For what it's worth — here are my top 10 tips for developing your blog and increasing visitor numbers. I get between 300 and 400 visitors each day, which, after a year is ok, not brilliant. If you've got any additional tips, then please add a comment.
1. Know where you're starting from and where you want to be. To do this you need a visitor monitor. I use Statcounter, which I first read about at LibertyLondonGirl more than a year ago. I also have Google Analytics monitoring my site. They both present information in slightly different ways, so worth uploading a couple of different gadgets for this mighty task.
2. Tweet. Sometimes I feel very brave and tweet a lot. Then I have days when I feel like a shrinking violet and can't tweet at all. However you're feeling, Twitter is a great resource, and is there to be used.
3. Submit your RSS feed to Google. No, I don't understand what it means either. Just Google the phrase and follow the steps. I've got London MakeUp Girl to thank for this tip. Take the time to do it (now).
4. Everybody says it. I'm just repeating it. Get involved in your community. Comment on other people's blogs. Consider writing responses to posts you've read elsewhere. Link to other bloggers. Update your 'blogroll' so it reflects which sites you're actually reading rather than what you think you should be reading.
5. Develop a weekly running order. This isn't something that I do myself (yet) but I think I might put one in place. For instance, I love the Lazy Friday Poll at Now Smell This. This is a tip that I saw in a Design Sponge video recently (which I can't find now otherwise I would link to it). 6. Don't over-estimate the success of other sites. Although it's only a rough guide, Alexa can give you a general idea of how any website is doing. I search my own blog on Alexa, which currently ranks at about 2.7 million (I know) then compare it with other sites. Sometimes Alexa can yield some surprising results.
7. Use a book like "Search Engine Optimization An Hour a Day" to understand how to make your blog appealing to bots. Even if you implement just one element of the advice, it's going to pay off.
8. Consider the title of your blog. If your name includes a highly searched word, then it's really going to help. For instance Peter (from Peter's Paris) mentioned to me that anybody searching for "Paris" in any context would eventually stumble across his blog. This, clearly, isn't the only reason for the success of this intriguing photoblog, but it has certainly helped. I've just checked on Alexa and the ranking for Peter's Paris is 643,250, which for a personal blog is phenomenal.
9. Be controversial. Last month Brian at I Smell Therefore I Am wrote this entertaining and somewhat controversial post. There are 57 comments, and counting. Some people agreed (me), some people got upset, but whatever Brian's intentions, it sure got a lot of readers. And that, after all, is what it's all about.
10. Include photos. I love photos, and as a result of blogging I take a lot more of them, which has been really positive for me personally. I now have a lot more photos of my children.
I would love to hear what you've done to increase visitor numbers to your blog. Please do leave a comment.