You worked hard on your blog, you felt created. Now it is time for the traffic to get heavy. We’re with your friend right there- here are five simple steps you can continue to increase blog traffic!
- Be Strategic About Your Content
If you want to increase blog traffic, the best thing you can do is create better content quite simply. You’ve probably heard it before-on a frat party, the word “information is king” is tossed around more than a funnel. But “better content” creation isn’t just about quality. It also means being more strategic with your efforts to market your content.
The most effective content is the sort that serves a particular need. Care of the audience and their passion for it. These days, content falls almost always into one of two categories: cool and amusing, or useful and educational. Either pick or you’re definitely off to a good start.
If you need ideas, check out Quora and see what questions are being asked which relate to the subject of your industry. Try also to use Buzzsumo to see what others wrote about in your field, and then make something even better. Or use one generator of those eight useful blog topics.
As for content design, look for surprising numbers, beautiful infographics, and video-rich storytelling. Developers want to build things that people want to connect to and share.
Consider ensuring much of the material is evergreen. Evergreen content is the kind of content that can stay on the web indefinitely and that time is not going to make obsolete. For example, in a few months, a post about this year’s Oscar nominations would become pointless. Through the years a post about the biggest movie classics will continue to be important, making it evergreen.
You should also make sure, as a writer, that you generate irresistibly awesome headlines. Your headline is what attracts the site guests, and catches their attention. Some even say that more important than your actual post is your headline! When you’ve got a brilliant piece of content hidden behind a shabby headline it’s going to die a swift death. Appearances are all, and just as you wouldn’t appear to be wearing your stay-home-sick clothes at a wedding, you can’t rely on lusty headlines to promote your blog posts.
2. Don’t Fear the Keywords
Keywords and SEO have to be part of your plan if you want to drive big-time traffic to your blog. People are getting very nervous these days when you suggest doing something in the name of SEO, but note, when done correctly search engine optimization is perfect. More than fine-Google gets targeted traffic, and users will find the information and answers they are looking for on the web.
3. Find Your Flock: Hunt down Your Audience’s Nest
It’s important when it comes to promoting your blog that you’re careful about where you’re spending your time. While it’s nice to establish your presence across a variety of social networks, with every social site you’ll quickly burn out trying to excel. First you need to decide the age and demographics of your focus.
Tap your feet and see the social networks that work best for you. Are the visuals heavy at your blog? You’re likely going to want your sights set on LinkedIn. Is your blog more catered to nerd culture? Find the right subreddits and you might hit it big.
If you’re hunting for seagulls, then you’re headed to the seaside. You need to go to where your flock stays, to push blog traffic. Know where to find your feathered bird. Understanding the audience is also crucial to creating good reference ties from websites concerned.
4. Optimize For Speed and Mobile
Your visitors won’t wait to get your blog loaded up. If your page doesn’t get up fast enough, they hit the back button and move on to the next Google listing (i.e. your competitor) before you can flip a flapjack. Need to test pace at your site? No problem. Google’s Page Speed Insights tool will provide you with your speed score and advice on what you can do to give your site the kick it would need in the pants. Facebook commerce manager can be of great help.
5. Play Nice With the Other Kids
Effective online manners go a long way. When you’re trying to generate blog traffic in your niche, you’ll want to build good relationships with other bloggers. Perhaps you would also want to team up with your rivals, in the spirit of Game of Thrones. Post on other blogs and get involved in various groups. Consider interviewing major industry loggers in a “best of” post, or including other bloggers. Once you have one of your posts cited or featured a blogger, tag them in a tweet to let them know. The blogger will likely retweet and share a post that references them, resulting in more shares, and more traffic. Linking to your blog posts is great for SEO but linking to external sources is also relevant. This indicates to Google that you are not a spammer, and helps create a good relationship with the other blogs on which you are referring. Establishing good relationships also makes guest posts a ton easier to pitch.
Follow these five rules and in no time you’ll see traffic skyrocketing to your blog!
