Increasing readership of your blog is both art and science. Take a look at these 20 quick ways you can drive traffic and attract the audience you want.
Every business owner who's ever hosted a blog has experienced the frustration of trying to gain readership. Though we’d all like it if readers just magically came to us, the reality is, it takes some work to build an audience.
It’s easy to get frustrated and just give up on blogging, but once
you experience the benefits, you'll understand that your blog can have a
tremendous impact on your business by attracting traffic to your site,
helping you build a social media audience and making an impression on
prospects and clients alike.
1. Write more. Studies show that the more often you
update your blog, the more traffic it will receive. Google gives higher
priority to websites with fresh content, so if you want to get more
attention from the search engines, update your blog at least twice a
week.
2. Promote with social media. Share each new blog
post across your social media networks,
including Twitter, LinkedIn,
Facebook, Google+ and Pinterest. If you spend time cultivating your
networks and share great content, social media sites can become some of
your top traffic sources.
3. Write better titles. The titles for your blog
posts are almost more important than the content itself. That's because
titles help potential readers decide whether they should click and read
more. Pay attention to the article titles you see on magazine covers.
They entice readers with promises and solutions. When you do the same,
your readership will increase.
4. Know your niche. While you may be interested in
sea life, exotic travel destinations, Little League baseball and weight
loss, you'll confuse your audience if your content doesn’t follow a
clear theme. Decide who your target audience is, what they want to read
and what specific messages you want to convey.
5. Include photos. Studies have shown that photos in
blog posts boost readership. Not only does a photo make the post more
visually appealing, but you can also include keywords in the Alt Image
tag on the photo, boosting search engine optimization (SEO) for your
site. Keep in mind that you can’t just pull any photo from Google
because you risk violating copyright laws. Instead, locate royalty-free
images from a site like Clipart.com.
6. Incorporate keywords. Speaking of SEO, keywords
are at the heart of SEO. One of the easiest ways to generate more
traffic to your website is to ensure that every page on your site has a
keyword strategy. So for each blog post you write, choose one key phrase
that you believe readers would use to find that post. Next, incorporate
that phrase into the title of the post, the headline on the page,
within the content on the page at least two times, in a featured image
on the page and also as part of the page link. Keyword concentration
helps Google understand what that page is about, which can ultimately
lead to more traffic from the search engines.
7. Incorporate links. When you mention another
company’s product or service in a blog post, include a link to that
company’s page. Not only does Google like to see outbound links on your
site, the company you mention may also notice your post and link back to
you. Plus, readers appreciate it when you provide resources to make it
easier for them to find the things they're looking for.
8. Add social sharing buttons. At the top and bottom
of your blog posts, make sure you include social sharing buttons for
Twitter, LinkedIn and the other major social networks. Make it easy for
readers to spread the word.
9. Retweet past content. We aren’t all looking at
Twitter at the same time, so when you share a new blog post link, the
majority of your fan base won’t see it the first time. Repeat your
tweets, and don’t be afraid to share past content. Readers don’t care
when it was written as long as it’s still relevant.
10. Invite guest contributors. When others write for
your blog, you add more content that you didn’t have to write yourself.
As a bonus, those contributors will also share with their networks and
may ask you to write for them, opening up new readership avenues for
you.
11. Add video. Google owns YouTube, which is one of
the many reasons that videos can drive more traffic to your site.
Supplement the written content on your blog with short videos that are
informative and entertaining.
12. Invest in promotion. If you believe your
audience is spending time on Facebook, occasionally invest in sponsored
posts. For as little as $10, you can “Boost” a post and increase its
reach significantly.
13. Conduct give-away events. Create fun theme days
such as “Free Book Fridays” where your readers can win a prize by
submitting a comment or sharing your link via social media. You can
provide prizes yourself or invite companies to donate or sponsor these
promotions.
14. Write guest posts. Locate other blogs that reach
your target audience, and offer to contribute guest blog posts. If the
site has a substantial audience, you can bet that readers will in turn
want to engage with more of your content.
15. Cross-promote to your mailing list. Instead of
writing all new content for your electronic newsletter, share the first
paragraph from several recent blog posts and include a link to continue
reading on the site. Not everyone is taking the time to read your blog
each week, so this will help get your subscribers invested in your blog.
In addition to the tips above, the following smart strategies will also help increase readership
:
16. Make your content easy to read by using plenty of subheads, bullets and numbered lists.
17. Promote your blog in your email signature and your bio in any online profiles.
18. Make it easy for blog visitors to subscribe to your RSS feed.
19. Invite readers to leave a comment, then respond and let them know you’re engaged.
20. Finally, have fun with your blog. If it feels
like drudgery, your readers will notice. But if you
enjoy producing the
content, that will come across and have a tremendous impact on your
success.
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