How To Increase Traffic To Your Blog
Building a following on a blog is hard and it is something that people struggle with. We can put so much effort into writing our blogs and creating content you often sit there wondering if there’s a point to it if nobody is reading it. Often, it is the little things that are overlooked, so I’ve decided to put together some tips that have worked for me to help you get your foot in the door.
#1 Make Sharing Easy!
Social Media is becoming more visual than ever with pictures dominating just plain text posts with shares and clicks. Got a cool infographic that could be shared? Add sharing buttons to it! If you have a watermark on your picture then the link gets seen a lot more often. Buffer has a new app called Pablo where you can create image quotes for FREE, and people love inspirational quotes so it’s a great way to get your name out there.
Images aren’t the only things that can be shared, make sure you have the option to Tweet it, share it etc clearly on your post. If you have separate downloadable content (eBooks, Whitepapers) then make sure you use a platform like Virally to take your viewer to a separate landing page with the option to share easily available. This make the blog shareable by itself as well as the content within.
#2 Pick Your Sharing Times Right
When is most of your audience online? Don’t know? SocialBro can tell you when most of your audience is online, but personally I would not post it then. I would post it just after as otherwise it’s too competitive for people to see your post. On Facebook I like to share it a little earlier and I find this gets the best results, so the post is already on their newsfeed when they log in. It does work differently for everybody and it is mainly trial and error, so see what works for you.
#3 Schedule Schedule Schedule!
If you’re not scheduling your posts then you’re missing out! My personal favourite is Buffer and it’s simple and easy to use, free and gives you great insights. I like to shuffle the content up across platforms so if people follow you on each they aren’t spammed with the same content. I like to vary the posting times between each platform too. Twitter is best to have 6-8 tweets per day, 1-2 posts per day for Facebook and 1-2 posts for LinkedIn. If you have a worldwide audience then think of other timezones, share some of your posts in the middle of the night to get more of a reach.
One thing to remember: Facebook penalizes against Third Party applications posting and you don’t get as much of a reach as you usually would. Use Facebook’s own scheduler (it’s just as simple, honest! :))
#4 Network With People In Your Industry
Networking with people in your industry is a great way to get more shares on your content. If you make conversation they are more likely to look through your posts specifically, and if they like it, and it’s relevant, they might share it. It is great for exposure when it’s shared by somebody with a large following, but sometimes it’s not all about that. All it takes is for one person to like your content and they could be one of your best leads with the best opportunities. It’s not always about the quantity of followers but the quality.
#5 Get More Content Under Your Belt
I don’t mean that literally, that would be strange. If you have the resources to create a lot of your own content, do it, it’s worth doing! However, if you don’t have the time to create lots of content then share other related content. Make sure it is relevant to your audience and you have actually read it and haven’t just copied somebody elses tweet, because for all you know it could be terrible. Where possible, mention the author on Social Networks when you post them as it is more likely to get shared.
#6 Jab Jab Jab Swing!
Nobody likes somebody who just talks about themselves, it’s boring! The method I like to use is Jab Jab Jab Swing, like boxing. Three jabs, those being general content unrelated to selling your products but being helpful and resourceful. These keep you in peoples minds, and isn’t very direct. On the swing, do some light sales tactics, not in your face but something subtle. This would be things like a price drop or new products or services in. And for those of you who noticed, I did put a subtle little “swing” into this blog as a demonstration. When you do this, mix up the times you post your swing as you want more of your audience to see it (Remember what I said about scheduling?)
#7 Experiment With Titles
Yes I know, the title of this blog is pretty boring, but it’s straight to the point. As this is a list, this is the best sort of title to have as it’s no frills and well, I couldn’t think of another title ;). However if you have a more informative blog post, create an eyecatching title! My whitepaper, C8H11NO2 In Social Media, caught attention. I picked the title because it confuses people, how can a chemical be used in social media? It got people thinking so they clicked to find out more. The blog graphic I created was also eyecatching with the title clearly displayed.
These are the ways I have found work best for getting more viewers onto a blog. Try to keep a steady stream of content otherwise your audience will forget you, but over sharing and spamming content isn’t the way to go because then people will get annoyed. Find your happy medium and what works for you, experimenting is the key.