In this article, we'll cover five tips which will ensure that you get traffic and faithful readers, and also that you stay sane in the process. Blogging can be stressful, if you allow it to get out of hand.

1. The more content on your blog, the greater the chance you'll attract visitors

Here's the reality: when your blog is new, it lacks content. A new blog with ten posts is no match for a four-year-old blog with several thousand posts.

So accept the fact that your baby blog will need to grow, before you get a ton of traffic naturally via the search engines. Each blog post (page) on your blog provides one gateway for readers - the more gates, the greater the flow of traffic.

If you're hungry for traffic, advertise, until your blog's big enough to make its presence felt in the search engines.

If you keep your eyes open, you'll see that most of the top bloggers advertise - even they find it difficult to get all the traffic they want without advertising.

2. Post good content, or your traffic will leave, never to return

Unfortunately, blogging is becoming ultra-competitive in some niches, such as the "make money online" niche, for example.

If you're new to blogging, I advise staying away from these kinds of niches until you're more experienced in driving traffic to your blog using free methods. It's a bitter pill, but if there's lots of competition you'll need to spend money to get traffic.

Encourage your readers to subscribe to your RSS feed; most won't know how to subscribe, so provide information on how to do this.

3. Who are your visitors? Write to ONE person

Although you're writing for millions of readers (you hope), each reader is an individual, sitting at his or her computer. So write to that one person, and write as if you're writing to a personal friend.

Share, tell secrets, and tell stories. If you treat your readers as friends, they'll become friends.

4. Is your blog a conversation, or not? You can close comments if you wish

Your blog may be a conversation, or not. Your choice. If you want to correspond with your readers in the comments to your posts, that's fine.

However, don't feel obligated. If you wish, close the comments. It's your blog; you decide how you'll manage your blog.

If you allow comments, moderate them. It's unfortunate, but some mean-spirited people will try to take over a blog and use it for their own purposes, such as posting spam.

Remember that you're responsible for what's on your blog, even in the comments.

5. Track your traffic - your readers will tell you what they want

Your referrer logs are your most valuable tool. They tell you what your readers want. Check your log at least once a week, and copy down the searches which have led readers to your blog. These provide valuable insights into what people want to read.

So there you have five tips which will help your baby blog to grow. Before you know it, you'll have all the traffic you can handle.

Blogging PLUS coaching ensures that you'll make money. Pro blogger and copywriter Angela Booth has been making money blogging since 2002. She'll teach you how to blog the right way, so your blog is profitable from the start, with her bestseller, "Blogging for Dollars" at http://www.abmagic.com/Blog/blogging.html

Angela's blogging ebook package has a companion blog, the Blogging for Dollars Blog at http://www.dollars2blog.com/blog/  which keeps you up to date with what's happening in the world of professional blogging.