A blog is a website type that is frequently updated with content and can be a website on its own or included in a bigger website.
It is an effective way of getting information out and engaging audiences, which is why blogging evolved from being an online personal journal to one of the main tools in digital marketing used to boost SEO, get leads and drive conversions.
It all starts with capturing people’s interests by having answers to their queries or search intent. Blogs could be about any niche or topic like fashion, beauty, family, business, technology, and the like. It could be more specific, too, like homeschooling under family/education, or cybersecurity under technology/business.
In the internet’s plethora of content, there is such a wide-open market to blog. Starting a blog is easier now with platforms like WordPress. There are different WordPress trends to guide you if you want to start your own. But once it is up and running, the next major challenge is to drive more traffic to your blog or website.
You do not have to be a marketing guru to put bring exposure to your blog. Here are ten ways to increase your blog traffic like a professional marketer.
10 Ways to Increase and Drive More Traffic to Your Blog
1. Write Good Content
To attract readers with your blog, the writer—whether it is you or somebody else in your team—must be knowledgeable and proficient in what they are writing about. People will read content that they find valuable to them and share it with others, thinking it will find value to others as well.
Even if it is a technical blog, the readers need to feel they are “conversing” with a real individual who is adept in the topic. Blogs like this tend to have more following because people do not just follow a blog; they follow people.
Even if you are a big brand, readers want to feel the human side of your brand or the people behind it. A blog is a great way to do that.
2. Find Your Niche and Become an Expert in It
It is better to write in your niche as well. You cannot be an expert on every subject or a Jack-of-all-trades. Even if you try, people go for expertise because they want their needs met well.
You are selling yourself cheap when you spread yourself thinly on different niches. Boost your credibility as a writer by concentrating on one or two niche-specific expertise and publish engaging content on those subject matters consistently.
3. Write Strategically to Meet Your Readers’ Needs
Writing to improve blog traffic means you are writing strategically. Blog traffic increases when you rank on SERP (Search Engines Result Page). To rank in SERP, your content needs to hit SEO (Search Engine Optimization) factors that search engines look for. Search engines respond to people’s search intent, which means the content you are writing must meet a specific need.
You can also find more ideas in forums like Quora, or even use Buzzsumo to learn about what articles have been written about your intended topic, and make something better or something that has not been covered yet.
4. Write Consistently
The more you write blogs and write consistently, the more your blog traffic increases. Google prioritizes sites that release fresh content consistently.
Whether you publish a blog weekly or twice a week, you need to be consistent about it. Consistency is a trust factor that readers look for.
5. Use Attention-Grabbing Headlines
Headlines need to be attention-grabbing so that readers will want to click on your link on SERP or whatever platform you used to promote your blog. A good title is not only persuasive but also gives the reader a clear idea of what to expect in your blog.
If your title is bland or vague, readers will skim through it on search engines and will hardly take a second look. It prevents you from being discovered, opposite of what you want if you are aiming to drive more traffic to your site. So, your headlines, titles, even meta descriptions must pack a punch.
6. Include Evergreen Content in Your Blog
Write content that is evergreen, SEO content that is continually relevant, and stays “fresh” for readers. Evergreen content is the kind of content that can remain on the web forever and will not be obsolete even over time.
For instance, writing about “Hot SEO Topics this 2020” may not be as hot in 2021, but if you create a topic like “5 Reasons You Should Boost Your SEO Strategy,” it can live longer on the web. Writing about what is fashionable for 2020 will become less relevant at the turn of the year while writing about strategies to power-dressing can stay relevant even as fashion trends come and go.
HubSpot suggests that writers should write with the right balance of timelessness and sustainability. Most “How To” guides are evergreen content. “How to create stunning images for the web” is evergreen, while “How to upload images from your mobile device to Facebook” may not be. But if the guide is updated to when mobile technology or Facebook changes, then it can become evergreen content.
7. Determine Consumer Avatars or Profiles to Write Relevant Content
Before creating content, you need to understand whom you are writing for. A writer must understand the target audience, what problems do they have that you can help solve, what kind of content interests them, and how how they would typically try to find the answers to their questions?
Also, determine the demographic of your target audience, like age, occupation, education level, expertise on the subject matter, and even level of tech-savviness.
Create 3 to 4 buyer personas so you can cover as much of your target audience as much as possible. Here is an example of a consumer avatar.
8. Find Where Your Target Audience Is
You need to promote your content on social media. But you need to know where your target audience is. Each social media platform specializes in a specific demographic.
Facebook and YouTube cover more in terms of age, location, gender, interests, and hobbies, and the like. Instagram and Twitter cater to younger millennials and Generation X, while TikTok and Snapchat cater to Gen X to Y.
Although, recently, due to the pandemic, TikTok has become the leading social media platform, so much so that brand promotion on TikTok is a trending strategy among bloggers, websites, and different brands.
9. Create Long-Form Content
Long-form content performs better in search results compared to thin content or short posts. It is a high-word-count post that provides in-depth detail on a subject, to the greater satisfaction of readers.
Content that is in long-form content helps drive more traffic and higher SEO ranking. Longer posts are richer in keywords, and key phrases will tend to be evergreen, and appear in SERP for long-tail keyword searches, which improves and drive more traffic to your blog.
10. Create Engaging Content With Images and Videos
Your blog cannot just be all text. About 43% of readers simply skim through content. They will only dwell on the blog if it is useful for them or at least engaging and entertaining.
Adding images and videos attracts more readers to your blog, and makes your blog even more share-worthy. Both are critical ingredients for driving your blog traffic.
Readers consume content in an F-shape pattern and read about 20% of your content. Optimize that by giving readers a better glimpse of your content thru impactful titles, headings, and bullet points, and of course, images and videos.
Your posts have more chances of being shared if it has images and videos. Social media users tend to prioritize clicking through content that has more engaging content, so make sure you use original media content in high-quality.
Videos in your blog content can bring a 72% improvement in conversion rates. You can make original blog images like a pro with user-friendly photo-editing apps even right in your mobile phone.
Using an app can help you churn content with images and videos faster for your blog and social media accounts for clickthrough options for those who get curious about your content.
Conclusion: Write with Passion and Purpose
There are other ways to drive more traffic to your blog, but these ten tips are sure to give you a great headstart. In all this, write with passion and purpose every time.
It means that you will not write content just because you want to trend, get more leads, and drive conversions. Those things are essential, of course, but that the heart of every content should be a purpose to help answer people’s needs and bring value to their lives.
You can have all the right ingredients search engines look for, but it takes skill and insight to create a blog that will be appealing and engaging for people. Not everyone can be a chef, but everyone can appreciate food. Not everybody can be a talented writer, but a good writer can touch people’s hearts, grab their attention, and cause them to consume your content with gusto.