Basically, there are 5 ways to help get more traffic to your blog with only a small outlay of your time. If you want more readers to visit your blog, give these suggestions a try:

• Search Engine Optimizing

• Blog Directory Listings

• RSS Feed

• Social Bookmarks

• Loyal Visitors

Search Engine Optimizing

The biggest source of traffic for any blog is almost always going to be the search engines. Getting your blog ranked highly in major engines like Google, Yahoo! or Live can make all the difference in your traffic levels. Higher ranked sites are more easily found by potential visitors. There is no way of knowing "exactly" how these engines create their rankings, the details are highly guarded secrets. So don't pay any supposed experts who claim to know how to immediately get you top rankings. It's just a scam. The best you can do is to make sure all of your pages have well-placed keywords so that the search engines can accurately determine the content. Search Engine Optimizing is a complex topic, and you can do quite a bit more research if you want to learn all the little tricks.

Blog Directory Listings

After search engines, blog directories is the next best place to get more traffic for your site. People browse through these directories based on categories, rather than letting a search engine find results for them. This means ranking is less of an issue, and you have to have a compelling description of your blog to get attention. There are hundreds of directories online, and it can be a waste of time to submit your blog to all of them. Stick to the larger directories to get the best benefit. You definitely must have your blog listed at Blogarama and BlogCatalog. Both sites are specific to blogs and are most likely to improve your traffic. Other popular directories you should submit to are DMOZ, Yahoo and Aviva.

RSS Feed

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, and it helps people keep track of what's new on their favorite blogs or websites. It's still a bit of a new idea for most people, but its quickly gaining in popularity. By having an RSS feed, visitors are more likely to return frequently to your blog. Also, you can take advantage of specialized search engines that only targets RSS feeds. Once you get people subscribed, make sure to display your numbers on your blog. People are more likely to subscribe if they see that it's gaining in popularity.

Social Bookmarks

Social bookmarking sites can provide some great traffic opportunities if you have some good quality posts to announce. Other users of the sites can vote or comment on submitted blogs, so your ranking is created by actual readers not a computer algorithm. Submit only a few pages at a time for the best results. Some of the most popular social bookmarking sites include Technorati, Del.icio.us, Reddit, Digg, Fark and StumbleUpon.

Loyal Visitors

This is what you are after once you have done the above steps. People who consistently return to your blog are the lifeblood of your success. Once people are hooked on your blog, they will keep on coming with no extra effort on your part. All you have to do is make sure you keep creating great content so they keep coming back.