Do you need more traffic to your blog?
Writing post after post but feel that no-one is reading them?
It’s heart breaking putting all that effort in with little traffic.
What you need is more quality traffic to your blog.
Today we are going to focus on 13 ways you can gain more traffic to your blog for FREE.
1. Target Your Audience for More Traffic
Before starting your blog really think about who your readers will be.
Who is your ideal audience?
People turn to the internet to find answers to their problems.
Knowing your audience and their pains can help you to write better targeted articles.
What problems can you solve?
For instance for a blog about working from home then your readers will have questions such as:
How can I work from home?
What equipment is needed to provide a certain service?
Where can I get jobs as a transcriptionist?
If your blog is about blogging the questions may be:
How do I start a blog?
How do I get more traffic to my blog?
Where can I learn about copywriting?
My first blog was aimed at Virtual Assistants and I knew who my target audience were.
Therefore, I knew what problems they faced as I had faced them also. So, I wrote articles about these problems and increased my traffic. Obviously that’s not all I did to gain more traffic but it helped.
I have since changed my blog to a broader topic. I am now focusing on what jobs can be done from home. Which means my target audience has changed.
For a work from home blog your reader can be an 18 year old woman who has just had a baby. She is desperate to stay at home with her baby but needs to earn some money.
Alternatively, it can be a 60 plus year old man just wanting a bit of pocket money for holidays.
Google Analytics is a great tool to find out who is reading your blog. You can find out when they are reading it, what they are reading and when they leave the site.
On checking my Google Analytics it confirms that there is a wide age range visiting this blog.
Checking the gender it is mostly women who visit my blog.
Mommy blogs would have a very targeted audience. It would be women of a certain age who have children and want to stay at home. A great blog I have found recently is Twins Mommy. It is aimed at women who want to start a blog. Or who have a blog and want to increase traffic to their blog.
Finding out what your readers are struggling with can be a great help.
2. What can you offer your Reader?
As mentioned earlier you want to solve your readers problems.
But …
How can you find out what problems your readers are having?
Simple, if you have an email list then ask them.
Sign up for a free plan at Survey Monkey and you can send unlimited surveys. There is a limit of 10 questions per survey. Ask the right questions and 10 questions should be plenty!
So, what types of questions could you ask your readers?
What subject do they want to learn more about?
How are they struggling?
Find their pains and solve them.
Another way is to find out where your readers hang out.
For instance:
When I was targeting Virtual Assistants I joined a number of Virtual Assistant forums. I found that the same problems were being asked over and over again.
For instance, one that kept coming up a lot was where do I find clients? This is a perfect article to write for people starting out.
You can also check out Google Search Console to find out what keywords your audience are searching on. This also shows any issues with your website.
You want to entice your reader to sign up to your email list. By offering a valuable freebie they will be happy to sign up.
Checklists are very popular at the moment and fairly easy to create. In return you would be able to add them to your email list.
3. Audience Engagement to Increase Traffic
Google Analytics is a great tool to find out who is reading your blog.
In addition, it also shows you how long people stay on your site. Mine is not very long – but I am directing them away to other sites for work! Hmm, maybe I should rethink that!
Furthermore, it will help you to find the topics your readers are enjoying. Then you can create more content in that subject area.
4. Allow Readers Comments
Allowing comments on your posts will allow your readers to give you feedback or ask questions.
To do this on WordPress click on Quick Edit of your post and ensure the Allow Comments box is ticked.
Their questions could inspire you to write a new article or update an article with further useful information.
Be responsive to the comments. If people can contribute, they will come back to see the response to their comments.
Engagement is sure to attract more traffic.
5. Comment on other blogs
Although this will not immediately help you with traffic, I believe it is important.
When you visit a blog that is relevant to your business or blog then why not get involved with the conversation?
It will show that you have the knowledge and will help you get your name out there. This will then lead to people going to your blog / website.
6. Up to Date Content to Attract More Traffic
Checking your posts are up to date can help to increase traffic to your blog.
I quite often search by year so I only get posts updated recently. I want up-to-date information – as do most people. Read through your older posts and check it is still relevant. Update your content regularly and keep improving it.
Ensure you have a last updated date on your page or post. If you use WordPress you can use a plugin such as Post updated date.
You could always just add the updated date manually.
7. Promote your Blog for More Traffic
The best social site to promote your blog is Pinterest. You will get so much blog traffic from Pinterest. This should be the site that you initially concentrate on.
Creating a pin that is visually appealing is important. The idea is that you want as many people to share your pins as possible.
The best tool to create great looking pins for Pinterest is Canva – and it’s FREE.
Once you have mastered Pinterest then there are plenty of other sites where you can promote your blog including Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit.
8. Search Engine Optimisation
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is so important to use within your blog posts. It is also essential that you understand basics of SEO to use within Pinterest.
A simple explanation of SEO is the words that people use in a search engine, such as Google, to find your website or information.
Here is a great beginners guide to SEO. Make sure you do proper keyword research to ensure you have the best SEO for your blog.
9. More Traffic Through Providing Useful Content
To attract more readers create content that is useful and helps to solve a problem for your reader. Have a think about if you were to read your own blog would it solve a problem for you? Would you come back to find what other information you could use?
Having a blog as a part of your business doesn’t mean it has to be boring. Instead, tell stories about your industry. Include some of your own experiences. Use stories that will encourage them to see how you could be the answer to their problem.
10. Guest Bloggers to Get More Traffic
Once your blog gains a good following you will get offers from other bloggers to write a guest post for your blog. Ensure that the content is of good quality and is in line with your blog audience.
Guest bloggers generally offer their free posts to build up their reputation and to gain a link back to their website.
This could also be a way for you to get a link back to your website by doing a guest post.
11. Link to Relevant Sites
For content that you don’t have on your website then link to other useful websites.
For instance above I don’t have a simple guide on SEO so I have linked out to http://www.wpbeginner.com/wordpress-seo/. This is a site which I have used in the past and I find easy to understand.
12. People Love Lists
Create useful lists on your blog such as wish lists, recommendation lists or top ten lists. People love lists to quickly scan.
You can always include affiliate links in resources that you recommend in an attempt to earn money from your blog. Readers who enjoy these types of lists will return for your next list in order to try things out.
13. Break up Long Posts
Aim to write some longer blogs and break them up into smaller posts. Ensure each ends with some sort of “cliffhanger” to entice your readers back for the next instalment.
Farewell Thoughts for More Traffic
You may find writing easy but it can be difficult to increase your traffic. Implementing these tips can help you to get more traffic. To do this you need to be proactive and always promoting your posts. If you don’t have the time these tasks can be outsourced to a Virtual Assistant. Using Pinterest will help you to gain a lot more traffic.
Want to set up your blog then check out this post.
