14 Apr 2014

10 Ways to Boost Blog Traffic






By Brennan Girdler at Social Media Today:


What makes a business blog worth the effort and investment? Traffic. Unfortunately, getting that traffic is a process that takes time and practice. Below are 10 things to remember when writing posts for business or professional blogs. A refresher, if anything.


1. Publish Consistently

Your loyal blog fans will want to see content published consistently. Create a schedule and stick to it — after a time, you may even get ahead and write weeks in advance.


2. Guest Posters

The guest posting issue has overtaken the world of social and content marketing. While under debate, there’s no question that guest posting is effective. As long as the content is original and not cross-link-heavy, business and professional blogs should solicit submissions from fellow bloggers and avid fans.


3. Social Sharing

An obvious one, but important nevertheless. Posts need to be shared, tweeted, posted, and appear on as many newsfeeds as possible. Without this, the only traffic you’ll get are link-ins through a main website and randoms who search for tags on blogging platforms.


4. Style & Tone

A big mistake business bloggers make is over-promoting their products and services. Posts need to answer questions, not give a sales pitch. Over time, you’ll generate enough traffic via cross-links to make blogging a worthwhile effort.


5. Comments

Comments on your blog mean that readers made it through the article and were compelled to voice their opinions. Nothing is more rewarding. In terms of traffic generation, you should do the same on blogs in related industries. This way, people on outside sites who read comments will see and possibly link into your blog.


6. Tags

Tags are how blogs are sorted and searched though each platform. WordPress, for instance, showcases blogs to users who frequently publish under certain tags. Use tags to label your content. Beware the following:

- Only use relevant tags.
- Don’t tag trends and celebrities.
- Keep them to a minimum (under 10).
- Don’t use multiple iterations of the same word.
- Find topics that use the same tags.


7. Links

Internal and external links are great ways to increase a blog’s visibility. Like tags, links need to be relevant and add substance to a post. Make sure the links work and are directed at authoritative sites. Never link to a popular site with the intent to capture more traffic.


8. Multimedia

Use plenty of pictures, videos, charts, and infographics in your posts. People love images and are more likely to follow blogs that publish original/curate existing graphics. Again, make sure the images are formatted properly and are linked to original sources.


9. Emphasize Quality

Readers choose from a smorgasbord of blogs to read — what makes yours different? The quality of the content is the obvious answer. Everything you post (especially for business-sponsored blogs) needs to relate to a specific industry.


10. Authority

Authoritative blogs are the ones that pull in thousands of daily readers. To turn this into a reality, you need to stick to the listed tips above and avoid publishing garbage.




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1 comments:

  1. It also helps to participate in the community. By being active, you get to make new friends in the industry. That's when you get some real followers and even meet some people who share the same interests.

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