10 Ways to Increase Blog Traffic and Readership

The development of new technologies has enabled the sharing of content and information on a huge scale. Willingness to share might increase the referral traffic if well implemented on your blog.

Today, we can publish news and information visible for thousands of readers in a very short time. It’s possible because the number of media channels and various technologies that help to increase your reach is still growing. The situation becomes more complicated when you want to not only reach these groups but also to encourage them to keep with us and constantly increase traffic to your website.

Expanding the reach on the Internet is one of the main topics of interest to content creators from marketers to publishers and bloggers. This is a big challenge for each of the above groups. Today, there is a constant fight for followers, readers and new clients. What can you do to make readers choose you among the thousands of other publishers? How to increase your blog traffic?

Be visible

Today, it’s not enough to just have a website. Content creators must be everywhere and it is not about being importunate but about being active. Social networks and internet forums are the basis. Remember that your content is the best advertisement for your company/product: promote it on the web, add a comment, watch others react, do not be afraid of difficult questions. Make friends not only with the readers but other bloggers and companies. Be wherever your readers are (current and potential).

• Define your niche and write down names related to it. For example, if your topic is online marketing, it’s worth to think of digital marketing, social media marketing & email marketing as well.
• Look for Facebook Groups & Pages related to your topic, join them, ask for something or comment, show that you can help them. Just be inside the discussion.
• Regularly use social media: Twitter, Instagram. Watch hashtags related to your industry and engage with people that use them.

Follow the statistics

Do you know how many people visit your website? How many people come back? What is the most popular topic on your blog? Don’t be worried about the low number of readers. Think about why one topic had many page views, and another much less. Feel like the reader.

• Use special tools to check how your readers are behaving (Google Analytics will be helpful).
• Then you’ll see which topics are the most/the least popular. Think about the reasons: maybe it’s the topic, what you talk about, the way you do it, or something entirely different?
• Pay attention to visiting hours – let it be a tip for you when it’s the best time for a new post.

Use tools which help with visitors retention

Let’s face the harsh truth: most of the readers don’t visit your website again (you can check your User Retention in Google Analytics). How to change it and convert one-time visitors to loyal readers? There are many techniques that you can use to notify your readers about new content and win their attention. Make them remember your website and… come back. These tools have great potential to grow readers retention to your website.

• Newsletter is one of the oldest ways to increase user engagement and yet it’s still wildly successful. You can use tools like MailChimp (www.mailchimp.com) to create your own beautiful email messages. Combine that with giving a unique value to your Newsletter subscribers (for example, special promotion only for them) and subscribe form on your website to build a really strong retention channel.
• Mobile App. Distribute your content (articles, blog posts or messages) also on mobile devices. Keep in touch with every reader, engage your community in every place and at any time. It’s possible with sending Push Notifications to your readers’ mobile devices — even if the app is not running at the moment. The app will also automatically notify readers about new content and make sure that your readers won’t forget about you. Don’t you know how to start? Register on www.presspadnews.com and get your demo app for trial.

Be needed

Be someone who can solve the readers’ problem. What to choose if …? What are the best ways to …? Show the reader that he needs your blog and that you can answer his questions. If you can’t find inspiration, it’s good to look for ideas in groups, hashtags, and social media. Before you’ll start writing, see what readers wrote.

• Remember to write helpful, meaningful posts & comments. Don’t write short opinions without substantiation. Simply writing “I agree” won’t give you much recognition.
• Always read comments about your post. Make a list the most frequently asked questions and main topics.
• Write about these problems on your blog, of course with some solutions and advice. Come back to questions/discuss and share a link to your post like an answer (add a short explanation).
• Use sentences like: “If you want to know more…”, “You can read more…”, “If you’re interested…”

Observe the best

There are many top bloggers who attract thousands of followers. They don’t use any magical ways, they have the same tools as you. Get inspired. Think about reasons of their popularity in the network. Even the best have idols that inspired them.

• Look for influencers in the industry and follow them. When you find a blog that suits your topic dive deeper – check how many fans do they have on Facebook/Twitter, is it worth to interact with them?
• Follow the best bloggers with the biggest group of followers and read them regularly. What do they write about? What is their relationship with the readers?
• Write meaningful, helpful comments and leave a link to your posts about a similar topic. But remember to leave links only if they are really needed. Don’t use comments only as an excuse to paste the link.

Focus on quality

I’m not just talking about the content that you publish, but also about how it is transmitted. Substantive and stylistic correctness is a must. Remember that you take responsibility for everything you publish.

• Before you write an article or answer, do the research and try to learn as much as possible, become a specialist. Write about facts, not speculation.
• Don’t make grammar and stylistic mistake. Remember that it’s easier to read short sentences and less complicated language. If you use some unknown word, explain it.
• Every time after you write something, read it out loud before publishing. It will help you notice and correct any mistakes you might have made.
• Remember to make your content SEO-friendly. If you don’t know about SEO, check out these amazing guides: www.quicksprout.com by QuickSprout and (even more amazing) Webris by Ryan Stewart.
• And… if you make a mistake, admit to it, don’t lie. Don’t leave without a comment, write a correction.

Be authentic

Don’t believe those who say that only fiction can be sold, and authenticity isn’t fashionable. The internet is full of ideas that don’t exist. They appear suddenly and they shine brightly but… they go out quickly. And this is not our aim, is it?

• If you want to put a photo on your blog, don’t overuse photo editing programs like photoshop.
• There is a lot of fake news around so it’s important to check sources and make sure what you write is true.
• Never steal someone’s content, picture, anything.
• Don’t praise your product and don’t try to sell it. Instead, focus on building the highest quality, interesting content – it will work much better.
• Show your “human side” from time to time – show photos from your workspace or integration events.

Laugh

Take care of the right dose of humor. Not everything has to be taken seriously, right? Nothing is better than laughs but in the right dose and form. Use your own experience, add an anecdote, create your own graphics. The same sense of humor connects people.

• Create funny headers. It’ll be more catchy.
• Remember – too many jokes are not funny.
• Always try to find some fun facts about the topic and put it into your text. Or… just write something funny to attract readers.

Be colorful

Have you ever heard about color psychology? This is one of the most important aspects of modern marketing. Read about how colors affect people’s decisions. Take care of the graphic design of your blog, and remember that psychology is as important as esthetics.

• Read about colors’ meanings and symbolic. You have to know that women choose different colors than men (it depends also on age, job or… seasons). Your knowledge about your readers is necessary not only to create great-fitting content but to make your web design appeal to them as well.
• Don’t use sad or too many colours.
• When you think about page layout, don’t be afraid to ask your friends for an opinion on how your website looks like.

Break the pattern

Schematic thinking isn’t enough to get more popularity. A blog isn’t just a written word. Don’t be afraid to experiment with the form. Take on challenges, non-standard activities. It will be hard to attract new readers if you limit yourself to writing.

• Invite people to cooperate. Look for an opportunity to write guest posts and be open to publishing guest posts on your website. It’s a great way to attract other publishers’ readers to get interested in your content too.
• Make a video, do a live chat. Have you heard about Q&A?
• Activate your readers, make it a dialogue instead of a monologue. Ask about their experience, opinion and discuss it.

Hint: Having your own mobile application has potential to greatly improve engagement rate of your content and retention to your website.

Or maybe you’re interested in creating web magazine? If your answer is yes you should read about how to create stunning web magazine on WordPress

Building your brand online is based on building the relationship between the content creator and the readers by creating properly selected content. People connect with other people, not products, so it’s important to be in touch with them. There are many ways to keep people closer to your business. And get ready for regular work which is the key to success.