I remember the day I launched my blog almost two decades ago.
I was so excited! It felt like Marketing Words had taken a giant leap forward. While I got comments of congratulations from business and personal friends, it wasn’t long before I realized I seriously needed to increase blog traffic if I wanted this new venture to be successful.
In addition to needing new readers, those who did drop by didn’t hang around. Plus, I had no way to reach them. The list of what I needed far outweighed what I had and so my journey to discover how to increase blog traffic and get blog followers began.
How To Get Traffic To Your Blog
Anything that sends someone to your blog is a means of driving blog traffic. If you’re like me, you’ll find that some of these methods work better than others.
Social Media Posting
For example, while I do get some blog traffic (and get new blog followers) from sharing my blog posts on social media, it isn’t one of the highest-producing means. However, because it is simple and quick to do, I have a routine of using a social posting software to keep my articles in front of those who find me on social sites.
Let Affiliates Share
If you have affiliates who promote your products and/or services, make a point to email each new post to them including their specific affiliate link. That way, they can share the post with their followers and perhaps make a sale or two because their affiliate link was used.
I do that, too. But that practice alone won’t do the trick when you need to generate blog traffic. What do I do to get more eyes on my posts?
My Favorite Ways To Increase Blog Traffic
1. Blog SEO
The best way I’ve found to boost blog traffic is with a comprehensive blog SEO plan that is consistently implemented with each new post.
These are the foundational steps I take when optimizing each new blog post.
Marketing Words’ Blog Post SEO Checklist
2. Guest Blogging
I think of guest blogging as a trade. Someone else allows me access to their blog readers in exchange for me providing exceptional content that those readers will love.
But what else happens when you provide a guest blog post to a business friend? You also get to include a link back to your own blog. If readers enjoy the guest blog post you wrote, they will be likely to click to your blog in order to read more.
That’s why guest blogging is an excellent way to get blog traffic.
However, guest blogging works wonderfully in the opposite direction, too. For example, let’s say you allow someone to add a post of theirs to your blog. Then what happens? What do you do immediately after you add the post to your blog? You email them the link so they can share it.
Because the writer is excited about being featured on your blog, they might post to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest and all sorts of other groups, forums and/or even email the link to their list.
They’ve essentially given you a recommendation and said, “I trust this blog enough to post some of my own writing there and to send my followers to read it.”
That’s quite an endorsement!
3. Content Curation
Instead of creating new content, content curation is the practice of gathering existing content and presenting it to your readers. This is done quite a bit on social media, but content curation also fits well with blogging.
One example of content curation is creating a roundup blog post. This type of post would focus on one specific topic (how to grow affiliate income, for instance). You would then feature snippets of text from each of the 5 to 10 posts being included along with a link back to the original article.
Content curation is convenient for your readers who appreciate you sharing material that is relevant to them.
Plus, content curation also helps with SEO because it drives links back to your post as others share it.
Get Blog Followers
While guest blogging, blog SEO, and content curation give you ways to get traffic to your blog, they also offer methods to get blog followers (and keep them).
In addition to those three, I’ll add two others I frequently use to engage and retain blog readers.
4. Offer An Opt-in
If you’ve lived in the online space for longer than 3 minutes, you’ve run into opt-in offers. They are also referred to as legal bribes, freebies, content upgrades, and many other names.
Why are these important for bloggers? Because they:
- Offer value to your readers.
- Encourage connection.
- Build your subscriber list.
- Provide multiple ways to stay in contact with readers.
- Promote good will.
- Earn passive income from your digital products or affiliate products.
- And more!
This is one of my favorite ways to get blog followers and keep them. Once someone has exchanged their email address for one of my free reports, lessons by email, or other freebie, I now have a way to stay in contact with them on a regular basis.
Not only will they receive information pertaining to the freebie they downloaded, but they will also be emailed notices of new blog posts and more.
Plus, you can also earn affiliate commissions passively just by giving away free stuff. Not a bad deal at all.
5. Encourage Communication
If you want to get blog followers who are loyal and stick around, making them feel like part of the community should be a primary goal.
Encouraging conversations helps to accomplish this. How can you do that? Here are 2 simple ways that work.
- Ask for Comments – Inserting a comment into the end of your post opens the door so readers feel comfortable asking questions or leaving comments. (Examples: “Have questions? Ask me!” or “Tell me what you think below.”)
However, getting comments is only half the process. To make readers feel welcome, you need to answer the questions / statements and do so with some sort of appeal.
If someone leaves a compliment about your post, don’t respond with a minimal “thank you.” Instead, go into a bit of detail. Perhaps, “Thank you for your compliment. I appreciate the time you took to respond and I hope the information helps you reach your goals.”
- Encourage Emails – All the interaction doesn’t have to take place on your blog. Yes, we love comments because everybody can see that others are participating on our sites. But some people won’t leave a public comment (for a variety of reasons).
On a regular basis, I include notes in emails such as “I have this product. If you have questions about it, let me know” or “I can’t be the only one going through this. Have you, and what did you do about it?”
Opening the door so others know it’s OK to connect goes a long way to helping them understand they are part of your group.
Using these simple 5 ways to increase blog traffic — while you get and keep followers — will lay a solid foundation of loyal readers who spread the word about you far and wide.
Have questions about how to get blog followers? Talk to me below!
Recommended Learning & Tools
- Blogging Advantage: How to Entice, Engage & Earn
- How to Make Affiliate Commissions Without Selling
- Blog Post Shortcuts
Other Related Posts You’ll Love
Simple Blog SEO Tips To Increase Traffic
23 Tools For Bloggers: Resources To Write Faster & Grow Your Blog
Great post! Especially liked the point on content curation. It’s easy to feel the pressure to always be creating new content, but honestly, things I’ve already done still have value so why not recycle? lol.
Oh, I’m a HUGE fan of repurposing!