No doubt one of the best ways to drive the spotlight to your business is through blogging. While Twitter is still king, blogging has a certain charm all its own. It’s a terrific way for your fans and followers to get to know you and you to get to know them. Thing is, what’s a blog without readers?

One of the biggest challenges of blogging is the challenge of directing traffic to the blog website. It’s easy to lose the motivation to blog when you know no one reads your blog other than yourself.

But if you’re blogging for business, it isn’t as easy as, “Okay I’m done with this. Maybe blogging isn’t really my thing.” You got a business to run. Instead of putting salt on the wound, why not use the time to consolidate if you’re doing it right? Here are 8 tips on how to drive local traffic to your blog.

1. Publish on a regular basis
The golden rule of blogging. In fact this works for attracting both foreign and local traffic to your blog. People like to see fresh updates, and very few folks like to read the same blog post twice. Writing on a regular basis gives readers a reason to come back to your blog and therefore increase traffic.

2. Choose a URL that works
Same as every other website – it all begins with a URL. Choose a URL that describes your blog or type of business, even the location where you operate. For instance,

Sample URL: http://www.professionalgrafixdesigns.com/calgary-design-services/

3. Search for local blogs
Next step is to find local blogs in your area and take a dip into their community. These days blogs are a dime a dozen. Contribute to their discussion by posting a comment on one of the more popular blog posts. Most of the time there should be a text box that asks for your website or email address. Provide them here, not within your comment itself.

Remember your purpose is to promote your own blog by sharing useful information or insights on their discussion. Blatant advertising is out of the question.

4. Participate in local forums or message boards
Forums and message boards are abundant these days. The quintessential social networking platform, many forums and message boards cater to, even specifically target, local traffic. So if there’s any place to promote your blog and increase local traffic, it’s here. Always remember to be helpful and respectful at all times, stick to the forum etiquette, and avoid self-serving comments. Also use your blog’s URL as your custom signature.

5. Link your blog to your email signature
This ensures every email you send out is also doing the job of promoting your blog website. So if you do a lot of email passing back and forth with local clients, you’ll be seeing a spike in your local traffic in no time.

6. Inform local clients via Twitter
If you’ve been keeping a business Twitter account for some time now, chances are most of your local clients already have you in their Following list. What’s left for you to do is update them whenever a new blog post is up. If possible, include the title of your blog post in the tweet message along with the link.

7. Inform local clients via Facebook and other social media
The same idea applies here. Assuming you’ve got a lot of personal friends on your Friends list, updating your Facebook status with a message similar to your tweet should direct even more local traffic to your blog website.

8. Post relevant topics
Perhaps one of the most effective ways to generate local attention is to blog about local stuff. Incorporate local news and events to your blog posts. With a little brainstorming, the success of a local restaurant shouldn’t be too hard to relate to its impressive marketing strategy and your company’s online marketing services. This is the stuff that most readers want to read and tell their friends about afterwards.

Directing local traffic to your blog is easy. At the same time, it should be free, as long as you’re aware which strings to pull and where the majority of your market niche hangs out. Or if you choose to follow other methods not listed here they should only come at a minimal cost.

How about you, what local traffic strategy do you use?

Two weeks ago, I was looking for good photographer here in Calgary. I need a head shot picture for my blog.

So I Google “calgary photographers” and I was surprised how many freelance photographers we have in the city.

I guess a photography service is a great side job.

And then I saw this guy’s work and I was impressed. So I gave him a call to talk about his services.

From our discussion, I can feel how much he loves taking pictures but I can also feel that he struggles in getting consistent income from this talent and passion.

Photography is no doubt a profitable pursuit nowadays.

I know quite a few people—I’m sure you do too—who’s decided to buy their own Canon DSLR cameras, but no amount of high-end gadgetry can match the artistic and careful eye of a talented photographer like yourself.

No one would trust their wedding day in the hands of an amateur with an expensive camera. They’ll hire a professional. You want to venture out into this world, hopefully make a small profit doing something you love and know you’re good at. And you’re aware the online industry is the place to start, but how? Where does a solo service professional begin to make a name for himself online?

The thing you need to know about marketing your photography service business on the internet is you need to stick to a realistic plan with a realistic goal in mind. Start small. Keep a modest budget in hand. As your client-base grows and business starts to pick up, then you can invest on a broader set of online tools to increase traffic flow into your website.

Here’s what you need to get started on your online marketing campaign:

• Your personal website which you designed for free

When a person needs something nowadays, the first thing he or she does is search for the product or service on the internet. That’s given.

A website advertising your skills and services is vital to your early success as a professional photographer. But a successful website doesn’t necessarily translate to an expensive website. There are several online tools that let you piece together a professional-looking website from scratch – for FREE. I recommend that you use Wordpress.

These tools require no design or coding experience whatsoever. I call them “plug and play” online publishing platforms.

• Consider touching stock photography as a side service

Stock photography is when clients purchase your photographs from a supply on a website instead of hiring an actual photographer. The smart thing about stock photography is it lets you showcase your work on your website at the same time, so it’s a win-win situation for you. You can choose to discontinue offering stock photography service once your client-base has grown to a comfortable level.

• Easy payment methods for your clients

I’ll make this short and sweet. If you offer stock photography services, make it easy—and safe—for your clients to send payment. Direct payment is still your best option. Otherwise, think Paypal.

• Market cost analysis

When you start small, you make more out of every dollar investment on your project. The average ROI for online marketing is $10-$13 per dollar spent.

• Tap into social networking

As a service provider just starting out, you want your name to resound in places where more people are likely to hear or read about it. Why look elsewhere other than social media? Namely Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, Multiply, photo-sharing platforms like Tumblr and Photobucket, and the social media platform king – Twitter.

Get active in these forums and start talking directly to enthusiasts and other professional photographers. You’ll expand your horizons as well as learn a few tips of the trade. For someone as dedicated to the craft like yourself, investing an hour or two of your day talking to fellow photographers should be a welcome task.

The internet is a powerful tool for anyone looking to start their own small business. But unless you learn the ropes on how to get started effectively, you’ll end up getting the attention of no one and only hurt yourself in the process.

As a professional photographer, take to heart these low-cost startup tips I mentioned above. Remember, the first step to success is getting the first step right.

Before I end this post…

Do you know that the most popular stock photography company, iStockphoto, is based in Calgary?

If you live in Calgary, why don’t you call them and see if they’re looking for any freelancers.

It’s no secret…

…that social media is a very powerful tool that you can do to connect to your prospects, build your credibility and turn them into clients.

In this Podcast, I interviewed Social Media Consultant Maria Gudelis.

You’ll learn how she sold a $800, 000 worth of property in Hawaii without seeing the actual property.

Sounds incredible?

Maria Gudelis is a seasoned entrepreneur who has started million dollar companies in the software and real estate field and was one of the first real estate experts to start using ‘reality’ style video and marketing on the Internet.

She has also been featured on TV with NY Times best-selling author Robert G. Allen.

In this interview, you’ll learn:

• How to sell real estate property in ebay without seeing the property.
• Practical ways to use social media to get local clients in your business.
• The future of how you should market your business or you won’t survive.
• How to inexpensively develop assets in your business and get paid for it forever.
• How a local bank boost their sales by “giving away” stuff.
• How to quickly develop credibility in your target market.
• How to increase your income by 20% with this easy to implement strategy.

And a lot more…

Go ahead and click the PLAY button below.

Or

[ Click Here To Download the MP3 To Your Computer or IPod ]

What I teach to my clients is don’t jump in on something because it’s the hottest thing.

I believe this is one of the major reasons why many service professionals suck in their online marketing. Lack of focus. Don’t be sidetracked with all these new technologies.

There are many ways for you to get more clients online. Social media is just one of it.

Social media is powerful but it’s just part or a recipe for you to get more clients online. Overall online marketing strategy is the key.

I found a great blog post about the harsh realities of social media. I think you should read it.

Here’s the link => http://www.copyblogger.com/harsh-social-media-marketing/

You can be very successful with social media. You can be successful without it.

Let’s go back to the question, “what if I’m just marketing to local clients is it worth the time?”

My answer is YES. I myself use it and I primarily target service professionals in Calgary.

Social media is a conversation between you and your market. Whether you’re just targeting local or you’re targeting nationwide market, conversation with your market is always a good thing.

The question is, are you willing to invest time on it?