I was also interested in adding individual social media buttons to the bottom of each post however I found this article that advises against doing so because of outlinks.

I do not 100% understand the whole concept of outlinks and why it is a bad thing to have too many but it is good to have outlinks in moderation. 

This person recommends the combo Add this widget.  I am currently using tell at friend by social twist. 

~thanks for the tell a friend link, I have been searching for something like that. And lo and behold, there was your suggestion. THANK YOU!!!

I like the thought of  a "Critique My Blog" topic, Rustin.  I think it'll help immensely with people such as myself who really don't have a clue on what does and doesn't work. 

Hi Barrie,

I'm on WordPress, so this may not help you at all. Never mind, "Share This" has options for Blogger also.  Here is a link to the "Share This" homepage.

Janis,

Individual widgets to FB or Stumble Upon or a combo "share this" widget?  I went with the combo simply because I have other things at the bottom of my posts (subscribe to RSS feed and related links) and didn't want it too crowded. 

My gut tells me that individual widgets may get more use and I do have a separate widget for Twitter, but I'm happy with the number of visitors that  Raising Olives receives from different applications, so the combo works for me.

I'd love to hear others weigh in on the "outgoing links" deal.  I don't wish to hurt my page rank and do several things to guard and help it, so I'd like to know if I'm indeed hurting it with my "Share This" application.

I like the idea of a critique my blog discussion!  It kinda goes along with something I just added in another discussion about the blogger tool bar at the top.  I don't think that draws or turns away readers...but things like that I would really be interested in knowing!  So do start it...but lay down some ground rules so people don't go "overboard!"

Kimberly,
I am not sure how outlinks affect page ranking exactly but I guess I just took that person's advice and went with the add this, share this, tell a friend type widget.  I too would be interested if anyone has any expertise in this area. 

And ...Lotus, Flower, Herbals...Your welcome =)

I was just thinking about asking this same question, but figured that someone must have asked it already. Thanks for all of the great tips! I think one of my best tips for developing consistent readership is to comment back to the comments left on my blog so that people who leave a comment know that it's a really person behind the blog...one who really reads the comments and cares about them. I think that is one thing that makes people want to come back. Well, that and content. :)

I know that if any of you are like me then you are always wanting more traffic.  I have actually used entrecard on everyone of my blogs and I keep going back because the concept is excellent.  Entrecard first off is free and is a tool to generate traffic to your site.  I know that many of you go the twitter and facebook route but this is something you should really consider adding to get more traffic as well. 

All you have to do is put a small widget on your site that displays other peoples ads that they buy from you using credits.  After you add the widget you are then listed in there directory and each day people will drop by your site to drop there card on your widget and you can then login to your dashboard to return the visit or to campaign and drop on up to 300 blogs all of which return the favor.  I am not sure why I don't see more of you doing this it is an excellent traffic generator and networking tool I have met a ton of great bloggers I would suggest that everyone at least check it out.

Danielle   

You can visit them by clicking here  ENTRECARD

Come back here and let me know what you think about it!!!

Here is my blog http://the-mommychronicles.com

Great advice.  Thanks.