Building traffic on a community blog site..

When I started putting The Sarasota Lifestyle together one of the things that I thought through was, “How am I going to get people to come to the site? And how am I going to get them to come back to it?

Over the last three years of having the site has made me value 3 principles in building the traffic to a blog or a website. Write stuff that is worth reading. Build a site that has quality visually. And finally, respond when people interact with you online. Seems like a simple recipe, and it is, but it works.

A famous blogger once quipped when someone asked him about content, “Would you read your own blog?”. I thought that was a little harsh at first, until I thought through it a bit. How many website are out there that are NOT worth reading. That actually is a really good measure of a site, whether it is a blog or not. Have I spent the time on my real estate site to make sure that I have what the visitors that come to it are looking for. Does it engage them?

Visual quality is another important thing for me. I spent the money and the time to hire a great graphic designer (contact me and I will be happy to refer you to her!) to design the header for the site. Was this needed? YES. If you want people to visit and come back, they need to be comfortable, if not WOWed by the site.

Finally and most importantly, I think you need to connect with your readers or visitors to your site. If they take a moment to comment or register or add their two cents on my site, then i can take  a second and respond (and quickly) to it. The idea is to engage them and get them into a conversation. You cannot have them as a client unless you have them as a conversation first. It all starts there!

John Allen is the broker and owner of the Sarasota Florida Real Estatebrokerage Allen Real Estate Services, Inc. He also owns and operates The Sarasota Lifestyle, a local community blog about news and events in Sarasota Florida. John enjoys golf and time with his family and friends when he is not working with clients or on the web.