The second question I get asked most often (after “How do I make money on my blog?” is “How do I get more traffic to my blog?”
Getting more traffic to a blog is not something you can do overnight. It takes time and effort. But if you work on it, you will grow a thriving blog with a ton of traffic in time. Just don’t give up! Remember, slow and steady wins the race.
This list is NOT a list of obvious stuff. Like “write good content” and “post regularly.” Well, DUH. I used to HATE it when I was first starting out blogging and I’d search around online to try to find out how to grow my traffic and I’d read blog posts that recommended stuff like this. I mean, come on guys!
So in this post, I will share with you the not so obvious ways to increase traffic to your blog. There are real, tactical tips that nobody tells you when you start blogging. But they are things that work.
- Get your blog set up on Feedburner.
I wouldn’t even include this one but I’m often surprised at how many bloggers I meet have not done this yet. Heck, it took me over a year after I started CHEESESLAVE to get the Feedburner set up, and it took me even longer to learn how to promote it. Right now I only have 11 people signed up for my Feedburner emails.
- Offer to do guest posts on popular blogs in your niche.
People think blogging is a solitary job but it isn’t. The best bloggers out there are incredibly outgoing. You’re always interacting with your readers on comments and Facebook and Twitter, and if you’re really good, you’re interacting with other bloggers.
Doing guest posts on popular blogs helps potential readers find you. But more importantly, it also helps build relationships with fellow bloggers. This will be important to you one day when you start selling content on your blog.
Don’t just do any old post — make sure it’s a good one. And send it to the blogger with all the photo links and everything already embedded (HTML format). Don’t send them something sloppy that they have to spend time cleaning up.
- Share your blog related content on Social media:
Social media helps you to drive more traffic to your blog. You can share related content on Facebook, Instagram, and other social channels. You can share the post URL on Facebook and Twitter. Use vibrant images when you post on Instagram and buy real Instagram followers to make it visible among the target audience.
- Start a podcast and post it on iTunes and your blog.
You could also start shooting videos and post them on a YouTube channel and embed them on your blog.
I love podcasting so much, I’m also thinking of starting a podcast for this blog as well. And I will be doing lots of videos! Not only do people share podcasts and videos on their blogs and Facebook and email, but they can also find your podcasts and videos on YouTube and iTunes. Making videos and/or podcasting are GREAT ways to pull in more traffic from new sources.
