20 Great Ways To Drive Traffic To Your Blog
A fledgling blog can be an exciting thing. You get to flex your creative writing muscles, and can expect whole new swathes of visitors being drawn to your website to boot. No matter whether you’re blogging for business or for pleasure, it can be a rewarding and fulfilling addition to your day.
However, very soon you will realise that people do not just flood to your blog automatically. The early days of your blog can be frustrating and disappointing as you try (and fail) to build a regular audience.
But do not give up. Once you have put the work in, you will reap the benefits of more visits to your website, as well as a bigger social media presence which will make your business appear more attractive to prospective clients.
With all of that in mind, we have twenty great suggestions for how you can improve the readership of you blog.
#1 Write. A lot.
When Google is sorting internet search results, it gives greater priority to those sites with fresh content. At least twice a week is a good target to aim for. If you are adding new stuff on a regular basis then it is also more likely that people will stay engaged with your blog. I have lost count of the number of blogs that I have ceased following because they rarely update with new content.
#2 Social Media
When it comes to promoting your blog then social media is your best friend. Share every single post you write across all of your networks for maximum impact. Also make sure that you use a good variety of different sites.
Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ etc. all attract different sorts of users. By spreading your presence over many different networks you will significantly increase your chances of engaging with more people.
Do not think that you can just sign up to these services and then just sit back and watch the readers roll in, however. You need to cultivate your followers and this can be a mammoth task all by itself. Follow lots of pages (check individual sites for their limits on this) and invite them to follow yours. Focus especially on pages that would be attractive to the demographic that you are targeting as well.
If the pages do not follow you back, cull them and start again. You will find that you will soon accumulate a large range of followers, which will increase your reach dramatically.
#3 Submit your blog to directories
Research directories in your blog’s niche and submit to them.
This should be approached with caution, as there are a plethora of directories out there which are low-quality, so you will have to be careful to avoid these. To help, choose those that don’t have porn links in the sidebar, and those that are ‘manned’. Contact the directory first to ensure that if you were to want to take the listing down, you can.
#4 Choose a theme and stick to it
Try to not make your blog veer too far off topic. Decide what the theme of your blog is going to be and stick to it. You might be interested in a wide range of subjects, but your blog should be tight and focused.
If your blog covers too many disparate topics, then your target audience will be confused and less likely to engage with you. If you do want to write on different subjects then you should have multiple blogs to cover them.
#5 A picture is worth a thousand words
Use pictures or photos in your blog. It will make your blog more attractive sure, but by using keywords in the Alt Image tag, you will also boost your SEO (search engine optimisation).
Be wary of copyright though. Many of the pictures that come up in a Google Images search are already owned by somebody else and by just downloading and attaching willy-nilly you risk being served with a cease and desist order or other legal proceedings. Nothing can hurt your blog like a reputation for plagiarism.
Luckily there are plenty of websites such as clipart.com that offer royalty-free images. Either for free or for a modest subscription.
#6 The key[words] to the kingdom
Every time you write a new post, try and identify a key phrase that people are likely to search for when looking for information on that topic. The easiest way to do this is to simply imagine what you would type into Google if you were looking for articles.
Then make sure that phrase appears in the title of the article, in the body of the article itself (at least twice), in any images and in the link. By establishing a coherent keyword strategy, you will again boost the search engine optimisation of your page and help Google to establish the subject of your page.
#7 Link around the world
Include at least one or two hyperlinks in your content. If you mention another site or company, make sure you provide a link for their page.
This not only improves your chances of Google assigning greater priority to your page, but the companies in question may notice your promotion of their site and share your content with their audience.
#8 Sharing is caring
Include share buttons on your articles for as many networks as you can. If you make it easy for your readers to share your posts, they will be more likely to. It is that simple. Remember that many people read articles on their phones these days and copying and pasting links into Facebook etc. can be fiddly, so make it simple for them.
#9 Be our guest
Let other people write for your blog as well. As already discussed, the more you post, the more traffic you will attract. By letting others write for you, you will decrease your workload and increase your content. It’s a win-win situation.
#10 Be their guest
Likewise, offer yourself up as a guest contributor to the blogs of others as well. If the pages are popular then their readers will be more likely to seek out more of your content
#11 Video killed the radio star
Google owns YouTube. Do I really need to say any more? Well, yes, but not much. Facebook has now surpassed YouTube for desktop video views, so you should make video marketing central to your campaigns.
#12 Spend money to make money
Figure out which network your target audience is spending time on and invest in a sponsored post. It does not cost a lot and can force your content into people’s news feeds. Whether they like it or not.
#13 A little competition never hurt anybody
Offering prizes for comments can be a great way to boost traffic to your site. Obviously you want to keep costs down, but say you run a bookstore, then offer a free copy of something for the most entertaining comment or maybe the answer to a specific question.
You could also offer extra entries if people share your post, giving even more incentive for readers to spread your words around.
#14 Read all about it!!
Make an electronic newsletter to promote the latest articles in your blog. Include the first paragraph of each entry on the newsletter, complete with a link for them to click if they would like to “read more…”
This will help you by keeping subscribers invested in your writing. Not many people will have the time to read every entry on every blog that they subscribe to, so this provides an easily digestible version where readers can tell at a glance whether they want to read an article in its entirety or not.
#16 Everyone loves a list
Case in point: this article. Lists, sub-headings and bullet-points make your posts easier to read. If they are easier to read, more people will read them. Got it? Good.
#17 Shameless self-promotion
Promote your blog on every site that you are invited to write a bio for. Do this by adding a link to your bio – and stick one in your email signature as well for good measure.
#18 Feed me, Seymour
Make your RSS easy to subscribe to.
#19 Engage
Always end your articles with some questions for the readers. Ask them what they thought of the article, or ask them if they have any suggestions on the topic that you have failed to mention. Then point them to the comments section.
If you are lucky enough to start receiving interaction from your readers, then for the love of Dog, interact back. Commenters want to feel like their contribution is valued and the best way to do that is just with a simple, “thank you” if they leave a compliment, or simply congratulate them on a good suggestion. But, in the name of all that is holy, and I really cannot stress this enough: DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS!!
#20 Remember that this is supposed to be fun
Blog writing should be something that you enjoy. So, make sure you pick a topic that you find genuinely engaging and keep it that way. If you are finding writing to be a chore then it will be very apparent to your readers.
However, if you are enjoying what you are writing, then it will also be apparent and your readers will enjoy it too. Your words will flow well and they will just be able to tell that this is something that you are really into.
Well, there we have it. 20 ways to increase the chances of success in your blog writing endeavours. There is a bit of luck involved so nothing is set in stone, but if you follow these guidelines then you will be giving your writing the best possible chance of getting off of the ground and flourishing. You should enjoy yourself a bit more, as writing a blog can be a great way to give yourself a break from day-to-day tasks, and your business will reap the benefits as well.
Please let us know in the comments bellow if you have found techniques to be successful or less than so. Also let us know about your blog and why you love writing it.
Continue reading here: Launch Your Start-Up with these Content Marketing Strategies
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