It is not too difficult these days to create a blog or start one. The difficulty is with creating a successful blog with significant site traffic. Websites can drastically increase their site traffic and search engine rankings with a well established and managed blog that is part of the website.
Regardless of typo of website, incorporating a blog and working with it can create multiple benefits to an organization and business. Here are 10 ways to increase a sites traffic using a blog. These ways and methods when done properly will bring a multitude of benefits, including an increase in traffic and organic search engine rankings.
A blog when done right, can benefit many other marketing campaigns such as Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing, and more methods. It can support an enhance a multitude of efforts all geared towards gaining market share, online visibility, and website traffic.
10 Ways to Increase Website Traffic with a Blog
1. Get active in areas where the desired audience already is.
A blog should be marketed, advertised, listed, and mentioned in areas where the desired audience already gathers. Certain niche blogs, communities, forums, and so on exist with the desired audience. To increase traffic of a site using a blog, it is important to list the blog on directories, communities, and other online websites that enhance the visibility of the organization and brand. Also, commenting on other blog entries improves visibility and results. Getting active in various ways on sites that already are visited heavily by the desired target audience is just smart business.
2. Ensure all Blog Content is Search Engine Optimized
Making sure that all content is SEO friendly is key to being ranked by major search engines such as Google. Each entry should have specific title tags, keywords, Meta descriptions, images tagged, and so on. The quality and relevance of content plays an important role as well. Using optimized content for search, including images and videos quickly improves chances of success and increase of website traffic with a blog.
3. Use Social Media for New Connections
Operating a blog allows an organization and business to share frequent content across many social media channels. A blog when properly used can be the foundation for content that is shared across all major social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, LinkedIn, and many other. This increases the web of visibility and allows for new connections to be made, resulting in an increase in traffic.
4. Start Guest Blogging
To increase website traffic with a blog, an organization or business should write articles as a guest blogger. A guest writer can get an article published on a very popular blog with lots of traffic of a certain demographic and for a specific topic. The benefit comes from the ability to often include links and contact information with the guest post. This results in additional visibility, back-links , and an increase in traffic.
5. Create Links and Call to Action on Blog Posts
A blog generates traffic, but for websites to benefit from this traffic, links and call to action has to be incorporated. Keywords to products, services, and solutions offered throughout a blog article, should be hyperlinked to those specific pages of the website. At the end of an article, a call to action (or throughout the page) element should be placed. This special, offer, incentive should be linked to the appropriate landing page.
6. Consistency is the Secret
There are no shortcuts with this type of work. Consistency is the secret to success with increasing website traffic through blogs. Blogs have to be setup properly, content has to be created frequently with quality and relevancy. Over time, the momentum is created and results follow, but it does take time. Depending on the competitiveness of the niche and market, it may take longer or less. Consistently doing what is required will make a blog successful and increase a site’s traffic.
7. Use Quality and Smart Design
A blog can be a lead generating machine and even the best sales tool. Much has to do with the setup, content, and management of it, but also with the quality of design. Many blogs do not utilize quality design to create a much more efficient tool for increasing website traffic, sales, and meet objectives. Design elements can be implemented in the frame, throughout the page, header, and within the content to achieve results with call to action and appropriate links.
8. Bookmarking Blog Content
Each blog entry should be shared across many websites and bookmarked. There are specific bookmarking websites that allow a blog to share each entry on their website. Once an account and profile is created, a blog can start sharing each entry upon those accounts and profiles. This increases visibility and referring traffic to a website and blog. These are additional communities that are being joined.
9. Analyze, Use Reports and Adjust
Flying blindly is not recommended. To be effective online, especially when increasing website traffic, reports must be generated, analyzed, and adjustments made where necessary. Optimizing and paying attention is important when growing website traffic. An organization and business must know what works and what does not, as well as be flexible to adjust as needed.
10. Promote the Blog
Many places allow to promote a blog, but not a commercial website. Some website directories and communities are structured that way. Having a blog that can be submitted, listed, and promoted allows for an increase in reach. A blog can be marketed and promoted to increase the membership, readership, and followers, resulting in an overall website traffic increase. This can result in an increase in business and successfully meeting the desired objectives.