Few things are as important to blogging as site traffic is.  When you intend to make money blogging, the success of your site is going to be reliant on the number of people who manage to make it to your site, stay there, and return to become loyal readers.  Fortunately, driving traffic to your blog doesn’t always have to be a herculean task.  Here are a few tips we’ve collected for you so you can boost your site stats and encourage people to come to your site:

1.  Get out there and network!

Widen your online social circle!  You won’t get any visitors to your blog if you don’t visit other blogs yourself.  When you do go out and drop by other bloggers’ sites, leave comments on their blog posts and make yourself known to them and their readers.  Don’t just post any comment for the sake of putting up one.   Leave a comment that’s intelligent, well-written, and polite so you’ll make a good impression on the blog owner and his visitors.  Don’t forget to tack your own blog’s URL at the end of your comment, so people have a way of finding you and your site.

Although linking to other blogs isn’t a guarantee that you’ll get a link back, it’s still worth a shot.  Don’t just link to every blog you see, though!  Choose blogs that you like and respect, and which you actually visit when you get the chance to.

You can also pay a visit to forum boards that talk about the very same topic that your blog deals with.  Be an active member, post helpful information, and most importantly, leave a link to your blog that other forum members can click through if they want to get more of your unique advice.

2.  Fan out your work to article directories:

Come up with articles on your area of expertise, and submit them to article directories like eZine Articles and Buzzle.  These articles should be different from the ones that you’ve already posted on your site, and should give readers an idea of how much you know regarding your niche.  At the end of your article, you can leave a link to your blog, which readers can click through.  Other people can even use your article and post it on their own blogs, as long as they retain your blog’s URL at the foot of the article.  Instant backlink!

Remember that these article directories often have guidelines for posting articles.  For example, you can’t promote yourself or your site excessively, and each post must at least be 250 words long.  Some topics are definitely taboo, as well.  Need it be said that your work must be all original and not plagiarized?

3.   Write better posts
The most effective way to draw traffic into your blog is by providing great content that gets your readers’ attention and distinguishes you from other competing blogs.  Make each blog entry worth your visitors’ while, and they’re bound to return to your site.

Keep in mind that if you want to make money online with your blog, you should do more than create a marketing strategy that aims at driving traffic to your site.  At the heart of your blog lies its content, and when your readers find that you always have something good and interesting to offer to them each time they visit your blog, they’re bound to return again and again.  That’s much, much more than what traditional SEO methods can accomplish for you any day.