Creating a blog and posting articles on it will not guarantee that anyone will read your blog. In fact, without the proper strategies in place, you may find that your blog goes through whole weeks or even months with few – if any – unique visitors. Whether you blog for fun, interest or business, the following tips can help you increase traffic going to your blog.
- Content is king. Pardon the cliche – but note the wisdom in this saying. Updating your blog on a regular basis with good quality content will do couple of things: it will keep recurring visitors interested and coming back to read more; it will give new visitors a sense that your blog is happening and up-to-date; finally, it will encourage better ranking on the search engines.
- SEO is not just for websites! Search engine optimization includes a range of techniques such as adding relevant tags to posts, submitting your blog directly to search engines, and using keywords appropriately to target a specific audience.
- Network with your target audience. Join forums and social networking groups that relate to your blog. Dialogue with other users and build up relationships with them. Read other blogs and connect with writers via your blogroll. Encourage visitors to your blog through links located in profile pages, signatures and posts.
- Utilize comments to further connect with readers. Write blog posts in such a way that they encourage readers to respond. Check for new comments regularly and follow up each conversation thread. Regulars will feel valued and appreciated, and new visitors will be able to see at a glance that your blog is well respected.
- Leave off advertising until you’ve developed popularity. Low-quality and low-traffic blogs are often covered with Google Adsense ads and advertising banners. This is often a major deterrent to new visitors, who are less likely to take the blog seriously. Wait until you have established a reputation and a good following of subscribers before introducing advertisements to your blog. If and when you do, make sure that the content of the ads is relevant to your blog and is of good quality, and that the ads are well-placed within the blog.
- Plain text is plain. Reading huge chunks of text is boring, and readers are likely to give up after a paragraph or two if there is no other media to break it up. Adding pictures and videos to your blog can help spruce it up and make it more visually appealing. Other ways to make blocks of text more interesting include adding blockquotes, bullet points, indentations, etc.
