10 Ways to Boost Your Blog Traffic

When you first start writing a blog you can quite quickly get tied up in the statistics. It can drive you mad, it really can! Soon enough you calm down and focus on the writing, but what about when you want to take your blog to the next level? You want people to read what you have to say! How can you boost your blog traffic?

When I first started my blog I knew nothing of stats, SEO or the work that comes along with owning a blog. Obviously that workload is my choice, I could rein it in and write when I please but that is not me.

I knew very early on that I wanted my blog to be my career and so I had to put in the work to make that happen. In just 11 months I have grown my social media following, worked with amazing brands and started working as a freelance writer for other companies.

 If I can do it, so can you!

If you are reading this post then you are probably thinking about taking your blog to the next level. You want to work with more brands, build that community and earn some money in the process. Great! There are a few things you need to make sure you are doing to make sure people find you and better still, come back for more time and time again!

Here are 10 ways to help boost your blog traffic:

1. FIND YOUR VOICE – You will have heard this said many a time I am sure. But what does it mean? People will tell you to write in your own style and I have always done that but to truly find my own voice I had to get to the bones of why I was blogging. What does blogging mean to me? What do I want to write about? Who am I writing for?

It has taken me a long time to find my style, I have settled on using a blog as a way to help others. I want to give mums the tools they need to find themselves and take control of their lives.

So what do you want to write about? Once you have a style then readers will be able to identify with you and it will make them more likely to return.

2. BE CONSISTENT – This is very important for two reasons. Firstly, posting regularly will help your SEO. The more you write the more you will be seen, plain and simple. Secondly, if you do have fans then you don’t want to keep them waiting weeks between posts. People have short attention spans and so unless you are an established blogger you cannot afford to lose momentum.

I post 2-3 times a week. I mix it up with how-to’s, tips and stories about motherhood. That is just my style though, remember – find YOUR voice.

3. SOCIAL MEDIA – Join ALL of the networks, that way you will target different audiences.

Twitter– I started off with 0 followers in May 2014 and now have over 16k. When I tweet a link to my post then there are thousands of people who can potentially see it and RT it. The more followers you have the higher percentage will see it in the waterfall of their feed.

Tweet posts out a minimum of 3 times a day using Social Oomph, that way you will hit different people at different times. I post mine over the course of a week so a post gets maximum exposure.

Facebook– This is where ‘real’ people will see your posts. These will be people who may not have Twitter, those who love to scroll down their newsfeeds and join in a good discussion. 

Pinterest- This is such an underused tool in blogging! Pinterest has millions of users and they are all potential fans of your blog! Every time you publish a post you should pin it to your Pinterest profile. I have written about it in more detail here so go take a look.

Instagram- I like to think of this as the behind the scenes to my life, the photo moments that do not make it into every blog post. People love to see beautiful photos, so fill up your feed with pictures that make you smile. 

4. SEO – This is so important for organic searches to your blog. You don’t want the only source of traffic to be through Twitter or Facebook- you want people to stumble across you through Google and other search engines. 

By writing posts with SEO in mind you will use keywords most used by those searching for various topics. That way, when someone searches for something your post has more chance of ranking on the first page of results. Combine that with frequency of posting and your SEO will greatly improve!

5. GIVEAWAYS – A great way to boost those blog stats is to host a giveaway. When a company contacts you regarding a review then always ask whether they would like you to host a giveaway too. Yes those visitors may only be reading a post in the hope to win something but you may also gain some loyal followers!

6. LINKYS – First of all they are a great way for me to find new blogs, by reading other blogs you can learn so much which can in turn help you find your voice. Of course they are great for stats too, the more linkys you join in with the more chance people will come visit your post and love your blog. 

Perhaps you have an idea for your own linky?

7. COMMENT COMMENT COMMENT – I always reply to every single comment left on my blog and try my best to return the favour- to me this is good manners but it also means you are building up a relationship within the community. 

I have also had people come to my blog after reading comments I have left on someone else’s post. Always leave meaningful comments and the love will come back to you.

8.  BLOG DESIGN – This is something I have finally managed to sort out. Unfortunately so many people will not see past a blog design and so even though you may write amazing content, if your blog design or navigation is poor then they will not hang about!

Invest in your blog and you will reap the rewards!

9. FANTASTIC PHOTOS – I love blogs with beautiful photos, I also love blogs that use text on photos well. It just makes everything more attractive and makes me more likely to stick around. Picmonkey is my favourite tool, I use it for editing most of my photos- cropping, resizing, adding text- you name it, Picmonkey can do it! I also use a DSLR camera- mine is a Nikon D3200 and I cannot recommend it highly enough. So easy to use compared to other brands.

10. BE PROFESSIONAL – Whether this be on Twitter, in an email or on your blog, always remain professional. I have seen a fair few bloggers commit blogger suicide by swearing or ranting and raving in the public domain. Nobody is impressed and it will not make them want to visit your blog. PR companies are watching you all the time so you need to show them that you are someone who can represent their brand.

I hope that has helped you, there are so many ways to boost blog traffic but making sure you cover the basics will ensure you get noticed by brands, rank higher in the search engines and keep readers engaged.

Do you have any tips for increasing blog traffic? 

Do check out my other Blog Clinic posts for more help and inspiration! 

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