The ElegantNews theme recently caught my eye, as it offers all the features a “news” blogger needs in a template. In addition, it’s fairly clean looking and well-designed.

Main features of the theme for bloggers include an options page for changing some of the main settings, post thumbnails support, a featured content area for highlighting your best posts, and a banner ads area in the sidebar for the popular 125×125 pixel ad format.

In addition, the theme includes three columns for making the most out of the browser space you have. Gravatars and widgets are incorporated into the theme, so you won’t have to spend time coding these in.

The coding is optimized for search engines and you shouldn’t experience issues with users who can’t view your site properly: it has been tested to work across all the most popular browsers.

For more information about the theme and to take a look at the demo, please visit the theme’s release page.

Getting traffic can sometimes be hard – not all traffic is the same, and you should only target the best traffic there is – natural. With natural traffic, people are actually discovering your site for what it has to offer, and with this traffic comes more benefits down the road, in terms of better rankings within search engines and a better experience faced by your members.

Optimize

Optimizing your content for traffic has more to do with ensuring that everything flows within your site than anything else. While you have to write for search engines some of the time, you should be writing for your readers. They are the people who will be reading your blog, not the search engines. You want to optimize your site by using a method that draws in readers – great titles, content that others recommend, and a blog theme that doesn’t confuse the headings with italic text.

Adding keywords to content through the wide array of SEO plugins for WordPress is one of the most boring but most essential parts of writing a piece of content. I typically spend anywhere from 5-10% of each post, depending on length, including all the necessary information before publishing. Sure, it may appear like this doesn’t add much, but it has been proven that these plugins work without having to stuff your content with highlighted keywords.

Another key area that you can target in terms of optimization is the speed of your site. You have to realize that the connections your visitors are on varies greatly. Some will be on dial-up, while some will have extremely fast broadband. You have to assume that anyone and everyone will be visiting your blog. Make sure not too many images appear on the front page of your site, that your coding is clean, and there are relatively few errors displaying when you view the debug mode.

In a similar way, you have to optimize your workflow. Spending too much time on one area of your blog will mean that another is neglected. Don’t let this happen, or search engines and your visitors will target the content or different style found there. This also means that you follow a logical profess of posting content, leading right into the second main category.

Networking

Networking is the quintessential way to target and scope out new visitors. You not only are able to capture visitors who would normally have never seen your blog, but people who may be interested in advertising within your site.

Twitter, Facebook, and linking through other blogs is the best way to increase traffic in this area. With networking, you have to go beyond what other people do, in order to set yourself apart from the pack. Think about it as though you truly are in a pack of wolves, and you have to do something that makes you appear different and unique.

Leaving comments on other blogs may just be the start, but you also have to provide good support, especially if you are selling a service or product. One of the key reasons many online businesses fail is because they fall short in providing the best support. You want to also respond to any of the emails you are sent by your readers or any tweets that ask you a question.

Networking, in some ways, goes hand-in-hand with optimization. The more links that are pointing to each page of your site, the more likely it is that your keywords will be automatically “optimized” and appear higher within search engines.

However, the key in all of the networking hype that has developed is to ensure that you have a clear method set down, making it possible for you to continue your success after the first week.

Content, Content, and Content

I could have most certainly placed another area within this list, however content is what draws in your visitors, whether or not you want to attest to this fact. Without any content, there is a slim chance that people would come, but there would be a 5% or less retention factor – most people would either leave right away or never get a good idea of what you write about.

People want to be able to leave with more than they came to your site with. The main reason the new sites have been able to retain their visitors is due to the fact that visitors know what to expect. Imitate this with your site with consistent, fresh new content, and people will surely return.

In the instant traffic sector, you have to realize that not all content will be as well-received. Some will likely be avoided, while the content that you never dreamed would become mildly successful becomes a runaway success. It’s all in the timing and promotion of the most, which sometimes come naturally as soon as you publish the post.

As I’ve said in the past, the more content you have, the more likely you will see a consistent feed of new visitors. High-quality content is ideal, although this isn’t always possible when you work on a strict schedule to get a lot of content posted each day. Nevertheless, new content published to your site will provide an instant surge of new traffic.

There are a few simple ways to encourage your readers to visit your older content (say from last month or last year). mOst people would rather not visit the archives page, so we have to leave that out of the picture.

1. Use a Related Posts Plugin or Widget

Most blog platforms have some method of creating an RSS feed or random posts into the sidebar. Utilize these. Usually, they will greatly work. By random, they are simply looking at the post(s) that are being displayed and then they generate a list of links to older posts. Often, they can be customized to not display really old content or to display posts by relevancy.

2. Link Back to Older Content

This is often the preferred way to increase readership of older content, although it is often more difficult – you have to search for content that directly relates to what you are talking about. The long-term results may be better, as people will stay on your site for a longer period and visit older posts as long as you are linking to them.

3. Integrate a “Random” Post Plugin

Using this method, you want your visitors to “browse” your site, discovering new content that they may not have seen before. It may not be the best idea for sites with a large number of “random” content, as al the content may not please all the readers. For example, this plugin will place links to random posts on your front page.

4. Ensure that Your Readers Share Content

Find a social bookmarking plugin that works for you. There are plenty out there and they are usually easy to integrate and include within your site. What they’ll do is encourage your readers to share content, no matter how old it is. Often, content doesn’t become discovered until much later down the road, when there has already been newer content published.

5. Share Old Posts

Once a week, create a roundup of news stories as well as articles from a “year ago,” for example. This will encourage visitors to review old content, as well as learn more about how you’ve grown and progressed.

6. Use Twitter

Twitter will continue growing. Continue utilizing the service for your blog. The Twitter Tools plugin is great as it can create roundups and collections of content. If you post links to your site through here, you are creating another “archive” of your site, ideal for sharing at a later point. Although you may temporarily be diverting traffic from your site, the roundup posts will keep it on your site, as people will be able to revert to either your Twitter stream or this collection post.

Conclusion

It can be difficult at times to direct traffic to older posts. Search engines do help to some extent, but in general, people will flock to your newer content first. Keeping your visitors on your site for as long of a period as possible is your goal, and by following the few simple steps above, you can ensure that they do this.