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You have a blog. You write blog posts. You post to social media. You SEO optimize your content. So what gives? Why aren't your website page views through the roof yet? Why haven’t you made it as a blogger?
Is that you? Are you panicking because you create great content but no one is reading it?
You’re not alone.
And when I say, “you’re not alone” trust me… I really do mean it.
Bloggers, especially new bloggers, all share common struggles – how to get more people to read your blog is definitely high on that list of common struggles.
And that’s no surprise either. It’s easy to write content, but getting people to find your content and read it is a bit trickier. It doesn’t just happen over night, even if your content is exceptional.
I’m going to walk you through a few strategies that you can implement to boost your website page views and increase your blog traffic. For the best results, implement these strategies regularly each week and each month across your site.
Also, don't forget to check out this extremely (no joke) budget-friendly ebook that will help you learn how to get traffic to your blog. I bought the ebook to see if it would really provide good information to my readers and it passed my approval test (which is pretty darn hard to pass). The book will show you in a simple, easy-to-understand and follow manner how to get more qualified page views to your site. If you want your answer in one, comprehensive ebook, this is a good option for you.
So, you’re probably wondering why I’m telling you to engage with OTHER people’s content in a blog post that is supposed to explain how YOU can get more traffic.
Simple, influencers are key to growing your blog and getting more traffic. You may not have a large audience right now, but influencers in your niche do. So, get on their radar. Engage with their content.
Comment on their blogs
Once you find your list of 10 niche influencers, be sure to comment on the majority of their blog posts. Perhaps this may seem like “overkill” but it’s a sure-fire way to get your name in front of your influencer.
But, here’s the thing – don’t just comment “great post!”. Comment something thoughtful and valuable. Even consider asking a question to clarify a point or further the discussion.
Your comment needs to show that you are engaged and interested in their material.
Share their blog posts
You left a thoughtful comment, so now it’s time to share. You don’t need to share every blog post your influencer’s publish, but they will be grateful for whatever you do decide to share.
Be sure to tag your influencer in your share so that they can see it, and re-share it on their profiles.
Start conversations over email
If you’re enjoying your influencer’s content, you should send them a note introducing yourself and thanking them for the value they are giving you.
They will probably get the tingly “I love what I do” feels and they’ll probably remember your name.
Strong relationships with influencers in your niche will go a very long way for a tiny new blogger to get a much desired boost in website page views.
A linkable asset is usually an image that is visually attractive, informative, and something that other people would love to include a link to on their sites.
A great example of successful linkable assets are infographics.
Pin your infographic
When you add your infographic to Pinterest group boards, chances are high they save rate will be astronomical compared to your average pin that directs people back to a blog post. People like pins that provide valuable information that they don’t need to click through a blog post to find. High save rates could translate to more follows on your account. More follows means more blog traffic down the line.
Share your linkable asset with people who have audiences that are likely to enjoy it
Why not spread the love on your linkable asset? Consider sending a message to people who have audiences that might enjoy it very much. They just might email it to their list, or include it in their next blog post with a link back to your site. Either way, both options are hugely beneficial to you and your website stats.
Believe it or not, those promotional threads in blogging groups can be extremely influential in getting you more traffic to your website (and potentially, more subscribers). Whenever I participate in blog promo days, I always see large spikes in my Google Analytics reports.
Now, if you're thinking that promo threads are unnatural and ineffective... Allow me to explain further.
In my experience, I don't get a ton of shares from promo days. But I do find that a lot of people click through the blog and explore. And a small number of shares is better than no shares. Imagine only 5 people share your blog post that you’ve linked to in a blog promo thread. If those 5 people have a following of 1,000 people each – your blog has the potential (emphasis on potential) to be exposed to an audience of 5,000 people. That's worth it, especially if your blog is on the newer end of the spectrum.
Pro Tip: Sometimes people who share your blog posts in promo threads are not within the same niche. If that’s the case, their followers don’t really matter for your end goal. Try and stick to niche specific Facebook groups to get qualified website page views.
A lot of people make the mistake of only tweeting their blog post once or twice. That’s a huge blogging no-no. A huge portion of your Twitter followers won’t see it, especially those that don’t live in the same time zone as you.
Try this tweeting schedule
Day of publication – Tweet your blog post 5 times (it may seem excessive but it’s not)
Day after publication – Tweet your blog post twice
One week after publication – Tweet your blog post twice that day
One month after publication – Tweet your blog post twice that day
Every month – tweet your blog post at least 5 times throughout the month
Some people tweet their blog posts 4-5 times per day every single day until they publish their next blog post. I have not tested this strategy so I cannot speak to whether or not it works.
What I do know for sure: you’ll only get traffic from Twitter if you tweet your post a ton of times.
Pro Tip: Make sure all of your Tweets have hashtags. If you don't know what hashtags to use, check out this cool, free resource for some brainstorming juice.
Bloggers, you’d be lost without Pinterest and group boards. My traffic skyrocketed once I finally jumped on the Pinterest bandwagon and joined group boards. Now, over 30% of my blog traffic is coming from Pinterest.
Check out Pinterest Unpuzzled, an $18 ecourse that will make Pinterest stop causing you to feel as if you're about to pull your hair out.
Join relevant group boards and then be sure to pin your blog posts regularly to those group boards. I have great success automating my group board pinning with BoardBooster and highly recommend it to all bloggers. BoardBooster automatically saves 3-5 of my pins to over 30 group boards without me doing anything more than creating my pin and saving it once to Pinterest.
Want to try out the tool that got me 800+ Pinterest followers in just 3 months? Click here to get your first 100 pins free.
Tailwind Tribes are the new up and coming thing these days. You do not need to be a paying member of Tailwind to take advantage of tribes.
Essentially a tribe is a community of people that have committed to repining a certain number of pins for every pin they save to the tribe. For example, some tribes say that for every pin you save to the tribe, you must repin at least three other pins.
It’s hard to test how effective tribes are, but it is easy enough to take a minute or two to share a pin in a tribe and to repin some others. There are many great Tailwind Tribes for bloggers, so it definitely is worth exploring further.
Your email list is comprised of people who successfully visited your site at least one time. So it’s the perfect platform to get more traffic back to your site. They know you already. They liked your content enough to subscribe to your email list. So they are more likely than anyone else to head back to your blog a second, third or tenth time.
Email your list when a new blog post is released and encourage them to read the blog. If your email is enticing, they are likely to click through the link to read your new post. More traffic for you!
Here is an example of a great email from Jorden Roper that will definitely lure some email subscribers back into the blog for a nice read.
Pro Tip: You don't always need to say, "Hey, here's my new blog post" in your emails to your list. Try some of these ideas:
Advertising costs may not fit within your budget. But if you’re looking for an easy way to get more website page views, consider spending a few dollars on Facebook advertisements that direct people to information-rich blog posts that resolves a common problem your target audience struggles with.
To select your audience and configure your advertisement, click “boost post”.
We talked earlier about engaging with influencer content in order to get on their radar. Now, it’s time to take it a step further and actually give them some real, live love on the blog by linking to their website within your blog posts.
Why link to influencers?
When you link to your influencers content, you are doing them a huge favor. Not only are you giving them a dofollow link back to their site (something that is extremely influential for them) but you’re also exposing their content to your audience. Needless to say, they’ll be thrilled that you linked to them.
What to do when you link to an influencer
Send them an email letting them know that you’ve shared a link to their website within a recent blog post. Send them a link to that blog post and gently suggest that you’d love it if they shared the blog throughout their social media channels.
And another...
This will give your blog post a whole new wave of visibility and it will definitely boost your traffic and pageviews.
Pro Tip: Create a roundup post that features top influencers in your niche. Roundup posts have the highest change of going viral and getting your more page views to your website.
When you install CommentLuv on your site it means you’re enabling the functionality for other people to comment and auto include their latest blog posts in their comments.
People LOVE to comment on blog posts where CommentLuv is enabled. And why wouldn’t they? It’s extra publicity for them and it really does you no harm (unless the blog comment is spammy, in which case you should delete it).
When YOU have CommentLuv enabled on your blog, it means you get to take advantage of it on other people’s blogs, as well. So, that means extra publicity for you, too.
In some cases, blogs with CommentLuv enabled allow those links back to your site to be dofollow. The more qualified dofollow links back to your site from reputable sources, the better Google and other search engines will rank you in search results for keywords.
Have you ever landed on a blog post that you thought would answer all of your questions but it just… doesn’t?
That’s a major bummer! You don’t want your blog content to leave people feeling like they didn’t get the full picture.
Spend time writing blogs that are incredibly detailed, informative, and actionable. We used to think that blog posts shouldn’t be longer than 500 words or so. That’s just not true anymore. Great blog posts can range anywhere between 700 words to 3000.
Quality over quantity, of course, but don’t leave your readers feeling like they still have unanswered questions. Detailed content leaves readers feeling happy, satisfied, and excited to come back for your next blog post later on. Detailed blog posts also make it more likely that your readers will share the blog with their audience, granting you more exposure and increasing traffic to your blog. It’s a win/win for everyone.
The more shares you get, the more likely it is that people will find your blog and visit your site. So, when you publish a post that references someone, be sure to tag him or her. Typically, when people are tagged in a post, they will like and share it, too.
Here is my attempt at getting ConvertKit to retweet my article.
Every time you publish a blog post, you need to spend 4x longer promoting it than it took you to write the blog. That means, the more blogs you publish, the more your blog and brand will be out there for the world to see and explore.... aka more page views on your website.
If you are a beginner blogger, publish between two and four blog posts per month.
If you are an intermediate blogger, publish between four and six blog posts per month.
If you are an advanced blogger, publish between six and ten blog posts per month.
Be sure you are promoting your content across your two or three primary social media accounts religiously.
Pro Tip: Don't bite off more than you can chew. Only create as many blog posts as you have time to promote. If you create three blog posts but only spent time promoting two of them, that third blog post is "wasted". Less content but decent promotion is better than more content and not enough promotion.
Blog Post Calls to Action
At the end of your blog posts, pose a question or prompt to encourage readers to respond and leave a comment. When readers do leave a comment, be sure that you respond to them immediately. Seriously, don’t put this off. Respond quickly.
Readers who you engaged with personally are more likely to come back to your blog as a return visitor later on. This means more blog traffic for you. Did you know if you shake the hand of a candidate for president, you are exponentially more likely to vote for that candidate? The premise holds true for blogging. When you virtually shake the hand of your readers by engaging with them in conversation on the blog, they are more likely to come back for more later.
Email Calls to Action
Ask questions at the end of your emails. Get your subscribers to respond and engage in conversation. The best way to do this is to ask questions in your welcome email.
Your welcome email is your first shot at getting subscribers to feel comfortable with you, understand who you are, and what you can offer them. By starting a conversation in a welcome email, you are more likely to establish a relationship built on trust. This translates to more traffic to your blog, more website page views and even more sales down the line.
You probably have heard guest posts are incredibly valuable. But have you taken the time to explore the option further? Have you actively sought at guest posting opportunities?
If your answer is “no”, it’s time to get started. When you guest post on blogs that are well known in your niche, you position yourself well to increase your website page views and get more traffic.
In the past few months, I’ve published guest posts on a number of major sites including The Write Life, Millo, and the Freelance to Freedom Project. My first guest post ever was published on SellOutYourSoul.com and it’s given me a decent number of visitors and a ton of email subscribers.
Take note that these were all published as a beginner blogger on halfway decent websites. Now that I have even more experience, my guest posts on sites would definitely generate a decent amount of traffic.
Related: Check out this comprehensive ebook to help you get more traffic to your site
Publishing guest posts on other sites has great benefits for you. But allowing guest posts to be published on your site is equally beneficial in different ways. When you publish a guest post on your site written by someone else, it’s not only you that spends time promoting it, it’s also the guest poster. That’s double the promotion for one blog post that you didn’t even write! Guest posts can provide you with a whole lot of opportunity to get more page views on your website.
Look how many shares I got on an excellent blog post written by my friend Alee King:
One of the best and easiest ways to ensure you get as many website page views as possible is to ensure that you’re writing content that your target audience actually has an interest in reading.
Google Trends
Spend some time exploring the web. Google Trends is a great way to research whether there is still an interest in a specific topic.
For example, if you want to write a blog post about home gym equipment, you can plop a keyword or phrase into Google Trends to see if the trend is upward. In this case, it still looks like there is interest in this topic.
Google Alerts
Did you know about Google Alerts? It’s this nifty tool that allows you to tell Google what you want them to notify you about. For example, if you want to be notified when anyone mentions certain keywords or phrases, you can setup a Google Alert. If you want to keep tabs on your favorite blogger’s guest posting gigs so you can monitor the topics they are writing about and implement that on your blog, you can setup a Google Alert for that, too. There are tons of creative ways that you can use Google Alerts to benefit you and your blog content… it is a stellar tool to have in your blogging toolkit to increase your website page views.
The best thing you can do as a blogger is spend time trying new things and experimenting. Your website page views won't automatically skyrocket, but they will steadily climb if you make an effort to implement new strategies and stay consistent.
Website traffic is a fickle thing. So be patient and focused. You WILL be rewarded in the end!
But before you go, tell me something: what's worked for you on the blog? Have you implemented any strategies that have gained you more traffic and page views? Let me know in the comments.
