9 WAYS TO INCREASE BLOG TRAFFIC

This is part three of my blogging series. Read part one on blog design, here and part two on killer content, here. 

The first time I had over a thousand people visit my blog in a day, I was giddy. Before then, I would have a few hundred visitors visit my blog each month. On some months, I didn’t have up to a hundred visitors! In that season, I wasn’t consistent with running my blog so understandably, there were hardly any visitors. Looking at my pageview chart, I see that I have had a gradual growth especially since January this year when I started blogging consistently. I wish I’d been consistent from day one but that didn’t work at the time.

Recently, I had over thirty thousand people visit my blog in a day! All because of this post.

So dear blogging friends, I would like to share some the things I’ve learnt with you. I haven’t figured out everything yet but these are are ways that have worked for me.

1. Create awesome content.

In my last blogging post, I spoke about this in detail. Your content needs to be terrific. It should be something you would want to read yourself. If your content is not great, there is no way people will want to hang around your blog. I put a lot of effort into every blog post to ensure that is encouraging and edifying. That way, I notice that a lot of people share my content when they see that I have a new post up. That’s because there’s always some form of free value in them. Make sure you read this post on how to create killer content if you haven’t done so already.

2. Promote your content.

No matter how great your content is, if you fail to promote it, it will gather cobwebs. I share my blog post links on several Facebook groups that allow the sharing of blog links. You want to make sure you are not spammy so take some time to study the rules of each group or even contact the admin before posting there. Don’t go sharing a fashion blog post in a food group.

My strength lies with  Facebook but I’m beginning to use Instagram and Pinterest more. Trying to use every social media could be overwhelming so I’ll advise that you find the one you are most comfortable with and put a lot of effort into it, then you can carve out time to master another one. 

I have seen a lot of big bloggers advise that you spend the same amount of time you take to create your content to share it. You want to make sure that you get the most out of every blog post.

3. Have a great social media sharing widget on your blog.

I recently installed, Shareholic on my blog because I found that it looked way more inviting than the share buttons on my template. I also love the fact that I can see how many times a post has been shared.

Every picture included in your blog post shoud be named appropriately with key words about the post. For instance, instead of IMG 101, rename your picture to “how to make fish rolls”. That way, if someone does a google search on how to make fish rolls, your picture will pop up on Google images then they could click through and land on your blog.

7. Feature inspiring people on your blog.

Every now and then, I do an interview with an inspiring person. When the post is published, this person will likely share the post on social media. That way, many people click through and come to my blog. Win!

8. Have an email list.

Depending solely on traffic from social media is like building on another man’s land. An email list helps you know the people that are really committed to your blog. When you put up a new post, your email subscribers can see it right in their inbox and click through to your blog. It also helps you know what sort of people are following you so you can better tailor to their needs. I use Mail Chimp to build my email list.

9. Blog consistently but avoid burn out.

If you are inconsistent with your blogging, people won’t take you seriously. Try to create a trustworthy relationship with your readers. They should be sure to find regular posts from you. It may be once a week or once a month. Just keep it consistent. When you are committed to your blogging, your readers will gradually get committed to you.

Remember, no one lights a lamp and puts it under a table. So after you create great content, you must make an effort to make ensure that it gets seen.

What blogging tips have worked for you? Please share with me below.