How to increase your blog's traffic
We have all been there, done that.
In between trying to manage the demands of a full-time job and household (that full-time as well), family and health, there is very little time that is left to keep your blog engine running.
And then we wonder:
Why is our blog audience not growing?
I am spending so much time on this - Is it even worth it?
Managing a blog requires constant care and efforts - hmm, we knew that, didn't we? So why are we not able to create a blogging strategy that ensures consistent content, that increases traffic and maximizes engagement? It's all down to the planning, I say.
Let's tackle the problem of increasing blog traffic first. Few strategies that can help you generate consistent traffic:
1. Goals
Before you jump onto the blogging bandwagon, let's examine your goals and objectives a bit
Why are your blogging ["It's fun," "To share my thoughts and expertise"]
Whom are you blogging for? Can't share enough the importance of knowing your target audience. You should know your customer persona before you blog. Need to know more about your target audience. Visit this post here.
What are you writing? How are you organizing your content? What is your tone of voice [funny, serious, ironic]. Much of this gets governed by your target audience. You cannot be ironic if you audience comprises of straight jacketed accountants [or maybe you can - and that's your niche].
On the topic of niche, you cannot be everything for everybody. The concept of niche is wonderfully explained in this book, The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More by Chris Anderson. Buy this book on Amazon here
You have to identify a segment which you can comfortably (and profitably) serve. A diffused target group is not a good idea
Finally, How are you blogging? Irrespective of what platform you use, make sure your site is clutter free, viewable and readable. Nobody wants to read a monologue in font size 6.
2. Frequency
Or better said - post regularly.
Good things come with time - and practice mostly.
It doesn't look good if there is an erratic time gap between your posts [okay! I have been guilty of this one as well]. You won't look like a serious blogger if your last blog post was around 6 months ago, then you post regularly for a week before disappearing down the rabbit's hole again.
You don't have to blog everyday - you can blog bi-weekly, weekly, fortnightly, but with consistency. Users appreciate consistency - they need to know what to expect. And regularity is the way with which you establish blogging credibility.
Key take-away: Maintain blogging frequency
3. Quantity
By quantity, I mean the breadth and depth of coverage
Shallow, hasty coverage of a topic will make your readers jump to other websites - and we don't want that.
If you pick a topic - research thoroughly on what you are going to write about.
Say, you are writing about how to create compelling headlines
(i). Google search [using Google Alerts / Google Trends] what is your potential target audience talking about the topic.
You realize that some of the topics / headlines that are trending are:
You can then hop over to the respective blogs
Find out what has been already covered, what users are looking for [in the comments section], and then proceed to chart out the outline of your post.
(ii). Find alternate topic areas
Find similar sounding topic areas around your main topic
How to write better headlines
How to write headlines that convert
How to write headlines that make people click
You then create a locum of content subheadings, based on topics that you've seen covered [but you can still add value through your blog], topics that have not been covered in the above blogs [and you can cover afresh], answering unanswered questions in the previous blogs.
Tools to use: Use Quora [find questions that your target audience is asking]
(iii) Write a broad outline dealing with the main idea. Break down the blog post into 2 or more sub posts if you feel the topic needs more coverage.
Key take-away: Create comprehensive, power packed content, which covers what is not present in already available content. Believe it or not, mostly we are writing from our comfort zone, for ourselves.
4. Quality
Any post that you write should cover the topic in comprehensive detail. The web is full of fake, duplicitous and plagiarized content - making authentic, high quality content that much more valuable. Invest time in creating quality content - lesser people are doing that, chances of you standing out are more.
One original high quality, comprehensive post is worth more than ten frivolous ones. Readers want to reduce cognitive load [reading, switching between websites to find what they need] - hence make your content comprehensive - and users will come back. They will highly appreciate content that answers their queries, enhances their knowledge [makes them appear knowledgeable], and all this - in as fewer clicks as possible.
Key take-away: Your unique perspective makes your content authentic and desirable.
5. Design
Remember, the customer is at the center of everything that we do. You shouldn't [okay probably can't] use comic sans font for a CTO readership.
But before that, design is not just about fonts. It is the entire user experience.
The way the website is structured, the manner in which content is presented, the images used, and yes, the fonts.
Also, remember to cite and quote references and images. We don't need copyright infringement.
Key take-away: An appealing, user friendly, clutter free website is hygiene.
6. Cascade
Writing quality posts is one thing, cascading it is entire another.
Many times I have devoted 2-3 days for creating a well-researched blog post only to find no humongous spike in traffic upon posting it.
Been there? We all have.
And then I read up about content cascading, and content repurposing. [Whaaa - what's that?]. Read what is content repurposing here.
Make it ridiculously easy for people to share your content. Add share buttons and create linkable assets.
Ideally, I would write 2 blog posts per week and spend the rest [3 days] promoting it on all platforms. However, this is for long-form content. Short form content on social media [tips, updates, infographics] get posted with a different posting schedule.
Key take-away: Don't neglect the power of promotion in bumping up your blog's traffic. Promote, promote, promote!
7. Get and give value
One way to increase your blog traffic is to embrace the power of email marketing. You can collect emails through interstitials, page takeovers, sliders and bards. But before that, give your readers an incentive to sign up.
Key take-away: Create content so useful and powerful that the user willingly gives away his contact details in anticipation of more great content from you.
8. Collaborations / partnerships / networking
Share some love - 😍 - network with other blogs in your nice, identify the top blogs that you admire and comment [genuinely] on content that you find useful and link back to your blog. Now this a subtle art and is a long haul technique - the dividends on this one will accrue and pay out over time.
Key take-away: Amplify your power exponentially using collaborations.
9. Responding
Once you start getting some traffic, and generate engagement, you might start getting comments - its important you acknowledge your first readers - be genuine and thoughtful in accepting their comments. I've seen some people just don't respond to their readers comments [guilty on this count - again]. Their fears typically range from
Oh my god! What do I say now?
How can I thank someone without sounding as if I am trying to please?
Should I respond to all comments?
Do I know anything cool to say?
What if I comment and they think that I don't know much about the things that I am writing?
What if I get negative comments?
My answer to all this? Take a deep breath and relax - and forget about these irrelevant insecurities - your readers are there, aren't they? And if you have been your own unique, authentic self in the posts, the comments are also a place for you to do that. Retain the same tone of voice, and be your genuine self. First, thank them for dropping by - acknowledge their presence, thank them for sharing their observations and create a conversation thread.
I too was shy of responding to user comments [thinking of how to respond if I got negative comments]. And then I came across this blog post by Gary Vee - so worry not, and keep responding to comments.
Key take-away: Be prompt in responding to comments - you owe that to your readers.
10. Scheduling
How are you going to do all of this, on a regular basis? Keeping up with our original promise of frequency means that you need to constantly generate content. Use the magic of automation here.
Key take-away: Free up your time for content strategy - and automate whatever else you can.
Hope you enjoyed reading this post as much as I've enjoyed writing it. In case there is anything that you'd like to learn more about traffic generation strategies, or if I have overlooked any traffic techniques, please let me know in the comments section below.
Great post!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
ReplyDelete