If you are a content creator, business owner, or a digital marketer, you probably know that blogging can greatly influence your bottom line.
Given, of course, you also know how to generate blog traffic. Otherwise, what’s the purpose of having one?
The thing is, there are tons of people out there who are just like you — struggling to figure out what can supercharge their blog traffic.
If you think your blog has reached the end of the line, don’t kill it just yet.
There are still strategies you can leverage to get the results you’re eyeing.
Let’s get into it.
1. Upgrade Your Content Strategy
If your blog isn’t getting traffic, the first thing you need to look at would be your content strategy.
Remember, content is king — and it’s been that way for a good reason.
People want to read something they can relate with, learn from, and find entertaining. If your content doesn’t tick any of these checkboxes, you have a low chance of drawing your target audience in.
So, how do you craft killer content?
Unfortunately, that’s a topic for another day. I can, however, provide you with a quick breakdown of the essential steps.
First, you need to identify who you are blogging for.
Understanding your audience and keywords
It doesn’t matter if your blog is about fashion, sports, health, or whatever niche you dove into. Put yourself in their shoes, think about what they crave, and serve the information to them.
Assessing ongoing trends and online search patterns will definitely help you get the job done.
Google trend is a simple tool that can help you look for current content trends. All you have to do is enter a keyword and you’re golden.
When it comes to search patterns, I recommend using keyword research tools like SEMrush’s Keyword Magic Tool.
It works by identifying potential keyword ideas along with metrics that will help you gauge their popularity. I’m talking specifically about the keyword’s average monthly search volume, CPC, and keyword difficulty metrics.
Polish your headlines and meta description
Your content’s topic is just the first step.
Don’t forget that your headlines and meta descriptions play a huge role, too. Both content elements not only affect your content’s SEO, but also the actual number of clicks you can get from SERPs.
As such, you have to make your headlines are catchy and optimize your descriptions for higher clickthrough rates.
Today, online tools can help you craft powerful headlines and meta descriptions that are great for click-throughs and SEO.
For your headlines, you should check out the CoSchedule Headline Analyzer. It dissects your headline and provides proven, actionable tips on how to improve it.
Add outstanding visual content
Every blog post can be turned from mediocre to excellent when paired with outstanding visuals.
And it makes complete sense. Anyone would prefer content with creative visuals than just a huge chunk of words, right?
Remember, though, that you have to make your visuals informative yet entertaining.
Infographics can help you accomplish this goal. Put simply, they can contain multiple data visualizations — from pie charts to flowcharts — to convey information.
Thankfully, you don’t need to be an experienced graphic artist to whip up a decent infographic. Canva, a drag-and-drop graphic editing tool, allows you to create superb infographics, featured images, and even memes in minutes.
There’s no reason not to give this creativity tool a try since you can use it for free. Take your blog up a notch by using creative visuals — you’ll be surprised how it can work wonders.
2. Promote Your Blog on Social Media
If content is king, distribution is queen.
Without proper distribution, all the effort and time you put into content creation will be wasted.
So, think blog promotion.
Statistics reveal that 97% of bloggers use social media to promote their blog posts, while 69% maximize SEO. With millions of people using social media, it’s easy to see why this is the case.
Now the question is, how can you distribute your content on social media platforms to gain optimum results?
Developing a solid social media strategy is the first essential step. If you don’t want to burn a hole in your pocket, work your strategy around building and engaging an organic following.
You can join social media groups that are relevant to your blog and share your content there. Just remember to be sincere and only share blog posts that you feel will be valuable for the group.
Also, pay attention to conversations that mention your brand. This is a great way to build engagement with warm leads and increase blog followers.
For this, you can use social media listening tools like Brand24.
3. Engage the Online Community More
Building a community and engaging with your audience can help pull more traffic to your blog.
Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter are popular options when it comes to building engagement. A simple, helpful comment on another page’s post can trigger visits to your profile.
But there are other digital platforms content creators and bloggers are missing out on. Q&A websites such as Quora also offer a great opportunity to drive more traffic to your blog.
The trick is easy: search for questions, which your blog post can answer. Then, slide in your link to direct readers to your blog.
It’s free and it’s an effective strategy to give your blog more exposure.
You can do the same thing with online message boards in your niche. You should be able to find them easily by Googling a relevant keyword and adding a term like “forum” or “online community.”
A friendly reminder: engage moderately and sincerely, lest you want to build a bad reputation for your brand.
4. Leverage Email Marketing
Apart from social media and SEO, bloggers can also leverage email marketing to reach more audiences.
Whether you like it or not, email marketing is one of the best digital marketing strategies that deliver reliable results.
It can:
Help you promote relevant, targeted content to the right audience
Build consistent traffic to your blog
Nurture existing leads until they’re ready to convert into paying customers
Manage your expectations, though, as crafting a solid email marketing campaign is easier said than done.
An email marketing platform like ActiveCampaign can help you get a full-on email marketing campaign rolling.
Like ActiveCampaign, most modern email marketing platforms are all-in-one powerhouses. They can help you build lead capture forms, automate hyper-targeted emails, build newsletters, and so on.
Just remember not to bombard your contacts with emails unless you want them to unsubscribe one by one. Make your email subject lines catchy, too, so that readers couldn’t help but click them.
5. Try Guest Blogging
Guest blogging not only gives you the chance to reach a wider audience, but also yield backlinks for your blog.
The trick is to search for websites in your niche and offer to contribute content. Just keep in mind that you need to earn that spot.
To begin, do a Google search on guest post opportunities. When doing so, include your blog’s niche and keywords like “Guest Post ” or “Write For Us.”
These are called “guest blogging footprints.”
More often than not, websites that accept blog posts have elaborate contributor guidelines. Make sure to comply with each requirement and offer your unique voice — it’s an effective hack if you want your guest blogging efforts to pay off.
6. Try Writing “Ego Bait” Articles
Long story short, an “ego bait” article is any form of content that mentions other influencers and brands in a positive light.
This way, these influencers will get a strong urge to spread your content through their own channels.
A typical strategy is to create roundup posts of multiple experts in your niche.
Of course, you can spice things up by asking them a question, featuring their best quotes, writing reviews, and so on. It takes a little creativity to construct a share-worthy roundup post.
7. Offer Giveaways or Host Contests
Hosting contests and giveaways is another way to increase your traffic.
After all, most internet users are all about short-term rewards.
Apart from raising brand awareness, contests can also provide you with user-generated content. This pertains to social media uploads, reviews, and other mentions of your brand that other people can trust.
You can also gain valuable insights into what appeals most to your target audience. And this can be pivotal for your content creation moving forward.
The best part about contests is, you don’t really need to use any tool to host one. A simple hashtag contest, for example, only requires you to come up with your own mechanics and branded hashtag.
Here’s an example from SeedsNow:
When running contests or giveaways, you may also want to consider collaborating with brands for an audience crossover. You can build it on shared projects or mutual promotions that can help both you and the other party achieve your goals.
Final thoughts
To conclude, having a blog with a solid following and traffic is a lot more challenging than it seems. But with the right tactics and consistent effort, you’ll surely reap all the rewards.
In a nutshell, you should remember to keep your target audience in mind and leverage digital platforms and tools.
Take the strategies above and see which ones work best for your blog. After tracking your results, double down on the strategies that led to measurable results.
Good luck!
Author’s bio
John
John is a coffee-loving link building expert and founder of Search Forge. He spends most of his time testing different link building strategies and in his spare time, argues his findings with his dog. Zeus. You can follow him @J_PMarquez.