Deb’s note: I started writing this post on the plane to Las Vegas (and BlogWorld) last week. Since then I’ve seen Darren Rowse’s post at ProBlogger called, “The #1 One Reason My Blogging Grew into a Business.” Check it out if you can, it’s a must -read for anyone who wants to blog for a living.

FWJ began four years ago as a blog filled with leads for work at home moms like me. As you know, it’s evolved quite a bit over the past few years. Something happened this past spring that caused me to change my outlook about FWJ. Instead of a simple blog or network of blogs, I treated it like a business. Don’t get me wrong, I was always business-like in my dealings and accounting, but in June, I took it to a whole new level.

When I lost my full time job, I decided I wasn’t going to look for another. Instead, I wanted to work harder on making this network more profitable, and more beneficial to those reading it. Instead of looking for a job, I was going to make FWJ my full time job. It made a difference.  Instead of simply posting and building traffic, I’ve also been:

• Meeting with accountants to find out my next course of action as a small business owner.
• Negotiating with advertisers
• Researching advertising, traffic, SEO and other blog building techniques
• Working hard on branding
• Working hard on FWJ’s (and Deb Ng’s) social media presence
• Forming lucrative partnerships which will enable this network to keep going
• Doing some heavy analysis into the demographics of this community and other freelance writing communities
• Networking, not only with other freelancers, but with other people and businesses to form mutually beneficial relationships

Some of the things I learned at this time:

• You can’t please everyone
• You have to spend money to make money
• Networking totally rocks
• If you focus on one thing, instead of multitasking, you’ll have better results
• Sometimes you just have to go for it

Some of the changes I noticed since devoting my full time attention to FWJ:

• Traffic has seen a significant increase
• Advertisers have been coming to FWJ, instead of the other way around
• Ad revenue beyond private sales (Adsense, etc.) has increased to the point where it’s a full time income
• A major online brand inquired about purchasing FWJ
• Lots of Tweets and ReTweets featuring FWJ links
• Community growth
• A whooooole lot of email
• More links to blog posts at FWJ
• Major brands have taken notice

This is only a few months worth of work and effort. Can you imagine if I had put this much time and energy into FWJ since day one? Of course, that wasn’t possible because I needed to help provide for my family. However, being patient and persistant and not giving up over 4 1/2 years enabled met build FWJ and see it to its potential.

Luck vs Hard Work

Someone once told me I was lucky. This has nothing to do with luck. I worked hard to build this network. It became a huge part of my life. I focus attention to it every day. It’s kept me up late, and caused me to rise very early. It’s been the subject of blog wars and forum spats. It’s my life, not luck. I have to tell you, it’s not easy to come up with content every single day for 4 1/2 years.

Is it Worth it?

You bet it’s worth it. I’m not going to claim to be some expert, guru, A-list problogger, but I managed to find something that I love – something that works. It’s been worth all the time and effort I put into it. As Darren Rowse said in his post about blogging as a business, when I stopped treated my blog as a hobby and more as a business, it began to work for me.

If you want to make your blog work for you, know that it’s not easy. It’s not as simple as opening up a blog, stocking it with keywords and slapping on some ads. There’s a lot of research, promoting and networking involved.

Tell us the story of your blog. Is it a business? Can it become a business? What are you doing to ensure its success, and what are some of the results you’ve seen since beginning?

Social networking isn’t that hard. Anyone can tweet, leave comments, ask for link exchanges, or IM readers and blogging pals. These are all general networking ideas that can work. However, if you’re focusing on the wrong blog networking tactics for your specific blog you’re wasting your time.

In my mind we network for one basic reason, to draw readers to our blog. Maybe you’re networking for another reason; to get read for personal reasons, to promote a cause, to get a job, or to gain clicks on ads, but it really all comes down to getting people to your blog doesn’t it? Bloggers want traffic and with so many blogs around the competition can be brutal. Following are some tips that can help you fine-tune a plan for your specific blog.

Your blog comes first: You can network to your hearts content, but without a decent blog to back it up, you’re not going to gain any long-term readers. Write good posts often. Write posts your readers want to read (you can even poll readers about this). Showcase older and popular posts that new readers may have missed in the past. Other good ideas include offering easy access to rss and email options for your posts, making your blog easy to navigate, and creating an attractive blog that will entice people to look around. Taking care of your blog insures folks who land there stay and visit and hopefully come back.

Choose some, not all networking options: You can’t do it all, so you may as well choose some social networking options you enjoy. If you hate Twitter, it’s just not a good networking option for you because one, you won’t stick with it, and two, I think people can tell when you’re not really into what you’re doing.

Be selective about links: If you’re into emailing people for blogroll minded link exchanges, make sure you do your homework. I get link exchange requests frequently at Tree Hugging Family, which as you might guess is an eco-minded blog. However, I get link exchange requests from all sorts of bloggers who have nothing to to do with green. I’m not going to link a blog out of my niche so these bloggers have just wasted my time and their own. Make sure you send link exchange requests to blogs in your niche or at least in a sub-niche. Note – it’s also smart to send out link exchange requests after you’ve been blogging a while. I tend to not link brand new blogs (under 5 mos) because I have no clue if they’re in it for the long haul, and I hate having to change my blogroll.

Speaking of sub-niches: It’s smart to network with other blogs in your niche, but you can widen the field by networking with bloggers close to your niche as well. For example, if you write a thrifty blog, there’s a good chance readers of a DIY home project blog or a budget gardening blog might like your blog too.

Use the readers you have already to make networking decisions: If you have some stable readers, ones who leave comments, and also have blogs, head to their site, to see what else they’re reading. Check their blogroll and visit those blogs to leave comments. Often your readers will visit other blogs that might be good to network with.

Network with the bloggers on your level: Not to apply labels, but if you’re a less than B-list blogger (or new blogger) trying to get A-listers to notice you is a lofty goal. You might have better luck networking with less popular bloggers. We all start somewhere. You might be creating a long lasting networking relationship with a new blogger now, but who know where they’ll be in two years or less. Case in point, I became friends with a brand new blogger a couple of years ago, she had emailed me asking questions, and we hit it off. Then she managed to become way popular in under a year (rare but cool) and because we were pals she had all my blogs linked at her site, which tossed me some decent traffic. That’s not the only reason I like her, but it’s a nice bonus for sure, one I wouldn’t have gotten had I ignored her emails early on. An added benefit of non-A-listers is they get less email, usually have more time, and tend to be more open to new networking relationships.

Chill out: Online relationships, like offline relationships take time to build and grow. Asking favors too early on, frequently bugging a blogger you just met, using spammy behavior, and expecting too much is not chill behavior. Allowing relationships to grow naturally makes for longer lasting connections.

Of course when it comes to networking, there’s always more you could be doing. What are some of your best ideas for networking that meets your specific blog’s needs?

After my last post, 5 Reasons You’re Not Making Any Money as a Blogger, some of the members of this community asked if I could offer a few tips for promoting blogs without being spammy or annoying.

A key to successful blogging is knowing there’s a fine line between self promotion and spam. The important thing to remember is to build relationships rather than spreading links everywhere you go. If you only drop links, you’ll turn off potential readers. However, if you take the time to participate in discussions and get to know people, they’ll want to learn more about you and what you do.

Here are a few tips for promoting your blog without spamming the people you need most:

1. Post in forums - Forums are a terrific way to build up relationships and have a conversation with like-minded people – as long as that’s what you’re doing. When every comment you make is pimping an article (”I wrote a post about that once, check it out…”), you’ll find yourself banned or shunned in no time flat. When you take time to have an intelligent discussion with people who share the same vision, they’re going to want to check out the links in your signature. Conversational marketing works better than spam.

2. Visit other blogs - Other blogs in your niche are not your enemies or your competition, they’re colleagues. Instead of worrying about another site stealing your traffic, or who is higher in the Google Rankings, use other blogs to your advantage. Participate in the comments and offer a useful point of view. If you left a thoughtful remark, others might be include to check out the link in your signature line. Keep in mind it’s considered spam to drop your links anywhere but the appropriate space. Don’t drop links in your comment post unless invited to do so.

3. Join Facebook groups – Are you blogging about sewing? Facebook has sewing groups. Are you blogging about golf? Facebook has groups for golfers. Are you a celebrity blogger? Facebook has plenty of groups for star gazers. The purpose for joining these groups serves a couple of different purposes. The first is that you’ll be sharing news and tips with other people in the group, which will no doubt lead to ideas for new blog posts. Plus, as you build up relationships and friendships with others in the group, they’re going to be reading your profile more and checking your links.

4. Enjoy the conversation at Twitter - Notice how I said “enjoy the conversation?” I didn’t say, “do nothing but tweet links.” Again, it’s all about relationships. Search Twitter and find people who you think might be interesting to follow. Look for your favorite bloggers and the people who share similar interests, then start talking. Once you build up a following share links – but again – not all the time. Balance it out. The quickest way to be unfollowed is to only Tweet links.

5. Explore Ning - Like Facebook, Ning has many social media groups to explore. Find interesting groups to join and take part in discussions, or create your own. The possibilities are endless.

6. Promote your expertise – If you know enough about your topic that you can blog about it on a regular basis, you probably have some level of expertise. Promote yourself as an expert by giving interviews on other blogs, podcasts, websites, and more. Subscribe to a service such as HARO and look through the interview requests for suitable opportunities.

7. Guest post at other blogs – A couple of years ago, I wrote a guest blog post at ProBlogger and I gained much traffic as a result. Since then, I’ve guested at other blogs, also with positive results. Find the top blogs in your genre and offer to write a blog post or do an exchange with other bloggers so you can each benefit from the others’ traffic. (But don’t mistake guest blogging for stocking someone else’s blog with content for free. )

8. Use your keywords – I despise keywords. I probably could’ve been in Google’s top 10 for many search terms if I was more diligent about using them. I think keywords and phrases make writing sound unnatural. However, if you want to catch the attention of the search engines, there’s no other option. I don’t recommend finding keywords that sound awkward or don’t work in a sentence, but do find the top searches for your subjects and use them to your advantage.

9. Have a contest – Contests are a terrific way to gain new readers. Find something to giveaway and promote it on Twitter. If you use a service like Profnet for prize sponsors you’ll find many businesses are more than willing to offer prizes in exchange for promotional opportunities. If it’s a decent enough contest, other blogs will offer coverage and you’ll pick up some good backlinks.

10. Use your email signature -Your email program is bound to have a signature function. Put a link to your blog in the signature so everyone who receives email from you can check out your blogs.

11. Offer to have a cross blog discussion - Do you and other bloggers in your genre share opposing (but respectful) points of view? Offer to have a cross blog discussion where you each talk about an agreed-upon topic and link to, and make reference to each other’s blog posts.

12. Link to other blogs – Linking to other blogs is always a good thing. Not only do you catch the attention of other bloggers who might reciprocate, but if the other blog allows trackbacks, a link to your blog post will appear in the comments. Linking is good karma too.

13. Linkbait - Ever write a blog post that just went viral? Everyone linked to it, it received much Stumble love and months later, you’re still receiving traffic from it? A good linkbait can be a wonderful traffic booster.

14. Frequent posts – The more you post, the more likely folks will check back  on a regular basis. When you leave a blog to languish or only post sporadically, readers respond in kind. They might bookmark you for later reading, but they won’t stop by once or twice  a day. If you have a reputation for being a frequent poster, your readers will drop in often.

15. Attend conferences – I absolutely love attending blogging and social media conferences. They’re a great way to learn and a terrific way to meet people. Conferences are the one place where your can hand out business cards and talk about what you do without being labeled as self promoting. Every time I attend a conference my blog gains new readers.

16 – Take out an ad – Contact other blogs and websites in your genre about advertising. If you’re short on funds, offer to do an ad trade. If you’re not short on funds, invest in Google Adwords or another high visibility program. Everytime I’ve placed an ad for FWJ, I’ve more than doubled my investment.

17. Use social media buttons - See the “Tweet This” buttons at the bottom of the post? They work. If your readers enjoy what you write, they’re also likely to promote it. They’ll give it a Tweet or a Stumble and if you wrote something particularly brilliant they may even submit it to Digg or Reddit. While some days are better than others, there’s no denying these puppies work.

Blatantly holding up signs and saying, “Come to my blog, dammit!!!!” doesn’t sit well with many people. Taking the time to build relationships and use more subtle forms of promotion is not only more acceptable, but it works.

What do you do to promote your blogs?

Follow me on Twitter @debng and for FWJ updates @freelancewj
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A blogger pal of mine (who shall remain nameless) was recently approached by a fairly well-known blog (who shall remain nameless – we’ll call them blog X) for a link exchange. At first it all seemed fine and dandy. Then my pal noticed that other bloggers responses to said link exchange were popping up in her email.

Blogger pal o’ mine had not noticed at first, (because who clicks on Gmail details every time) but this email had been sent out to a bunch of folks. She was just one of many emails listed. This is shoddy link exchange handling. At the very least the sender, blog X, could have sent the email to recipients via Bcc (which will send a blind copy).

Why this sucks:

First of all, I KNOW, anyone with an Internet connection can find an email for me if they try. However, that doesn’t mean I like it when bloggers I don’t know send my email off to lots of other bloggers I don’t know, simply to gain a link exchange agreement. That’s just bad manners.

Secondly, like most bloggers I get loads of email. I don’t need a bunch of emails from other folks on list because they hit reply all. A more crowded email box is enough right there to make me turn down a link exchange.

Other ways to be obnoxious when asking for a link exchange:

Address my email: Dear blog editor.. (I have a name, feel free to use it).

Send me requests that will never work:  If I have a fashion blog, don’t send me farm equipment links. Seriously now.

Brag: “You need my link exchange because I have a page rank blah, and blah traffic” So what? Actually, some people like when bloggers send them stats. I guess it’s a personal preference. My preference is that all that jazz doesn’t concern me as much as content. Does our content match? Ok then, that’s a good start. Do I like your blog, would I read it? These are things I think about, not page rank.

Send me a form letter: Even if you use my name, I can tell a form letter right away (you know you can).

Resend like an addict: I actually do check my email. If I didn’t respond, sure, it’s slightly possible I missed your email, but it’s far more likely I didn’t think we matched well. Again, I highly frown on people stuffing my in-box.

Things I don’t mind:

A link exchange request in a comment vs. an email. I won’t likely approve the comment, but I don’t really mind these and may actually email you back and say sure. Some bloggers do mind this though, so I’d be careful with overuse of this tactic.

A short email – you don’t have to sell me too hard core. A nice short email is just fine. Give me a link, mention our blogs are alike, and move on. Nice and tidy.

A longer but nice email – I know, I just said I like short emails. I also don’t mind longer ones, especially when it’s very obvious the blogger knows my blog, has a well-matched topic, and is friendly.

My favorite approach:

When someone emails and says something like; “Hey I linked your blog to mine because they’re a lot alike, and I think my readers might like your blog – maybe you could come check my blog out and see what you think.”

I like this approach when it’s from a relevant blogger. Sure it’s a link exchange game of sorts, but a game that’s low pressure vs. the game of “If you link me, I’ll link you.” It’s also flattering. I know very few bloggers who don’t enjoy a little flattery. Lastly, when it comes down to it, I link to blogs I like no matter if they link to me or not. When I hear that you’ve already linked to my blog, I tend to think that you think a little more like me, which I like.

Do you get link exchange requests? Which ones make you cringe? OR if you’re in a nice mood you can tell me which ones make you smile.

As I’ve complained about before, I’ve had clients who actually tell me to use Google Images to locate appropriate post images in order to “amp my posts”. I refuse, because online suicide is not a blogging goal of mine. I agree though that images are a nice blog addition. I personally don’t think that every single post needs an image, but if the image does one of the following, it’s a good plan:

• Adds something to your post – nostalgia, humor, beauty, or clearly shows your post theme.
• Highlights your post topic – for say product reviews. Product review posts that lack images are annoying, because people like to see what you’re talking about.
• Makes the post – there are times when an image is almost all you need for a post. This works best on fashion, architecture, decor, and other art minded blogs, but you can also make it work for you at another type of blog. Quotes spring to mind. I rarely post a quote, but if I find one, and it matches a current theme, I might post it along with an appropriate image.

Images do have some major benefits:

• Images grab and hold reader attention.
• The right images, like the right text will make your readers feel something – happiness, sadness, intrigue, and more.
• Images can be used to break up list or otherwise long posts.
• Images can eventually draw sponsors and affiliates to your site – if you’ve used images in such a way that they add appeal to your blog.
• Images, when labeled correctly, increase blog traffic.
• Images used in a post or at other places on your blog (like a sidebar) can effectively promote a contest, shopping area, or current event.
• Images can make you look like more of an authority on a topic.

Images have downsides as well:

• When placed incorrectly images can ruin the entire look of a blog. You know what I mean, when folks don’t take the time to wrap text correctly, or they fail to align an image for the best possible look.
• The perfect image can be hard to find which drains valuable blogging time.
• Most images are not come as they are ready – I’d estimate that I edit at least 80% of my images, which also sucks time. Having a good image editor helps though.
• Not all images are free.
• If you use an image you shouldn’t you could be facing copyright issues; at best you’ll have to deal with emails from annoyed individuals (although they have every right to be annoyed), at worst you could actually face legal charges.

Coming up..

Where to find free blog images that you won’t get sued for using – and a rundown of which image sites are the fastest and easiest to use.

Tools that can help you make the most of images and some helpful random blog image tips.

Sorry I’ve been MIA – my flu got pretty bad, then I got better, and of course I had work to catch up on. In any case, I have an informal poll question.

Recently, a client I blog for decided that a good way to increase page views might be to try a daily link love post. If you’re lost on link love, here’s a link love example you can view. I like link love posts, because they allow me to offer extra content to readers, stuff I enjoyed reading, that I assume my readers might also enjoy. I also think it’s a decent traffic builder when done in moderation.

The problem I have with link love is not everyone likes a list of links – good links or not. So these posts are lost on some readers. Also, to me, these type of posts don’t exactly represent content. It’s more filler. If I visit a blog daily, I expect to see fresh content, not rehashed links. To me, good original content is what a blog is about and also, if you have a blog that’s in my topic focus and interest, for example, a green blog, and I see a list of links, there’s a good chance I’ve seen some, if not most of these links already.

That said, I tend to only post link love posts once weekly per blog or less.

If I like a blog, and each day that blog posts say one or two original posts AND one daily link love post, I think I might get annoyed. I don’t want to read a daily list of links. I get that at my own RSS feeds. If in fact, a blog I like started a daily link love post, I may not visit anymore.

BUT being that I’m picky, and being that I’m not the only blog reader on the planet, I’m wondering what you think. Is there a line between a good amount of link love vs. too much?

How many link love posts are you willing to read? What sort of link love rules do you apply to your own blogs?

I was making a list of social networking methods for blogs, plus discussing it with Deb, and I realized that some of the methods I use are pretty fuzzy. Many social activities cross over with blog promotion and the other way around, and it all mixes up with building your own blog community. For example, if someone finds you through Technorati and you become pals and maybe score a gig through that friendship, is it blog promotion, or are you doing a little networking? Fuzzy business.

That said, I’m going to cover some blog networking methods over the next few posts, but some of the methods we’ll look at may cross over into blog promotion. Although networking is fuzzy, here’s my take. If you’re a blogger, you need to get out there, connect, and interact with others. If you do that, you’ll not only be networking, but promoting your blog.

Here is a sample of what you’ll see if you look up “social networking” online:

• “this is where people develop networks of friends and associates. It forges and creates links between different people. …
  www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.php
• Social networking is a phenomena defined by linking people to each other in some way. Digg is a popular example of a social network (using social …
  www.topicguru.net/
• Social networking refers to a broad class of web sites and services that allow you to connect with friends, family, and colleagues online, as well as meet people with similar interests or hobbies. …
  www.tucows.com/article/1903
• A social networking site allows you to identify your contacts and establish a link between you and each of your contacts.
  www.batchblue.com/glossary.html
• The practice by which Internet users build relationships and bookmark important sites with like minded people.
  www.omega2webdesign.com/glossaryofterms.html
• On the Internet, social networking is a form of self-expression in which a user surrounds oneself with- and shares with others an interconnected …
  cnis.wordpress.com/terms-and-definitions/”

Promotion, pro networking, hanging out; it all interrelates, but in the interest of trying to keep it less fuzzy, here’s what we’ll be looking at over the next few posts (or so).

1. Basic networking
2. Social sites – i.e. arenas that actually sell themselves as places to connect.
3. Forums & chats
4. Blog networking methods you may not have thought of.

Before we get going with basic networking, why don’t you tell me what your take on blog networking is. Do you see a crossover with blog promotion, or do you socialize purely to socialize, no strings attached, because you enjoy hanging with other bloggers?

Do the definitions above make sense, or would you add something else?

Let me know…

It seems everyone is interested in finding the best form of social networking for bloggers, according to the recent post, “Is Network Blogging Tips the right name for this blog?”

It’s a bit of a loaded question, because straight up, the kind of social networking that will work best for your blog, is….

The social networking you’ll actually use. Bonus points if you enjoy using it.

Case in point – I just deleted my MySpace account. MySpace works well for blog promotion if one, you list your blog links on your profile page, and two, if you actually speak to folks on there. I always listed my blogs at MySpace, and when I sort of hung out, I got hits. About half a year ago, I got super busy, I quit hanging out, and guess what; no more hits on my blogs. I never loved MySpace so I let it go.

Twitter, for me, in the past, has a very good way to get page views; when I use it. Lately, even though I do enjoy Twitter, I’ve been too busy for tweets, and I don’t like to just go leave links, it feels fake. Plenty of people use Twitter feeds and just slam people with link tweets, but I don’t feel that’s as affective as being a full fledged member who tweets with others and makes new pals.I almost never click on blogs that are twitter fed into the system, but if I have a friend on there who says, please check out this cool post, I usually will.

Before you can find out which sort of social networking works best for you, (later we will look at some various sorts of social networking you can try) you should start by making sure you do the following:

Get involved – be part of the the network family before you start tossing links at everyone.

Enjoy it, or act like you do in a believable way. I prefer genuine behavior though.

Get to know the culture of the networking system. For example, to me, Digg comes across as more hot topic driven while Stumble Upon allows more quirk and uniqueness. Because I’m not a hot topic sort of girl, but do enjoy the strange, I fit in better at Stumble Upon, and so do my blogs. Some forums for bloggers are all money talk (not for me) while others dig into design and posting ideas (way more my style). If you can find a social networking area where you fit in, there’s a better chance your blogs will as well.

Be there for the social aspects first, and the page views secondly. Expect to be involved in a social manner. Be pleasantly surprised when it results in page views to your blog.

Don’t do too much. No one can be at the front of every social media site or networking tactic and keep it going. You’ll wear yourself out and never have time to actually blog. I can’t name an exact number that’s good for you, but I tend to stick to five or less social networks at a time, or I get overwhelmed. Many can handle more, but not me. For example, I can Skype like mad, read and comment at a handful of other blogs, do some Stumbles, and deal partially with Technorati and Linked In, with the occasional tweet tossed in. Frankly I’m pushing it.

Your turn:

What sorts of social networking are you involved in right now? Are you enjoying it, or thinking of trying new things?

by Deborah Ng

I’m a stats junky. I check my stats several times a day to see how I’m doing traffic wise, plus for several other reasons. My stats tell me:

• Which of my posts are most popular – Knowing this gives me a good idea of what my readers want.
• Which keywords bring in the most traffic - See above. Knowing where my traffic comes from helps me to accommodate my readers.
• How many people stopped by in a day - If I have a very high or low traffic day, it’s good to know the reason.
• Who is linking to my blog and why - Wouldn’t you want to know what others are saying about you? What if it’s something that’s not very good? What if it requires a response?
• How much traffic is coming in via search engines- Knowing the search engines are sending lots of traffic our way is very encouraging. It means we’re ranked and it means when other people search for certain things they’ll find us.
• Did I hit big on Digg? How big? How long is all that social media traffic sticking around, anyway?

I can give you so many more reasons why it’s important, no…it’s essential, for all bloggers to have full access to stats.

I once worked for a website where the editor wouldn’t give up any stats at all. This was a problem for me because when I tried to land an interview or products to review, I couldn’t give publicists the details they needed. Moreover, if you host your own blog you will need stats for your advertisers.

If you don’t read your stats religiously, or if you don’t have access to your stats, you will never be able to succeed to the best of your blog’s potential.

When I wrote for a music blog, I went from receiving a few hundred visitors a day to a few thousands visitors a day overnight. Did I hit it big on Digg? Get major Stumblage? No. I brought in thousands of readers through Google Image Search.

I know many bloggers and web writers label their images haphazardly or with little thought as to whether or not they’ll bring in search engine traffic. A picture labeled “snow122208″ probably won’t bring in as many search results as one labeled “snow conditions”, “snow boots”, “snow tires” or “snow boarding.”

In addition to saving your images using keywords, use keywords in your image descriptions and, if you can do it without looking spammy, your image captions. Start doing this and within a week or two your traffic numbers will rise.

Labeling your images properly is one small thing you can do to bring in big results!