You may have a blog or website, but are you successfully attracting new readers? Half the fun of blogging is talking about it – but you know something: it’s more fun to actually do it. And once you start gaining traction, there are lots of ways to grow your blog readership and expand your reach on social.
If you want to grow your blog readership, you’re going to need more content. But what kind of content? The kind that gets read by more people.
It’s not as easy as it seems, but this step-by-step guide will help you create an appealing website or blog that readers can’t resist.
Determine your blog audience
Knowing your audience is the first step to building a blog that resonates. While there are advantages to writing for everyone, it is more practical and effective to write for a specific audience of your choice. Understanding your audience will also help you communicate with clarity and create content your readers actually want to consume.
Getting your blog to the top of search engines, social media platforms and news readerships is not as hard as it may seem. Writing great content is just one part of the puzzle. The audience that reads it matters too.
Write content your target audience wants to read
Readers will come to your blog if you write content they are interested in.
The modern reader wants to find information that is relevant and important to them, so they can spend their valuable time more effectively. If you have been searching for a way to increase views of your blog or website, then you should write content your audience wants to read. There are many ways to get traffic, but few are as effective as writing articles that are relevant and important to people searching for content online.
The main point is to write articles that people really want to read, not what you think will get the most traffic. Your opinion might be interesting or thought-provoking. It might even be funny to some. But if it doesn’t align with what your audience is looking for – it’s not going to pull in a large audience.
If you are not getting the traffic that you want to your blog, it may be because your readers do not find your content interesting.
Make your content in-depth and compelling
If you’ve ever read the notoriously boring and inaccessible “textbook” style posts from the big blogs, then you know what we mean.
Compelling content is what gets people hooked on your blog. In fact, it can be a matter of life and death! Research shows that when writing your blog posts – keep them in-depth and compelling so that you can grow your readership. Visitors will more likely read the post (rather than bounce) if the length of their visit is 3 minutes or longer.
Make your site easy to use
If you keep it hard for your readers to read and comment on your blog, you are shooting yourself in the foot every day. By making viewing and readers easier for your readers you will grow your blog readership. It also helps finding a great pick from brandable and memorable discount domain names for your website/blog.
The easier you make it for someone to read your content, the more likely they are to keep coming back. Here are 7 other ways that you can make your website a little easier to use.
- Use clean, clear and concise wording.
- Make sure that your site has a clear layout and easy to navigate, with as few clicks as possible going from one page to the next.
- Consider adding features such as photographs and infographics on every page of your website.
- Check that your site is compatible with mobile devices, so that readers and visitors can access it from anywhere.
- Make sure you can be found by using SEO best practices.
- Set up your social media accounts for readers/customer service purposes (and email marketing).
- Make the most of white space.
Optimize your content for search engines
When it comes to content marketing, it’s easy to forget that the whole point of writing is to drive traffic–to visitors who will read your content and turn into leads or sales. If your goal is lead generation for your business blog, you need more than great content–you need optimized content.
Optimized content will not just help your readership increase, but also the numbers of backlinks collected and the diversity of your target audience. Here are some useful tips:
- Create unique, high quality, informative content that is relevant and engaging to your audience (even more so when building backlinks).
- Focus on long-form content with minimal distractions
- Keep it short and simple. Cluttered content makes you look like you don’t know what you’re doing, and clutters the visuals as well.
- Use images and video to capture attention.
- Use the right keywords and phrases in your content.
- CreateEnsure SEO-friendly URLs structure for a better ranking.
- Use relevant ALT text for images.
- Add an XML sitemap.
- Make sure you are using URL parameters.
Convert your blog readers into subscribers
Many blog owners complain about not getting enough traffic to their blog. This can be frustrating because you’re putting a lot of work into creating content and “earning” traffic to your blog, yet you don’t feel it’s growing as quickly as it could be. One solution that has proven effective is to convert readers to email subscribers.
Readers can sign up to your RSS feed and then be informed as soon as you write a new blog post. Blog subscribers are automatically emailed when there is a new post, so everyone who subscribes will see the latest content first.
Converting your blog readers into a higher tier of engagement that will make them more engaged and loyal toward your blog is a great way to build a sustainable blog.
Get active on social media
If you’re having trouble growing your blog readership, try expanding your presence on social media. It could be the missing link in your marketing strategy. If you don’t have a solid content marketing strategy (that includes a social media element), you’re missing out on one of the best ways to gain exposure for your blog.
Marketing your blog through social media has several strategic benefits. First of all, it’s free. Another reason is that you can control who sees your content with social media (For example, leveraging Facebook’s extremely targeted audience feature).
You can use social media to get more comments, likes and shares to grow your blog and readership faster.
Conclusion
The power of content to grow your blog readership comes from developing your own personal style, unique voice, and knowledge surrounding the topics you write about. This may take some time (and experimentation) to develop. However, once you find your niche and develop a strong digital presence and brand, you’ll be able to build an audience that will grow with you as a blogger.
