Fantastic, you have created a blog! You did the research, wrote the article, you might have even gotten some good quotes and statistics sprinkled into your content. But what you haven't got is a lot of readers.
Unfortunately, a blog isn't going to pick up on traffic unless you prime traffic to happen. But, isn't your great content enough? It can be, but even the most read and well-loved blogs out there do a little pruning to keep traffic coming in.
Quick Checklist
Before we dive too far in, let's cover a couple of basics. If you can check these off, you're well on your way to having a successful blog (and probably good traffic)
- Your content is niche - a blog that dives into too many places at once can be confusing. Someone who is looking for SEO wants to read content about SEO on a marketing blog, not a home decor or cooking blog.
- You've given yourself time - If you're tracking traffic, just know that it takes time. It takes a few weeks to get actual numbers on your articles.
- Your blog is interesting. Yes, you need to be niche, but that doesn't mean you can't cover related topics. You may find that adding a variety (but still related topics), can maximize your blog audience even more.
Your blog is an extension of your brand. So you may find that working on increasing your brand awareness helps you drive traffic. Meaning get yourself out there and get people talking about, tagging, and sharing your content!
Let's see some things you can do to increase your brand awareness, build up your name in your niche, and ultimately grow your blog's audience.
Promote Your Content
Okay, if this isn't obvious it should be. Think about it, even the top-notch brand's of today use advertisements to promote their brand and new products.
Fortunately, there are a variety of ways to promote your content, that are free! Though you can always pay to boost content on social media (for a fairly cheap price too).
Ways To Promote
As soon as you publish your content you need to instill a few ground rules or a checklist for yourself. Consistency is key here. Some of the easiest things include...
- Share on your social sites. You can easily promote new content on your social platforms and drive traffic. Create an intriguing and catchy phrase to get people to share, click, like, and of course read it!
- Share on forums. You may be able to answer a question and link to your blog. Be careful though some sites are strict when it comes to promotional content, so you'll have to make sure you're not being too self-serving and actually contributing insightful information.
- Try to get it syndicated. You can look for other blogs that republish content. Typically, these blogs have a ton of traffic, meaning you have the potential to really be seen.
- Schedule it to be shared again at a later date(s). This isn't a one and done type of thing. Getting exposure means creating situations that cause you to be seen. So go ahead and add your new content to your social media calendar a few times.
- Use your existing channels. Share new blog content in your newsletters, to your email lists, to your friends, etc. People won't know it exists unless you put it out there to be seen.
Work On Your SEO
Search Engine Optimization is a great way for you to focus on your niche and build content that truly suits you. If you are creating content around certain keywords, you'll likely be able to expand your reach in that area and become a known name in that specific industry.
This one does take a lot of time, but it's well worth it. in many things, load speeds, image optimization, quality of content, use of headers, etc. If you work on SEO factors improving your overall usability, and quality of content, and creating unique niche content, you can rank higher on searches.
Thus, increasing the chances of being seen, and ultimately being able to grow your blog's audience.
Some quick SEO tips
- Check for broken links. Fix what is broken, if your website is easy to crawl, search engines will have an easier time finding you. Not to mention users get annoyed if you lead them to a dead end.
- Your formatting is concise. Some pages of your blog may be special or have a unique touch. But, generally speaking, people are looking for an easy to read and navigate a page. They want to know what to expect.
- Easy navigation. To build on the point above, site navigation is essential. It helps your SEO and readers!
Ask for subscribers
You may have to ask to get. Lucky for you, the internet is full of wonderful tools to help you automate this, so you don't have to ask each person who you talk to individually (unless you want to).
Another thing that plays in your favor is if someone has landed on your blog, they are likely there to learn about something in your niche. Meaning, there is a good chance you can get that same person back to your blog if you ask them to subscribe.
We've all see the exit offer appear as we inch towards the edge of a page, or the pop up that flashes after you've been reading for a few seconds. These are your chance to reel people in and have them subscribe.
Here are a few ways you can ask for a subscriber
- Add a CTA at the end of your blogs. If they loved it, they might subscribe to stay up to date on all your new content.
- Ask current subscribers to refer a friend to subscribe. You can offer something in return... like an exclusive ebook or webinar seat. By using a referral strategy you can expand your audience while keeping past readers interested.
- Use your social platforms to see who is interested in your content. You can retarget them with the intention of getting them to refer or visit your blog again.
Networking and guest posting
Working with other blogger and marketers is a great way to build your audience. You see, if you have something of value to offer their readers, you likely have more information those people would want to see.
When you collaborate with another brand you will be introduced. Meaning you have an opportunity to earn a backlink or a shoutout of some sort. This allows their audience to further investigate you. And chances are if they are interested in what you do or have to say during their first point of contact with you, they will likely be curious to find out more.
Therefore, they could land right on your blog!
Easy networking ideas
- Guest blogging. If you work on building your relationships you may be able to snag a few guest posts. These are great ways for you to build your audience. Why? Well, readers on the blog you have contributed to will see your author bio and might be interested in reading more things you have written. Meaning they might go to your site.
- Contribute to niche roundups. Find a niche, and see if they are doing any roundups. You might be able to offer good advice and get a backlink out of it!
- Hang out online. You might find a few avenues to add in a comment or idea. For example, a marketing blogger might find answering and contributing ideas on things like Growthhackers.com or Quora worth their while. Often times, this can lead you to an unexpected collaboration, allowing you to have a new channel to increase your audience.
- Look around your favorite blogs. They might offer guest posting opportunities.
Revamp existing content
Things change and become outdated, your perspective and knowledge change and grow too.
This is why it's important to update your existing content. You may be able to add more in-depth content and expand on what you have.
This can be good for helping your SEO too. So not only will your content stay relevant, but it might be able to rank even higher on search engines. Therefore you might be able to get seen more easily.
You never know who you might attract by just doing a quick update on a blog.
Tips for revamping content
- Work on low-hanging fruit. You may have a couple articles that don't get much traffic but that you know you can rank higher for. Update these guys and get that traffic flowing.
- Or get rid of the duds. Your blog may have taken a turn down a different content path. Either get rid of old content that no longer matches your theme, or spins it so it does.
- Do a blog audit. Set a goal to go through all your articles and their stats. You may do a big clean up on a yearly or bi-yearly basis to help keep your content fresh and up to date with trends.
Summary
As you can see there are plenty of ways to grow your blog's audience. And if your blog is attached to your business website, that could translate to a larger customer base as well.
On top of these solutions, there are always paid options like ads and running paid campaigns like an influencer or referral marketing program. The point is, you have a ton of ways to grow your audience, you just have to put in a little elbow grease and time.
Author Bio: Megan Mosley is the marketing specialist at Referral Rock who believes every business has the potential to increase their word of mouth. When she's not working, she enjoys sipping on coffee and hanging out with her dog, Mollie.
