This article is a chapter from my book Blog Ideas: 131 Ideas to Kill Writer's Block, Supercharge Your Blog and Stand Out. The entire book will eventually be available on this website for free in web format, but if you prefer to read it in ebook or physical formats, you can find Blog Ideas on Amazon.com (affiliate link).
The exact number is impossible to pin down, but there are likely well over 300 million blogs on the internet. Out of those blogs, over 95% are dead zombie blogs. You can still visit these decaying and abandoned blogs. The last vestiges of an audience might even haunt some of them. Spooky, I know.
There are countless reasons why owners may have chosen to abandon a blog. But if you look at the common theme among blogs that remain active, you find that most have gained an audience. Those few successful blogs out there gained an audience because they have amazing content.
I can’t think of any blog that started out as an instant success. Bloggers often believe that if they just put up great content, the blog will become a success. That is not true. Nobody will read your blog if it never pops up in front of them. You need to advertise your blog. Not in a sleazy salesperson way. But you need to get the link to your blog in front of as many people as possible. People won’t know about your blog unless you tell them about it somehow.
This article will provide tips for how you can tell people about your blog so you can build traffic. “Traffic” is just a fancy way of referring to all the people who visit your blog. You will want to increase your traffic because you want people to visit your blog. If nobody reads your content, the time you spent writing it gets wasted.
In this article, you will also find tips on how to make your blog more friendly to search engines. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It is about making your blog content easy to find on search engines like Google. Much of the traffic most blogs get come from Google searches. That’s why SEO is so important.
Social media also provides ways you can reach your potential readers. Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are among the most popular sites on the internet. They are now effective ways to advertise and promote your blog. The section on using social media has tips for promoting your blog through social media.
How to get traffic
Once there is some content on your blog, you will want to find readers. A common rookie mistake is to put your content online and assume people will just start finding it. If you do that, you’ll most likely hear crickets after you put your content up. You need to be proactive and work to get people to visit your blog.
Think about the last new blog you visited. How did you find it? The web address didn’t just pop into your head the moment it went live. You probably found it as a link on another blog, from a search engine, or from an advertisement. Maybe you even saw it on TV or heard someone mention it. The truth is, almost all of these ways you could have found out about the new blog required some work by the blogger. Sure, you can wait until Google finds your blog and hope it ranks high enough for people to find it. But doing that is like sitting around watching TV and hoping you get rich.
Comment on other blogs
If you read other blogs, then you already have access to some potential traffic. All you have to do is update your profile to include your blog address and comment on those other blogs. If one of your comments piques enough curiosity, people will want to know who you are.
When you leave a response on a forum or someone else’s blog, you often can submit a website address along with your name. Sometimes your comment will display the website address alongside it. It puts your link on the forum or blog.
Spammers often abuse this technique. Don’t be a spammer. The Law of Internet Karma says that you will get deleted, banned, and ostracized when you do this. Instead, you want to be a prolific commenter who always has something valuable to say. People will look to you for advice. They will be curious about who you are. They will click your links in search of more information.
Find out where the readers of your blog hang out when they’re not at your site. It may be on other blogs. Or it may be on certain forums. Become an active reader of some of these other blogs and forums. Each day, spend a few minutes visiting them. Answer questions, take part and contribute. Traffic to your blog will increase as a side effect.
A tool that makes it easy to find blogs to comment on is Drop My Link. All you have to do is enter a keyword, and it will find relevant blogs where you can leave a comment. It is best to find blogs that are a little bit bigger than your own. You can gauge the “size” of a blog by how many comments an average post receives. It also helps to comment as early as possible after a new article is posted.
All good things take hard work to build. If you want to use blog commenting as a driver of traffic to your site, you must be consistent. Make a daily plan to comment on other sites. You can start small until the habit sets in. Post at least one useful comment a day on a site you read. After a year, you will have posted at least 365 comments. Each one of those comments will serve as a link pointing back to your blog.
Help others
The internet has so much information on it that many people use it to solve their problems. You can go to popular places where people ask questions and help as many people as possible. Being helpful to others is one of the best ways to build an army of loyal readers.
Go to a question-and-answer site like Quora. Create an account, and add your blog’s address to your user profile. Then start answering questions. Try to answer questions related to your blog’s niche. You can also answer questions you see on forums and comments.
Guest post
Guest posting is when you write a blog post for someone else’s blog. It is a great way to introduce your content to another audience.
The first step for guest posting on a blog is to determine if the blog even accepts guest posts. Some blogs are so personal to the author that a guest post would just be awkward. Other blogs accept guest posts but have strict guidelines regarding them. Always look for the website’s guest posting guidelines before offering to write a guest post.
If a blogger agrees to let you guest post, submit only your best work. A guest post will only bring new readers to your blog if you impress them with great content. Remember, you are writing to someone else’s audience. Try to write in the style of the blog you are guest posting on. Try to resonate with the subtle differences in the other blog’s audience.
Write for a print publication
You don’t have to limit your activities to the internet. Print publications like local newspapers, newsletters, and magazines also have audiences. Try submitting articles or letters to your favorite newspapers, newsletters, or magazines. When you do, see if you can also have your web address or blog name listed in your byline.
Network with other bloggers
Network freely with your niche. Join communities in your niche, like on Facebook Groups or Reddit. There are also blog conferences that you can attend. Just search your favorite search engine for “blog conferences,” and you will find hundreds of them.
When you’re just starting out, it is often easiest to network with other new bloggers. You can find other newer bloggers by searching on Twitter for phrases like “first blog post” or “launched my blog.” Also, look in the comments section on blogs that you read.
If you’re a bit more aggressive, you can look for other bloggers in your local area and meet them in person. Create your own conference, roundtable, or mastermind group. Meet other bloggers over coffee at your local coffee shop.
Advertise your blog
It’s not worth it to advertise on most blogs; however, if you offer a product, you can advertise the product and use your blog as a place interested people can go to for more information.
There are many places where you can advertise. Facebook, Twitter, and Google are popular examples. You will also need to create some advertising materials like advertisement graphics, marketing text (called “copy”), and free content (called “lead magnets”).
Link to others
When you write blog posts, link generously to posts on other blogs. But make sure your links are in context. Linking to other blogs generates trackbacks. A trackback is a notification you get when another blog links to you. If the blog you’re linking to has trackbacks enabled, that blog author will get a notification that you linked to them. Sometimes, the trackback will even display on the linked blog post. It’s an easy way to get some extra attention to your blog posts.
Join a blog hop
A blog hop is a network of blogs. Usually, it is a collection of links posted on one site or every participating blog. Link parties are similar, though they are usually centered around a single theme. Every participating blogger tries to visit the other blogs in the network and leave comments. It is a good way to get to know other bloggers in your niche.
Word of mouth
Tell people about your blog. Craft your elevator pitch so when you mention your blog in conversation you can tell people what your blog is about and why they should visit.
Go through your address book and send your blog link to everyone you know. Ask for honest feedback. Get accounts on every social media site your friends are on. Share your best blog posts on your social media sites.
If blogging is your primary business, or if your blog is the best way to find information about your company, have business cards printed with your blog’s address on them. Share them with everyone you meet.
Have a bumper sticker or car decal printed with your web address. This is a great way to get neighbors and people in your local area to start reading your blog.
Build your list
E-mail mailing lists are the most reliable way to reach your audience. Posting on your blog or social media relies on your readers to take action and check if there is new content. But e-mail is something most people check every day. Begin collecting e-mail addresses from your readers as soon as possible. The people who join your e-mail list will have your most loyal readers among them.
You should provide an incentive for joining your e-mail list. These incentives are called lead magnets. A lead magnet can be a free e-book, special report, exclusive video, bonus content, checklist, infographic, cheat sheet, or anything else you can deliver electronically for free.
There are many e-mail list services that you can choose from. Some popular ones are MailChimp, MailerLite, Aweber, and ConvertKit.
Make it easy to subscribe to your e-mail list from your blog. You can provide something as subtle as a link on your sidebar, or as aggressive as a full-page takeover asking the reader to join. It all depends on your personality and your audience’s receptiveness to being pitched. There are many plugins and software tools that can help you gather email addresses. A few to consider are HelloBar, Sumo, and OptinMonster.
SEO tips for blogs
SEO is search engine optimization. SEO is more about helping Google understand what your post is about, rather than figuring out the hottest search term. Don’t worry much about the SEO. Just concentrate on writing good content. Be sure to use these ideas naturally and organically in your posts, or else Google might penalize your blog for using spammy tactics like keyword stuffing.
The biggest rule of SEO is this: whatever you do, don’t get banned by Google. Don’t pay for text links, publish links that have been paid for, stuff keywords, hide keywords, scrape content, or publish content that is nothing more than links. If it feels deceptive and slimy, stay away from it. If you’re doing something that you think Google may think is a bit shady, use the “nofollow” tag so Google won’t think the link is paid.
Make sure your content is evergreen
Evergreen content, like evergreen trees, stays green through the years. It is content that never gets outdated. You can revisit the blog post years later, and the content will still be helpful. It is the best type of content from an SEO standpoint.
The best evergreen content tends to be long-form content that is at least 1,000 words in length. Make sure the content has a clear takeaway and resources that readers will want to come back to reference. Also, make sure your content is unique. You want your blog post to be the only place readers can find the content all in one place.
Publish your content on the big sites
The biggest websites almost have a monopoly on readers. You will have to fight an uphill battle to get any significant number of regular readers to your blog. Sometimes, if you can’t beat them, join them. Go to some of those big websites and put your content there. Publish your best articles on Medium and other sites that will publish your articles. Polish your headline and submit some blog posts to submission sites like Reddit, Digg, or EzineArticles.
You want to write quality long-form content that is at least 1,200 words. Build a network of larger sites that are willing to publish your articles. Then, whenever you write another great long-form article, submit to the sites. If you can get links back to your blog, your readership will grow.
Generate backlinks
A backlink is a link on another website that points to your blog. If you want your blog to rank higher in search results, you need to have as many quality backlinks as possible. There are many ways to generate backlinks. As discussed previously, publishing your content on another website is one way to do it. Another way is to comment on other blogs. Share your content through all your social media channels. Put a link to your blog in all your online profiles. Whenever you find a new way to get your link on another website, take advantage of it.
Load up with keywords
Another way to get your blog to rank higher in search engines is to use a lot of keywords. When it comes down to it, SEO is all about keywords. Use terminology that people use when they search on search engines. Think of what your readers would type in the search box if they wanted to find your article. Make sure you use those words in your article. You can also identify popular keywords related to your niche using Google’s Keyword Planner tool.
Use the keywords often and in strategic places. Search engines attach more weight to keywords that appear in the web address, title, and headings of your articles. Use your keywords in the beginning and end of your post content. Use keywords in and around links. Remember to fill out the descriptive ALT tags for any images you include. Also, remember to fill out the metadata for your blog posts before publishing. Just don’t get overzealous in putting keywords in your article. Overdoing it is called “keyword stuffing” and can get you penalized by search engines. Keep it natural.
Using social media
Social media should complement your blog. Find out what social media sites your readers hang out at and focus your attention there. Use them to engage with your readers outside of your blog and build awareness of your brand.
With social media, quality is more important than quantity. Having 100 dedicated readers sharing and discussing your content on social media is way better than having an army of 10,000 uninterested people who followed you by accident or through marketing tricks.
When you use social media for your blog, don’t just post a link whenever you have a new blog post. Make sure you offer something different from your blog. Likewise, if you’re on several social media platforms, be sure to put different content on each.
Run Facebook ads
The advantage of running ads on Facebook is that Facebook knows a lot about its users. You can run highly targeted ads that only your most likely customers will see. To get started, you should first create a lead page on your blog or through a site like LeadPages. The lead page will be where people get directed to when they click on your ad. On the lead page, make the call to action clear. If you want visitors to join your mailing list, tell them the benefits, and make it easy for them to sign up. Set limits on how much you spend on the ads, and let them run for a few weeks so you can assess whether they are worth it or not.
Make a Pinterest strategy
Some bloggers swear by Pinterest for building their blog’s audience. Pinterest lets users maintain a virtual board where they can “pin” images with associated links. You can surf the web, and whenever you find an interesting article, recipe, or other content, you can pin it to your Pinterest board.
The key to gaining followers on Pinterest is to include at least one pinnable graphic on each blog post you write. Create tall images that are colorful and eye-catching. Put text on your images that invoke curiosity. That way, when someone pins your blog post to a Pinterest board, it shows up as a warm, inviting picture that readers will want to click.
Join as many large and active collaborative boards as you can. Build a habit of regularly pinning your best content onto those boards.
Develop a Facebook strategy
Facebook is the largest social network. Creating a fan page for your blog on Facebook is an excellent way to start promoting your blog on social media. Once you create a fan page, you can make a strategy for growing your audience.
Methodically post a set number of updates every day. On Facebook, you can post photos, videos, or text. It’s a good idea to mix them up. Post anything you think your readers would find valuable or entertaining. Include a mix of inspirational quotes, amusing pictures, and helpful links. You can use a scheduling app like Buffer to post content at regular intervals. Posting a few times a day, spaced apart by a few hours, seems to work well for a lot of bloggers. Be sure to include an image with every post. You can also help grow your Facebook audience by including “Like” buttons on your blog.
Build your audience with LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a social network oriented towards business professionals. It is a great place to connect with others in your industry. With LinkedIn, you can participate in or start group discussions, interact with influencers, and share business-related articles. Start with filling out your LinkedIn profile and building your resume. Then join a few groups, and start building your network by sending invites, endorsing people you know, and soliciting endorsements. LinkedIn pages tend to rank highly in Google, so keep in mind that it might be the first page people see when they search for your name.
Building a following on Instagram
Instagram is a photo-sharing social network owned by Facebook. You use Instagram primarily through its smartphone app. Take pictures, apply filters, and share them. Share your best, most intriguing photos. Use hashtags so others can find them easier. Be interesting and genuine, and people will want to know more about you and perhaps visit your blog.
Generate traffic with Twitter
Twitter is a microblogging platform. That means each post, or tweet, must be 140 characters or less. You can also post photos, videos, and polls. As with other social media, be sure to fill out your profile and put your blog’s web address on it. Tweet links to great content, pictures, and videos.
Use Buffer
Buffer lets you schedule posts on social media. It works with all the major social networks. With Buffer, you don’t have to waste your time posting on social networks all day. You can schedule several posts at once and have Buffer post them at the times you want.
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