Blog hops are a fun and effective way to increase blog traffic, gain followers and find new blogs to follow yourself.  On any given day, there are several blog hops going on.  Blog hops can be set up to link to your blog, Twitter and Facebook accounts as well as giveaways you're hosting.

As bloggers, we are always on the lookout for inexpensive and effective ways to increase our blog traffic.  One way to accomplish this is by posting to forums within our niche.  Becoming an active contributor to a forum not only gets your blog's name out there but also shows  that you can provide great advice, interesting thoughts and added benefit.  If forums readers like what they see, they may decide to visit your blog to see what else you have to offer.

The look and appearance of your blog can actually have an affect on how well your blog performs with attracting new visitors and encouraging repeat visitors.  When choosing a template, it's important to think about what message you want to convey as well as what type of visitors you want to attract. 

Blogsvertise is a website which offers bloggers a way to earn extra income by posting articles about an advertisers website.  Bloggers can write about whatever they want as long as their post includes the required links.  The post can be a review of the advertiser's website, positive or negative, or talk about how the products relate to your daily life.

Writing a press release is an additional way to promote and draw attention to your blog. Many companies use press releases to attract media attention and provide publicity for products and events.  Additionally, a press release can provide journalists with basic information for writing a story.  Press releases are used to announce events, promotions, awards, new products or services, and new blogs or websites.

Hosting a giveaway is a great way to increase traffic to your blog.  Additionally, a giveaway can be fun for you as well as the visitors.  Products for these giveaways can come for a variety of different sources.

I'm currently reading Darren Rowse's book, ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income and I absolutely love it.  I checked it out from the library (which something I always do before buying) and I've told my family to add it to my birthday list because it's a great reference tool.

I really like Darren's writing style and how the book is laid out and easy to read, follow and understand.  Darren started blogging as a hobby and then slowly began monetizing his blogs and then was able to quit his job and blog full time and make a very good living.

I recently signed up with CMF Ads network.  It is similar to Adgitize except that you can earn money from ads placed on their site. Ads are paid based on the price of the site. Network ads will be paid based on the number of pageviews the ad received on each site.

w0rkingath0me asked Blogging Hints "How entrecard works? Can we use the credit points to advertise?"

Entrecard is a free advertising network and a great service.  Entrecards uses a points or credit system.  Credits are used to purchase advertisements on other blogs.  Additionally, bloggers can earn credits by visiting participating blogs and clicking on the Entrecard "drop" button.  You can also

I'm currently working on an eBook that will outline the steps bloggers should take to increase traffic to their blogs.  It is currently on the drawing board and will be here soon.  I'm offering this eBook for free.  So subscribe to my email updates so you'll know when it's finished and ready for you to download.