Whether you are new to blogging or you had your blogging website for a while, you are most likely asking yourself this questions often; how to get more traffic on a blog?
To provide a meaningful answer to that questions, we first need to go back to the basics.
We need to look at the following:
Why do people read blogs in the first place
How do people read blogs
Why you have started a blog in the first place?
Where do we go from here?
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Why Do People Read Blogs?
“Don’t focus on having a great blog. Focus on producing a blog that’s great for your readers.” – Brian Clark
Before we go any further, we should ask, why do people read blogs in the first place?
People read blogs for the following reasons:
– to solve a problem
Most people read blogs to find a solution to a problem that they have. They often read many blogs to get a variety of solutions and proceed with the one that resonates with them the most.
– to find an answer to a question
Similar to the first one, when people have a question they often look for answers by reading blogs. Again, they will most likely read more than one blog article to find the answer so that they feel confident in the answer(s) provided.
– to learn something
This could be anything from fixing a toilet to learning a new skill. People look for ways to quickly and efficiently learn new things and they are looking to blog posts to help them with that.
– entertainment
People read blogs for entertainment. They enjoy a good story that makes them laugh, or makes them feel other emotions. Just like watching a movie or reading a book.
– seek an opinion
Often readers will read blogs when they look for an opinion. An honest review of a product or service could be very valuable to someone seeking an opinion.
– seek guidance
Often people turn to blogs for guidance. I know I often do that. Frequently, when in doubt people read blogs hoping to find guidance in them.
– feel part of a community
People like blogs because it gives them a sense of belonging. Blogs that allow comments and conversations will be very popular with readers that are seeking to feel a part of a community.
Now that we know why people read blogs, we have to find out, how do people read blogs?
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How Do People Read Blogs?
“As a blogger, everything you do flows from understanding your audience and seeking to help them.” – Brian Clark
In order for people to want to read your blogs, you have to understand how people read blogs.
Once you have that understanding, you can make your blogs user-friendly and provide exactly what your readers are looking for.
-> People skim through blogs to see if it’s worth reading before actually reading them.
If you understand that, you have to make sure that your blog has attractive headings, subheadings, and visual arts to help your readers skim through the content quickly before reading a part or the entire post.
Often people will only read sections of your post. Understanding that behavior will help you make structure your blogs to help readers get exactly what they are looking for.
Now that we know why people read blogs and how people read blogs we are ready to look at how to
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How To Get More Traffic On A Blog?
“A blog is only as interesting as the interest shown in others.” – Lee Odden
There is a very simple solution to getting more traffic to your blog.
->Give readers what they are looking for and they will continue coming back for more.
Knowing what your readers want and need from your blog will take time. Below are the steps to achieve that knowledge if practiced consistently:
#1 quality content is king
Be authentic, unique and helpful in your content. Don’t compromise quality for anything. Respect your reader enough to give them utmost quality content.
#2 attractive and reader friendly structure
Make your content attractive and reader friendly
- use headings and subheadings to make it easier for readers to skim through
- use lots of empty space
- clean and large enough font so that it’s easy to read
- write as you talk, not like an English essay
- use bullet-points and lists
- logical outline and flow
# 3 visual aid
This one is very time-consuming. Sometimes I can write a 1500 + words blog in an hour or two but when it comes to finding and adding pictures and other visual aids, it takes hours and sometimes days. But don’t skip that step. This is very important. People are very visual, the properly chosen images that you use in your posts will attract a lot of readers. They can also help with indexing and ranking if you take the time to put alt tags, descriptions, and captions on your images.
#4 remember why you are writing the blog
We have explored why people read blogs. Your reason for writing a blog should be one or more of the reasons why people read blogs. Never forget that. Don’t get blindsided by making profits, that will come if you stay true to your original intentions and motives.
#5 the rules
Follow the rule of SEO and keywords. Stay on top of them and be aware and adaptable to any changes. if you are not being indexed in the search engines, no one will be able to read your blog. Use research tools to help you with that.
#6 give it time
This one is hard to hear but you have to understand that for a website to earn an authority status, it just takes time. It takes months and sometimes years. During that time, stay consistent in producing quality content in a very consistent schedule. This effort will pay off.
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Worst Mistakes
“When you write remarkable content, you stay engaged and excited with your blog. Your readers follow suit.” – Seth Godin
There are many mistakes that you could make when you are trying to get more traffic to your blog. Be aware of them and try to avoid them:
- forgetting your original intend of helping people with your blog
- getting stuck on making money too soon, that will come later
- neglecting the rules (SEO, keywords)
- now answering readers questions promptly
- not writing on a consistent basis
- copying other people’s content
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In Conclusion
“There are tons of different factors that go into ranking well, but the biggest is high-quality content.” – David Sinick
Now that you know all the basics of a successful blogging website and how to get more traffic on a blog, there should not be any excuses. Being sincere and always wanting to help your readers should be your number one priority. If you always keep that in mind and follow the other suggestions, your blog will be successful and you will have a lot of grateful readers, even if it takes some time.
I really hope you have enjoyed the article. I hope you have found it useful and you will follow the steps outlined in it. It works, and if you give it a try you will realize that too. I would love to hear from you. Please leave your questions, suggestions, comments below.
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Your post was simple and so easy to read. I was amazed at the clarity you had in mentioning all the points that the average blogger must go through. It sounds like it is easy to get started, but takes some work to keep the momentum up. Keeping your reader in mind first of all will keep them coming back for more!
Hi Carolyn, thank you for your comment. Yes, in theory it is very simple, but it takes effort to stay focused there and not get lost in all the other aspects. Nevertheless, blogging is a wonderful journey for anyone who embarks on it and just like with anything new, it takes time to figure it out and learn what works and what doesn’t.