How Do I Drive Traffic To My Blog? Increase Traffic- Jackie Ison

39 Shares

“How do I drive traffic to my blog?” I have been asked and come across this question quite frequently. New bloggers often feel like they’re doing everything right. They’ve written great content and optimized their content for SEO. However, no one is coming to their blog.

The truth is that this is simply not enough for an audience to find your blog. In this Q&A Thursday post, I will answer this question and teach you how to finally get traffic to your blog.

*This post contains affiliate links. That means that if you make a purchase after clicking on a link I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. For more information, click here.

Think of your blog as a traditional new brick-and-mortar business. Let’s pretend it’s not on a main road or highway, but on a secondary road close to the highway. You have awesome products that you know people will love. Now ask yourself, “How do I get customers?”

Obviously, you want to get the word out, so you will tell friends and family. You may even post about your business on social media and ask friends and family to share the news. You could even take out an ad in the local paper or rent a billboard.

The point is, you promote your business! Create a marketing strategy and as long as the content is valuable to your audience, traffic will follow.

Word-of-mouth and a customer loyalty base will drive traffic over time, but you need people to learn about your store and visit it in order to spread the word and become a fan.

The same is true for your blog, possibly even more so.

Related Posts:

Build It And They Will Come…Not Really

SEO is important to drive traffic to your blog or website. However, like word-of-mouth and customer loyalty, developing your brand and building an audience takes time. SEO takes several months to start driving traffic to your blog, so you need to actively seek out your audience.

There are millions of websites out there. You literally have tens of thousands of competitors. You have narrow your search and identify your ideal audience. Once you do, find out where your audience hangs out and promote your business in those places.

For example, if you have a craft blog about fiber arts, you would focus on promoting your business via fiber arts groups, not just crafting in general. This will help you stand out from the crowd and create a much stronger following.

Create A Marketing Strategy

I have written many posts about marketing and content strategies. The reason that I write these is that in order for your blog to succeed, you must have both. Your content is your foundation, but your marketing efforts are what build a strong business.

Marketing doesn’t have to be complicated. It just needs to support your plans and goals for your blog. The following are five methods that every blogger should consider to drive traffic to their blog.

Start An Email List

This should be the first step you take to marketing your blog. Email Marketing has an incredibly high return on investment or ROI. I have seen bloggers estimate that your email list is valued anywhere from $1.50 to $3.00 per subscriber.

My advice would be to create embedded and homepage pop-up forms for your blog asap. To do this, you will need to sign up for an email marketing service.

I personally recommend MailerLite, especially when you start a blog. They offer up to 1,000 subscribers and unlimited emails for free. In addition, they also offer free automation tools, landing pages, and are super easy to use. I initially used MailChimp and made the switch over a year ago and haven’t looked back.

Once you have an email list, be sure to send post updates to your readers and provide them with exclusive content or a newsletter. This helps you build a relationship with your reader. This is the most effective part of email marketing and what separates it from other marketing platforms.

Connect on Social Media

I would venture to say that almost every reader of this blog already has a Facebook account, at the very minimum. Social media is a major part of our lives. This should also be a major part of your marketing strategy.

At the very least, create a Facebook page and Twitter account specifically for your blog. Be sure to use a handle (username or identity) that represents your brand, not you personally. You will need separate accounts for business and personal use. This is just good business practice.

Consider joining platforms like Instagram, StumbleUpon, SnapChat, or other platforms. Find out where your audience lurks and create a presence there.

As in the example above of a craft blog about fiber arts, you should join social media or other websites specifically for your niche. In the case of the fiber arts blog, you would want a presence on Ravelry, for example. Get out there and explore your niche and find out where your readers are.

Get on Pinterest

Pinterest is a huge source of traffic for most bloggers, including myself. I have a few hits on JackieIson.com from my email list and social media, but the majority of my traffic is from Pinterest.

If you don’t have a presence on Pinterest, start one today. Start building your Pinterest account. Create a business account, enable rich pins, optimize your boards for Pinterest search, and brand your account. Then, pin about 30 (more or less) pins per day.

Use Tailwind (get your free trial here) to schedule pins. However, remember that manual pinning organically is important. So, a couple times a day, it’s important to check out your feed and pin popular pins from your home feed and from trending pins to your boards.

I create three to for images and pin each of those to my boards and group boards. This is important to increase your impressions, which lead to clicks and saves.

Join Groups

You should join social media and Pinterest groups to connect with other bloggers in your niche and promote your blog. However, don’t discount niche-related forums, websites, and other hangouts. Joining a website, especially if your username is linked to your blog can drive traffic to your blog.

You need to be actively involved in the community. This can develop friendships, acquaintances, sponsorships, and partnerships in the future.

I have personally communicated with other bloggers in my niche and have been retweeted, repinned, and referenced by those bloggers. This networking and communication between bloggers are valuable from a marketing and business perspective.

Consider Ads

I have yet to take out ads for my blog, but it is something I may consider. Google and Facebook ads can be quite reasonably priced and have a substantial impact on your blog traffic and income. Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest are other advertising programs you may wish to consider.

I don’t necessarily recommend that you take out ads as a new blogger. Some bloggers do well without ever taking out a single ad. However, when it comes to taking your blog to the next step and you have done all that you can, it is definitely an option.

I don’t want you to walk away from this post believing that you need to spend money to drive traffic to your blog. That is simply not the case. It is, however, an option you should be aware of.

Marketing Is Necessary to Drive Traffic

I have never spoken to a successful blogger that doesn’t market their blog. Like any business, marketing your blog is a necessity for success. Don’t sit back and wait for things to happen because they never will. Instead, actively promote your blog. Your readers want to find you, they just won’t know you exist until you let them know.

If you enjoyed this post, sign up for my list using the form below. As a subscriber, you will receive a free copy of my Blog Post Planning Checklists, notifications of new posts, exclusive content, and freebies as they become available.

[yuzo_related]