Looking for suggestions on how to improve traffic

After all this effort to build the first Carnival of Homeschooling I've been pondering what are the various ways to improve the traffice to a blog. I've thought of the following three:

1) Good writing is a key. By writing readable and interesting posts, people are more likely to come back.

2) Leaving comments on other blogs. If someone enjoys a comment, they may go to the blog of the commentor to read more.

3) Participate in a carnival. Generates some additional exposure.

4) Run a carnival. Can generate a lot of traffic during the carnival. Hopefully some will return.


I am curious, have you found other ways to increase the traffice to your blog?

Thanks for any thoughts or ideas.



Update I
Suggestions from comments:

5) Join a blog ring

6) Put URL in signature file

7) Blogroll other bloggers

8) Write a post linking to a good article, and leave a trackback, if possible


Thanks for the suggestions, keep them coming.