If you have a blog, you know that it’s a lot of work. Anyone can write an article once in a while, but it’s much more complex to write many articles at regular intervals. What’s more, it takes a lot of upstream work to make it interesting. So what’s the point if it’s only going to be read by a small number of readers? To increase your blog’s traffic for free, there are some simple solutions. Here’s a quick overview.
Don’t forget the promo!
The number 1 mistake many bloggers make is to believe that readers will arrive at their blog on their own. Wrong! If you want to increase your blog’s traffic, the first thing you have to do is tell people about it! But where to talk about it? Quite simply, wherever there are readers who might be interested in what you have to say. Depending on your field, this could be on social networks, on specialized forums, on other blogs or sites dedicated to news in your sector… Or even at events taking place in “real life”!
A concrete example of how to increase your blog’s traffic
Let’s say you run a blog dedicated to your passion for video games, to promote your online store (and/or your traditional store). It goes without saying that you’ll need to target not only generalist video game sites, but also sites dedicated to a particular publisher or successful franchise. You can even post links to your blog in the description of a video uploaded to YouTube or Twitch. Likewise, your articles should be visible on Twitter, Facebook or other appropriate social networks, accompanied by Hashtags that best describe what they’re about. But don’t forget to target and go for the most effective – otherwise you could spend hours on it and get mediocre results!
How do you reach your audience?
If you want to be really effective, you’ll need to analyze the best potential sources of traffic beforehand. Facebook or Twitter are vague… Unless you know which specific groups to target, which influential people to contact on Twitter, etc. Similarly, if you’re writing a press release, you still need to know which media to send it to! Let’s not even talk about Facebook or Google Adwords ads, which can eat up your entire budget without much success if used incorrectly. In short, what’s important is not quantity, but the quality of the audience reached. Find an influential person or site, then establish a good relationship with them, and you’ll have a much better chance of increasing your blog’s traffic than if you use a massive advertising campaign.
But where to find these influential people?
That’s the real question, and the answer will depend on your sector. But generally speaking, Google and Twitter will give you valuable information. Does someone have a lot of followers on Twitter? Establish regular contact with them – without pestering them, of course. Another person appears in numerous Google search results? Bingo, you’re on the right track. And if you can establish face-to-face contact at a trade show, even better.
