which seems to be key to get yourself out there. I have done one so far and I am looking to do at least 12 this year (hopefully more!)
Then there is the ongoing debate of posting frequency. I write three times a week and comment every day. It seems to be working. I don’t think I could do more than 3 posts a week, or maybe I just don’t want to :)
Congrats on your achievement! I am sitting somwhere in 700k as far as my rank is concerned, but I am going up!
Woo hoo!
Best,
Tomas
eluctor
January 14th, 2010 8:34 am
Great, another ranking for me to worry about. I keep thinking how it’s going to take me 10 years to get my pitiful little outdoor survival blog above a 0/10 on Google PageRank… now I hear about Alexa. Greaaaaaaaat. :D
All kidding aside, great article and I can’t wait to start tracking my Alexa ranking and seeing what I can do to improve.
-Romadant
james johnson
January 14th, 2010 9:25 am
Good job! I actually took Indyposted.com from 27 million to currently 95,000 in three months, with a ton of daily content, it’s one of those things that you either hit a stride with or don’t.
Technology Slice
January 14th, 2010 9:43 am
So basically you boosted your alexa ranking the same way you would boost the popularity of your blog.
Ed
January 14th, 2010 9:54 am
nice advices
Nick
January 14th, 2010 9:57 am
Great post Kelly!
Here,s my list of ways to boost your Alexa ranking:
1. Write quality contents
2. Guest posts
3. Adds an Alexa rank widget on your website
4. Install the Alexa toolbar
5. Write about Alexa
6. Create an Alexa category on your blog
7. Encourage others to use the Alexa toolbar
Nick
beth aka confusedhomemaker
January 14th, 2010 9:59 am
I think that’s the biggest piece of advice anyone could have in any aspect of life, don’t worry about the stats but the quality. It’s who you are not what you’re numbers are. Easier sometimes said than done.
Bimal Roy
January 14th, 2010 10:42 am
Thanks for the tips Kelly. I too think that posting regularly can improve alexa ranking.
Aaron - HelpCreatePlan
January 14th, 2010 11:19 am
LOL – Loved this post….I’ve been staring at it for so long….I almost saw that same Unicorn sliding down the rainbow.
When i’ve got a few more posts up, I will try and guest post somewhere, but I must admit I have that same scared feeling.
Never mind – definitely gonna give it a try in February.
David Walker
January 14th, 2010 11:23 am
Kelly, good to see you again on Problogger and I hope Darren keep having you often. I read your first guest post here and scooted over to Cleavage to have a look. You were ranting about your daughter’s style of dressing…
I want to guest post and every time I come up to a post by you, I want to do it so much more because you say it’s okay to be afraid and to worry and to feel I’m not good enough; it’s okay and to just send in the post anyway.
I don’t have big, strong, nagging friends but you’ll more than do.
Stocks on Wall Street
January 14th, 2010 11:45 am
How much is a strong alexa rank worth?
Shawn
January 14th, 2010 11:54 am
Beyond just making progress in your Alexa raking, I’d say these are all pretty great pieces of advice in general for growing your blog. I guess the main lesson I’ve learned after doing plenty of contract blogging and social media management for other developers is that it’s amazing how much of the success in this sort of thing has to do with persistence. Lots of people simply give up too quickly before discovering whether there is a real audience for them out there or not.
The poor diabetic
January 14th, 2010 11:56 am
I find myself in a similar situation. I haven’t started to guest post and I do a lot of blogging on a daily basis. I honestly just don’t have the courage yet to do it but this story has inspired me to peek out and see what I can find.
thanks n fingers crossed
Eric
January 14th, 2010 12:52 pm
I truly believe that a lot of new bloggers (myself included) know it takes hard work to get recognised. And maybe they are aware of some of the technology out there to help them.
I think a lot of the problem is people are too scared they’re not going to make it and therefore they simply give up and quit chasing the dream.
Money will come in time with experience and failure. Knowledge will come when you don’t give up.
Fail a bit and get some experience and use that knowledge (not giving up here) to help people out and later on make some money.
Write and promote as the infopreneur says and add guest posting as well.
Hesham @ FamousBloggers
January 14th, 2010 1:09 pm
Wonderful post, I have done some of these tips and really worked for my blog, I am posting 7-9 posts a week!
Jim Hardin
January 14th, 2010 1:28 pm
Great job listing what is important. Write original stuff, get it out there and write more and more often. I don’t check my alexa ranking that much anymore. I did when I first started blogging as I guess most do. I guess you could say I was obsessed with it for a while. Now though I just try to create content and not worry about my ranking.
Bibokz
January 14th, 2010 1:44 pm
Unique and frequent post is the key… social media involvement follows. Thanks for the tips…
Travis
January 14th, 2010 1:48 pm
Hey Kelly – great post, and it drove me to your site! :)
I’m trying to get in the habit of writing every day, and experiencing many of the emotions you’ve indicated. I’m hoping that if I build it they will come, but either way I should end up a better writer in the end.
Thanks for the motivating words.
Travis
Kelly Diels
January 14th, 2010 1:55 pm
I know, I know, it is kind of tedious advice: guest post, guest post, guest post.
But it works.
Leo Babauta of Zen Habits grew a brand-new blog to 100,000 subscribers in something like 18 months by guest posting promiscuously.
He’s not the only one. If you get your stuff out there, and it is good, they WILL come.
Gretchen Rubin of The Happiness Project put it well, recently: “ubiquity is the new exclusivity.”
Kelly Diels
January 14th, 2010 1:58 pm
And for those of you who are struggling to write every day, two bits of advice:
1. Ease into it. Add one more post per week, each week or every two weeks. Then maintain. Then add another. Or write a marathon of pieces every weekend and schedule them.
2. Solicit guest posts for YOUR blog by other bloggers. That’s a day off. Phew. AND: your traffic will bump up on those days, too, because that blogger will blog and tweet about guest posting on YOUR site.
Oh. I think another post is a-brewin’.
Kelly Diels
January 14th, 2010 2:18 pm
@Srini – you knew me when??? You know me NOW.
Nick@Subject2.com
January 14th, 2010 3:00 pm
I’ve never really understood the importance of Alexa numbers but without that, I enjoyed your post. My blog has grown enormously recently and I’ve been struggling to get guest authors/posters.
Just knowing that you’ve done really well at something you love is inspiring
Simran
January 14th, 2010 3:36 pm
I completely agree with the points.. Writing unique content really helps in improving alexa ranking :)
Mikes Sumondong
January 14th, 2010 4:10 pm
it’s not about increasing or (growing) my alexa rank but it is growing my BLOG! That was truly powerful!
Pallav
January 14th, 2010 4:39 pm
Quite a magical article. Well written, executed and delivered by the promiscuous guest writer. I really loved your idea of building a content rich blog just like yours. You are truly a gem of a person. Keep writing and enlightinening us with your profound experiences in the area of blogging, sex, money and meaning.
Thanks
Ian Nuttall
January 14th, 2010 5:41 pm
As an aside: you can improve your Alexa rank massively by building backlinks to your site. For bloggers, using the tips and strategies in this post will naturally attain you links and love from others.
If you have an affiliate minisite then you’ll need to stop being lazy and build some serious, quality links to boost your Alexa.
Personally, I’m into Cleavage, not Alexa. But, whatever floats your boat…
Aaron Wong
January 14th, 2010 7:58 pm
Kelly, your advice is sound. Publish great content and the rest will take care of itself. Your writing style is entertaining as well. You’ve made me consider trying to guest post on other people’s blogs as well!
designfollow
January 14th, 2010 9:19 pm
very useful
thank you.
Free Vector Graphics
January 14th, 2010 9:52 pm
wow.. thanks for the great tip. Alexa rank is very important for any webmasters.
Hear Mum Roar
January 14th, 2010 9:57 pm
Bravo!! That is an amazing acheivement, and I’m sure your blog would probably be even better than it originally was from all you’ve learned, is it?
My Business Listings
January 14th, 2010 10:08 pm
Nice post. I guess the third point “Write more, more often” is the crucial one. Especially for the beginners. You just can’t miss on this one.
ZK @ Web Marketing Blog
January 14th, 2010 11:07 pm
Certainly guest post is the main reason of this Alexa booming. But however once you build the reader followers than every posts of yours will give you increase in readers.
You can double it or triple it with maximum number of posts.
Kids Soccer
January 14th, 2010 11:43 pm
Your post is very inspiring. I’ve started asking to guest post on certain blogs in my niche and have reaped similar rewards. Sending articles to directories has been eclipsed by guest blogging in my opinion. Many are using article marketing, but not many are sending content to other related blogs. Go figure.
Brandy
January 15th, 2010 12:03 am
I just love this post, it’s so true! I am working on being a better blogger this year and so excited that it appears my hard work is paying off too!!
Well written!
Ching Ya
January 15th, 2010 12:04 am
It’s always encouraging to hear a motivating story like this. I believe passion and effort plays a big part in your success, and another important point is that you manage to overcome your fear and go all out, which I applaud you for that. Whether Alexa ranking could be an indicator of success, I think as a blogger you’ve shown us a good example. Continue to blog and inspire!
@wchingya
Social/Blogging Tracker
Jaszy
January 15th, 2010 12:13 am
Oh, Kelly…you make me love you even more! You made me say the “L” word in a public forum no less!
Again, nicely written and very inspiring. More congrats to you!
Andrea @ MommySnacks.net
January 15th, 2010 12:44 am
Another thing I’ll add is loading the Firefox Alexa Plugin helps tremendously! I dropped my ranking by 30,000 in just a few weeks (no joke).
rochelle
January 15th, 2010 1:17 am
I might have to adopt that line ….It was like rolling around in a meadow full of daisies and puppies and then a unicorn slid down a rainbow and gave me a cupcake…..awesome.
ami | 40daystochange
January 15th, 2010 1:46 am
Kelly: you take a subject that’s been done to death all over web-land, insert your voice, and POOF! It’s new and fresh and interesting and helpful. THAT’s the lesson for me and for anyone who’s afraid they might run out of content.
Nys
January 15th, 2010 2:15 am
haha…that was awesome. well written & insightful!
Dave Doolin
January 15th, 2010 2:24 am
You’re my hero Kelly. =)
Sharel
January 15th, 2010 2:58 am
Another great example of how writing targeted quality content can help your traction in your filed of passion.
Thanks,
Sharel
M.A. Romero
January 15th, 2010 3:03 am
Interesting post.
My suggestion is that you could have trimmed it down by about 40% with some good copy editing.
With tons of material to read everyday folks are usually skimming and looking for the meat. I’m in the process of revising my articles and doing that myself ;o)
As for Alexa – is that worth anything much these days?
I believe keywords on Bing, Goggle, Yahoo etc. are more important but that may be for traditional sites and not for bloggers?
Kok Siong Chen
January 15th, 2010 3:11 am
Yes! I absolutely agree with you that content is the more essential thing in blogging. For me, no other trick that better than writing a quality content to promote our blog.
2012 Doomsday Predictions
January 15th, 2010 3:21 am
Congrats for your success, actually Alexa ranks is not so accurate, it can be manipulated but advertisers still demand it :)
Quality Stuff
January 15th, 2010 4:02 am
Committed writing of quality stuff is the key to unbelievable ranking. I agree totally. I must train myself to do even better than 7 articles per week. I believe i will improve. Thanks for reminding us.
Mokibobolink
January 15th, 2010 5:09 am
I loved this. I’ve been wondering about trying out guest blogging but was feeling nervous about it because I kept saying to myself that I wasn’t “experienced” enough to do it, etc. It was nice to see that someone else felt the same way, and got over it.
Thanks!
-Moki
Pinoyblogtips
January 15th, 2010 5:30 am
What a nice article kelly! You must not really sacrifice the quality of your blog just to have good statistics. Seems like guess posting the way to have a good traffic now. Im glad you did. I will do the same too on my blog.
Brian Kevin Johnston
January 15th, 2010 6:06 am
LOVE THIS POST… WHY?
“It simply requires a ridiculous amount of work and a bit of creativity.”
We have a “culture” that has brainwashed to believe that society owes them something (ENTITLEMENT)….
Hustle Hustle Hustle
Thanks for your invaluable post, Brian-
Crystal Coleman
January 15th, 2010 7:13 am
Kelly, this is the first time I’ve read your writing and I have to tell you that I love your style. Your sense of humor is fantastic and definitely has me wanting more!
I’ve “just” entirely relaunched my own blog, so this post full of great advice is very timely for me. Hopefully, as I discover my “voice” I will develop the confidence to get myself out there as a GUest Blogger. Definitely a goal to work towards!
Thank-you for the great advice.
Chris Jacobson
January 15th, 2010 7:22 am
Some very good tips. It’s amazing how quickly an Alexa ranking can drop in just a short period of time. I’ve seen sites in the millions go as low as 50,000 or so in less than six months. Traffic, content and internal linking are key.
Alejandro Marin
January 15th, 2010 7:24 am
I’m about to start off my blog in Colombia, South America, and I’ve been reading all the information about how to do it great here on Problogger. I wanna thank Kelly for the advice and I look forward to her next post.
Take Care Kelly, happy new year, blessings from Colombia!
Carolyn
January 15th, 2010 7:42 am
Alexa ranking has been fascinating me lately – thanks for your insight on this!
I’ve only been blogging for one month, and my Alexa ranking jumped from 11 million to 9 million to 7.5 million – so I’m still way back, but it must be very easy to move quickly through the low ranks. At some point competition must get fierce and gaining ground slow going.
I guess we all need a viral post to launch like you did! Congratulations!
TheInfoPreneur
January 15th, 2010 10:18 am
I’m going to do a reply post to this tomorrow, but I went from 8,500,000 to 94,000 (36,000 in the US) in 9 weeks!
Scentsy
January 15th, 2010 12:48 pm
I was under the impression that back links were the best way to improve your rating. I never thought about guest posts nor how the content may be just or more important. Thank you for forfeiting a date to help all of us.
Taylor at Stain Removal 101
January 15th, 2010 12:54 pm
Wow, I can’t believe the Alexa rating went up that fast. Does anyone know any general rules of thumb of the amount of traffic someone is getting based on their Alexa ranking? I am wondering when I look at two websites with similar Alexa ranking numbers if they really have similar traffic numbers too, or not.
Maven
January 15th, 2010 1:43 pm
You are so AWESOME!
I’m getting up the nerve to ask to guestpost post but I’m still too skeeert!
Paul Hassing
January 15th, 2010 5:03 pm
I like the cut of your jib, Kelly! Strong, taut and empowering. Many thanks for the shot in the arm, smack in the head and clip round the earhole! Best regards, P. :)
Curtis Chappell
January 15th, 2010 5:19 pm
Hi Kelly,
I’m more interested in your comment regarding guest posting…as that was when you started to make money.
Do you think it was a sheer increase in traffic which made a difference? Or more importantly an increase in better qualified readers who were ready to click and spend?
And without giving away all of your ’secrets” was this increase due to click-through revenue? Or were you selling content? Or did spsonsors wake up to your increased traffic?
Cheers in advance for your reply!
Curtis Chappell
January 15th, 2010 5:20 pm
Hi Kelly,
I’m more interested in your comment regarding guest posting…as that was when you started to make money.
Do you think it was a sheer increase in traffic which made a difference? Or more importantly an increase in better qualified readers who were ready to click and spend?
And without giving away all of your ’secrets” was this increase due to click-through revenue? Or were you selling content? Or did sponsors wake up to your increased traffic?
Cheers in advance for your reply!
Ravi
January 15th, 2010 6:20 pm
Thanks for tips
turisuna
January 15th, 2010 6:20 pm
Content is still a king, writing often and regularly is needed to invite visitors come to our blog, I have done both of them. Now I’m trying to be a guest post, it’s not easy because it needs quality and trust, I won’t give up, I will try it harder. Thanks for your tips :)
Bojan
January 15th, 2010 7:33 pm
Not dating = not cool :)
Great advices for the beginner like myself.
Louise Heasman
January 15th, 2010 11:44 pm
I loved your article! I’m an old fashioned marketing girl and it’s taking me time to get used to all the online stuff but I am getting my head around it all despite the frequent overwhelm! I really value all of your tips. Thank you!
Elizabeth Haggar
January 16th, 2010 12:20 am
Thanks for the tips you provided, it really helped me. i cant deny the importance of frequently posting: i boosted all my sites with content. From directories to websites, content is the main factor!
Asif Ahmed
January 16th, 2010 3:20 am
Great Story, Even i wrote something like this on my blog. Focus on Content and not stats. Your Blog grows with it.
Kannan
January 16th, 2010 5:18 pm
Very interesting article! Fresh and frequently updated unique content is the basement to increase the traffic of a blog.
Elena
January 16th, 2010 5:20 pm
Thanks for the tips! It really helpful for me…
greenvtseries
January 17th, 2010 1:33 am
i agree. Write more.
ppc tips
January 17th, 2010 4:53 am
This is true. If you write a guest post for a bigger blog, with a link back to your blog, it will almost certainly increase traffic to your blog, at least for a couple of days.
J. Michael Warner
January 17th, 2010 3:10 pm
WoW! You write with wild abandon, Love It!
id
January 17th, 2010 8:43 pm
I always write my own stuff and if you follow a good strategy the return will be pleasant.
Springa
January 18th, 2010 8:31 pm
Thank you for your ramblings and writings and enthusiasm. I do have blog but at this stage I cant even find it. I will look again in a minute. I dont have a ‘real’ website yet – just the affiliate one mentioned. But that is all about to change soon so I can make squillions and give up work and be the me I want to be – instead of the responsible adult on the outside who holds down a job, wait is a pillar of society and yet is really too busy to work.
So, again thank you – I enjoy your style.
Springa
Michael
January 19th, 2010 5:21 am
I used to think the entire “original content” thing was bogus…
Your points are WELL taken – write original – write good – and write a lot.
Your strategy works every single time. I find that when I slack off my ratings AND earning plummet.
Dragon Blogger
January 19th, 2010 9:08 am
Alexa seems more closely related to blogging traffic and visits than the number of articles on your site, though articles linking back to your own that are tracked by Alexa help your rating a big deal. Also some people told me having Alexa reviews of your site help, and I found out that hosting an Alexa badge on your site showed benefits for me as well.
Matthew Needham
January 19th, 2010 10:50 am
Not quite as good a result as you, I’ve managed an 800,000 place improvement over 3 months. Since I’ve been following a targeted approach similar to the one you have outlined.
Leah MacVie
January 19th, 2010 11:58 am
Thank you Thank you Thank you for this new blogger advice. I’m definitely going to commit to writing frequently- showing my opinion more- and trying to guest blog- thank you for mentioning that last one!!
Karina Guerra
January 19th, 2010 1:21 pm
That is a tip I have been giving in my Blog if you want to make money with it.
Publish, publis and publish good quality content and go and so social networking.
If you publish 1,000 articles in a month and you leave 1,000 links in other people’s blogs your rankings will go up and your money too.
sd cards
January 19th, 2010 3:55 pm
Amazing post with all sorts of great alexa information. I have never really concerned myself with alexa but maybe I should. Thanks again!
easy ways to make money
January 19th, 2010 5:33 pm
I never did understand alexa rankings. There is so much to keep up with especially for those of us just starting out. For now I just focus on my search engine rankings and hopefully that will help with the alexa ranking as well.
As far as content is king, you are correct, but you still need to have a way of getting people to see it. writing content is half the equation, the other half is getting yourself out there.
Paul
January 20th, 2010 7:22 am
Great post Kelly. It’s good to hear a success story like this, I hope it continues for you.
The big changes in your ranking clearly indicate the value of your strategy. Thank you for sharing
Regards
Paul
Guest Posts. How To, Why To, Where-Not-To, AND NARY A LIST IN SIGHT.
January 20th, 2010 4:05 pm
[...] was scary to me. And, based on the comments, e-mails and direct messages I received in response to my advice to guest post, guest post, guest post, it scares the prehistoric right out of you, [...]
Tom
January 20th, 2010 8:26 pm
Hi guys, there’s an interesting article written in response to this discussion. See http://www.zulucreative.co.uk/blogs.php?id=50, and be sure to post a comment!
Pat Bloomfield
January 21st, 2010 4:39 am
Great advice just being persistent on the basics.
Writing regular blogs can be difficult with trying PPC marketing strategies and “work” after selling my service. This is a real key area to focus on this year on all my blogs.
One last thought. Guess I shouldn’t be responding to this article and writing a guest article instead – ha ha :o)
Charlie
January 21st, 2010 11:27 pm
Great advise! However, is Alexa a reliable tool? There has been a lot of talk around this a large number of people I ve talked to don t even consider its results.
Aglo
January 22nd, 2010 4:02 am
The most regret is never jumped to nearly a year, and I have a lot of writing and publishing it to others.
Mike
January 26th, 2010 4:35 am
Like your writing style Kelly. Congrats on your success!
Keep up the good work and don’t be afraid to release the unicorns… (ahh.. this line sounded much better in my head then out loud:)
Mike
Jens P. Berget
February 8th, 2010 4:10 pm
I’ve also started to write guest posts, and I’ve seen some quality traffic from it. To me, writing guest posts was the one thing that I should have done a long time ago.
- Jens
lynx
February 10th, 2010 12:38 am
Well ,I may not know the effect of the toolbar ,but I did not have it installed ,yet my rank improved from 4 million to 300,000.I think Just like the writer put forth, to a large extent,it still have to do with traffics,no matter the manipulations involved.
Scentsy
February 12th, 2010 3:13 pm
I am always looking for new, great ways go improve my blogs ranking, so thanks for the tips. Now on to finding what to write and how to creatively going about it.
MrsGrapevine
February 20th, 2010 5:22 am
I just want to know why my pageviews are increasing, but my Alexa number is yo-yoing. Oneday it will say 38,000 then the next 80,000 but the number of views are roughly the same.
Houston Librarian
February 26th, 2010 6:42 am
Unicorns sliding down a rainbow sounds like a Saturday cartoon I used to watch.
Sourish | Wordpress Install Guide
April 1st, 2010 1:17 am
Informative posts. Earlier they said having alexa toolbar installed in computers that access your site improved ranking . What i did was install alexa on my college computers and set the home page as my site … :P
Toronto Marketing Firm
April 13th, 2010 5:18 am
Thanks for this
Hmm.. Does this mean that Alex rankings and having a life are mutually exclusive? :)
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