Blog Traffic – How Do You Increase It?
SUMMARY
A Blog is Not a Blog if you don’t have any Blog Traffic. Implement these top tips to jumpstart the traffic to get your blog noticed.
The first thing that new bloggers want to know and want to figure out is how to get traffic to their blog. I’ve seen this question in tons of Facebook Blogging Groups and online forums from Reddit to Quora and not to mention the numerous questions I receive on blogging in my DM. Everyone wants to know, what is the best way to grow blog traffic when you have a new blog?
I’m not a novice when it comes to blogging, but like many of you my blogging started out as a hobby, something that I simply enjoyed doing. Then the lightbulb switched and I realized that I could create the ultimate life and secure my financial future simply by blogging. In order to get the money, you have to get traffic and preferable organic traffic from search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
Content Is King
I’m letting the cat out of the bag as my grandmother would say and sharing the top Blogging strategies that I’ve used and implemented that helped to increase my blog traffic as well as my target audience of followers that engage with me on a daily and weekly basis.
I’ve said this before and if you continue to follow me on this journey, you will hear me say it again. When it comes to blogging, Content is King and SEO is QUEEN. Nothing matters if your content sucks.
Continue to read to see all the tips and tricks that I use to grow my blog traffic
- Write Content
- Solid SEO
- Keywords
- Add Photos
- Post To Social Media
- Write Better Titles
- Video, Youtube
- Advertisement (Pinterest)
- Internal links and Backlinks
- Engage with the comments on your blog
- Social Sharing Buttons
- Tweet Your Content (Even Old Content)
- Ensure that your content is easy to read and navigate
- Define Your Niche
- Guest Writers
- Engage With Your Mailing List
- Promote Your Blog everywhere
- Enjoy Blogging, enjoy the journey
- HARO (Help A Reporter Out)
- Medium (Write Snippet Content)
1. Write Content
All the blogging experts will tell you to write content and write more content. The magic number that you want to reach in your first 12 months is 100 blog articles. Every study has shown that you need to update your content with fresh new articles on a regular basis. A weekly basis would be ideal when starting a new blog. Twice a week would be even better. This is a business, so treat it like a business. Google is like a finicky lover, he likes when you give him something to work with. If you want Google to pay attention to you then you need to give Google what he wants and what he wants is constant content.
2. SEO
Search Engine Optimization is the magic behind writing good content. Make sure that you take the time to ensure that your blog article hits all the key factors when it comes to SEO. As a new blogger, I highly suggest that you take the time out to watch a few videos on what SEO really is. If you don’t understand it, you will have a hard time with your blog. There are 3 main areas of SEO, On-page- Off-page and Technical SEO. Utilize sites such as MOZ, SemRush and even UberSuggest with Neil Patel to help you learn the basics of SEO.
As you continue to grow in the blogging game your Domain Authority and page authority will increase. MOZ is behind the DA so make sure you set up a free profile to better track your DA
3. Keywords For Your Blog
Every single blog article that you write has to have its own keyword that you are trying to rank for. The easiest way to generate more organic traffic to your website is by implementing keyword strategies on every page. What exactly does this mean. It’s simple. Every single blog post needs its own keyword or phrase as I stated above. Just think how a person searches on Google. If a person was searching for ” Cool Gray Paint Colors,” what words would they use to search? Chances are they may use the following: Cool gray paint, cool gray paint colors, gray paint, Sherwin Williams Gray Paint, or Popular Gray Paint. As you are writing your blog post, you want to incorporate that phrase into the Blog Post.
Keywords start with your Title and even your URL. The Keyword for this blog article is Blog Traffic. As you can see I used the words Blog Traffic in the Title of this article, the headings, and all throughout the article itself. You do want to focus on keyword concentration as it helps Google to understand what the page is about. However, don’t overuse the keywords because Google will get mad and they may penalize you for it.
4. Add Photos To Your Blog
We are all visual creatures. The experts have spoken and photos increase readership. One of the simplest ways to increase traffic is to use pictures. Make sure that you fill in the ALT tag with a keyword that is applicable. The Alt Tag description can boost your SEO rankings. Make sure that your photos are engaging and deal with the topic of the blog.
Do not download random pictures as you may find yourself involved in copyright infringement. If you need great pictures you can find royalty-free pictures at Deposit Photos and Adobe Stock.
5. Post To Social Media
Do not forget to post your blog post on all social media platforms. Posting to Pinterest is a must. Don’t forget about Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, and Instagram. Social media can help to engage readers whom you might not have connected with. As soon as I publish a blog post, I post it to all social media platforms.
6. Write Better Titles
Your title is what is going to attract a visitor to click on your link on Google. Titles play a critical role in enticing readers to want to engage with you. Your title should seek to provide an answer or solution to a search query. You need to ensure that your title includes your keyword, but also make sure that it is fun and engaging.
7. Video, Youtube
If you have gone on Google recently and searched for anything then you will have noticed that YouTube videos appear at the top of the search query, the reason being that Google owns YouTube. You will increase views simply by either adding YouTube Videos to your blog article or creating YouTube videos that seek to supplement your blog post. Take advantage of this underutilized blog traffic hack.
8. Advertisement (Pinterest, Facebook)
Test the waters and run a paid promotion on social media. I don’t believe in breaking the bank. I do however advertise on Pinterest on a regular. I typically spend around $20 per month on advertising pins. I’m currently advertising a Pin that is all about engaging with the entire site, thus the pin takes you to my main page. If you have a specific post that you want engagement on, then consider running an ad. Take a look at Facebook and Instagram ads as well.
9. Internal links and Backlinks
Google judges you based on the company you keep. At least this is how I like to think of internal links and backlinks. You want to make sure that you have other articles on your site that you can link to (this is an internal link) You want to share your Google Magic Juice with other pages on your site. When you have no internal links going to a page, we call it an orphan page. You also want to link to an authoritative site (this lets Google know that you are probably not a spam site). Backlinks are the crown and glory of links. You want other high-ranking sites to link to your site. You want them to reference your site as an authority – this tells google that other people think you have great content and as such, Google should give you praise by pushing you up in the SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Readers appreciate it when you reference resources that are tied directly to the subject.
10. Engage with the comments on your blog
Make sure that you respond to comments and engage with your audience. I would take it one step further and include a call to action to encourage your audience to leave a comment. If you were writing about your favorite weekend destination, you may want to ask your readers to share their favorite weekend destination
11. Social Sharing Buttons
Consider adding social sharing buttons at the bottom and the top of your blog post page. Make sure that these buttons include the ability to share on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other major social media platforms. Utilizing social sharing buttons is a must in order for your readers to easily share the word about your blog post. I recommend Grow Social Pro by Mediavine – there is a cost associated with it, however, I enjoy the feature that enables me to share what images and text automatically get’s shared when a reader does share the blog post to social media.
12. Tweet Your Content (Even Old Content)
Don’t sleep on Twitter. Tweet new content and Tweet old content as well. Twitter is not just for political and controversial tweets.
13. Ensure That Your Content Is Easy To Read And Navigate
This is an important factor of SEO. Think of your blog page as a term paper that has a main heading along with subheadings, paragraphs, indentations, and more. You have to let search engines know how your content is laid out. You also want to ensure that you are not writing above an 8th grade level of reading comprehension.
14. Define Your Niche
So often I see new bloggers that want to have a lifestyle blog. There is nothing wrong with a lifestyle blog. The issue is when you want your lifestyle blog to cover 10 different items. Just because you are interested in gardening, travel, recipes, fashion, cars, and beauty does not mean that your audience will be. Better yet, it will only confuse your audience. Pick a niche and rock with it. You have to know who you are writing for, and what they want to read. You are here to solve a problem and provide a solution to your audience. Do not be that blogger that is all over the place and believes they can cover everything in one blog site.
15. Guest Writers
Offer to write blog articles on other prominent or up-and-coming websites. Their audience can become your audience.
16. Engage With Your Mailing List
If you don’t have a mailing list you need to start one. I use ConvertKit. Make sure that you are engaging with your mailing list on a weekly basis (even though I am guilty of not doing this) It’s wise to include a general newsletter that simply shares old posts that your reader may have missed. Ask for their input., ie., I recently wrote about Self-Care Ideas, so I asked my audience to share their favorite self-care ideas.
17. Promote Your Blog Everywhere
Share a link to your blog everywhere. If I send out an email, I include a link to my blog in my signature line. Make sure that you promote your blog in your bio on all of your social media platforms
18. Enjoy Blogging, enjoy the journey
If you don’t enjoy your blog and are not having fun with it, it will show through in your writing. This should be an enjoyable journey. If your blog has you stressed out, your readers will know and it will show.
19. HARO (Help A Reporter Out)
Have you ever wondered how these bloggers are showing up in top-rated content such as Forbes, The Washington Post, and other news mediums? The secret is HARO – help a reporter out. Make sure you create a HARO account.
20. Medium (Write Snippet Content)
Medium is often overlooked when it comes to helping readers to engage with your blog. I suggest creating a medium profile (my Medium Profile can be found here)
21. Using Pinterest To Grow Your Blog Traffic
Pinterest is to Blogging what oil is to a car. You can probably still drive, but not having enough oil will impact your vehicle. Pinterest is the best vehicle to jumpstart your blog in gaining traffic. Hands down it is the #1 source of traffic for bloggers. Google is still the God of organic traffic and it will ultimately sustain you, but Pinterest will get folks to the table. I’ve had as many as 100,000 monthly Impressions for my pins. I’m currently averaging around 37.43k monthly impressions. When I stay on top of Pinterest and pinning my stats go way up. Also, consider using Tailwinds in conjunction with Pinterest
Resources
Here are a few more resources that will help you on your blogging journey
- SIMPLISTIC SEO – 21 TIPS FOR ON-PAGE SEO (freebie)
