Most bloggers don’t really have a hard time writing and figuring out what to say on their blogs. The big challenge is driving traffic. How do we get people to pay attention to us?

Dustin from SageProfit.com asked me:

I’ll like to hear your top three suggestions for driving traffic to a new blog. Content creation comes easily…it’s the marketing aspect that creates a challenge.

Let me tell you what I get the most bang from.

#1 – Guest Posting on Other Blogs

This has probably had the single biggest impact on my traffic growth to this blog since I started. Mind you, I haven’t made a habit of it and I should probably do it more. I have written for ProBlogger, John Chow and I did an interview with Yaro Starak. In each case, I contributed to the audiences of those blogs by talking about my approach and opinions. These 3 bloggers, however, are currently among the top players in the "problogger” market.

Definitely take the time to identify the other bloggers in your market. Read those blogs. Get involved in the comments. When you spot something you can contribute to those blogs, write a guest post and send it in. Here are my guidelines for guest posting on other blogs.

TIP: When a major player in your market posts a new post, try to be one of the first people to comment on that post. Make a meaningful comment and make mention of some post on your own blog that discussed the same topic or elaborates on it.

#2 – Build A Social Network

You’ve got to take the time to build up your online tribe. Build your Twitter presence through participation in the conversation. Build your Facebook network and connect Twitter to your Facebook profile. Set up your FriendFeed profile and have your tweets and your blog posts piped into your account. Get involved with StumbleUpon and Digg. Get involved with MyBlogLog.

Yes, these things take time to manage, participate in and use. But, it is worth your time. Without your network, your blog is an island nobody knows about.

TIP: When using social media, spend more time promoting other people than you do yourself. It is a matter of reciprocity and being a good member of the party.

#3 – Post Videos Everywhere

Create videos and use TubeMogul to get them out onto every video site you can. Use the description field for your videos to put your URL right at the beginning of your video description. Then, put a keyword-rich description of the video and tag your video with related search keywords.

You might need to get creative with how you use your videos, too. If you want a video to spread and get ratings, then use your site’s mailing list to seed the views and ask your visitors to rate your video. Use your social network to perhaps do the same.

SNEAKY TIP: On Youtube, you can use the video reply function to post your video as a reply to a related popular video. That increases the visibility because you’re attached to a video which is already popular.

Generating traffic is a science and an art. There are a LOT of tactics to do it that I can’t even get into in one post. The general motto, however, is simply not to be an island. Your blog might be your online home, but you’ve got to be everywhere on the Internet in order to get people to the blog. Be wherever your audience is.