A blog to an SEO professional is a passport to your dedicated backpacker. Not just a handy little addition anymore, but actually an essential part of your vocation.
Despite the time and effort involved in maintaining your blog, you wouldn’t be without it and you know the hard work will pay off. But it will only pay off if you can actually get people to read it.
We’ve shared eight of the simplest ways you can direct more traffic to your blog – sooner rather than later.
Involve other people
Inviting experts or influential figures from your particular field to contribute to your blog not only adds a valuable new perspective, it also opens you up to a completely new readership, allowing you to benefit from the audience of those who contribute. Similarly, if you mention a particular individual or company in your blog (as long as it’s in a flattering light), then be sure to send it to them- they may well share with their audience, again increasing the exposure of your post.
Use social media to your advantage
The importance of social sharing for content is well documented, but what might not be as emphasised, is the need to pay attention to which posts you are sharing on which platforms. Blindly sharing each blog across all your social networks might get you the biggest immediate exposure, but it’s not the best strategy moving forward. Whilst light hearted and humorous posts might work best for Facebook, those on Google Plus tend to better receive articles of a more techy nature.
Include visual content
It makes sense. Videos of cats are renowned for going viral. Long essays on cloud security? Not so much. This doesn’t mean you can’t write about it, just have a think about how you could add a new dimension, something to grab peoples’ attention.
Make it SEO friendly
This really should go without saying, but it’s amazing how many people neglect the SEO aspect of their blog. Treat it with the same principles as you would the rest of your site. Think about your title, does it mention your keywords? Is it likely to be something people are searching for? Sometimes a brief tweak to your title can make a big difference to the amount of views your post gets. If you’re creating a list, it’s also worth bearing in mind the fact that odd numbers often get higher reads.
Include it in your newsletter
Lots of companies have newsletters- whether the purpose is to attract new business or just a monthly roundup to keep clients up to date on any changes. Here at Absolute it’s something we do too, and amongst company and industry news, we also make an effort to include a blog that we think our audience are most likely to benefit from- usually some form of tutorial. This in turn helps to direct more people to the blog.
Make it relevant
Tying your blog into current issues, seasons or events is a great way of attracting wider interest as long as you make it relevant. For example, our blog recently featured a piece analysing marketing from the Super Bowl. In the past I’ve also written about lessons we can learn from the World Cup.
Use analytics
How can you improve traffic to your blog if you don’t know what’s attracting it? Regularly examining which blogs perform well can only help you improve.
Improving the quality and exposure of your blog is not a one-off job but a work in progress, something you should be constantly considering in your marketing strategy.
Author: Ben Austin
Courtesy: www.blog.monitorbacklinks.com
