Today I’m sharing the 5 most hated results producing suggestions I’ve ever given on how to increase blog traffic and a bit of insight on how well other blogs are kicking butt online. Below you’ll find a compilation of advice I’ve given that has met with the most resistance from clients, past students and bloggy friends. Not that the advice hasn’t been taken, they’re just not easy to implement though they definitely produce results.
You may be saying “Ha! I’m no wuss, I can do it” or “I don’t care what it is! I’ll do it! Just gimme traffic!” but be warned even I am resistant to most things in this list. You can try all of them or one of them and it will increase your blog’s traffic.
Here’s a compilation of the most hated advice I’ve ever given on the matter.
Pick a niche.
“To rank well, build a site so fantastic that it makes you an authority in your niche.”
~ Matt Cutts, Head of the Google Web Spam Team
I was pretty resistant to this for almost two years. On After Bedtime Blog, I wanted to blog about whatever I wanted to blog about. It was great for two years. And then, well, let’s just say, the fact that the site was never focused was a big contributing factor to it’s drop in search engine rankings and income loss. I moved on and have been focusing here ever since. This blog has been doing way better traffic and ranking-wise than the old blog ever did. I’m not saying you should narrow your niche, but this is the most hated piece of advice I’ve ever given out when it comes to blog traffic. It works, but it’s a lot of work, doesn’t always align with the blogger’s wants even if it aligns with her blog traffic needs.
Word of Warning: Don’t fix it if it ain’t broken.
A Great Example of the benefits of narrowing your niche: Facing40.com
The first post on that site was published June 24, 2013. (we imported all the running and health posts from Poppy’s more established site FunnyorSnot.com) Facing40′s Alexa on launch day was 13million+. That site has been live less than 2 months yet her alexa is now 287K and she has 11 important keyword phrases ranking in Google’s top 20. Poppy’s posts focus on being 40, fit and female. Narrowing her niche played a big part of her site doing so well in such a short amount of time. By narrowing her new blog’s niche to be of benefit to women facing 40, Poppy has the ability to create focus content and build a strong foundation.
Quality and Quantity
I have a Matt Cutts video to share with you and then I have the truth on the matter.
Here’s the truth…
You can get by on what Matt says. Hell, I do. But, if you’d really like to boost your traffic, you need quality posts several times a week. Not once a month after 3 weeks of research.
Traffic is not just new visitors from search engines and social media. Traffic is returning visitors and those who subscribe to your blog too. If you’re in the faces of the regulars, they won’t ignore you if your content is original, impressive, published often.
An inquiry was made a few days ago for me to analyze an ecommerce website because it wasn’t getting traffic. I took a look. The client definitely posts daily. Each and ever single post is about one of her products. It’s all about her shop and her services and there’s not one post on that site that I would share with my network. Not one post anyone can benefit from. I said to her “how about sharing some of your expertise on your blog”. She refused to write it herself or invest in a ghost writer. I turned the gig down.
To increase blog traffic you need to impress your visitors with content they can benefit from so they’ll share your content and send you more visitors.
Mia’s posts are at least 1000 words, filled with valuable information and she posts almost daily. Her blog has a PageRank of 5, an Alexa of 107K and she ranks for hundreds of keywords in Google’s Top 20. (yes I am her seo consultant) She publishes quality content almost daily that people want to share because so many can benefit from it. The woman is a powerhouse and there’s no way I could ever keep up with her posting schedule.
Social Media
It’s overwhelming. So many platforms, so little time. Truth is, invest time on all the major social media platforms – making connections, engaging with people, sharing other people’s posts more than you share your own – and you’ll attract traffic.
Social media is also crucial to your SEO, especially Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus.
Pinterest will send you crazy traffic too if you take the time to create pinnable images.
I envy the way Alison rocks social media. Writing Wishing has thousands of followers across social media. Every one of Alison’s posts that I’ve ever seen has a great pinnable photo and she’s very active on the major platforms. I can not see a pin or a google+ share of her post and not head straight to her blog. Moth to the flame people.
Alison also owns Little Love Media, so if you need guidance in kicking butt in social media, Alison is the woman to call on. If it weren’t for her, I still wouldn’t know how to use Pinterest right.
Google Plus Pages SEO Advantage
It’s the most ignored among mom bloggers and yet it has an extreme amount of potential in bringing you more traffic by bettering your rankings in google search. I’ve been dragging bloggers kicking and screaming to Google+ and most of them still do not have a Google Plus Page for their blogs. (You know who you are.)
Since implementing a Google Plus page for this blog, becoming active on that page and increasing it’s following, my network has expanded, my reach has expanded, my Alexa dropped from almost 300k to 150k, my number of important keywords ranking in Google search doubled and my traffic increased – all in 3 weeks.If you’ve been a reader of this blog for a while, you know, I barely post 4 or 5 times a month. Sometimes only twice a month.
One thing you must keep in mind when using Google+ for your blog, your personal account is best for promoting your peeps, your Google plus page is best for promoting your posts and those posts that relate to your niche or are within your niche. Building your authority in a niche doesn’t stop with your blog, it goes beyond to where ever you have a presence.
Stop doing it alone
The good news is you can achieve amazing results but only if you’re willing to stop being a control freak. I’m not. Willing that is. I like having control over every single post that publishes on this blog.
But magazine type blogs and group blogs are outstanding at driving traffic.
World Mom’s Blog has 50+ contributors, a team of editors and publishes content every weekday on topics that resonate with mothers everywhere.
WMB has been recognized across mainstream media and have been cited as a Forbes Top 100 Website for Women and a Must Read by the New York Times Motherlode.
Sidenote of Importance: World Mom’s Blog is on a mission to answer the question, “How Can You Help Save The World” by raising awareness for the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – which range from halving extreme poverty rates to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015 – over the next 8 months. Visit the campaign page to learn more about what you can do.
GGW has a team of 3 dedicated contributors who are all experts in areas of Gardening that offer niche specific expert advice and inspiration for gardening enthusiasts, newbies and pros.
The impressive social media following of each contributor and the consistent publishing of posts written for their specific niche draws thousands of visits a day.
At this writing, Gardening Gone Wild has a PageRank of 5 and hundreds of keyword terms sending them traffic from Google Search.
Sidenote: Hosting guest posts is another way to not go it alone but you still maintain your editorial rights which will feed the control freak in you. Keep in mind to review and edit all submissions. Here’s more info on guest posting and how it affects your traffic.
Visually Stimulating Ways To Drive Traffic.
Now here’s a tip no one has hated so far…Pinterest hit the nail on the head with their visual interface and there’s lots of other great visually stimulating platforms that will send you traffic too.
Feedly Reader (all you need to do is sign up for a feed reader account, find your feed and then create a follow button to add to your blog)
BlogLovin (another feed reader, not so pinteresty)
Slideshare (repurpose your post by turning it into a slideshow)
The Wrap Up
I hope you’ve found at least one of these most-hated-suggestions on how to increase blog traffic something you’re willing to try. Feel free to ask questions in the comments section. I would love if you shared any suggestions you have for driving traffic to your blog.
Oh! Before I go I want to mention that I’ve created an ebook on the Basics of Building a Profitable Blog that’s chock full of info and resources and available for free when you visitSverve’s Blog and become a subscriber. I’m being featured there today as influencer of the week and would love if you dropped by to say hi and grab your copy of the ebook.
Also, also, grab a free seo training video by becoming a subscriber here, by signing up using the box below.
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