20 top tips to get blog traffic and comments

At Silicon Beach Training we offer a wide range of Social Media Training courses including WordPress Training, Blogging Training and Search Engine Optimisation Training in Brighton, Sussex.

The problem encountered by many new to blogging is finding your audience.

Most people will read a blog post without commenting or sharing, however:

• A blog with several comments will encourage others to comment
• A blog that’s been recommended by one person will encourage another to recommend it
• A blog with clear bookmarking, sharing, and comments will encourage people to do so.

Here are 20 tips to help you grow your blog traffic, comments and subscriptions:

How do I get blog traffic?

1. Titles that Pull: this will entice people to click and to link to your article (“linkbait”) and it will encourage those who arrive on your blog to read the rest of a post.
2. SEO: Choose  keyword(s) that you want to be found for when people are searching and ensure that your URL, title, image alt tags include these keywords.
3. Long-tail optimisation:  Optimising a post for a long key phrase will attract more targeted visitors and are less competitive to rank highly for in Google.
4. Interlinking: link to other relevant posts – good for Google rankings and for getting people to stay on your site.
5. Host your blog on your own domain: Your blog should be part of your website so that you establish trust in your Brand and also “authority” in Google.
6. Google Analytics: you need to be using this to analyse which posts attract most traffic and have the lowest bounce rate, how people are arriving at your site, and what people are doing once they get there. I can tell you the SEO basics but real blogging success depends on analysing this unique data.
7. Search engines and directories: check that your blog is crawled by the major search engines and aggregators like Google Blog Search. Submit your blog to some lists try typing “top blog lists” into Google.

Once you’ve got people to arrive at your blog you want to keep them there. Encouraging comments is one way of getting them to engage.

How to get blog comments

1. Ask questions: using a question gets a reader to think about your topic right from the start – your title is engaging and readers are more likely to have an opinions to offer when they finish reading. An “X versus Y’ type post that will spark debate.
2. Be open ended: Leaving something unanswered will leave room for comment – let your readers show off their wisdom too!
3. Ask for comments: Finishing a blog post with something like “What do you think about… ?”.
4. Make commenting easy: No one will comment if it’s too difficult! Make it clear where to comment and never require a log in.
5. Moderate your comments: Use plug-ins for this or do it yourself, (some input will be required for this) It’s important not to let your blog post get full of spammy comments.
6. Respond: Thank your commenters, engage with them – be polite and respectful and always respond to criticisms with humility.

Now you need to establish a regular readership and keep your readers coming back

How to get blog subscriptions / a regular readership

1. Social Media Marketing: build networks on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, and link to your blog posts here. Be generous; share others’ blog posts and they’ll be more inclined to share yours.
2. Post Regularly: have a blogging schedule (at least once every week) so that people know which days / times to check back.
3. Join in: comment on other blogs and link back to your own; if you leave a valuable comment they will often comment back.
4. Guest blog: Ask to guest blog (I’ve written previously on the advantages of guest blogging); you will reach new readers and be able to link back to your blog at the end of the post.
5. Write a post on your favorite bloggers: then you can tell them on Twitter and get them to link back to your blog (this works for other types of lists too e.g. top cafes, top shops, places to visit, top bars ect). Try recommending other blogs, then leave a link on their post telling them.
6. Offer something useful and shareable – successful blogs offer something useful not other just opinions. Write about what you know, what your readers will be interested in or what you feel passionately about.

Similar posts you may like

1. How to write a great blog post – 10 Top Tips
2. Blog Post Ideas – 10 Top Tips for Blog Inspiration
3. Increase traffic and improve ranking with Blogging and Social Media
4. Writing a WordPress Blog Post: 8 Top Tips
5. Google Blog Search & Blog Directories: How to Promote a New Blog

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