There are thousands of new blogs started every day, and that number is growing consistently. It’s so easy for anyone to set up a blog now that there are very few potential barriers, contributing to the huge number that are launched each day. Some bloggers are personal and others are for business. Those that are for business will need to find ways to attract visitors if they are to be successful.

Because of the huge number of blogs that already exist and the exponential increases that are occurring, getting yours off to a great start is key. The launch phase is a great time to promote your blog and pique interest from potential readers.

In this article we will look at a number of different things that you can do right away to start the traffic flowing.

1. Tell Your Friends and Family About the Blog

For many people, starting by promoting your site to friends and family is a great way to get a few people to visit the site and to start things in the right direction. These people will know you and will take an interest in what you are doing, and they may even become regular readers if they like the topics you are covering.

2. Link to Your New Blog from Your Other Sites

If you have built other websites or blogs at this point, you should take the time to add links to your new blog (assuming the sites cover topics that are at least somewhat related). Having multiple sites makes it easier to get a little bit of attention for a new site or blog, so take advantage of it if this is the case for you.

If you don’t have any other websites yet, this may seem like a disadvantage. While it may make things a little more difficult for you now, once you get your new blog established it will give you an excellent platform with which you can promote other new blogs that you may launch in the future.

3. Link to Your Blog from Your Social Media Profiles

Social networking sites are common haunts for bloggers. If you have some social networking profiles of your own, be sure to add a link to your blog from the profile. This is an easy way to get a few links, and the visitors that arrive at your blog will probably already be familiar with you, making them a higher quality visitor.

These types of links won’t send huge amounts of traffic, but when you’re getting a new blog started, link building will be one of your biggest challenges, so even these links can be a big help.

4. Write Posts that Target Social Media Users

There are any number of different ways that you can get people to visit your blog. Search engine traffic is highly sought after, but it takes time to build your site’s reputation with the search engines and develop any type of substantial search traffic. Links and recommendations from other sites are great too, but that also will take time (unless you are already well connected).

Social media is a great resource for new bloggers because with the right type of content, and with quality content, exposure to a very large number of people is possible, and free. New blogs can quickly become recognized in their industry with a few posts that generate interest from social media users.

Although social media has huge potential, many bloggers get poor results. Submitting the wrong types of content or not being genuinely involved at the social media site will likely lead to failure. Take the time to get familiar with the social media audience, and write quality content that appeals to their interests.

5. Leave Comments on Other Blogs

Leaving intelligent comments on other blogs with related content is a proven way to bring some visitors back to your own blogs. Like some of the other strategies mentioned here, this will not bring huge amounts of traffic, but they will be interested visitors.

If you want to gain exposure for your blog through commenting, focus on leaving helpful and intelligent comments. Most blogg commentors are just leaving generic garbage comments that ultimately add nothing to the post. Use your comment to show that you know what you are talking about and that people should pay attention to you.

6. Get to Know Other Bloggers in Your Niche

One of the most important things you can do for your blog is to start to build some connections to other bloggers, particularly those in your niche.

Leaving comments on other blogs will be a big help in getting to know others, but don’t stop there. Be active at social media and social networking sites, especially niche sites, and don’t be afraid to contact other bloggers just to introduce yourself. Most bloggers are very open to getting to know other bloggers, so your inquiries will generally be very well received.