You put your heart and soul into your blog. You’re proud of it and now you’re ready for the world to see it.
But then it hits you, you have absolutely no idea how to increase traffic to your blog.
With all the other blogs out there in internet land, just how are you going to get yours in front of your target audience? How do you make it stand out from the rest?
Increasing your blog traffic is actually easier than you may think. Thank goodness!
Here are some important steps to follow that will put you on the path to gaining new and loyal followers.
1. Create Quality Content
Content is king! Or so you’ve heard, right? It’s been said so many times before, simply because it’s true.
Content can make or break your blog. It’s that important.
You need to start out by researching what your audience wants to know and read. You can get ideas by looking through sites like Quora or Buzzsumo. Look for something that answers a question for your niche or fills some type of need.
Then, write your posts to be either entertaining, educational, or both. It needs to be something of value that will draw your reader in and leave them coming back for more.
You can be sure if they love it, they will want to share it with others as well. And that can catch on like wildfire.
2. Have an Eye-Catching Headline
But you need to help your readers find your ever-amazing content in the first place. So how do you do that? By creating irresistible headlines.
A great headline will draw their attention in at first. It will make them curious to learn more. And that is what will persuade them to click on it and enter your blogging world.
Experiment with different types of headlines. It’s ok to share a blog post multiple times using different headlines you’ve created. Once you know what resonates with your audience, it will be easier to learn how blogging headlines can draw your audience in on autopilot.
3. Make Sure the Content Is Evergreen
To keep drawing more traffic to your blog, you need to make sure the content you post is evergreen. And what is meant by that is content that will be relevant today and three years from today. Content that never goes out of style.
For example, say you write a blog post about the best places to find pizza in Boston in 2018. That’s fantastic!… if it’s 2018.
Come 2019, nobody’s really going to care. They are going to move on to a post that speaks to them now.
But, if you write about how to make the best pepperoni and sausage pizza at home, that is something they can use no matter when they stumble upon your blog.
Not every post needs to be evergreen, but the majority of them should be if you want to keep attracting traffic to your blog.
4. Use Keywords
If you don’t know what SEO is, then pull up a chair. You’re about to find meet your blog’s new best friend.
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is a way to increase the traffic to your blog by helping search engines find you.
Keywords are at the heart of this.
To have keywords for your blog post, think of a short phrase (long-tail keyword) that readers may type in to search for your particular topic. Then use that phrase in the headline and naturally throughout your post.
Search engines, like Google and Bing, will then easily be able to know what your post is about and send relevant traffic your way.
5. Incorporate Links
Adding links to your blog is another way of using SEO.
Search engines like it when you add both inbound links (links to other related posts within your own blog) and outbound links (links to trusted, quality sites that are not yours).
Plus, your readers will appreciate having additional resources that either expand on a topic or gives related information they may be looking for. And because of this, they will know that you are a valuable source of information they enjoy.
It’s really a win-win for everybody.
6. Promote on Social Media
In a perfect world, readers and new traffic are going to fall in your lap. They will find your blog content simply by you putting it out there.
But that’s not the world we live in.
If you want people to find your blog, you need to promote it. And that’s where social media comes in.
Find out which social media platforms your target audience uses. Then set up your own blog profiles on those platforms. When a new blog post comes out, promote it on those sites for your followers to see.
And make sure each post is shareable, not only from your social media profile, but from the post itself. Add social sharing buttons to each post so anyone can easily share it with their followers.
7. Repurpose Old Content
And with that said, not everyone is looking at social media at all times of the day. So chances are, some of your followers can miss a blog post promotion the first time around.
That’s when it’s a good idea to repost older content. And don’t be afraid of doing so!
It’s also a good time to experiment with those different headlines. Freshen the older content up a bit. Update info if needed to keep it relevant.
When You Know How to Increase Traffic to Your Blog, the Sky’s the Limit
Your followers won’t grow by leaps and bounds overnight. But by following these steps on how to increase traffic to your blog, staying consistent, and continuing to put out awesome content, you will see all your hard work begin to pay off!
Want to learn more tips on how to grow your blog? Check out our other posts!