Getting traffic isn’t rocket science, it’s actually pretty easy when you know a few of the best tricks pro-bloggers are using every day to get more traffic to their blogs.
Let me share the best with you!
Create a not-so-secret inner circle of your best buddies
- Put together a list of your very best and most influential readers. These are the ones who regularly interact with you or post replies to your posts, share your posts with their followers, send you articles, buy your products and so forth.
- Put these folks on your special inner circle list, and email them to let them know of their newly attained status. Let them know the benefits – they’ll get to see your posts before the public and they’ll be apprised of any new offerings, updates and ideas before anyone else.
- Solicit their opinion on your posts. This creates a sense of ownership for them and increases the odds they will go out of their way to share your content with their followers.
- Give them special benefits to thank them for their help, and offer to help them in return.
Make it brain-dead easy to share your content
If your content is too difficult to share, your readers and inner circle are less likely to share it. So add the appropriate social sharing buttons for sites like Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn.
So add the appropriate social sharing buttons for sites like Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn.
My all-time favorite? (And I’ve tried them all!) It’s Social Warfare.
A social media plugin that’s inexpensive, beautiful and it works SO well. (I pretty much force all my clients to buy it because it grows their list without any extra work.)
Write in-depth content that makes your readers look smart
Here’s a little secret: People like to look super smart to their readers and friends.
Okay, so maybe it’s not a secret.
But the fact is, in-depth articles tend to get shared more because the people sharing them want their friends to think they read in-depth articles.
Plus, when someone new lands on your in-depth article, they are more likely to subscribe to get even more info than if they land on a simple fluff piece. Especially if you add a content upgrade, like this one:
Another secret: Posts with images, lists and videos will attract over 5 times more links than posts containing only plain text.
So don’t stop at just the words – add things like images and graphs to make it share-worthy.
Cheat. Just a little.
This isn’t really cheating, but it sure feels like it.
Look at your old content and find the pieces that are still relevant, whether they were written 3 months ago or a year ago.
Now share them again via social media. This way you get new traffic without having to write new content – how awesome is that?
Write a mini-sales letter to promote each blog post
Traditionally, when a blogger writes a new post she sends out the title and first paragraph to her list with an invite to click the link and read the rest.
But the real meat of a blog post isn’t in that intro paragraph, which is why this method isn’t worth beans.
Instead, write a mini sales letter that gets the email reader curious and excited to know more.
This doesn’t have to be long; 50 -100 of the right words is perfect. Build curiosity and show them what the big benefits/takeaways of reading your article will be, and your click-through rates should double if not triple.
That’s it – 5 simple tips to increase your blog traffic.
Hi Sue Anne Dunlevie, this is my first visit at your blog. So congratulations for a new reader of your blog. Lol…
Sue, these tips to drive more traffic are really very interesting and appreciable for me and so I am going to say you a big thanks for that, especially for that second tip.
I think an article must contain a natural, attractive and emotional Title which will drive more traffic than normal.
You are spot-on, Purushottam!
I appreciate you reading the post and taking the time to comment.
Sue
Love these tips Sue!
I've been working on #1 lately. It seems to make a lot of impact when starting out.
"Write a mini-sales letter to promote each blog post" is also great. I always try to make my writing as enticing as possible no matter where I'm writing it.
Thanks, Eli! I so appreciate it.
#1 is something most bloggers don't do, so it will set you apart!
Sue
Very nice tips, although for sharing i use @Shareaholic, which is very nice as compared to warfare 🙂
thx
Kami
Hi Sue,
Very nice tips which I will definitely be applying to my blog. I am soon starting out. Thank you very much!
You are so welcome, Daniel!
Sue
Thanks fot sharing this eye-opener blog post Sue! Am going to try and work on No #2 then see how things goes.
You're doing a great job here! Keep it up
Thanks, Tunde!
Sue
Dear Sue,
Thanks for sharing the awesome tips .I am really going applying the these in future .
keep sharing the good stuff !!
Regards,
Ashley
Thanks for your comment, Ashley!
Sue
Hello Sue,
Indepth content writing always work like charm and attract more visitors. Thanks for very informative post. Keep sharing 🙂
You are so welcome, Ravi! I appreciate your comment.
Sue
Amazing Tips, Sue.
However, I was wondering if you also do keyword research for your blog posts to drive more organic traffic.
If yes, what tools do you use?
Thanks,
Manav
I just use Google to see what people are searching for, Manav.
Thanks for your comment!
Sue
Top post, Sue.
Great actionable tips!
Umair
There are lots of ways to generate traffic using SEO, Paid ads, Email marketing etc. but which one is good to go we can decide based on target audience.
If our targeted audiences are on Facebook then we should do more focus on social marketing instead of wasting time on SEO.
I believe if you publish a great piece of content and then create great promotion strategy so you will be able to perform better in marketing.
As i read this blog and get very useful information for me with my problem to sort out to me.
Regards
Ethan
Thanks, Naman!
Sue
I like they idea of wooing an “inner circle.” People like VIP status, so this is an awesome idea to keep readers especially vested in our success. Thanks for sharing a really useful strategy.