Your blog is a powerful resource for bringing people to your website. In fact, 76% of marketers plan to produce more content through their blogs in the coming years.
But are you using your blog effectively to drive that traffic? In other words, do you know how to get your blog noticed?
There are currently over 150 million blogs in the blogosphere. And that number keeps growing.
And of course, everyone – from individual bloggers to small business owners – is vying for more attention and eyeballs on their content.
But getting the word out takes some work.
You Have to Know How to Get Your Blog Noticed
Blogging has so many benefits. And while having amazing content is a huge factor, it’s not enough by itself. Other factors such as social media, networking, and SEO must be considered.
We’ve come up with eleven tips to help you deliver the whole package when it comes to your blog.
1. Use Links and Trackbacks
Never underestimate the power of the link.
Not only are they noticed by search engines, but they’ll also alert other bloggers that you’re linking to their sites. This could potentially lead to their checking out your blog, becoming a loyal reader and perhaps even linking back to yours.
There are two types of links – outbound and internal.
Outbound links are essentially what we described above – reaching out to sites you link to and building a relationship with them in hopes they might link back to your post.
Internal links are links from one of your posts to another post or page on your site. You obviously need to have enough content on your site to use internal links. But once you do, adding them helps search engines better understand the topic of your blog content, and keeps people on your website longer.
If you want to take it to the next level, you can leave a trackback on the other blog to let them know you’ve linked to them. Blogs that allow trackbacks will include a link back to your blog in the comments section of the post to which you originally linked.
2. Join Link Parties
A link party is a post on another website which features a special tool allowing you to post your own projects onto the hosting website. This includes a photo and a link back to your site.
Joining a link party enables you to highlight and share your best content and maybe even get featured on bigger blogs.
But it’s also a great way to get to know other bloggers, get your posts pinned, and get a feature or two to start driving some massive traffic.
In your effort to get your blog noticed, try to join at least one link party per day. Then also visit other links. Notice what other bloggers are doing, and comment on their posts by contributing to the conversation in a genuine way that goes beyond, “This is great!”.
3. Be Genuine
All of the technical stuff aside, when writing your content, be sure to infuse yourself into it. Give it personality.
If you’re a funny person, then write some funny posts. You don’t have to be dry and serious to demonstrate authority. You can provide some laughs right along with that information.
If you have a story to tell, then tell it. You might be surprised by how many of your readers can relate to your story. Some of them will even be willing to share their own stories.
Being authentic is an amazing way to connect with the readers who are really going to matter. Of course, be careful not to be too authentic. No need to include every little detail about yourself.
But you can still be personable on your blog without offering up your social security number. And you could just start upping your readership considerably.
4. Consider Guest Blogging
Guest blogging is when you contribute a post – free of charge – to another blogger’s blog. Or it can be when they contribute to yours.
It’s a very simple demonstration of “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.” The person receiving the post is getting free content on their site, while the person contributing the post gets exposure to a new audience.
In both cases, you’re likely to see an increase in traffic to your blog.
5. Take Advantage of Social Media
It’s no secret that social media marketing gets the job done. This is true where your blog is concerned too.
Pinterest is one of the most effective ways to pump up the popularity of your blog. And you don’t even need a huge following to be successful on this platform.
If you can develop a solid strategy for Pinterest, you could be seriously increasing the number of daily page views you get to your site.
One of the best ways to utilize Pinterest is to visit and spend time on the site every day. While there, manually pin some of your best-performing pins and other relevant pins in the smart feed from other pinners to your personal boards and group boards.
You should also consider joining relevant group boards. Once you do, pin at least 30 times per day to those group boards to maximize exposure. Do the same for your personal boards.
Another amazing resource is Facebook group promo threads. It’s one of the simplest ways to connect with other bloggers and business owners, while growing your monthly engagement on your blog.
6. Improve Your Photography
Ah, the power of the visual.
It might seem odd, but readers are more likely to share your post if the imagery is impressive. This is especially true if you’re trying to share a project on your blog. If the photos are dark, blurry or grainy, they’re not going to inspire others to share them.
But even if you’re not sharing a project or something that needs to be conveyed through photography, having beautiful photography is a key factor in getting people to share a post.
Plus, photos that are bright and clear perform better across all social media channels too. That means you’ll make more of a statement on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram… all of them.
7. Submit Your Blog to Search Engines and Directories
Submitting your blog’s URL to Google, Yahoo! or any other popular search engine is one of the easiest and most effective ways to get on their radar screens.
Whether your blog is brand new or it’s been around a while, you can notify the search engines by simply using their ‘submit’ link. By doing that, the search engines will crawl it and then include your pages in their results.
Of course, submitting your blog to search engines isn’t going to automatically shoot you to the top of a Google search results screen. But it’s just another way to increase your chances of being picked up by a search engine.
You should also submit to blog directories. These are like the online yellow pages for blogs.
8. Harness the Power of Comments
The comment section isn’t just a place for someone to sing your praises or air their grievances. It’s actually an essential tool to increase your blog’s traffic.
When you get a comment, take the time to respond. This will show your readers that you value their opinions. And it could lead to a two-way conversation that will go a long way toward building loyalty.
Of course, two-way conversation does not mean a heated and ugly exchange. There’s always the chance that someone will leave an inappropriate comment. Those are best left ignored.
Also, you can drive traffic to your blog by leaving comments on other blogs with your blog’s URL in your comment. That way, if you say something that really interests someone, they’ll come to your site to engage.
9. Find Other Blogger Groups/Start a Tribe
Get on Facebook and search “blogger group.”
You’ll be amazed at the wealth of other bloggers out there. And you’re bound to find some groups to join – some specific to your niche. Obviously, those with the most members usually have the most activity and therefore more people with whom you can connect and share posts.
And once you get to “know” enough fellow bloggers, you can start a tribe. This is a smaller Facebook (or other social media platform) group of maybe 5-20 people sharing a common interest.
Tribes are the ideal place to plan bloghops, host link parties, or just ask questions you might be too afraid to address in the bigger groups.
10. Give It a Signature Design
Unless you know what you’re doing, designing your blog from scratch could leave you with something that’s hard to navigate and looks cluttered. Readers aren’t going to stick around if they feel lost and overwhelmed.
So if you’re brand new to your blog, but not terribly tech savvy, it might be a good idea to shell out a little cash to pay for a premium plan. Or even hire a professional.
If you’re going to have a logo, start there. You can design one yourself with any number of online tools. Then give it the same genuine and authentic flair that you use in your writing. That way, readers will be able to instantly associate it with your blog.
And one more thing. Show your face every so often.
Even if you despise being in front of the camera, don’t skip out on the value of having an inviting “about” photo of yourself in your blog’s sidebar. Then incorporate a real and genuine “about me” section with at least a few more pictures so people can get to know you.
Giving readers a chance to see you make a deeper connection and makes your blog more personable. It gives readers even more of a chance to get to know you.
And once they know you, they’re more likely to follow you.
11. Get Savvy with On-Page SEO Basics
This is the most technical aspect of getting your blog noticed. But it’s also one of the most important factors when it comes to how you rank on Google and other search engines.
Fear not. You don’t have to be a developer to get a grasp on the basics for on-page optimization. And unlike many of off-page factors listed above, with on-page SEO, you have a lot more control.
Here are the main components:
An SEO Friendly URL
Does the URL for your website clearly indicate the focus of your post?
For instance, if you’ve written a killer blog post on the drawbacks of having a pet monkey, it’s not going to rank very high if the URL is something like “www.(your site name).com/p=167”.
But if it’s “www.(your site name).com/pet-monkey-drawbacks,” the search engines will better identify it.
Try to keep the URL limited to roughly 2-5 words though. And be sure to include your target keywords.
Meta Title
When you search something, the meta title is what shows up at the top of your browser, as well as in search results. But more importantly, it helps search engines understand the main topic of a page.
When creating your meta title, you’ll want to keep it natural. And be sure to include your target keyword.
H1 Tag
The H1 tag is essentially the headline of a page. So it’s important that every page on your site has one.
If you’re using WordPress, the title of the post will automatically be given the H1 tag. But depending on your chosen theme, it’s a good idea to double check this. Some of them override this feature.
Subheadings
These are additional tags like h2 and h3 that help to structure your posts. Essentially, they and make it easier for both search engines and your readers to navigate your content.
Images (and Alt Tags)
You’ve probably added some images to your post to make it more visually appealing. This is almost always a good idea.
But since search engine bots only understand text, you’ll need to include alt tags that describe these images. That way, you’re optimizing your images too.
Overall Usability
You might have the most fascinating blog posts. But if they’re populating a site that doesn’t function well, they’ll go largely unseen.
Does the content load slowly? Are there broken links? Are the images in your content relevant? All of these are critical for on-page SEO. So give your site the once-over.
Are You Ready to Get Traffic?
When figuring out how to get your blog noticed, remember there’s a great pay off in putting your time, energy and some of yourself into it.
But don’t forget the importance of SEO. You definitely want those search engines to understand your content too. Otherwise, you won’t have many readers!
And if you’re still left with questions about how to better promote your website, feel free to contact us. We can help clear things up for you.
