Blogging traffic really does rank at the top of the list of things you really need to build an online business. If you struggle to get your blog traffic numbers up, then you need to make it a serious priority.
When we writers first go online, we really want to share our voice and message with the world. We perfect our blog, then launch it, and receive only the sound of crickets. While we may have found our passion and want to share it with the world, it may take a while to get this blogging thing working.
Have you been there? Are you there now?
You need to know that most people get almost no traffic when they first launch a new blog. While this really can be a deflator to the writing process, it does help to know that you can change this. Increasing blog traffic with some of the following tricks can help you increase your traffic dramatically.
While you can build it and they will come. It will only happen if they know about your blog in the first place.
So how do you do that?
What is Blog Traffic?
Blog traffic is the number of people that travel to your website or blog and the pages they look at. When you go into your blog, you can look at this in the “site views.” Building more traffic really means marketing your blog or business.
When you click on site views you find a graph that shows you the number of visitors that came to your website. Underneath the graphs are two general sets of numbers, the number of pages viewed and the number of visitors that came to your blog.
Usually, there are also some other statistics on that page, such as what blog posts were viewed and the referring websites which came from social media or the general search engines. While usually, the traffic comes from Google, it can also come from other search engines, like Yahoo! or Pinterest.
The more traffic you get, the more chances you have to make money.
How Do You Get More Website Traffic?
So, yes, which brings us back to getting more website or blog traffic. This is the golden apple, to get more traffic, so you get noticed more, so you earn more money!
One of the things you learn quickly about blogging is that web traffic does not just instantly appear. It remains one of the things you constantly chase on a hamster wheel until the traffic kicks in and comes on its own.
Read below to find out just exactly you do that.
Write Great Content
Write amazing blog posts that share great content with your readers. When you write as if a million people are reading your content today, then they will be amazed at your work when they do come! Naturally marketing your blog with awesome writing skills, brings anyone.
Are you struggling with your blog’s presentation? Get reading about blogs and how to change their appearance. Study up on blog writing and how to draw more readers with your content.
What about your posts, do they contain at least 2,000 words, or close to it? Some blogging studies claim that your blog posts should be between 3,000 and 5,000 words. If you aren’t there, get cracking on writing those posts!
Get a new theme, a new logo, or create even better content! Do what it takes to create that awesome blog everyone wants to read. WPress.com is a great website to learn all about the WordPress blogging platform.
Tune into the SEO on Your Blog
Your SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, helps search engines identify the topic of your blog, both overall and specifically.
No matter where you share your blog posts, you always want to make sure that search engines like Google and Pinterest will share your links with others.
Choosing a WordPress plugin, such as Yoast, helps you improve your SEO score by suggesting tips. The free version helps you get started, but as your blog traffic increases, you really should consider the paid version, which helps you build a stronger SEO precense.
Add Social Media Sharing on Your Posts
When you use WordPress, even if you use the free version, Jetpack makes sharing your blog posts easy, but allowing you to choose which platforms to use.
Adding these buttons, help readers easily share your content, even if they do not see it on social media already. The more shares you receive on social media, the more the blog post gets picked up on search engines, and thus, the more people will visit your blog through that particular link.
Share on Social Media
Next, start with at least one social media platform and post general content related to the topic of your blog.. If there is little content on your blog, then post inspirational quotes, memes, and shared links while you create more content. Social media is simply budget marketing.
If you have not yet started this, sign up on the platform of your choice and sign up for a business account, using your blog URL and name.
Send out an invite to people to follow you, or create a giveaway for people to like your social media accounts.
So many moms swear by Pinterest as their social media of choice. Learning to create amazing pins and getting your blog traffic up by pinning and posting content that resonates with the pinners on Pinterest, will help them come to your blog.
Creating pins that drive traffic and bring interested readers to your blog helps. Sharing links to your printable shops or a blog post that links to your online store, helps promote your pins and drive up blog traffic.
Instagram has also become quite a treasure trove for driving content and traffic back to your blog.
Whichever social media platform you use, add content readers want to read on each respective platform, and you gain a higher readership.
Pay For Ads
If you blog on a budget, you may not want to actually pay for an ad for your blog. But, trust me, if it drives traffic and you only pay a small amount, you can increase your blog traffic.
Choosing social networks remains the most popular choice for creating an ad. Many opt for Facebook ads or Pinterest ads to increase their blog traffic. The up and coming ads for your blog may also be found on Instagram.
The best advice I can give you is to choose the social media platform that drives traffic back to your blog. Get in tune with your readership and post on the platform they love the most.
This helps get your content recognized and makes new connections, literally putting your blog on the Internet map.
Revive Old Post
Now, this one really works best if you have been blogging for a while. If you use a web hosting company and pay for the use of plugins, Revive Old Post helps speed up your traffic with extra blasts out to social media.
When you launch the plugin on your blog admin dashboard, you add in your social media channels. They have two versions of the plugin, both free and paid, which help you send out scheduled social media posts from the back of your blog.
While it can be a reminder to occasionally re-edit those old blog posts, it also helps you find new readers.
They see your posts on your social media channels, and even if that post did not resonate with readers when you first launched it, it may now.
Share links
One of the best ways to entice traffic to your blog is to share links to your content. While this may happen through social media, it isn’t the traditional sharing I am talking about.
Did someone ask you a question, or want to know something that you wrote about on your blog? If so, then share it! Pass along a link, and if they really like it, they will share it with other people, and the word spreads about just one post.
Post links on social media, content websites that encourage article sharing, and to the people that sign up for email updates or newsletters. Solve someone’s problem, or give them an answer to something they really need, and you will get the blog traffic you need.
Join communities or groups on Facebook, and share your blog links when they allow you to. Create profiles on social media sites, adding your blog URL so that others know where to find you. Marketing through general link sharing really helps drive your traffic.
Launch a Newsletter
When you first begin blogging, this seems almost pointless, but include an email collection box on your blog and when you think you have enough subscribers, send out a newsletter.
Further, if you want to increase your subscribers, offer a downloadable freebie that matches your blog content and the readership you desire.
Send out a newsletter once a week, or once a month to whoever signs up, and stick with it. You can sign up for MailChimp for free, or search for an email service company if you desire to pay for one. The more elaborate and long your email list is, the more expensive it becomes.
But, in the end, sending out an affiliate link or sales link to your email list means targeting the market you are writing for. Which means, the higher the likelihood that you will receive a click on your links.
Use Linky Parties
Before the days of high Pinterest traffic, other moms got together and created what is called Linky Parties. You can find a large image on my blog sidebar to my Linky Party list if you want.
But, generally, linky parties come one day a week for several days on a hostess blog. She creates a post every week, adds the linky app, and we all come and add our links to our own blogs.
Studies show that getting an increase in traffic from outside sources gives your blog some traffic leverage. If you never reach out to others, share their blogs or go comment on their blogs, then you are cutting yourself off from blog traffic.
What that does is create extra traffic for all of us. We go to other people’s blogs, make comments and leave our own links! This way, we all build traffic and create a mom community of bloggers. I really do like the idea, and honestly, it still works. Plus, you never know when you might actually make a new friend!
Create A Sales Funnel
If you have been in the blogging world for a while, then you may have heard people talking about a sales funnel. Creating a sales funnel helps drive the right kind of blog traffic because usually, it is people who really want to hear your message that actually click the link.
A sales funnel says, here is a link for you to get a free product, and when you click on it, they receive a series of letters teaching them something they did not know. Add in a link to a product you created, or an affiliate link, and you create a profit.
Increasing Blog Traffic Counts
Literally. Not only does increasing blog traffic send people to your website, but it helps you get noticed in other places too. You cannot build your business under a rock, but you need to get your website out there and noticed.
Using strategies like this helps you monetize your blog. The more traffic you receive, the more opportunities you have to increase your profits.
Find out some ways to monetize your blog here on this post.
There have been so many mentions of Pinterest on the blogosphere, and I’ve been meaning to check it out, but I’ve just been procrastinating. You just reminded me to do this. Thanks for sharing!
Great tips, especially based on the audience you want to target 😉