There are few things more frustrating and disheartening for a blogger than lack of traffic. After all, why blog if you aren’t getting any engagement? Whether you have recently launched and just haven’t gotten the traffic that you want or you’ve simply hit a plateau, it stings to work hard on producing great content that goes unnoticed. Fortunately, there are things that you can do to get your numbers up. Take a few moments to check out these 12 tips for increasing traffic to your blog.
#1 Think about Potential Readers’ Search Engine Behaviors
You’ve probably read lots of advice on what to do and not to do when it comes to SEO. Much of that advice has probably revolved around keywords. It can get quite confusing. You’re supposed to use keywords, but you aren’t supposed to use too many of them. Then, there’s the obvious question, what are the keywords you should be using in the first place?
The answer to that question is simple. What would you type into Google if you wanted to find a blog post or article similar to yours? Create a list of approximately two phrases per 500 hundred words, and find ways to use those phrases in your blog posts. If you want to vet out your keyword phrases, enter them into Buzzsumo to see what comes up.
#2 Promote New Posts on Social Media
For some reason, many bloggers are really shy about promoting their own posts. The thing is, if you don’t promote your posts, nobody has a way of knowing that they exist. So, when you publish a new blog post, plan to promote it on your social media platforms. In fact, not only should you promote your content on social media, you should promote it multiple times to ensure that your audience has the opportunity to see it. If you have an audience that crosses multiple time zones, consider using a utility that will schedule posts for you, even when you are asleep.
#3 Get Readers to Subscribe
If you can give casual readers an incentive to subscribe, you’ll increase your traffic to your blog. This is because people who receive your content on a regular basis are much more likely to share that content with others. Something as simple as a discount offer or access to premium content such as an eBook is all it takes to get someone to sign up.
#4 Create an Active Internet Presence
Go beyond blogging, publishing, and promoting. Get out there. Comment on other blogs. Join Facebook groups that relate to your blog. Participate in Twitter conversations. Share other content on your social media feeds. Follow other bloggers in your niche. You will build relationships that will lead to new followers.
#5 Use Visuals
Visual content is more engaging. Add high-quality photographs and images to your posts. Share videos and infographics. This will improve SEO and will boost the number of social shares that your content receives. If you are inexperienced at creating visual content, there are many visual content tools that are free.
#6 Stream Live Content Using Meerkat or Periscope
If you’ve already mastered great visual content, why not take things to a whole new level with live streaming content. You can use your smartphone to stream content to your followers, and interact with them at the same time. Imagine being able to do anything from walking through a city in a foreign country to preparing a recipe in your home kitchen. While you are broadcasting to your audience, they can submit questions and make requests. Finally, when you are finished, you can save your broadcast so that followers who didn’t catch your live presentation can watch your content on demand.
#7 Write Great Content
Maybe it’s time to boost the quality of the content that you offer. As mentioned above, you can boost your content with visuals, but the truth is good writing really does count for a lot. You can use tools such as Grammarly and Hemingway to improve your writing. Another option is to use any content creation and editing service. Not only will this enable you to get top quality blog content out to your audience, it will help you to get content out quickly.
#8 Reach Out to Your Sources
If you quote an influencer or link to their content in one of their blog posts, let them know. Tag them in a post when you promote your content or send them a direct message. If they like what they see, they might share that content with their audience. This will open your blog post up to an entirely new audience.
#9 Embrace Guest Blogging
Start building social media relationships with bloggers in your niche and in complementary niches. Once these relationships are formed, you can begin to approach the topic of guest blogging. Invite someone to write a couple of guest posts for you blog in return for you doing the same. You’ll both get exposed to new audiences, and it will give your readers a bit of variety.
I’ve been using Cloudways since January 2016 for this blog. I happily recommend Cloudways to my readers because I am a proud customer.
#10 Encourage Your Followers to Share
Engagement and shares help drive traffic. One way to increase the number of social shares that you earn is to simply ask your followers to share your content. Then, make it easy for them to do so by including social share buttons on your blog posts and web pages.
#11 Link to Your Own Content
When it is relevant to do so, link to your previous posts in your newer posts. This has two effects. The first is that it increases the number of people who are going to read those earlier posts. The second is that interlinking has positive effects on SEO.
#12 Produce Content on a Regular Basis
If you’re only publishing content sporadically, you won’t gain traction with a loyal audience base. People will only read your posts if they happen to come across them. Be sure to produce a steady stream of content on a regular basis. Some bloggers even create a schedule of content topics so that their audience knows what to expect each day. For example, you might make Monday, a ‘life pro tip’ day, or designate every Friday as a day where you will post something funny or light hearted.