Next to content and design, traffic plays a crucial part in having a successful blog. What’s the point of having a beautiful blog with killer content and no one to read it? It’s a total buzz kill. So here are some ways that have helped me drive traffic to my blog and hopefully they help you, too…
drive traffic to your blog through guest posts
Honestly, if you have a consistent/prevalent guest posting gig, that’s all you need. This is by far the #1 way to drive traffic to your blog. Get other people to share your work with their audience, which in turn makes them your audience. The key is to bring something to the table that particular site is missing but still aligns with the site’s content. Here are some great sites to guest post on:
drive traffic to your blog by having guest posts
Sometimes it’s easier to have people guest post on your blog than guest post on other people’s. Once you give other bloggers another platform to share their story on, they will most likely return the favor. Unfortunately, in the beginning of your blogging journey you might have to scratch a couple backs before it’s your turn, but it will pay off!
When I interviewed Fashionlush she then shared the post with her followers, so I increased my exposure that way.
drive traffic to your blog by promoting on social media
This may be a no brainer to some people, but there’s a proven effective way to drive traffic to your blog. There’s actually a site called, Iconosquare that analyzes your Instagram data and tells you when the best day/time to post is.
You do a similar analyses using Fanpage Karma. You can see/compare when your competitors are posting and either join them in posting at high engagement times, or avoid their mistakes.
Want more? Comment/like other blogger’s Instagram pictures and Facebook posts. This will gain you more exposure, too.
drive traffic to your blog with SEO
Back in the good ol’ days of blogging, the more SEO the better. Now, Google has switched their algorithm and you can actually use synonyms with your original keyword{s}, which is even better!
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. Basically Google is able to scan the web for posts that best meet the needs of Google searches. For example if your post is titled “Best Trends for Fall ’15”, you would want to make your post use those keywords throughout your post in a subtle way. Too much usage and Google thinks you’re a robot, not enough and Google doesn’t pick up your post and you’re not ranked. WordPress makes an awesome plugin called Yoast SEO that will actually tell you how your post is scaled.
Since Google has changed their algorithm you can have “Best Trends for Fall ’15” as your title and use phrases such as “these are some awesome trends for fall ’15” or something like that using synonyms and you can definitely be ranked that way, too.
drive traffic to your blog through commenting
This is one of the oldest blog traffic tricks in the book. If you visit sites like Song of Style, you’ll notice she gets around 275 comments on each blog post. Some I’m sure are genuine, but most are from other fashion bloggers commenting for their own exposure. It’s flattering and depressing at the same time.
You think you have this great post then you see people commenting something so generic like “Great dress!” with a ton of links to their social profiles. They do the same thing on Instagram. BUT, this does bump your exposure a little. I’ve clicked on several commenter’s names if they’re interesting enough.
What are ways you drive traffic to your blog?
xx
more from the blogging 101 series
HOW TO START A BLOG ON A BUDGET
HOW TO DESIGN A BLOG ON A BUDGET
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