We’ve all been there. We’ve hit the publish button on our latest blog post and expected the shares and comments to start rolling in. But instead we get… nothing.
So, you want smart ways to draw traffic to your blog?
Follow these 8-step process to increase your blog traffic.
Table of Contents
I’ve been using Cloudways since January 2016 for this blog. I happily recommend Cloudways to my readers because I am a proud customer.
01. Pick A Topic That Attracts Traffic
This is one of the most vital skills any blogger can learn to incorporate in his or her works. The main reason behind this is that the title is the first thing that any audience will come to terms with before anything else. Knowing well that first impressions can seal the whole deal or could on the other hand repulse the reader, you need to brighten up your topic headings to something that will intrigue the reader.
One of the methods that has worked for many, and is a wise and almost foolproof way of getting the better of topic choices, is employing a strategy known as `three-circle’. Here, you draw three complete circles, then proceed to label these circles. Inside the first one, jot down the most knowledgeable topics that you have under your sleeve. When you go to the second circle, write in it all the things that interest you while in the final circle pick the topics in the circles above it that are currently in demand. The door to the treasure cave lies on the spot where all three circles intersect.
02. Go Visual
Another way to take your blog views to even higher heights is by appealing to the visual aspect of the human mind. Why go through all the trouble? The answer is very simple but bears a lot of gravity in its core significance. The affinity of the mind to visual stimuli. For the ultimate blogger, taking advantage of this could turn it into the most powerful addition to your blog! The human brain typically has an attention span clocking around eight seconds, showing how easily it can distract. This may be compared to another creature known to have a similar short (8-second) attention span – the goldfish! Human beings have an insatiable need to shift attention from one thing to another, and one of the ways of tying it down to one thing is capturing the visual part of both the conscious and subconscious.
If you are keen to observe the use of visual incentives in most successful social platforms including Instagram, Facebook, and even Pinterest, among others, it is clearly evident that the platforms wouldn’t be half as alluring as they are if they just plain, with no graphics and images! Many people would prefer not to indulge into the scrutiny of words, but instead enjoy the visuals for example memes, comics, and videos, among others. To boost your blog, going visual has to be part of your plan or strategy given that the reward is more concentration being paid to your blog.
03. Add Drama to Your Work
The most effective way to make the content in your blog to stand out is by adding some theatrics and a drama -like aura to your general writing style. This helps in making your topics and blog to have a reputation for unique and out of this world flow, and that comes brings about great reviews and recommendations. After this has all been made to pass, what would restrain a reader from choosing your blogs over millions of others? The trick is opening the blog with things like metaphors or even anecdotes that are irresistible in nature and hook the reader right from the beginning until the end of the blog.
04. Improve The Loading Time of Your Blog
It`s most likely nothing new to most people that loading time is one of the biggest foundations and factors that are put under the microscope by Google when they are ranking websites. Also for readers, a research has been carried out and the findings are that approximately 47% of readers expect that a page should fully load within two seconds.
In order to achieve this, it’s vital that you find a way to cut down on the amount of plugins that are put into use in your blog. The more in number the plugins are, the more sluggish your blog becomes. Use plugins only if it’s absolutely necessary. Alternatively, consider replacing multiple plugins with just one that can perform a variety of tasks such as Jetpack. Another step you could take would be compressing images on your blog.
05. Start a Forum on Your Website
Having an active forum allows you to interact more especially with avid readers of your blog. On top of that, you can attract lots of new traffic especially with the assistance of keywords that are the naturally long tail and applicable to your website/blog.
In order to achieve a quick and precise search that is successful for the best of popular and active forums to be found in your space, link the main keyword to your forum. After that, create a free account, then the use of your brand name as a nickname.
06. Find the Optimum Best Post Numbers
Research has indicated that with the increased number of blogs a company was able to post in a month, it increased the attraction of traffic. This works for both companies and also individual bloggers. However, on the other side, it can be disastrous once you blog too much. Too much of everything is poisonous and this is no exception. The best way to avoid overdoing this is by closely keeping tabs on the activity of your subscribers. If you get some unsubscriptions, it is vital for you to investigate the cause. If it is due to too much blogging, that goes without saying that it`s your cue to cut down on your blogging.
07. Respond to Your Blog Comments Thoughtfully
Based on many reliable sources, including the likes of Neil Patel, taking the initiative to reply and respond to comments on your blog elevates your traffic. With your increasing responses, there is a commensurate increase in the number of words on the page. In the vantage point of SEO, it is a more than perfect move as it may result in repeat traffic and helps in building anticipation of the next post on your readers. You may also redirect your readers as you wish by placing a link to another page for comments, thus getting the ability to control traffic as you wish.
08. Analyze Your Headlines before Hitting “Publish”
The moment you’ve finished writing your post, it is advisable to paste your headline into a free headline analyzer tool such as CoShedule. The tool will give you a score on the quality of your headline. This grade is dependent on the readability of your headline, its use of grammar and its overall and general structure.
The report it comes up with usually has dissected your headline and divided it into various groups of words such as `uncommon words`, `power words` and `common words`. On top of that, it does an analysis on length and also the type of headline that you have. Once all that is done, it gives you the best tips that you could get in the improvement of your headline. The best thing about all this is that it’s free and fast.
Conclusion
Making use of the 8 tips mentioned above will help you drive more traffic to your blog and propel your blogging venture to new heights. After all, what’s the point of blogging if no one gets to read what you write! Take steps to increase your reader base today.
