5 Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Blog
When you first launch your blog everything is new and exciting.
You’re ready to take on the world and make an impact with your content.
You hit publish on some amazing posts and then sit back and wait for the influx of comments and shares.
And wait…
And wait…
And wait some more…
This is exactly what I did.
And when those people never came I started to realize that I needed to go out and find these people.
At this point, they didn’t even know I existed.
If you are struggling to get readers, then you will love my 5 ways to drive traffic to your blog.
You don’t have to try every single thing right now.
Work through a few of them and then move onto the next.
5 Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Blog
#1 SEO
SEO stands for search engine optimization. It just means that you are optimizing your blog content so that your posts can be found in search engines.
I know it might sound a little scary, but it’s actually pretty easy to get your blog posts to rank in Google for specific keywords.
You spend all this time writing amazing content so you need to take a few extra steps so that your content will pop-up as a relevant search result.
Every time your target audience has a question or is looking to learn about something, what do you think they do?
They search for it in Google.
You want your content to pop-up when they search so that they can get the solution to their problem from your blog.
Here are a few things you can do to increase your blog traffic with SEO:
Research keywords for your blog posts. Doing this will help you to understand what people are searching for on Google. You want to use keywords that have a high search volume but not a lot of competition. I personally use Google Keyword Planner.
Optimize your title and sub-headings with the keyword or keyword phrase for that blog post.
Make sure all of your blog posts URL’s are readable: addiganley.com/ways-to-drive-traffic instead of addiganley.com/post2746464
Link to other relevant content you have on your site. Interlinking helps you rank higher in Google.
Check to make sure your blog is mobile-friendly
Every time you write a new blog post take the time to optimize the post so that you can drive organic traffic to your blog from search engines.
#2 PINTEREST
Most bloggers consider Pinterest another social media site, but it is actually a search engine.
This means you need to take the time to implement SEO strategies on Pinterest just like we talked about above.
Your target audience isn’t just turning to Google when they have a question or problem, they are also utilizing Pinterest.
Which is awesome for YOU!
Statistics show that 80% of pinners are using Pinterest to make purchases. Plus, there are 322 million monthly active users on Pinterest every single month.
You need to be leveraging the power of Pinterest to drive traffic to your blog.
Here are a few things you can do to increase your traffic from Pinterest:
When you write a new blog post, create several different pin images. I like to make 5-10 images for each post so that I can continually pin all of the images to my boards to drive more traffic to my website.
Use a scheduling service. In order to grow your blog, you need to be pinning consistently on Pinterest. You can’t just pin one day and then nothing for a week or two. I recommend using Tailwind to schedule all of your pins. Not only will it save you time, but they also have a ton of awesome features to help you grow your account.
Take the time to create images that will intrigue your audience to click over to your blog.
Be sure to optimize your images so that your pins pop-up when someone searches on Pinterest. This means, using your keyword in the title and description of the pin.
If you want to read more about SEO strategies check out my post: How to Use Keywords on Pinterest, or read my top 3 Pinterest Hacks to explode your traffic.
#3 SOCIAL MEDIA
Most bloggers underestimate using social media, or they only share their content one time on each platform.
Every single time you post a new piece of content you need to leverage your social media accounts to drive traffic back to your blog.
This could be through Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
Wherever your audience is hanging out is where you need to be focusing your time and energy.
This means, sharing your content frequently and multiple times instead of just posting it once and then expecting people to read it.
I personally love using a scheduling service so that I can schedule the content to go out several times a week on my social media accounts.
I am currently using Smarterqueue (<-that’s my affiliate link) to schedule to Facebook and Twitter. (If you sign up for SmarterQueue through my link you will get an extended trial - 30 days- instead of the normal 14-day trial that they offer.)
Don’t just post the link with a small caption about the content, get creative with it.
Here are a few ideas to promote your content on your social platforms:
Pull quotes or excerpts from the blog post
Create quote images from the post
Design an infographic or other graphics from the content
You can take one blog post and promote it several different times a week without sounding redundant.
Come up with a good posting schedule where you can be consistent.
#4 REPURPOSING CONTENT
To prevent you from recreating the wheel, you want to repurpose your blog content to drive more traffic back to your website.
This simply means taking one asset (blog post) and reusing it some other way.
Instead of just writing 1 blog post you want to repurpose the content so you can reach a new audience and leverage what you already have created.
You don't always have to create new content.
I recommend going back into your blog archives and pulling some of the most popular posts and picking several different ways that you could repurpose it.
Don't worry about feeling like you are using the same content on several different platforms. Not everyone is following you on all of your social media accounts.
Remember, to focus your time and effort where your audience is hanging out.
Here are a few examples:
Summarize the blog post and share it in your newsletter
Go live on Facebook or Instagram to talk about the post
Record a short video summary of the blog post
Each time you repurpose the content you want to be driving that audience to the blog post.
Doing this will help you to increase your traffic without spending a lot of time.
#5 COLLABORATING
This is something I wish I would have focused more time and energy on when I was first starting out.
You can quickly grow your traffic and build your blog audience when you have someone else introducing you or promoting you to their audience.
Your content would make a bigger impact because it would reach so many more people than if you were just promoting it by yourself.
It can be really hard putting yourself out there, but when you take the time to build REAL connections and REAL relationships with other bloggers in your industry you will see your blog grow.
Examples could be guest posting, podcast interviews, affiliate partnerships and even joint webinars.
You don’t want to just randomly reach out to people and ask them to share your website.
You really need to focus on being genuine and taking the time to engage with other bloggers.
Start sharing about them and take an interest in what they are doing.
Not only is it fun to make online BFF’s that you can collaborate with but it will help you to build your traffic and your online business.
Those are my top 5 ways to drive traffic to your blog.
You can also turn to paid advertising, but I don’t want you to just throw money at an advertising platform without a plan in place.
Trust me, you will lose money fast.
Take the time to pick a few of the ideas from this post and implement them on your blog.
Let me know some of your favorite ways to drive traffic to your blog in the comments below.