Stats report

I'm sure other bloggers have great suggestions... here's one from me to everyone (not targeted to any one blog except in the example): Find out who's blogging or writing on your topic out on the Net and comment every once in a while, leaving your blog link. Linking to other adoptionblogs.com bloggers is great but it has the potential to create a "closed loop." Also link to whatever you find out on the Net that you like as a resource for your topic - and perhaps create a standard email to use to notify the Web site owner (if there's an email contact) that you linked to them / wrote about them. Often they will respond with a reciprocal link. Example: I did a Google search on older parent adoption. Came up with this at AARP: [url]http://www.aarpmagazine.org/lifestyle/oh_baby.html[/url] It's in the Lifestyle section. AARP has message boards [url]http://www.aarpmagazine.org/messageboards.html[/url] and there's a Lifestyle section... where perhaps a post about something to do with older parent adoption and a link would generate interest... AARP has wide readership... and someone who is interested in adopting when they're over 50 who searches on the Web will come up with that link, just like I did. It may sound like a lot of work... however, I am the Queen of Online Search... hehe.. well, perhaps Princess... and I will be happy to help anyone with ideas along those lines. Generally speaking... big magazine and newspaper sites have message boards. Some of the discussions are really wild, but a link dropped here and there in a relevant topic will tend to generate traffic. Adoption and foster care mags (Adoptive Families, Adoption Today, Fostering Families, etc) have Web sites - no message boards that I can see, but they have contact information for emailed comments - which they might publish... so if you send in a comment on an article or topic, be sure to give your blog URL... grin.

I've been trying. I did notice when I comment on other blog sites that often your URL only shows up if someone clicks on your name. A good way to make sure everyone notices it is if you include your signature/and blog URL right in the post. As my numbers do not seem to be that great, I would love to hear what everyone is doing. Mo

I want to generate more readers as well. Occasionally I'll post on an adoption.com forum. Also I have my foster adopt blog web address on my regular email - turns out one of the women has been reading my blog becuase she got it from the bottom of my email signature. I had no idea she was reading until she said something at church the other day! I hope to become a princess in training under Nancy and learn more about the linking/searching/tagging/blogging world.

I suspect that one thing that has helped my blog somewhat is the links that I have to it on [url="http://owlhaven.blogspot.com/"]http://owlhaven.blogspot.com[/url] (my personal blog) and on [url="http://owlhaven.nety/"]http://owlhaven.net[/url] (my website) . When I look at the stats for my personal blog, I see that most days a dozen or more people click on my Ethiopia blog from there. Also I am active on several yahoo groups, one for Ethiopian adoption and the other for Korean adoption, and every time I sign a post, I include a link to my Ethiopia adoption blog. These hints may not be terribly helpful to those who don't have other websites or e-group connections already, but it is possible to search yahoogroups for groups similar in interest to the blog you're writing, join, and begin to create those connections. I'm reading other's comments on this topic with interest, since I also am very interested in increasing my readership.

Thanks all for the ideas. (What I wouldn't give for broadband!)

I don't have broadband either! Maybe some day Mary

Who got the most hits ('fess up - whoever you are) and what's your secret?I agree with the posting/w/link in sig. idea. I haven't done near enough of that. I should probably put a link to my blog on my press's website - haven't done that yet - and this summer I'm doing a personal/professional website since I'm going to try to do school author visits in the fall and I think I have a book coming out in August (the publisher is being very wishy washy).I do want to know who got the most hits!Adrienne

I can tell you a few things that the top blogs have in common as far as content goes: - Blog titles are descriptive of the content - Category names are clear, and when you click on the category name, the posts are on topic - Many posts link off the blogs to useful / informative resources - Info is delivered in cohesive chunks - even in a series, each part can stand alone