Troon Scotland
Blog traffic is foundation of all blogging success.
Building a full time blogging business hinges on driving a high volume of targeted traffic to your blog.
Increasing blog traffic seems like a struggle at first but following simple fundamentals boosts traffic steadily.
Being patient fosters the proper mindset for driving significant traffic to your blog over the long haul.
Don’t panic when no one seems to read your blog during its early days. Sticking to the basics slowly and surely boosts your traffic stats.
Follow these tips to drive traffic to your blog.
Ask Your Readers for Blog Post Ideas
Give your readers what they want to drive blog traffic.
Giving readers what they want to get what you want: blog traffic.
Ask for reader feedback to create problem-solving blog posts.
For example, I wrote this post after Blogging From Paradise readers asked me to cover the topic of tips for increasing blog traffic.
Ideas for Seeking Reader Feedback
- ask questions within your blog posts
- poll readers via your email newsletter
- ask readers questions through Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn
Solve reader problems to both increase and qualify your blog traffic.
Optimize Blog Posts for SEO
Publish 1500 word, in-depth posts to solve reader problems.
Google ranks thorough, clear content bursting at the seams with practical details.
Publish detailed resources to drive Google traffic passively. Search engine traffic flows to your blog around the clock.
Ideas for Optimizing Blog Posts for SEO
- publish 1500 word, in-depth blog posts
- select a niche-specific keyword to cover
- create attention-grabbing blog post titles
- format the post for easy reading
Engage in Genuine Blogger Outreach
Help bloggers from your niche with:
- retweets
- Facebook Shares
- mentions on your blog
- genuine blog comments
Ask for nothing in return. Earn their trust. Let friendships form organically.
Increasing numbers of respected bloggers gradually:
- befriend you
- promote you
- endorse you
Established bloggers increase your traffic by giving your blog exposure in front of their large, loyal tribes.
Some of their readers visit your blog.
Traffic grows.
Build Your Email List
Build an email list.
Increase blog traffic on demand.
Readers subscribe to your list, get your latest posts via email and increase traffic with each blog visit.
Emailing subscribers creates a quick traffic boost because:
- people check their inbox frequently
- owning an email list creates traffic on-demand; publishing an email reaches a large number of readers quickly
Collect subscriber emails with an enticing offer. Consider offering a relevant freebie or at the very least, frequent updates via your latest, detailed blog posts
Cover One Topic
Cover one blog topic to become a specialist.
Blogging specialists draw return readers as a dependable source of blog traffic.
Cover one niche inside-out. Gain reader trust. Readers return to read your blog because folks trust specialists. Each return visit increases your blog traffic.
Generalists covering multiple niches often confuse readers and diminish return traffic potential. Readers want a master of one trade not a jack of all trades.
Link Out to Valued Resources
Link out to valued resources to increase your blog traffic.
Although this concept seems counterintuitive, linking out to valued resources:
- boosts blog credibility
- increases SERPs
- keeps readers on your blog (ensure the link page opens in a new window via the insert/edit link option in WordPress)
Each benefit increases blog traffic.
Link only to trusted niche resources for optimal results.
Pointing readers to credible blogs organically boosts your credibility through the power of association. Being more credible organically draws greater blog traffic because the world beats a path to the cyber door of an expert.
Link In to Value Resources
Readers increase your blog traffic by clicking through internal links.
Link to valued resources on your blog. Boost blog traffic by using what you have.
Setting up internal links also increases time spent onsite. Capitalize on this metric to increase your SERPs.
Linking in to relevant posts offers readers greater opportunities to mine value while increasing your traffic stats.
Improve Formatting to Increase Organic Sharing
Bloggers tend to link to or share properly formatted blog posts.
Improve blog post formatting to increase your blog traffic.
Use:
- headers
- bullet point lists
- bold text
- italics
- paragraphs
- short, snappy sentences
to impress readers.
Impressed readers increase your blog traffic by:
- linking to posts via their blogs
- interviewing you for their blogs
- sharing your posts on Facebook
- retweeting your blog posts
Make posts easy to read and scan. Tailor posts for both audiences to maximize blog traffic.
Improve Your Writing Skills
Improve your writing skills.
Write 500 words or more offline daily in a Word document to gain:
- confidence
- clarity
in your writing voice.
Clear, confident writers drive blog traffic because readers freely share credible, highly-skilled bloggers.
Ideas to improve your writing:
- trash your writing practice Word doc to detach from your writing
- practice writing daily for optimal results
- read skilled authors to improve your writing through osmosis
Observe your traffic increase as your writing confidence expands.
Guest Post on Respected Blogs from Your Niche
Guest post to leverage your presence.
Gain exposure in front of large, targeted audiences highly interested in your blogging niche to increase blog traffic.
Build relationships with bloggers and improve your writing skills to gain guest posting invites. Publish your best content always. Never hold back. Make a firm impression on readers, some of whom visit your blog for a traffic boost.
Writing and placing a single guest post on a top blog only makes you a one hit wonder. Guest post persistently to build relationships with readerships. Think long term to experience slow and steady traffic gains.
Read guest posting guidelines to optimize your campaign. Follow the rules to connect with audiences.
Comment Genuinely on Top Blogs in Your Niche
Comment genuinely to drive blog traffic.
Publish thoughtful comments on top blogs from your niche patiently.
Blogging buddies you meet and befriend through commenting drive traffic to your blog by promoting you to their following.
“Great post” or “nice job” comments find the spam folder. No blogger drives blog traffic from spam folders. Comment honestly. Share your thoughts about the blog post. Imagine yourself conversing with someone offline. Adopt the same mentality online.
Stick to your niche to target traffic and to increase the likelihood of gaining loyal readers. I generally comment on blogging tips themed blogs to draw interested readers to my blogging tips themed blog and to befriend bloggers in the same niche.
Target to increase your blog traffic through commenting.
Promote Old Posts Frequently
I promote a collection of old blog posts daily via:
to increase blog traffic by using what I have.
Pump the brakes a bit on creating new content. Promote your old content for a traffic increase. Drive more blog traffic by promoting your old stuff persistently.
Some followers read your posts the moment you publish content. Other readers may not see content until you promote posts a few times on Twitter.
Maximize blog traffic by seeing each blog post as a brand asset. Never write off assets.
Allow each brand advocate to work for you by promoting old posts aggressively.
Add Images And/Or Videos to Blog Posts
Human beings love eye candy.
Serve up eye candy in the form of blog post images and videos to increase blog traffic.
Posting images draws more eyeballs to your blog. Embedding videos keeps readers around to watch videos.
Drive blog traffic by appealing to the visual nature of human beings.
Video
Check out this video to watch me discuss 13 tips to drive blog traffic:
Conclusion
Blog traffic seems scarce but giving freely dissolves any traffic blocks.
Be generous with your time and talents to figure out the secret of how to increase blog traffic.
