Blog hopping is one of the most effective and free way to gain traffic. Blog hopping is the act of visiting other blogs (“hopping from one blog to another”). As you hop around blogs, you leave comments either on the posts or on the tagboard/shoutbox, leaving your name and URL. By doing so, you hope or should I say “expect” them to visit your site in return.
Aside from this, blog hopping allows you to gain friends in the blogging community. More importantly, you get to explore other blogs and learn many bits and pieces from other bloggers. Here are some blog hopping tips.
1. Make a good impression.
- Before you blog hop, be sure you have an interesting post on your first page. Why? So that you get to attract the bloggers that will land on your page especially for the first time visitors. Having interesting contents will of course attract readers. Never expect blog hoppers to browse all your site pages and categories. You are lucky enough if they scroll down until the last post of your home page. Usually, hoppers only scroll down until they see the shoutbox or tagboard. With that said, it is very important that your first two or three posts be very striking. As they say, “first impression lasts.”
2. Interact politely.
- Learn to be polite as you leave your comments or tags. SPAMMING is a mortal sin. Respond accordingly. “hi, dropping by, blogging around” are few lines which are acceptable only in tagboards and not on the comments section of a particular entry. Comments on entries are more appealing than dropping few words in the tag board. It implies you took the time to read the author’s entry and cared to respond.
On exchanging links: I personally find it bad when one instantly (on their first visit) ask for exchange links. I think they are just after external links especially if you have high Google page rank. As for me, I don’t easily exchange links with others. I see to it that I am interested with the sites that I link to regardless of their PRs.
3. Keep connected.
- Once you have some blog hoppers on your site, hit them back. If you are truly interested with their blogs, visit regularly and perhaps ask for exchange links. If not, a one-way link wouldn’t hurt anyway.
4. Don’t just “blog hop” for traffic.
- As you go through, you’ll realize that traffic isn’t what you’ll enjoy the most from blog hopping. It’s only a bonus actually. If you land on worthy blogs, you’ll learn so many new things.
