Not all blogs are created equal. Some blogs have tens of thousands of hits as soon as they go live. Others get only a handful of hits and dwindle into obscurity. If you are creating web content that you want the world to see, then here are the 20 top ways of attracting more views for your blogs.
Generate high-quality content
Write about what you would want to read. If your blogs are long rambling rants about poor customer service then you might not get that many hits. Your content should be interesting and engaging. If you are offering advice or expertise it should be well researched. If you are wanting to share your life story, it should be entertaining or inspirational.
Stay Targeted
If you have expertise in plumbing and your blog is about reviewing plumbing products, stick to doing that. You can expand your topics as your following grows. But no one is looking on a plumbers blog for restaurant reviews. Keep your blogs relevant to the topics your audience is interested in. You can grow your audience over time and slowly expand your topics of interest, but this should be gradual.
Make It Easily Digestible
No one enjoys reading long screeds of text with no paragraph breaks or proper punctuation. Use grammar checking tools to make sure you are legible (we all make mistakes) and keep your writing short and punchy. Break up texts with bullet points and sub-headings to make it easier for others to read quickly or to scan through to find the information relevant to them.
Use Eye-Catching Imagery
Images are often the first thing that will draw a viewer’s eye and may be used as thumbnails. If you can take your images then that is brilliant, but there are also fantastic royalty-free images available online you can use. Try to find images that are relevant to your post and will grab your reader’s attention.
Use Embedded Video Content
If you want to go one step further than imagery, you could even embed videos into your blog. Creating a channel on youtube will allow you to embed videos easily. Videos are fantastic especially if you are reviewing a product or explaining a craft or skill. They allow readers to experience the blog in another medium and will encourage readers to engage with the rest of the blog’s contents.
Promote Through Social Media
No one will know you have a blog unless you tell them. It is staggering the number of people who do not self promote. If you don’t want to use your personal accounts to promote your blog, then set up accounts specifically for the blog and always promote your content through social media.
Create More Social Media Accounts
Whether you are a fan of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or whatever the latest social media craze might be, you need to be across as many platforms as possible. You will find an audience that wants to see your blogs on every platform, so the more accounts you have the more exposure your blogs will get. Try to vary the content between the different platforms. Facebook may be better for longer posts and Instagram for more visual content. Do cross-promote your social media so that those following you on Twitter will also view your videos on TikTok. If you want to become technical, use apps that can help you schedule posts so you engage with different users throughout a working day. This is especially important if you want to attract a global viewership and engage with people who may be in bed when you are your most active.
Engage In Social Media Discussion
If all your account does is post links to your blogs, then you will soon lose followers. Engage in social media by following other bloggers, sharing their work, and engaging in relevant discussions online. The more interesting and varied you can make your account, the more likely that you will attract a strong following online. Be aware that your social media presence is part of your brand. If you run a homely blog about family-friendly activities, do not use that same account to share more edgy content, or engage in online political rows. This behavior could be off-putting to your readers. Remember, when online you are always working as a brand representative for your blog.
Create Eye-Catching Titles
If your titles are long or boring then do not expect many people to be thrilled to read them. Titles should entice and intrigue a reader. 20 Ways To Drive More Traffic To Your Blog promises ideas that you can use. You clicked on this for a reason. Think about the blogs you follow, what are the titles you are most likely to click on. A title should be clear, concise, and tell the reader that the content is relevant for them. There won’t be many people who read this post, who aren’t interested in blogging. That is totally fine. This content is for and about blogging.
Incorporate Links
Search engines like links. They like that you are driving traffic to other websites, and they like that relevant links can quickly tell their algorithms that your content is relevant. Try to be specific with your links. Linking to big sites like Wikipedia or google maps won’t be good enough. If you are offering a restaurant review, link to the restaurant’s website. If you are offering a recipe, link to where you might find the ingredients. Keep the links relevant and useful for your readers. You can also create links to your own content. If you have similar blog topics then be sure to tag your other blogs. This can allow people to navigate through your site finding all the blogs with topics or themes that are relevant to them.
Invite Reciprocal Linking or Promotion
If you are linking to another website, do not be afraid to ask them to share your work. If you have given a glowing review of a product the manufacturer may be very happy to link to your blog on their products webpage. This reciprocal linking is beneficial for you as it increases your exposure. You can even approach brands and offer promotions of their products or services in exchange for social media tagging.
Incorporate Searched For Keywords
Try to think about what a viewer of your blog might search for when looking for it. What are the different combinations of words they might put into a search engine? Make sure all your blogs are tagged for keywords and that your blog pages are listed on search engines. Use a thesaurus to find words that other people may use to describe the same thing. It would be best to make sure that your keywords are relevant not just to your blog site but to each blog you make. Creating keywords should be part of your blog writing process.
Add Sharing Buttons
Embed social media sharing buttons onto your blog pages. If you have a loyal following do not be afraid to ask them to like and share your posts. The more your post is shared, the more exposure it will have, and the more buzz it will generate online. If you have a blog that goes viral, piggyback off it to tag in other blog posts you have created.
Create A Mailing List
The key to building traffic is to retain traffic. If you can keep viewers returning to see more content then you will steadily build your web presence rather than having it fluctuate depending on the specific popularity of any individual blog. A mailing list is a great way to let people sign up and hear about your newest content. This allows you to communicate with them directly, and you can even subsection off mailing lists to target work specific to a particular demographic. For instance, if you reviewed garden furniture then the viewers who signed up through this page may also be interested in BBQ reviews.
Invite Guest Contributors
Variety is the spice of life, as the old saying goes. A guest contributor brings a fresh perspective, and a different tone than your reader may appreciate. Often guest bloggers will have built up a loyal online following. When they contribute content to your blog, they may bring their audience to your site and give exposure to your blog and your previous posts.
Write Guest Blogs
The same benefit can happen the other way round too. By writing on another blogger’s site you are exposing your work to their audience. If their followers like your style or advice, they may follow your blog as well. This is a reciprocal and mutually beneficial relationship. However, do try and be targeted with who you are guest blogging with. Try to stay with bloggers who are similar in topic or tone to you. Blogging on adjacent subjects is good as well. For instance, if you blog about sports cars, then guest blogging on a more general driving website or a website dedicated to car maintenance might generate relevant traffic to your website. Be creative in seeking partnerships and think about how you could attract their audience over with relevant blogs.
Competitions
Everyone loves the chance to win something. Competitions are a great way to boost your blog. Ask for entrants to like and share your content or to sign up to the mailing list, that way your competition is integrated into your marketing campaign. Approach companies who may be happy to offer competition prizes in exchange for website links and promotion.
Paid Advertising
If you have a blog that you think will blow people’s minds then you can always give it a boost with paid advertising. Sites like Facebook and Google, allow people to create advertisement links that sit on top of rankings or within social feeds. You can usually be highly specific about the audience you are targeting. This is brilliant if you want people from a specific location or with a particular profession to read your blog.
Use Your Old Content
Do not expect your blogs to stay in people’s minds. If an old blog becomes relevant again because of a news story or a brand you previously promoted becoming incredibly popular, do not be afraid to boost that content. Using old content in this way means you do not have to constantly generate new work. Also, remember that while you may have promoted a post on social media once that doesn’t mean all your followers have necessarily seen it. Don’t flood their feeds promoting the same blog over and over again, but do a post at different times of the day and on different platforms with the same blog link. You are more likely to catch different users that way and ensure everyone who wants to look at your blog gets to know that it exists.
Ask For Feedback
If your blog is just not taking off the way you think it should, then ask your friends and family to have a look at it. Ask them to be critical and offer you feedback. While you may think your font choice is perfect, if your friends say it is difficult to read, chances are other people think that too. Be prepared to make changes based on the feedback offered. If you want expert advice, approach successful bloggers you admire and ask them to offer you some consultancy on how to boost your work. They may see something obvious that you have missed or have a tip that helps you find your niche in the blogosphere.
Finally, remember that if you are finding your blogs a slog to write, then others will find them a slog to read. You should write the blogs you would want to read. Blogs can be fun and humorous or thoughtful and opinionated. There is an audience for blogs of any type as long as the quality is high and the content engaging. Your audience is out there, you just need to work a little bit to find them.
