A Few Great AC Page View Boosters

People on AC seem to constantly be asking: "How do I boost my page views?" There have been a number of articles dedicated to this very subject, and after struggling for awhile, I've finally begun figuring out some methods that work. Granted, these may not lead to success for everyone, but they are certainly worth a try. Therefore, give these a shot:

Write "Best of AC" Articles

Around the various holidays and major events of the year, many of us at AC write articles (and poetry) related to said holiday. Then, every so often, one of AC's Calls for Content may ask for a "best of" article, describing perhaps 5-10 of the most creative or interesting pieces surrounding the holiday or event.

After doing an article entitled Best AC Articles on College Halloween Costumes 2008, and including five of my favorite entries, I quickly noticed a dramatic rise in page views! How did this work?

Once the article had been published, I sent messages to each of the featured content producers, letting them know that they were in the article. Several must have sent links to their friends; one of them also posted a link to it on her Halloween blog, which helped even further. To date, this has been my best-performing piece of content, by far!

So, whenever a major holiday comes around, start checking out the work of your fellow CPs, and then come up with a concept for a "best of" article. Just think, if it worked well featuring five CPs, imagine how well you could do by writing about 10!

Do "Top 10 Website" Articles

Yet another "best of" idea that may work well are the "Top # Website" articles. In the C4Cs, Associated Content has asked for such pieces as "Best Websites for Christmas Myspace Layouts," or "Top 10 Political Blogs." If you include a site on this list, let them know! They just might post a link to your article on their site, thereby boosting your page views (and also likely making your name turn up on Google and other search engines).

The only drawback to this type of article is that you must be careful about which websites you feature. If you post a link to a site that is potentially unsafe or frustrating, then it may have the opposite effect! Do your research, and make sure that any website you write about is trustworthy.

Interview Other Content Producers (or Vice Versa)

Out of everyone who writes for AC, no one has succeeded more in finding this niche than Donald Pennington, sometimes referred to as "The Master of Interviews." Donald directs other CPs to his website (as many of you know) in which you fill out a brief series of questions about yourself. In turn, he publishes this as an article on AC, in which others can discover their work! Many CPs have been "discovered" this way, leading to not only more page views, but a greater reading audience in general.

On the flipside, if you interview another CP, the same can happen. While you don't necessarily have to use the same format as Mr. Pennington, you can easily e-mail questions to another writer on the site, and when finished, publish it as an article. Hopefully, that person's friends (and possibly family) will be interested; if they really like it, they may help you advertise as well! The skill, however, is asking good questions (and accordingly, getting good answers). Just wait and see!

Ready to Try?

As I said before, no one method works for everyone...but any of these ideas is worth trying! Even if one doesn't work out particularly well, there are endless variations on these three ideas. Go see what you come up with!