I don't think there is a blogger out there that is satisfied with their growth. More traffic is always better, right? Right.
There are things you can do to grow your site. And they aren't that hard. Write amazing articles that your reader wants to read, and then market those articles through your email list, social media channels, and through your relationships with other bloggers.
1. Understand What Your Audience Wants to Read
If you want to grow your blog, you'll need to write about topics that your audience actually cares about. To do this you'll need to do the following:
- clearly define who your audience is
- spend time online with your ideal audience to get to know their main concerns
- use Google and other SEO tools to see what people are searching for
Your blog will never grow if you write about topics that your ideal audience isn't interested in.
Having trouble coming up with topic ideas that your audience wants? Check out my 5 ways to come up with topic ideas.
2. Write Amazing Content
Once you know what your audience wants, you'll have to create blog posts that deliver the answers to the questions they have. There are some key points to creating great content.
- know your reader takeaway
- keep the focus on your reader – not your personal story
- be concise
If your article is helpful and easy to read, your reader will read it! And when they get value from your site they are much more likely to stick around or even share your posts with their friends.
If your content is not helpful or is unreadable due to bad writing, they will definitely NOT stick around or share it.
You can learn how to create amazing content. This is not a skill anyone is born with. My course Hit Publish teaches you everything you need to know about writing engaging and useful content.
3. Grow Your Email List
Your email list is your greatest traffic tool. It's a way for readers to stay connected with your site so you don't have to attract every single page view from scratch every time you post. An email list allows you to engage with readers who hav already proved they love your stuff.
Here are a few things you can do to grow your email list:
- create a free give away in exchange for their email (Like my free editing checklist!)
- ask people to subscribe in your blog posts
- have a subscribe button above the fold on every page
The best part of an email list is that you own it. Followers on a social media platform are controlled by that platform. The company can decide to stop showing your stuff to them at any time, and there is nothing you can do about it.
But your email list belongs to you.
4. Network with Other Bloggers
Other bloggers are often the key to growing your blog. At first, it may feel like other bloggers in your niche are your competition. But actually, they could turn out to be your biggest fans.
Other bloggers:
- can help promote your stuff to their readers
- will help you solve blogging problems you encounter
- make blogging more fun!
Blogging definitely has it's challenges. Other bloggers can give you support when you need it most.
5. Be Active on Social Media
Having a social media presence is definitely part of growing a blog. But it can also be a black hole time suck. They key here is to focus on the platforms where your readers spend the most time.
- Grab your desired handle on all the different platforms so you have them
- Focus on one or two platforms
- Use a scheduler
Each social media platform has it's own culture. Something that will do well on Twitter will bomb on Instagram. It's difficult to maximize your content on across all the platforms. It's better to spend time on one or two and really nail it there, rather than phoning it in on all of them.
A Successful Blog Starts with Amazing Articles
You simply can not have a successful blog without amazing articles.
Imagine this–it's your birthday and as you walk into the kitchen you notice a beautiful present sitting on the table. It's wrapped in shiny colorful paper with a big bow on top. The sun is streaming in the window and your family is gathered around singing Happy Birthday. Yes! You can't wait to open that present!
But when you open it, it's a pair of dirty socks. How disappointing!
Just then your friend walks in the front door. He halfheartedly apologizes for being late and then casually drops a box wrapped up in a Walmart bag on the table. You can even see the receipt through the thin plastic of the bag. “Happy Birthday,” he mumbles while cutting himself a piece of cake.
You look inside and it's a new laptop!
Now, ask yourself, which present was better? The beautifully presented pair of dirty socks or the unwrapped laptop purchased at the last minute?
The laptop, right!
Creating a blog is like giving a gift. The design, theme, logo, social media, opt-ins, all the things we do to try to get people to read our articles is the wrapping paper. All that stuff is presentation.
The actual blog post is the gift inside.
Yes, the best gift of all is a beautifully presented laptop. But so many new bloggers spend their time on the presentation and ignore the gift inside. When their blog isn't getting traffic they think “oh, it must be my social media strategy.”
If someone doesn't like your gift, it wasn't because of the wrapping paper!
The good news is that you can learn how to write more engaging articles. This isn't a skill people are born with. You CAN learn it. And I can show you how in just 10 short videos.
Hit Publish is a 10 Lesson Course that Walks you Through:
- defining your target audience
- narrowing your niche
- how to use your competitor's sites to improve your own
- defining your “reader takeaway” and setting up your article so your reader will take action
- Search Engine Optimization and how to “read” Google
- how to do keyword research with free tools
- how to use your keyword to make sure your article is the best on the internet
- how to write your articles so you can make a connection with your reader and motivate them to action
- how to professionally edit your article with free tools
- all the little things you need to do right before you publish to make your article stand out
