You have heard that a blog is the best way to generate interest for your products and services. Therefore, you have started a blog in order to increase the success of your business by finding new customers online.
The problem you are running into is that no one is reading your blog. You thought you could just write a blog, post it, and people would rush to read your content. That is not what is happening and you are confused about what you are doing wrong.
The problem most new and existing bloggers have is generating a steady flow of traffic. After all, a blog with no traffic is completely useless. You need people reading your blog and sharing your content. This helps to spread awareness about your blog and grow your fanbase of readers.
A blog is just like a business. You need to create a marketing strategy in order to get it noticed by your target consumers. Without a marketing plan, your blog will go unnoticed, and you will either continue to waste your time, or eventually give up on trying to make it work.
This does not have to be the fate of your blog though. If you are having trouble building your blog’s traffic, we have a list of 42 tips that will help your blog boost its traffic. Learn about them and incorporate them into your own blogging marketing strategy.
1. Build a large Twitter following
Twitter allows for you to create a tweet that can be re-shared by people who search for particular topics to read about. All you have to do is add hashtags to your tweet that are segmented towards specific people. Within your tweet, promote the link to your blog with a catchy sentence that gains people’s attention. They will then click your link and will be redirected to your blog.
2. Enable sharing automation on Twitter
Your blog should be automatically set up to share your new post on Twitter. This allows your followers to see when your new blog post is available. Also, use tools such as Buffer and Hootsuite to schedule tweets to be posted on your Twitter. This allows you to engage with people on Twitter while you are busy working on something else.
3. Have your blog link on your Twitter in your profile
Your blog link needs to be present on your Twitter profile. Your new followers will click on the link when reading through your information. People interested in your product or services might also need something to learn more information, and this link would be something they are looking for.
4. Increase your Facebook engagement for more likes
You can either direct people to your blog from your personal Facebook page or from your blog’s page. It would be best to build your blog page through your personal page. Share valuable blog posts on your personal page and ask for likes and direct people to like your blog page.
5.Have your blog link on your Facebook page
You can keep your blog link on your Facebook page since it is one of the first places to look for information about people they are searching for. Maybe you commented on a blog or article. Somebody might have liked your comment and looked you up on Facebook. Now they can find a link to your blog via your Facebook page.
6. Share your blog posts on Facebook and advertise
You not only want to share your blog posts with your friends on Facebook, you also want to advertise it to your target demographic. You can start off with an advertising budget as little as $1, and increase your budget as you start to gain some traction.
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7. Build your email lists in the very beginning
Do not wait until you have 100 blog subscribers to start asking for people’s emails. You need to have a pop-up window on your very first post. Email subscribers are people that you can inform about your latest blog post and who you can sell you can sell your products and services to since they are prospects in your sales funnel.
8. Host a webinar
Webinars are a great way to share your value with hundreds of people at one time. To get these type of numbers, you will need to invest in marketing and advertising your webinar. In order for people to attend the webinar, they will need to provide their email address. This allows you to stay in contact with them after the webinar is over, and share other valuable information from your blog.
9. Focus on creating and publishing only great content
This should be your main priority when starting a blog. Great content is what grows your audience due to people sharing your content. If you are providing people with valuable content, they will want to come back to read more and more. Mediocre content only pushes people away to never return again. Focus on quality over quantity.
10. Include a social media share button
If people enjoy reading your content, they are most certainly going to want to share it with other people. This is why you need to have a share feature that includes different social media icons. These icons should include: Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Linkedin, Pinterest, and StumbleUpon. The more shares you get, the more people directed back to your blog.
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11. Give people an incentive to give you their email address
You need email addresses to build your blog and sell your products and services. People may voluntarily give you their email in your email subscriber box, but they will most likely need an incentive. Offer a free ebook, webinar, or guide in exchange for people’s email address. This allows for a mutual exchange of information.
12. Place your email subscriber box in a place where it gets noticed
You cannot get email subscribers if people do not notice your email subscription box. This is why you want to place your subscription box at the very top of your page or have it pop-up at the bottom when people get done reading. It is best to have it in multiple locations so that it is not missed by your blog visitors.
13. Have your email subscription box in multiple locations
It is easy for readers to miss your email subscription box when they are reading your content. This is why you need to have your subscription box in multiple locations and have it appears as a pop-up box when people scroll down the page. This gives them multiple chances to sign up for your email list.
14. Your blog needs to be linked to your YouTube channel
You need multiple forms of content to grow your blog traffic. Videos are a great way to get people interested in your content and refer them over to your blog. Your blog link needs to be included in every video description. You also want your blog link to appear on your videos as they are in progress. This provides people with a location where they can read and view more of your content.
15. Your blog needs to be easy to read
The blogs that have big followings are easy to read. Your grammar and punctuation need to good. Do not try to use big words to sound smart. Simple words are more effective and Clearly explains your topic, and guide readers through your points with paragraphs that have headings.
16. Write attention grabbing headlines
Headlines are the first things readers see. If your headline is boring, they will assume the content attached to it is boring. But, if your headline sparks their interest, then they will be compelled to read the body of your blog post. Just do not create click-bait headlines when doing this. Make sure your content is written to further communicate your attention grabbing headline.
17. Seek out guest blogging opportunities
If you are just starting your blog, you do not have an audience, which is why you need to grow it immediately. One way to promote an increased flow of traffic is through guest blogging. Write great content on a popular blog and encourage their readers to visit your blog. If your content is great they will have no problem becoming an active follower of your blog.
18. Leave great comments that encourage conversations
You need to comment on other bloggers and writers blog post and articles. Do not simply leave a link to your blog when doing this. Reinforce what they said or rebuttal their claims with fact based arguments. This leads to conversations being created, which allows you to direct people back to your blog to read about your thoughts and opinions.
19. Reply when people leave comments
Comments is the way people do verification that people are reading your blog in its entirety and felt the need to communicate their thoughts. Do not take it for granted when you receive comments. Many bloggers wish they did have comments. Respond to the comments you receive and thank people for leaving their comment. This will encourage them to keep commenting and for others to leave their comments.
20. Interview bloggers who have authority and influence
Bloggers with authority and influence have a huge following. You can direct their followers to your blog by interviewing them. Share the interview on social media channels and encourage them to do the same on your social media channels. These interviews will help to validate your position as a serious blogger that people need to follow.
21. Get influencers to vouch for you
As a new blogger, you have not gained the trust of your audience yet. It takes time to do that. But, you can speed up the process by having influencers validate your knowledge and experience. They have the trust of their followers and will only risk that trust vouching for people they have confidence in. Therefore, you will need to actually gain the trust of the influencers before they risk their reputation on you.
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22. Your blog needs to be compatible on mobile devices
People use their phones to surf the internet, which means if your blog cannot be read on their phone screen, it loses potential followers. You have the option of making your blog compatible for mobile devices within your blog settings. Make sure you set your blog to allow this to happen.
23. Optimize your blog for search engines by using an SEO plugin
You will need a little boost to help your blog gain recognition for search engines. SEO plugins help to communicate to search engines what your blog is about and the keywords your blog tends to use. This will help to give your blog a boost for your target keywords.
24. Put your keywords and your title and subtitle to help with SEO
Whatever keywords you are using need to be placed in the title and your headings. This helps search engines to identify what your blog post is about, so it can pull it up in search results when people type in those keywords. This will give you an edge over your competition.
25. Consistently publish new content
Constantly publishing new content helps you rank in search engines and keeps your followers engaged with your blog. You do not want to get lost amongst your competitors who are keeping their blogs updated. Make sure you are pushing quality content when doing this, rather than just quantity.
26. Write long blog post that I’d full of detail
500-word blog post do not work if you want your blog to be known for authority content. You will need to write between 1500-3000 words if you want to fully explain your subject with detailed information. This is content of quality that ranks higher for search engines and that gets frequently shared by readers.
27. Advertise your blog posts on Facebook
You will need to use Facebook ads if you really want your blog to be seen. Set your advertising to focus on your target demographic, instead of a broad set of people. This will ensure that only people who are interested in the topics you talk about see your blog advertising. Start off with a low amount of money first and experiment with your advertising. Then add to your budget once you start to see some results.
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28. Link to older post in your new content
When you make new blog post, always link back to your older content that is relevant to the new content. This helps with SEO, and it encourages readers to read more of your content. This helps to keep people on your blog longer, which helps your blog ranking.
29. Display your most popular posts
You want your visitors to read posts that other people like so that they can become fans themselves. Your most popular blog posts usually resonate with people because they speak about a pain point or share some type of information people have been desperately searching for. Whatever the case may be, if visitors see that other people liked these posts, they will want to read them too.
30. Use an SEO friendly publishing platform
Most blogs are produced on WordPress. WordPress is recognized by search engines, which means your blog can be found when you implement all these growth tactics. You do not want to create a blog full of great content that cannot be found because search engines do not even know it exist.
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31. Use a simple design for your blog
Do not try to be too over the top with a design that distracts from your content. A simple layout will work because your content is supposed to do the selling for you. You can make your blog exciting with great images and videos.
32. Show your social media profiles so your readers can follow you
You want your readers to not only engage with you on your blog, but also on your social media. Display all of your social media platforms on a side bar, and encourage your readers to follow you so they can engage with you about your blog posts.
33. Share the content of top bloggers
Blogging success is all about your content being shared and sharing the content of other bloggers. You need to share other content on your blog besides your own and mention that blogger’s name. They may return the favor, and share your content with their much larger social media following.
34. Use the proven strategies of top bloggers
If top bloggers are having success with a certain strategy, it is probably best that you use the same strategy, only tweaking it a little. There is no reason to try to reinvent the wheel. Use what is proven to work and build your audience with those effective strategies.
35. Draw people in with a great introduction
Your headline is what pulls people in but your introduction is what makes them continue reading. You need to quickly get to the point of why your content is so important that they need to continue reader. This needs to be done within three to five sentences, so each sentence in your introduction is very important.
36. Engage with your readers
Your readers are who build your blog. Yes, you provide all the content but your blog is nothing without the people who support its existence. Therefore, you need to engage with your readers when they ask you questions. Of course, you cannot answer all questions if your blog becomes very popular, but you still need to make an effort of being sociable.
37. Highlight the best bloggers in your industry
Share the love by telling your audience about the best bloggers in your industry and why their blogs are valuable. Even though blogging is a competitive field, everyone can operate within a niche that allows them to build their own audience with no problem. The same sort of love can be reciprocated if these bloggers choose to do their own list of top bloggers in their industry.
38. Show off your achievements
Let people know why you are the person they need to be following. Show the awards you have won and the recognition you have received from other top people and groups. You can claim you are one of the best but people need to actually see results proving you are the best.
39. Have a link to your blog in your email signature
As a blogger, you are sending out a ton of emails everyday. Use your email as a marketing tool. When people read your email, they need to see your email signature that displays your blog link. Hopefully they click on this link and become a fan of your blog.
40. Participate in Facebook groups
Facebook has tons of groups focused on my different subjects. Join the groups related to the subjects you write about and engage in these groups. Do not just spam wit your blog link and leave. Actually engage in the conversations and provide valuable insight. This will help you to be seen as an authority figure, rather than just a regular group member or a spammer. Better yet, create your own Facebook group for your blog so they can be directed back to your blog.
41. Attract attention with controversy
Sometimes you have to get a little controversial in order to gain attention. This does not mean make up lies in order to promote your blog. Maybe you can argue against a popular opinion with facts of your own, or call out bad industry practices. Whatever you choose to do, make sure your argument is backed up with solid evidence.
42. Make yourself available to speak
Get from behind the computer screen and speak to your audience face-to-face. Speaking helps you build your fan base and sell more products on the spot if you are a great speaker.
These are 42 tips on how to create traffic for your blog. Use them all if you want your blog to create the type of traffic that can be monetized.
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