10 sure ways to boost up traffic on blogger platform

Blogger is from the Google stable, still blogspot users or their blogs does not have any preference in Google SERPS over other blogs or platforms. Yes, it has some cool pre-built inventories but considering that you have great content and information, only great Search Engine optimization can bring it up the SERPS(or if you have been doing it unknowingly.)

So today let’s look at 10 sure shot ways to boost your traffic on blogger/blogspot using search engine optimization.

1. Your blog name and url
   When you create a blog on blogger, you get a name of the syntax - http://yourname.blogspot.com. You can name it in which ever way you need including numbers and hyphens. The main point to note here is - Select a short name with your primary keywords in it. Make sure that the name is not too long and is appealing to your visitors and also easy to remember.
   An ideal one would be http://seo-tips.blogspot.com rather than http://searchengineoptimizationtipsforbloggers.blogspot.com
2. Your blog template layout
   On blogger it’s very tempting to change to a new layout every time because there are so many out there. But i would recommend that you stick to one - a real quality one. By quality i mean one that follows the perfect layout so that you can easily show off what you really want to the search engines without any hassle meanwhile hiding off what you don’t want them to see. See detailed report here.
3. Meta Tags
   Meta tags are extremely important. Make sure in your Dashboard>Settings you enter the same Title and Description as you give in the Template.There is no known harm in having different title in settings and the template but it’s always safe to make them same.Also, include your primary keywords in the description without repeating them or it may look like spam.
4. Heading and Post Titles
   Your post titles are a great resource to bring traffic - did you know that? It counts more than what you’ve written in the content.Make sure that you use a Keyword research tool like the Google Adwords External tool and frame your titles in such a away that it includes the most searched keyword(relevant to your article) and it appears first in the line. Read more about writing traffic generating titles here.
5. H1 and H2 tags
   When you write articles, make sure that you split up the articles with appropriate headings which are included in the H1 and H2 tags. H1 tags carry more weightage so the best headings should be placed in the H1 tags, but make sure that your blogger template uses no special CSS values to it and it appears normal.Google crawlers see H1 tags irrespective of their actual visual appearance on the blog so all you have to do is check with the CSS styling if any.
6. Blogroll Links
   Normally bloggers are left with the Edit-me and Google News link by default. But some users manage to add lots of friends links to it. Fine. Just make sure that all those links are valid, and that there are no broken links. More over, ensure that all of those links are pointing to valid sites and not spams link link farms and poor directories. It’s best if they are all from the same category as your blog is. This will help google tag your site as authentic or not.
7. Footer text
   I’ve discussed the importance of footer text earlier here. A well drafted footer text will help you get that extra push over your competition in the SERPs.
8. Categories
   As you know blogger does not handle categories as wordpress does. But blogger beta handles labels, which you can convert to your advantage in making categories. Label posts based on their content, and arrange these label links(see my right hand panel) as right hand side.This will help google to categorize your blog based on the topics you suggested in the categories.Very neat and tidy tip to get hold of top places in your niche market.
9. Traffic boosters
   Traffic boosters are basically carefully drafted steroid posts that will help you get traffic. Although i don’t suggest this method much, it’s a great way to get some cool traffic if done in the right way. For this, use the keyword research tools and get the best related keywords for your blog(and most popular in searches), then write a well drafted post with adequate keyword density and post it once in a while within your posting cycle.Make sure that these posts are not about totally unrelated stuff(because you got them from the mostly searched keywords list), but somehow related to your blog, otherwise it will bore your readers.
10. Submit to directories/Forums
    As a final step, submit your blog to quality directories. Yeah i know what everyone says, submit to Yahoo directory and DMOZ, but hey, have you ever tried it? Do you know how much time it would take to get listed on DMOZ? Seriously i don’t know. It remains almost impossible for a new blogspot user as they review blogs on basis of authenticity and age.
    So find other quality directories - by quality i mean directories that has remained there for years(say more than 3 years) and has a good listing of sites. You can find lot of directories that has no PR, has few websites listed and has come up overnight - stay away from them.
    Also, join the best forums around - like the Dp forums and the Webmasterworld forums - you can get lot of genuine traffic from there if you participate actively in the topics.