In working with clients to build their online influence, this is a frequent question.
There is no one clear cut answer about the best ways to generate more traffic on your blog — there are lots of answers.
Writing more posts typically translates into more page views. I am 15 days into my 28 day blogging challenge. My traffic averages, counted in page views per day are more than double from last February. When you write more posts, you will get more page views. Some of the most successful blogs I know (in terms of views per day) in the leadership space, are Leadership Freak (Dan Rockwell) and Three Star Leadership Blog (Wally Bock). Both blogs publish prolifically — Wally publishes two posts per day.
Promoting posts leads to more page views. I have said — more than once — that you need to spend as much time promoting posts as you do writing them. I rarely follow my own advice. When I do, the result is more traffic to my blog — lots more.
Write more compelling content. When you write great content, people want to share it. What I have found is that the more personal, the more vulnerable, the more honest, the more page views I receive. When writing a post feels like disrobing or unveiling the contents of my heart — that’s when my posts are most read.
Network with others. As I have built community online with others, I have seen my own influence grow. If you have a closely connected network, people will want to share your content. The more people who share your content, the more page views you will receive.
Promote others generously. When you share others’ content freely, you will often find that people reciprocate. There are no guarantees here, and I would never never never encourage you to share generously with a hidden expectation and hope that people will reciprocate, because inevitably this leads to keeping score and resentment. Instead, share without keeping track whether or not people reciprocate. Then see what happens.
Tell me something! What do you do to increase traffic to your blog? What works for you?
I am the founder/CEO of the Weaving Influence team, the author of Reach: Creating the Biggest Possible Audience for Your Message, Book, or Cause, and the host of the Book Marketing Action Podcast. I’m a wife and mom of three kids, and I enjoy running, reading, writing, coffee, and dark chocolate.
How to promote posts?
Nice Post… What I do apart from sharing other people articles (that people could benefit from) I also try as much as possible to leave comments on other blogs. You can check ǿµŧ my personal blog https://sadiqdaniel.blogspot.com where I inspire people to act and pursue their dreams in a context of happiness.
My blog is in the thought leadership space as well. So, I do video marketing to get traffic to my blog. Try Using YouTube videos that pertain to your post. I try to stick with videos no longer than 3 to 4 mins. Everyone likes to see clips from movies that will drive the point home. You can also back link. Read my blog at yvettewilkinson.com. I am 29 days into a 90 day challenge. Hope this helps!
Thanks, Yvette. I look forward to checking out your blog. Way to go on 29 days in a row!
I’ve never been able to come up with a niche to blog about. Everyone else seems to be doing one and doing it well. A lot of that is self confidence too, the thought why would anyone care what I think syndrome.
I had a hard time finding a niche for my blog too but what I did was posting random thoughts that pops up and with time I found it. Maybe that could work for you
too, post random (that would benefit others) stuffs.
It is scary to put ourselves out there. If you want to write, I encourage you to set aside the insecurities and go for it!
What I would say is that you are the only you! You are the only one who can write what you write.
Becky –
As a “sometimes blogger” who writes a post only now and then I found much of interest here.
My major focus is content of all sorts, so my blog resembles an “old curiosity shop” –
Your point here is so important:
“Promote others generously. When you share others’ content freely, you will often find that people reciprocate. There are no guarantees here, and I would never never never encourage you to share generously with a hidden expectation and hope that people will reciprocate, because inevitably this leads to keeping score and resentment.” So essential!
A memo to myself
“Expect nothing in return. #Wayne2Wayne”
Thanks 2 Lolly Daskal for pointing me to yer site- and thanks2you, Becky- good content!
Wayne
Becky:
Thanks for sharing! I’ll be reading more of your posts.
Question: what about curated blogs? I have set up a nicely focused curated blog (www.OrgMgmt.com) on Organization Management and am adding articles every day, but they are curated from other sites (with full credit and links going to the original authors, of course). Have you found that your ideas/advice apply to curated blogs just as much as self-written blogs?
Tom,
I’m not sure about how my advice applies to curated blogs. In my experience, people are more interested in reading what’s new, fresh, and original, with a bias against curated content. However, I am sure there is an audience for curated content, as it allows people to read great content from one source, without needing to discover sites on their own.
Anyone else have ideas for Tom?
Erin;
I understand exactly what you’re saying; it’s nearly impossible to come up with a completely original topic. I’ve read so much about motivation and leadership that I felt like I had something to say about it, but it seemed as though it had already been said. So, I decided to approach it from a different angle and blog about how principals can use the research on motivation to lead their teachers (Motivational School Leadership Blog). I certainly won’t be showing up on any top blogger lists any time soon, but I take satisfaction in the idea that people read my blog and may find it useful. Don’t give up, you’ll find a topic.
Mike @rimsavid
Good post Becky.
I would add to your share generously to share across other channels or platforms where appropriate. If many of your friends on Facebook for instance are bloggers, and you write or find something about blogging interesting, promote yourself and others there. If you have LinkedIn connections who might benefit from something you read, share it.
Other than advertising i don’t have much luck with visitors on my blog, my problem is i can’t update much because of what my blog content is, i can only update when i get new sites.
Any advice?