6 Stellar Tricks to Increase Traffic to Your Blog

Building a blog (in WordPress, for instance) won’t take you the entire day, but building a successful blog with significant traffic may take not only days but months as well – that is, if you’re lucky enough. Because truth of the matter is, this can even take years. So if ever you happen to come across a blog with thousands of followers, do take note that it also took the owners some time to gain that position.

Every serious blogger wants their articles be seen and read at least a hundred times or more. So, how is that possible? Here are simple blogging strategies that will absolutely improve your blog traffic. And mind you, they can be used by newbies and seasoned bloggers alike, and even by those who already have reached their traffic plateau and need assistance expanding their platform beyond its initial reach.

Examine your motives

You want massive traffic to your blog, but why? Is it because you want to provide solutions? Be a great source of information and make a difference? Or you just want to make yourself popular?

If you answer the latter, then we advise you to quit blogging now, because if your ultimate purpose is to self-serve you can be your own hindrance to your blog’s growth.

People come to your page not because they want to hear about you but because they need information to something they think you have.

While personal experiences are good starting points, allowing you to share first-hand experiences and insights, showcasing yourself too much all the time will draw readers away from your site.

As such, make it your goal to be a source of substantial information and help others. And that in turn will make you a star.

Understand your audience

What does your audience desires to know from you? Do you have the tools, products or services they need? Can you provide solutions to their problems? As with everything else, it pays to know who your target audience really is and if your offerings are geared towards their needs.

One good tool you can use to figure out what your audience is passionate about is Quora. Through this platform you can get a good deal of people’s most pressing questions and concerns. From there, you might find what your target market aims to know from your website.

It will also be beneficial if you take advantage of your target audience’s ability to spread the word for you. Once you’ve proven your credibility and substance, you can expect more readers to evangelize your work and this will eventually lead to more visitors in return.

Hang out where your audience are frequent

Finding out where a large portion of your audience regularly hangs out doesn’t need to break the bank. You may already know a handful of blogs, forums, websites and social media communities where conversations about your topic are taking place. If not, do a quick Google search to give you some ideas.

Assuming you’ve identified the communities where your potential readers gather, start participating. Share what you know, offer links to your posts in a subtle way, respond to questions, and so on. Take note, however, that it is essential to get a good feel before you jump into any of the conversation.

Send your blog post to relevant influencers

Influencers have huge following so make the most out of these individuals.

It can be as easy as sending a short message like this: “I recently published an article on the best apps for start-up owners and thought your subscribers might find it interesting.”

Just be sure to send your posts to readers, organisations or blogs that would be interested enough to give your content some time and share it with their networks.

Make Your Blog SEO friendly

Google is the king of search engines, that alone should persuade you to make your blog SEO friendly.

If you want to earn a good spot on the first page of Google, start by doing a keyword research. These keywords can be the same words web users  look for when doing a Google search, such as “effective tips to,” “how to,” “benefits of,” etc.

Make sure to use the same keywords in your headline and in the overall copy for about three times. Don’t stuff your content with keywords, otherwise you would only appear like a spammer and Google will penalize you for that.

Add links to credible outside sources as well. Doing so not only adds value to the reader but also helps you rank in search engines. Bear in mind that Google always seeks quality information.

Be generous with your sharing

Share your blog content as much as you have to. Don’t fall into the mentality of “sharing once and forgetting everything.”

Social media plays a big role in doubling your blog traffic. Share your blog post several times in a timely manner, depending on the platform. You may want to tweet, Facebook share and Google+ your content as soon as you publish it. You may tweet it a couple of days later again or Facebook share it the following week.

However, you should ensure that you’re not publishing the same message on social media again and again, as this becomes spammy. Come up with different teaser quotes; in doing so, you are likely to capture different readers.

As you can see, it takes hard work and dedication to promote your article and the methods are endless. On the brighter side, there are more effective resources today than ever before, and some comes for free.