I have been wanting to share with you guys the best ways to drive traffic to your blog for a long time. Once you have started your blog, you may be wondering why your traffic is so low. I hate to break it to you, but the famous phrase Build it and they will come, does not always apply to blogs! You need to be strategic about growing your blog traffic and that’s precisely what we’re going to discuss today.
When I first started blogging, I googled things like “how to grow your blog traffic” and “how to get more blog pageviews.” I remember finding articles promising dozens of ways to increase a blog’s pageviews, but here’s the thing: you don’t need 100+ ways to grow your blog traffic, you just need a few REALLY good ways.
Sure, you could post on Twitter, Reddit, and whatever the new social media du jour is, but in my experience, those types of social networks only got me a few pageviews here and there. I’m going to focus on a few of the BEST ways to drive traffic to a blog – ways that are long lasting and worth the time investment. After all, you want long term blog growth, not immediate but wavering spurts in traffic.
Long-Term, Stable Blog Traffic
Let’s get started on the best ways I’ve personally found to grow a blog’s pageviews and traffic in a long term and sustainable way. I’m going to give you detailed advice on how to increase pageviews with step by step instructions. No vague ideas, here!
Post New Articles Consistently
This is a fairly obvious tip which you probably don’t even consider to be advice, but it is incredibly important and often overlooked. So many bloggers publish new content 1 or 2 times a week and then wonder why their traffic isn’t growing. Unless you are publishing long-form, highly optimized articles twice a week, your blog simply won’t grow on such little new content.
Once I started publishing new content five times per week (Monday through Friday) on my home decor blog, my traffic started to grow exponentially. The articles weren’t very long – about 300 words each, but it was enough to show Google that I was a consistent publisher worthy of their attention. If you don’t update your blog regularly, Google will begin to identify it as inactive, and show it less in search results.
Now, before you go off content planning, I’d like to point out that there is quite a lot of debate as to whether it’s better to publish one 1500 word article or five 300 word articles each week. Essentially, is long-form better than short-form content? I took the latter route, and it has served me well. I did have an established website once I did this, though, meaning my domain authority was already high in the eyes of Google. This is probably why this strategy worked for me.
I think the best thing to do is experiment both ways with your blog and see which route works better for you. Whatever frequency you choose, be sure to stick with your publishing schedule, no matter what. Schedule time in your calendar each week that you will dedicate to writing blog posts, and don’t stray from it.
If you know you’ll be taking vacation or have a busy week coming up, schedule your posts ahead of time. Consistency is key.
At the same time, don’t burn yourself out. If you need to take a week off, then do so. You won’t be severely punished or anything! Just know that success takes consistency.
On-Page SEO
The next thing to do when you want to grow your blog’s traffic is to work on your on-page SEO. SEO is the practice of optimizing your blog structure and content to be ranked highly in various search engines, mainly Google. Read my SEO basics guide if you are new to this.
On-page SEO refers to the content you produce and the structure of your website. It is the easiest to improve because you have complete control over it, as opposed to off-page SEO which refers to link building, domain authority, and other external factors that you have somewhat less control over.
There are a few components to improving your on-page SEO. First off, you want to start with good keyword research. This means you are targeting the word or phrase that most people search for in Google. Your post should focus on one topic and cover that topic to the greatest, most accurate extent.
Next up, you want to create long-form, detailed, and accurate content. Generally speaking, the longer the better when it comes to Google.
Lastly, you want to make sure your blog post structure is formatted in a way that Google can easily understand the breakdown of your content.
These are the basics to improving your on-page SEO and growing your blog traffic.
Add Internal Links
Internal links to other articles on my blog were a big factor in lowering my blog’s bounce rate and improving my pageviews. Anytime I use a keyword in my content that I target in another blog post, I link to that article. You can see a few examples of this in this post – just look at the above paragraphs!
I generally opt to have the link open in a new window if the keyword falls at the beginning of the article (because presumably, the reader will want to finish the current article before jumping to the new one), and I have the link open in the same window if the keyword is linked towards the end of the article.
Linking to related articles improves the chance that your post will rank for the keyword linked, and it helps readers discover other, related content on your website. It’s a double win!
I also manually add a “Related Posts” section to the middle or end of a post, depending on what I feel fits well. It could be a bulleted list of other similar topics with articles I’ve written, or it could be a highlighted bar that calls out another relevant article.
Linking to other articles while I’m writing is always near the top of my mind! When I draft articles in Google Docs, I always underline keywords in my sentences so that I know to link those words when I copy the content over to WordPress.
Build Out Pillar Content
Publishing in-depth pillar content on my blog was another huge factor in increasing my blog traffic as it showed Google that I was an expert in my particular niche (in this case, home decor).
Pillar content is content that covers a broad topic but breaks it down so that it’s easy to digest and understand for readers who may not be familiar with the subject matter. These articles seem quite “basic” but they really help to establish a sense of authority on a subject matter in the eyes of Google.
I always link to the more specific articles that fall under the umbrella of that larger topic as well. There are so many opportunities to interlink your blog posts if you just start looking!
Pin Creatively and Consistently
Lastly, Pinterest has been integral in growing my blog’s traffic. Keeping an active Pinterest account and staying on top of the current best practices for Pinterest marketing is important for most women’s interest blog niches like fashion, home decor, beauty, and travel. Getting traffic from Pinterest is relatively easier compared to Google, so it’s great for beginner bloggers!
Keeping up with Pinterest marketers has been quite helpful. When I first started marketing my blog on Pinterest, group boards were the key to success. That has changed over time, and group boards are no longer ranked highly in the Pinterest algorithm. Today I only pin to my personal boards.
I use a program called Tailwind to manage my pinning schedule. Tailwind helps me keep my Pinterest account active without having to log on to the platform and manually pin each day. I have a guide to Pinterest marketing using Tailwind if you are interested in the details.
Lastly, it’s so important to constantly create new types of pins and test out different visuals! Pin design is tough to master, but with a little trial and error, I’m sure you can find a pinning style that works for you and your blog. Don’t be afraid to get creative when it comes to Pinterest graphics.
Add a Shoulder Niche
Expand into a related topic on your blog to grow your blog traffic. If you write about fashion, you may consider adding a section about beauty to your site since these niches are closely related, yet separate. This can grow your blog’s readership over time once you have a large number of articles on that shoulder niche on your blog.
What I Love About These Traffic Sources
I really love the above ways to drive traffic because they are mostly passive. Once you do the work, you can sit back and watch the traffic roll in consistently. There are many more ways to grow your traffic, but I find them to be very active ways – meaning, once you stop doing them, the traffic stops too.
Here are a few active ways to grow your blog traffic:
- Send Email Updates to Your List Subscribers
- Grow Your Facebook Page Likes
- Start a Facebook Group
- Participate in Other Facebook Groups
- Join and Participate on Public Forums and Message Boards
- Participate in Tailwind Tribes
There’s nothing wrong with investing a small amount of time in learning how each of the above works. If you find you’re really passionate about engaging on Facebook, then perhaps you can take that route to grow your traffic. Since no one can be an expert in everything, I recommend finding someone else to help you grow your Facebook traffic as that’s not my area of expertise!
I really love Pinterest and Google for traffic.
Visitors from these platforms have what’s called “buyer intent” which means they are on the hunt for products and information. This puts your audience in the right mindset for you to earn money.
After all, what’s the point in having traffic if you can’t monetize it using affiliate marketing and ads?
It’s good knowledge for all Blogging industry……
Thanks for sharing..