So you have taken the time to create a blog and write some interesting posts for it… but no one is visiting. What do you do now?
It can be discouraging in the beginning when no one besides your family members visits your blog. You have put your heart and soul into writing great blog posts and you really want the world to read them!
However, traffic doesn’t just come to your blog automatically – you have to build it up. It takes some time at first, but with the right techniques you can start building up a trickle of traffic that will eventually grow into a steady flow.
Here are 9 ways that you can start to get traffic to your blog.
1. Write Attention Grabbing Headlines
The headline is the first thing that people read when they look at your blog post – and the only thing they can read if they see your blog post shared on a social media network such as Twitter or Facebook. If the headline doesn’t make them want to click and read the rest of the blog, then they will likely keep on scrolling.
So how can you make your blog headlines more engaging? Here are some tips:
Use numbers. “37 Ways to Save Money on Vacation” is better than “How to Save Money on Vacation.” People remember odd numbers more.
Try using interesting adjectives. Rather than “Great” or “Cool” you can use “Incredible” or “Fascinating.”
Use strong language. Write about something that you “Love” or “Hate” rather than something that is just okay or not great.
Keep it Short. Your headline should be under 70 characters so that it doesn’t get cut off in search engine results.
Use this free Headline Analyzer tool to check if your headline is effective.
2. Focus on Website SEO
Think about how you can improve the SEO to your website, so that it will rank higher on Google and search results will bring you more traffic. SEO is complex and Google algorithms are always changing, but there are certain practices that will always benefit your website.
Check out a guide such as this one to learn about SEO techniques that will help you to tweak your website and improve your rankings.
3. Get Active on Social Media
Another very important channel for growing traffic to your blog is social media. Create social media profiles for your blog on all of the major channels, such as Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram and Pinterest. Whenever you publish a new post, promote it on social media.
You can also then wait a week and share it again, for the people who may have missed it the first time. To organise your social media shares, you might want to setup a sharing schedule and use a program that allows you to schedule posts in advance like CoSchedule, Hootsuite or Buffer.
4. Blog Commenting
Another way that you can build traffic to your blog is by commenting on other blogs in your niche. First of all, find a blog on another site within your niche that is relevant to the topics that you talk about on your blog.
Next, take the time to actually read the article so that you can leave a comment that is well thought out and helpful. The more insightful your comment, the more traffic you will build from it. The comment is representing you and your blog to a new potential audience, so you want to use it is an opportunity to carry your brand over onto that audience.
When the visitors of that blog see that you have added something of value in your comment, this will make them interested in reading your blog and finding out what you have to say on the topic. You can even mention blog posts that you have written that are related to the topic, but only if you can do so in a natural and non-spammy way.
5. Guest Post
Guest posting is another great way to build traffic to your blog. This refers to writing a blog post for another blog in your niche as a “guest author.” Some of their audience members might enjoy what you wrote and will click through to visit your blog for more.
When you are contacting other bloggers and asking them for the opportunity to guest post, make sure that you are offering something of value. Your guest post might be the first impression that a new reader gets of you. Make it “Wow” them so that they will be interested in your blog.
6. Start a Mailing List
Build up an email list with the contact information of interested followers. Then, you can send out an announcement of your latest blog post to all of these followers and generate traffic for your blog.
You could design your blog so that a lightbox pops up on your blog posts asking visitors to sign up your for mailing list. People who are interested in what you have to say will follow you and will click on your content.
7. Participate in Facebook Groups & Forums
There are tons of different Facebook groups out there for any niche, so find the ones that are specific to what your blog is about and join them. Once you have become a member, share your thoughtful and insightful posts and comments with the group. Don’t be too spammy, but if the opportunity comes up to share one of your posts because it is relevant to the discussion or helps to answer a question – then you can do so.
Also, join a forum about your topic and participate in the conversation there too. Make sure that you have a link to your website in your forum signature, so if someone likes what you have to say they might click to find out more about you.
8. Write About Trending & Controversial Topics
Of course, when you write about something that makes people think and gets them talking – this is going to drive more traffic to your blog. Don’t be afraid to write about controversial topics. You can even encourage your visitors to share their thoughts in the comments, which might get a discussion started and drive even more traffic.
9. Make Videos of Your Niche & Post on YouTube
Last but not least, don’t miss out on the traffic that you could access by posting videos on YouTube. This huge website is visited by millions of people every day. Now that Youtube is owned by Google, having videos that rank well is a great way to drive traffic to your website.
Keep the content interesting, engaging and funny so that viewers will be entertained and make sure that the audio is clear. Make sure that your Youtube profile is filled out and that your profile and all of your videos contain links to your website. As your subscribers and your view count grow, you will see your website traffic grow alongside it.
These are just 9 ways you can increase the traffic to your blog. What strategies do you use? Share your tips with us in the comments below.
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