When you have a small business it often means that you are wearing more than one hat, and possibly many different ones. This means your time is often limited, and generating traffic to your blog is crucial – and you need to know what traffic generating methods will be most valuable. Here are 7 methods that you do not want to overlook.
Create Content People Want to Read
Write content that is worth reading. This simple tip will be a cornerstone of getting traffic to your blog. Without good content that has good grammar and is well written, you can almost be sure your visitors will not return. You also want to make your business blog posts unique in some way, and not repeat what everyone else is saying. Remember, too, that people will tell others about good posts! Consistently great content will quickly build your online reputation and make you look like an expert in your field.
Post Regularly and Often
It is not necessary to write a new blog post every day, but you do want to post two or three times a week. If your blog is on an interesting topic, you may want to post even more frequently. Top bloggers post two or three times a day. By posting often, people will find new content when they come, and this will keep them coming back.
Use Social Media to Announce Posts
Social media is more than just something that people do who have a lot of time on their hands. It is a powerful tool to connect with people, and businesses of all sizes know its value. Learn to use the more popular networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter, and Pinterest. Create friend lists, circles, etc., and build groups in each one. Then, whenever you make a post, contact your social lists.
These social networks work well because announcements here can be seen by many people. Be sure to add the buttons on your blog so that visitors can “Like” your post. You can also add buttons from Digg and StumbleUpon.
Create an Email List
By offering something of value on your business blog, you can get people to sign up to be on your list. Items such as an eBook, a newsletter, a report, etc. will work well. As your list grows, send out announcements of new blog posts to them each time, and use it for letting them know of special deals, or new products.
Choose Your Blog Titles Carefully
When people perform a Google search, they will see your blog title, and then make a decision to visit your blog or not based on it. If it is not attention getting, they will not visit your website. One professional blogger mentions this at CopyBlogger: one post he wrote first had 100 visitors, but when he changed the title later, he had 5,000!
Get Inbound Links
Getting your blog found in Google means you need to have links on other websites pointing to your blog – inbound links. There are many ways to do this. Putting guest posts on other people’s blogs is a good one, or you can also create content to place on high traffic sites – such as placing a video on youTube, articles at EzineArticles, or a pdf file on Scribd or GoogleDocs. Commenting on other blogs or related forums is another important way to get known and to get inbound links.
Respond to Comments on Your Blog
People like to know that there really is a human being behind a business that they are thinking about dealing with. If they should ask a question or make a comment on your blog, try to answer it or make a reply rather quickly that shows you care and are interested in them – as long as it isn’t spam.
Interview Others in Your Industry
When you interview a key figure in your industry, you can be sure that people will come and see what it’s about. Most likely, the person being interviewed will also put a link on their blog to yours, and you will see your traffic suddenly increase.
There are many ways to promote your small business blog. Being consistent at just a few of them will work better than just dabbling with a lot of different ones.
Photo Credit: P4BLoX & FindYourSearch
Mike Valles is an author who writes on a wide variety of topics, including online reputation.
