When you think about making your blog profitable, one of the first things you should think about is bringing in more readers.
After all, more traffic to your blog equals more profits from it, right? (Most of the time).
But how do you bring in more traffic without having to pay for ads?
How can you create content that people will go out of their way to read?
Well, here are some ideas for you to think about implementing on your blog.
Use Pictures
Bloggers often overlook an aspect of their blogs that they should not.
How your blog looks, visually, matters to readers.
No one wants to browse a blog that is all text and a boring white background. Snore. No, instead readers are looking for an interactive experience.
Try adding pictures to your blog posts to increase reader interest.
Not only do current reader’s eyes go to vivid images but new readers can also be lured in by the appeal of a great picture.
Images do not have to cost you anything but a little time either. There are many sites that offer free images that anyone can use, even stock photos.
By adding an image you automatically increase the visual appeal of your blog post and your blog as a whole.
You should look for an image that, number one, matches the blog post content, but number two is special in some way.
Maybe it is pretty or funny or strange or colorful, but a picture should stand out and really say something for the best effect.
Multimedia
Speaking of using images, going multimedia is another great way to get traffic to your blog.
You can add videos, infographics, music and more to make your blog more interactive and unique.
YouTube videos are free to link to and you can even upload your own if you are up to the task of filming yourself.
People love to connect with bloggers on a personal level and a video is definitely personal.
Think of it as recording your Skype chats, and then sharing that with all your blog followers.
Maybe that is for you and maybe it is not, but that is one way to add multimedia to your site.
You can also add music from open sources or even create your own infographic, which are quite popular now.
Those are virtually guaranteed to go viral on social media sites like Pinterest.
This is an interesting video from Ileane Smith on
“How to Get More Traffic and Backlinks To Your Blog From YouTube” :
Enjoy Your Work
If you do not love what you are writing about then why would your readers?
Love your blog topic or pick a new one.
Anything you do halfhearted is going to be trash.
You have to have a lot of passion to make a blog successful.
Yes, you can fake it for a while but hat will only add to your stress.
Be a better blogger and blog about what you really love, not just what can make you money.
You might even be surprised at how successful blogging by your passion can be.
After all, you are probably not the only person who loves whatever it is you are writing about.
Love your work or do not work, it is as simple as that.
Make Lists
A great way to make sure you cover everything you need to and a great way to get in new readers is combined in one easy thing. Lists.
Lists are the best way for bloggers to get in new readers. For some reason people love lists.
Maybe it is because they are easy to scan instead of read or maybe it is because you already know what you are in for before you ever start reading.
What I mean by this is that a list is easy to know the length of. For example a list of seven is short but a list of one hundred and seven is long.
You already know approximately how much time you will have to invest before you ever start reading.
Lists are also great for bloggers because it gives you an outline of what you are going to write and lets you stay on topic throughout the post.
It is hard to veer off topic if you have five more points you have to get to.
This is a very popular “List Post” on this site: 18 Blogging Tips To Get Your Site Noticed By Your Target Audience
Become a Part of the Community
You may not think about it like this, but bloggers are part of a neighborhood on the web
. And like any neighborhood it is only polite to get to know your neighbors.
These are the people who will give you the best advice, like which pizza place to avoid, and steer you towards the most profitable avenues, like the mom and pop restaurant down the street with the huge burgers for only a buck.
In the blogging world your fellow bloggers can help you avoid pitfalls with your readers, like mentioning a hated television show or movie, and give you topic ideas that work well, like pets or money saving tips.
Another way to get more involved with the blogging community and get new readers is to guest post and comment.
When you guest post or comment on other people’s blogs you are exposing yourself to their audience.
They can then choose to, based on your writing or comment, click on the link back to your blog. This can be a great way to expand your audience base.
Another great way to connect with more people and increase your audience is joining blogging communities.
Among the most popular, you should join :
- BlogEngage;
- Inbound.org;
- Blokube;
- Kingged;
- BizSugar;
- Klinkk;
- DoSplash.
Search Engine Optimization
We should all know what SEO is by now, it has been drilled in our heads so many times.
But instead of going for the gimmicks that fade with every Google update, try to do true SEO.
Yes, use keywords but use them naturally as they occur in your writing.
You will tend to use keywords when you focus on a specific topic, so it should not be a big deal.
You should also do some research into what key words or search terms are big for your blog’s niche and try to incorporate them into your writing.
If dogs and kids are big in your blog post niche, then start writing about what breeds of dogs are best for young children.
Simple connections can make a big impact on your blog traffic.
If you can fill a hole that has been overlooked by others then you can snatch away a lot of their traffic.
Start small and work your way up to compete with the big boys.
Do not think you can write one article on saving money and be in the top ten of Google. But maybe you can be in the top ten of words that sound like grape.
Strange, yes, but it works if that is what your customers are searching for.
Avoid Ads
You know and I know that ads are the bread and butter of a blog’s profitability; however they are also a huge turn off for search engines and users.
Try to minimize the number of ads you have on your blog and make sure they are placed strategically.
This site has ZERO ads, at the moment.
There is no point in having an ad if no one will click on it but there is also no point in having an ad that is on a site that no one visits.
If you can, try to place the ads where they are easy to see and click on but do not get in the way of the content or mess up the visual appeal of your blog site.
Conclusion
These are just a few ideas on how you can get more traffic to your blog.
When you pay for ads and traffic you often do not get what you pay for.
Instead make the most of your content and have readers come to you.
Using a little wisdom and good content will take you a long way.
What do you think?
Any more suggestions or tips to add?
Please let me have your thoughts in the comments below, thanks!
Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Hey Erik,
One of the ways to start getting traffic almost instantly is joining those communities you listed, and even more. You know, unlike social media, you don’t need any huge following on these communities to get traffic. Once you start sharing and interacting with others, traffic start coming in.
If you succeed to build a big responsive list, you are on for a big deal. A good list never fails to generate traffic.
BTW, this blog is clean and airy. I like it
Hey Eric
You had covered each and every point related to driving traffic.
Also i got to know more about those communities which are active and help us to get quality comments as well as Traffic.
I must say it is a well written article covering every thing which required no more updation
Hello Erik !!
I totally agree with joining communities that relates to your niche just like the ones you mentioned quite related to almost every niche.
With the communities, you don’t really think of amassing huge followers to be guaranteed of traffic it just comes once your post has been approved and published !!
My Regards,
DOK Simon (Blogging Engage)
Hii Erik,
After reading this article i would like to say one thing – Fantastic! You covered a well optimized article about How to Get More Traffic to Your Blog. Every bloggers are running in the race of getting more and more visitors but only those people get it who are following these needed things.
You said correct – using Multimedia may be a great way to attract visitors and they will provide more value to the article. I am going to make a good to do Lists as you suggested.
Thanks for this lovely article. I found this article on kingged.com
All these are very valuable tips. First thing is images.This may seem silly.But the First thing that catches our eyes are the pleasing pictures in the blog.They will make you stay on the blog for a while.Then as we all know writing something without getting them seo optimized is waste of writing.And Promoting them by means of social media is one more key thing 🙂
One point that i really loved here is adds.We all are in a hurry to put adds as soon as we can.But we don’t think whether they are of use or not.You made a very clear point.Yes it is better to avoid these adds for sometime.Unnecessary no of adds may make the readers get annoyed 🙂
Hi Erik,
you make some valid points in your posts and I try to follow them all. But I have to confess that I missed one of the most important ones, joing the blogging communities you have listed.
I always thought to join at least a few of them later, when my blog grew a bit more. But reading the comments of others it seems that these communities give some great results. So I think it is worth checking them now and see how I can contribute to it.
Thanks for sharing it and have an awesome day,
Torsten
Hey Erik,
Great post man.
In my opinion, list posts and sharing images work the best when it comes to increase traffic. Of course, SEO brings a lot of traffic, but after some point that traffic doesn’t increase and at that moment, images and videos can bring a lot of extra traffic to your blogs if used correctly.
What do you say about it?
Hi Erik,
It’s my first time to your blog. Great post!
I have to concur that lists are an excellent way to grow your readership. I’m engaged on numerous blog directories including every one you mentioned. I’m becoming more involved on DoSplash and in fact found your article that they posted on Google Plus. It’s interesting the weave I came through to find your article and blog.
I am bookmarking your site and I will be sharing out your article across my social media.
I look forward to engaging with you more.
Don
Hi Erik,
Thanks for the reply! That’s one of the really cool things about a blog directory like DoSplash is that we can connect with other great bloggers such as yourself.
I did join Klinkk.com the other day and right now I’m going through my strategies, goals, and objectives. I have definitely included the site in as part of my plan and will be checking it out more thoroughly tomorrow.
I appreciate the invitation and I look forward to bringing you more value.
In fact, I wrote a blog article this morning and included your article in it as a must read: goo.gl/2W0KJD
I look forward to engaging with you more.
Sincerely,
Don
Ha! Search engine optimization – can’t live without it 🙂 Even though search engines like Google bombard us with many scary updates we cannot ignore SEO because it is so crucial.
And I totally agree with you on joining communities. I value people more than anything in my business. Coz they’re the one who will be doing business with me. The more genuine connections I make the more profitable and trustworthy my business will be.
Thanks for the mention about DoSplash 🙂
Hi Erik
Really a wonderful post with quite a new angle to boost blog traffic with no-so-new tips.
The last point is very valid. Apparently it does not sound wise to avoid placing ads at your blog if you don’t have much traffic or they don’t pay your on simply clicks. But this is worth remembering that search engines don’t take it as good if there are so many ads on a blog.
Your point one is also very relevant. In craze of doing something unique in contents many bloggers totally forget about how their blog looks at first sight. That is why they fail to attract visitors and if someone comes he does not stay and bounce back.
Thanks for sharing this wonderful resource that does have much stuff to learn and boost blog traffic.
I found this at kingged.com and also kingged it there.
Hi Erik,
I do love the point you raised with respect to the usage of pictures the most. Whiles words might have limitations, a picture has thousand other words to say.
Hi Erik,
Great information you shared about to increase blog’s web traffic………..!!!
I appreciated the key elements you used to explore how to gain more traffic for your blog.
SEO, growth of subscribers, use of images in articles and enjoy your work are the key elements which drives more traffic for your blog.
I think whole article is a pot of valuable information which is helpful to gain more web traffic for your blog.
Thanks for sharing this informative article…..!!!
I found this article on kingged.com
These traffic tips you share work well. Anyone who succeed with list building has really broken the traffic code. Both traffic and list building come hand in hand when it comes to internet marketing.
In the meantime, the community you mentioned is a great avenue for website and blog owners, irrespective of their experience to start generate instant traffic.
And of course, SEO comes first on the list. I love it and can hardly do without. Eventhough, our activities should be well diversified.
Hi Aceclue,
How you doing !!! You’ve asked about the link building mechanism, do you came to know that how actually it works ? . I’m very curious to know that.
By the way , I thought of checking your blog ” increase website revenue 5, but unfortunately link is broken
Siva
Hi Erik,
Thank you !!! I checked aceclue link and its working now.
Regards,
Siva
Hey Erik,
So Triberr didn’t make this list? I would think that would be an awesome community to connect with others as well because you’re not required to comment on other people’s blogs in order to benefit from the traffic that can come from them sharing it on the social media sites. There’s no voting no nothing. Just sharing the love.
I love commenting of course and meeting new people that way. Sharing their post is always a nice way to show that you support what they’re saying. That can attract more people of course by sharing it.
I agree though of course with the other methods you mentioned too but I never really visit a blog post because the image is neat or cool. If they have the heading in the image and that grabs my attention then I’ll be more curious but never because of the image itself. I’m sure that’s just me but I love looking at images.
Great tips Erik, thanks my friend and hope you’re having an awesome week.
~Adrienne
Hi Adrienne,
Nice to meet you
Thanks for your comment !!! I came to know one more blogging community Triberr by you, Soon ill explore it. As Erik suggested klinkk you’ve have heard about it ?
As you love commenting , I also love commenting each others blog.
Lets connect each other
Siva
Hello Erik,
Thank you !!! , I just singed up in Triberr.
Hope to have fun there.
Thank you very much for your help in need !!!
Siva
YEs of course right,
every one want more and more traffic from different sources.
Without reader we can not achieve our goal and can not make money from blogging.
Blog community is best technique to make relation with lots of people and get target traffic to our blog.
and every one know without SEO we can get better result from search engine.
any way all of points are very interesting and easy to apply
Thanks
Areesha Noor
i love this post and the ideas posted here. thanks for sharing such information to your readers
Hi Erik,
I believe that Traffic = New visitors + Re visitors ,
I have identified 4 sources that send new visitors to a blog. If you have some more to add you are most welcome to do that. Those four sources are-
• Search engines
• Referring sites like , other blogs of the niche and forums
• Social media sites
• Word of mouth
Each of these has a great potential to send a few hundred or even more visitors.
And through re visitors
1) Giveaway something free to get your visitors isubscribed to your feeds or newsletter.
2) Organise competitions on your blog on regular basis. Many of the visitoirs like to take part in competitions if you are giving away something exciting to winner. They will come again and again like you are giving active commenters of the month – cool thing !!!
3) Write quality content on regular basis. ( like your blog Smart Marketerz ). So this all are the above things to get your way of success !!!
Ps correct me if I’m wrong !!!
Thanks
Siva
Hi Erik,
Thanks for encourgaing me !! , Your Tips are welcome to me !!!
you’re great blogger, I admire it and it’s new thing for me. I’m still learning from you 🙂
By the way thanks for Klinkk – Right now I’ll dive in to it.
Since I’m newbieee to this blogging, it’s really being difficult for me to build connections, the sad path is till I’ve published two months last two weeks, still I don’t see any comments / shares to my blog.
But I’ll not loose the hope I’ve, ill make it happen.
My new blogging relationship started with you. Thanks for it!!!
Kind Regards,
Enthusiastic blogger Siva
Hello Erik,
Thanks for your suggestions Erik, I’m already working on that.
Many thanks for your comment in keen blogger ( that too first comment in keen blogger , omg cool !!! )
Thank you very much for your help in need !!!
Siva
Hi Erik,
Did you noticed that I checked klinkk was working properly in evening, but now I noticed that klinkk was re directing to some other site.
Klinkk got hacked ? !!! OMG
Ps check and let me know !!
Siva
Hi Erik,
I checked it now, it’s working for me. Ohh you’ve another blog
Ill check it now, lets be the top user there
Thanks
Siva
Very nice tips. I am present in almost all the communities you mentioned. Hope to see you there too.
One thing which I missed here is the power of social media especially Facebook. Facebook fan pages and groups can also drive immense traffic if used strategically.
Thus I think they also hold special place in your article.
Thanks for the effective tips,
Regards,
Parth Patel
No doubt, You mentioned some good trick to get traffic. I hope this will be beneficial for me too.
Nice ideas shared, Achieving success isn’t a cheap things but reading from well established mentors help. thanks. I see some of the reasons why my blog isnt doing well and i need to make corrections as fast as possible. thanks
Awesome traffic tips share, I’ll surely implement the same on my new campaigns.
Cheers
Hey Erik,
Wow have been getting lots of traffic of late people already starting to make money through my business thanks for shared and much impressive or interesting information.
Hello Sir,
It’s actually a great and useful piece of info. I’m happy that you just shared this useful info with us. Please stay us informed like this. Thank you for sharing.
we know that everywhere we use blogs , if we need to increase the blog traffic we need to add some characters and special notifications which will help us more visitors in our blog and if we need high traffic, we need some posting or articles to be added in our blog, this will help us in adding more visitors in our blog