In the last 30 days, I have seen my blog traffic jump by 81.3%. I have seen steady growth since I converted from TypePad to self-hosted WordPress two years ago (up 338.6%). But the last 30 days represented the largest single jump in my traffic ever.

I want to share why I believe this has happened, so that you can apply what I have learned to your own blog. Hopefully, you will experience similar results.

I have numerous friends who are attempting to become more serious about their blogging this next year. They aren’t necessarily wanting to become professional bloggers, but they would like to increase their traffic and, perhaps, make money from their site.

If you are in this camp, then there are three bloggers you must follow. I subscribe to their blogs via RSS and read every article they post.

One week ago today, I converted my blog to Standard Theme 2. You probably haven’t noticed much difference, because all the changes have been “under the hood.” I kept the design the same.

When I had John Saddington redesign my blog last year, he started with the “Daily Edition” theme from WooThemes. It was a great theme and has served me well. But, frankly, the “backend” or administrative side had become a jumbled mess. (This wasn’t WooThemes fault or John’s; it was due to my own constant tweaking.) So I wanted to start fresh.

I have read several books on blogging and subscribe to several blogs for bloggers. I have even attended a few blogging seminars. They seem to all talk about similar things.

One of my favorite bloggers is Tim Ferriss, the author of The 4-Hour Workweek. His book has been on the New York Times Bestsellers list for almost two years. His blog is one of the most-read on the Internet. Tim has become famous for challenging the status quo.

Recently, he posted a video of his presentation at WordCamp San Francisco, a conference for WordPress bloggers. Though I don’t endorse everything he recommends—and am still mulling some of it over—I found his blog tips compelling and stimulating.

A few weeks ago, in preparation for a meeting with one of my biggest authors, I visited his website. I was reminded again how many authors think that by just hanging a website in cyberspace they are somehow building their brand. As it turns out, not so much.