14 Tips for Increasing Your Blog Traffic

Every blogger, no matter what size their website is, wants to build traffic to their blog. I want to offer you 14 tips for increasing your blog traffic that have been effective for me. Hopefully they are helpful to you or at least a good reminder of what to do!

1. Write good content. There’s no replacement for writing well to get people to read your content! How do you know if you’re doing this? I’ll share my 3 best tips for writing well on Thursday!
2. Make use of good SEO and keywords on your blog and in your posts. We’ll talk in more detail about exactly what that means and how to do it on Wednesday!
3. Join relevant link-ups and blog hops. Every week you likely see all kind of blogs that have link-ups where other bloggers can join up with their posts and receive traffic. My two best tips for using a link-up successfully? Read the rules and abide by them and get your post linked up as close to the top as possible!
4. Write a guest post for another blog. Notice I didn’t just say write a guest post for a bigger blog. Whether the blog you write for is bigger or smaller than yours, guest posting is a great way to spread the word about your own site and area of expertise. I will have some further tips on submitting an effective guest post and becoming a contributor on a blog in your niche in a post next week!
5. Care about your readers. People will figure you out very quickly if you are writing simply to drive traffic to your website. Don’t just grab photos of Pinterest or the internet {it may not be legal anyway} or copy the style or words of another blogger. Pray that God would lead you in what to say to encourage, challenge and educate your readers. Ask them questions and then listen to their stories.
6. Use social media to your advantage. You don’t have to use every. single. form. of social media, but pick a couple that you think would be the biggest draw for your readers to use. Facebook is likely one of the options, but you may want to try others like Twitter, Google+ or Instagram and measure the results after a few months’ time to see if it’s really worth your efforts. Post a few times a day, experimenting with different times and topics to see what resonates most with your readers.
7. Share content from other bloggers. Give a little love and you’ll likely get it in return. Maybe not from that particular blogger, but when other bloggers and readers in general see that you are genuinely sharing another person’s post or article that you found interesting, touching or challenging, they will see that you are not just out for yourself. Sometimes it’s hard for me to remember to do this! I mean to but then I run out of time or forget. This would be a good thing to write into your schedule or blog planner!
8. Interact on other blogs. This is similar to the advice in #7, but it involves going directly to the blog and commenting on the post you enjoyed so much. Other bloggers DO notice when you take the time to comment and share your thoughts!
9. Become part of a forum that talks about topics you share on your blog. Just search by your topic with the word “forum” after it, and you’ll come up with tons of options! I would exercise this with caution, though, as it is not only time consuming to be interacting on forums but you may find yourself in uncomfortable situations from time to time. There are a lot of varying opinions out there on many topics, so just be aware of that! :)
10. Make it easy for people to subscribe to your blog. At the end of every post, I have a subscribe box where you can type in your email address if you want to have my posts delivered directly to your inbox {hint, hint} ;) Also in my sidebar is this same box as well as other following options. They are close to the top and clearly displayed, so it doesn’t take much hunting to figure out how to follow along. Make sure you have your subscription options clearly laid out and easy to find on your blog. Time is of the essence and people may not have a lot of time to click around to figure out how to subscribe.
11. Interlink your posts. When you’re typing up a post on “10 foods you can cook from scratch” for instance, make sure you link to other relevant posts on your blog that may be about related subjects {a recipe for a certain food or other related money saving tips, etc}. This gives readers a chance to see what else you have written about and keeps them on your blog longer, which strengthens your stats and increases the possibility of new subscribers!
12. Be patient. I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but don’t be discouraged if you don’t see instant results. I’ve been so excited to see my stats, readers and engagement gradually rise throughout the past two years. My blog hasn’t been an overnight success {most blogs aren’t} but I’ve formed some great relationships, with both bloggers and readers, and have learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t for my blog. As you patiently work towards your vision and goals {related: learn how to find your vision!}, you will also find out what works for your blog and the rewards you reap will encourage and inspire you to further success.
13. Don’t give up! Galatians 6:9 exhorts us by saying, “let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not lose heart.” This applies in the spiritual areas of life in the context of Scripture, and if you view your blog as a ministry, you are doing good by sharing God’s truth as impressed upon you with others.
14. Be yourself! Blog in your own voice. People will catch on and read and enjoy what you have to say! We’ll talk more about finding your own voice later in the series!

What tips have you found effective in increasing your blog traffic?

Thanks for joining me for my blogging series What to Expect in Blogging: The Early Years! This series is both for new bloggers AND for those who have been in the game for a while! If you’d like to catch up with the previous posts, here they are:

Why do we blog?
Does your blog have a vision?
How to create a blogging schedule that works for you {part 1}
How to create a blogging schedule {part 2}: 10 free planners and the best time of day to blog