Launching a new blog? That’s great, but how will you market it? What can you do to make it a blog to watch out for?
With over 30% of the world’s websites running on WordPress, the competition is tight. You need every marketing boost to stand out. Otherwise, your blog will sit in a corner collecting dust.
Don’t fret, we’ve got some tips right here. Read on to learn how to get people to read your blog.
1. Optimize Your Site
Before you can create a blog to watch, you need a blog Google and users can find. This means running an SEO audit on your site. Check if you’re visible and if you have the potential to gain as much traffic as you could hope for.
Optimizing your site doesn’t end with keyword usage and content. You also must consider the User Experience (UX). Keep in mind that bounce rates and easy navigation not only affect your SERP rankings but also people’s opinions about your site.
Keep your site clean, fast, and easy to navigate. Use themes that are pleasing to the eye and install plugins to guarantee you get the most out of your SEO efforts. Once you got the basics down, it’s time to work on your landing pages.
2. Work on Your Landing Pages
Do you want to know how to get people to read your blog? You should capture their attention the moment they reach your site. They shouldn’t have to wander far from the landing page to get to the good stuff.
Your landing page should be captivating, easy to navigate, and it should contain elements visitors want. If you can’t get people to purchase, subscribe, or share whatever’s on your landing page then there’s something wrong. Don’t let them leave without performing some sort of conversion process!
Why is this important?
Landing pages form a strong impression. People won’t share and discuss your site or its content if your landing pages failed to keep them engaged.
3. Get on Reddit
Want to keep your visitors engaged? You must create blog posts that visitors want. Don’t waste valuable resources on topics that nobody shows interest in.
That said, where do you go to discover the topics that interest people? There are three options:
- Google Analytics
Google Analytics is straight forward – the goal is to look for keywords that gain the most traffic. On Twitter, use tools to discover which hashtags continue to trend and gain attention.
Reddit, however, is the land of gold and honey. This is where people go to ask very specific questions. If you spot a question with a lot of replies, that’s a sign you’re looking at a popular topic.
Why not use that topic as a basis for your next blog post?
4. Guest Post
Learning how to promote a web site also involves getting a bit social. Don’t hesitate to communicate with other bloggers, even with your competitors. They share your audience and you could benefit from reaching out and forming a small network.
Guest posting is all about writing a blog entry and posting it on someone else’s site. If that site has 10,000 visitors per day, it means you’re exposing your blog to them too. They’ll read your guest post, click on the links, and find your site.
Why is this effective?
Most of the visitors on the host site trust that blogger. They love his or her work and will likely support anything the blogger endorses. If you were able to put up a guest post, it means the host blogger trusts you and so will their audience.
5. Check the Competition
While crafting your marketing strategy, make sure you check the competition too. If they’re hot right now, you need to discover how they achieved their success. What made them tick with audiences and what strategies did they use?
You can also use tools like SpyFu to discover which keywords they focused on and which keywords their audiences responded to the most.
It’s up to you to then decide whether you’ll directly compete, creating blog posts using the same keywords, or if you’ll turn around and craft an opposing strategy instead. You could focus on a different set of keyword phrases that your competitor doesn’t use, ensuring you get the bulk of traffic for those words.
6. Schedule, Schedule, Schedule
Don’t launch blog posts at random! Don’t share your posts on social media at random! These are two of the biggest mistakes most novice bloggers make.
Before you upload or share anything new, take the time to study your current target audience. Determine what time of day they’re online, which days most of them are online, and what kind of content they love to engage.
If 90% of your target audience is online from Friday to Sunday from 9 AM to 3 PM, why post your next blog entry on a Monday night? You’re missing out on the biggest slice of your audience.
Fortunately, there are a bunch of tools to help you analyze your audience. You can determine where they come, what day they’re mostly online and engaging your content, and their age demographics too. Take advantage of this data and launch your blog content when they’re available and hungry for your posts!
7. Build an Email List
Even in a world dominated by Facebook, SnapChat, Instagram, and YouTube, you can still promote your blog via email marketing.
Always make sure your landing pages, blog posts, and social media posts have some method to get people’s emails. Focus on getting their subscriptions so you can later send them notifications and newsletters to their email.
Email marketing is more personal compared to general marketing methods. Subscribers feel special because they know the message they receive is solely for their eyes only. This helps make your blog hot and marketable.
8. Take Advantage of Social Media
Don’t forget that Facebook alone has over 2.4 billion monthly users. Other social media giants include Instagram, Pinterest, SnapChat, and YouTube. There’s no bigger platform to market your blog than on social media corners.
That said, don’t jump in right away. Again, you must study first which platform your intended audience spends more time in. If you want to market towards businessmen, then LinkedIn is a better fit than Facebook, for example.
9. Be a Reliable Source
If you want people to love your blog and look forward to new content, you must become a reliable source. Become an authority in the topics you discuss.
Other bloggers will link to your content if you manage to become a reliable authority. They’ll bring their audience to you. All the incoming traffic and the increase in inbound links also boost your SEO efforts too.
To achieve this, you should conduct your research. Don’t upload posts without thoroughly reading about the topic at hand. If you can, always link to sources and studies every time you mention statistics or critical data.
10. Social Media Ads
As mentioned, social media platforms have billions of active users. However, your shared posts will likely only reach people who already know about your blog. If you want to branch out and market those who have yet to discover you, it’s time to invest in paid ads.
The good thing is that paid ads grant you full control over your campaign. You can set a budget limit, restrict which days ads appear, and the niche audience you want to target. You can set ads to appear for a local region or if you want to go bigger and wider in scope.
11. Share-Worthy Content
Ever heard of evergreen content? This refers to blog posts that remain relevant even months or years after they initially went up. People will continue to share this type of content long after you’ve moved on to newer topics.
Make sure you release evergreen content now and then. They’re share-worthy and will always bring in new audiences.
Other types of share-worthy content cover new, relevant topics. Whenever there’s something new in your industry, make sure you write something about it. Get in on the latest trends because these are topics people are actively talking about in their social circles.
12. Ask for Professional Help
Never feel too embarrassed to ask for help. Marketing your blog is no easy task and it consumes time, money, and effort. When in doubt, call the professionals.
They have the tools, training, and experience to market your blog efficiently. They can get it done on time too. Allowing them to get the job done frees your hands to focus on what you do best: creating content your audience wants.
Not sure where to start? You can refer to the folks at Radcrafters Marketing Agency and see what they can do for your blog today.
Create a Blog to Watch Now!
Learning to launch a blog to watch isn’t easy. There’s a ton of research and planning to do to get audiences to notice you. However, it isn’t impossible.
Follow these 12 tips and you’ll be on your way to building an audience and becoming an authority that people will share, discuss, and anticipate. And if you want more great tips, we’ve got other useful guides for you to check out right now!