How to increase Blog Traffic – Options + Methods + Strategy Tips

The 3 Pillars of growing blog traffic

Before I give you practical options to grow traffic to your blog, let's discuss the fundamentals so that we are all on the same page.

FIRST, Growing a blog takes time. You need to be patient.
I know it is difficult.
Anyone who is not ready to learn, work, try, test and wait, should not start this journey.
It is the reality, and at the end, it is rewarding as you will have grown so much!

SECOND, Quality Traffic is better than Quantity.
You don't want anyone to end up on your blog. You want people who are likely to convert into long term readers, or likely to purchase via your website (via ads, products, affiliate marketing...).

SO, how does this work?
On the Internet you can find:

• those who tell you that Content is King. If what you write is valuable, people will come - WRONG
• and those who tell you that whatever the content, you need to spend more time promoting it - Marketing is King - PARTIALLY TRUE

MY ANSWER is that you must establish strategies based on 3 essential elements in parallel to be able to attract quality traffic to your Blog:

1. Target Audience
It all start with a defined persona for your ideal reader. 
If you try writing for everyone, you are writing for no-one.
So who is you ideal reader? Here are a few high level info you can write down, but better to dig deep so that you can write directly to that person:
- age, location, personality type...
- activities, hobbies...
- hopes, dreams, pains, problems...

2. Right Content

Of course you need quality content.
Without content you have nothing to attract the reader.
And
You need it to be quality. 300 empty words won't make the reader come back.
And
it needs to be adapted to your ideal reader. Write as if talking to him/her:
     Does he prefer inspirational personal pieces?
          Is he looking for tutorials or guides? 
               What subject is he more interested in?

3. Strategic Marketing

And then comes the marketing. 
I know for most of us, the content part is fun while marketing feels daunting 🙂
But if you don't do anything to promote it, there is no-way your ideal reader is going to find you.

That being said, it does not mean you should try every single tools that is out there at the same time!
To grow your blog traffic, you need to pick the blog marketing tools that:

• are adapted to the format and type of your content (youtube is great for videos, SEO favors longer content, Pinterest users like tutorials...)
• are adapted to your audience - you should market where you target audience is. If they don't use twitter, why waste your time there?

Strategies on How to increase blog traffic 

No one way to succeed

Want the magic formula to grow your blog?
Sorry there are none.

There are many ways to succeed at increasing blog traffic. Every blog is different.

• Some master SEO
• Others focus on Facebook
• A few are very successful at Google+
• While others get traffic from Twitter
• ...

Strategy and Focus are key

The fact is,
Most successful blogs have one thing in common, they succeeded first at 1 or 2 channels of Traffic. They were not a massive success on all of them!
They focussed their efforts to get massive results.

Yes,
It is easy to get distracted by everyone showing you the big results they have with one method or another. The syndrome of the new shiny things. You can get quite dizzy and suffer from what I call #BlogFOMO.

But you need to choose a strategy and stick with it.
You should pick 2 avenues for traffic in the following list and learn as much as possible and test as much as possible to make the most of those approaches.
Don't jump from one to the other.
Don't try to do all at once.
Because then you are efficient at nothing and get only low results.

How to select your traffic strategy

It should depend on 

• your audience - where do they hang out on the Internet, what do they use?
• your preferences - what type of interactions you enjoy the most, are you more visual or witty with words?
• and where you are at in your blogging journey

Examples

• Beginners will not be able to speak at conferences but they can start with Pinterest and SEO right away.
• However if their audience are young males from Italy, they clearly should not pick Pinterest... What is your audience using?
• If you are more advanced, have mastered your first traffic avenues and want to grow further, then pick a new one and work on it!

But don't force yourself to learn something you can't stand. Don't prejudge but once you've tried, if you really don't enjoy it and can't outsource, then don't force it, because your audience will feel it.

And here comes the list for you to choose from:

Blog Traffic Growth Options

#0 - BASICS

Before we discuss real approaches, you should already have set up a few things to allow growth to happen:

• First of all, before anything else, set up sharing options for your readers. Buttons should be easy to find and use. You do it once, and then it is passive. Maybe a big account will share your content!
• Share with your friends
• Add your blog address to all your profiles - Facebook, Linkedin...
• Add a link to your blog in your signature
  
  

#1 - Master a SOCIAL MEDIA channel

Your first option, is the one we all think of because we use it naturally in our lives.
Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Instagram, ... You just have to pick one where your audience is and where you feel comfortable.
They all have potential, and some bloggers have been successful with all of them. But note that some do have higher traffic potential than others.

However

It requires daily interaction
And traffic disappears if you stop using it

#2 - Interact in FACEBOOK GROUPS

Many beginner bloggers report good success in getting their traffic off the ground by participating in Facebook groups in their niche, or Facebook groups dedicated to sharing threads.
Just look for 'Niche + blogger' or 'Niche + blog'...
Then interact as per the rules of the group. It is also a good way to get started and network with other bloggers

However

This is very intensive work for low volumes
Most of the time, you are not talking directly to your target audience

#3 - COMMENT thoughtfully on blogs

Another classic for beginners is to comment on other blogs in their niche. But not commenting for the sake of commenting. 
There is an art to it.
For example:

• You should be in the first ones to comment
• Always acknowledge the good in the article
• You should add to the discussion with examples or a different perspective or add a point or a tool...
• As you enter your comment, link to a relevant article, not your homepage

Then readers entering the discussion who are interested in your comment are likely to click on your name to see who you are and learn more.
And maybe the author will appreciate your comments, check out your blog and share your content or link to it.
It is to get you started and noticed.

However

 It has limited results in general and not self-sustaining

#4 - Implement SEO

But starting right away with SEO will save you a lot of time and efforts later.
You can learn the basics right now and improve as you grow.
Well performed SEO will not give you traffic right away.
It is an investment in the future, an investment with huge rewards that can last long.
And the more you grow, the higher the rewards. You can only benefit from it!

However

Competition can be harsh. Finding the right keywords where you have a fighting chance can be consuming
The more established your website is, the more your can rank for difficult keywords.

#5 - Design for PINTEREST

I am a huge fan of Pinterest. I did not include it in Social Media because it really does not fit in with the others. It is a category of its own.
It is a sharing platform yes but mostly it is an idea generator and a search engine.
Which means, you get higher traffic potential that last longer.
And even if you get away for a little while, you still get traffic from it!

However

It takes a couple of months to really see results and beginners often give up before reaching that point.
And competition is rising quite fast in the English-speaking Pinterest.

But it is absolutely worth it if your audience is mostly female (although more and more men are on it) and above 30.
If you want to get started, check out my 101+ tips for Pinterest Marketing.

But if you are looking for a step by step to make the most of Pinterest, consider the course Pinterest Traffic Avalanche

#6 - Share with SOCIAL BOOKMARKING

In theory social media and Pinterest are also social bookmarking sites. But I created a different category because they don't have the same impact.
Here I am talking about other places where you simply bookmark your articles such as StumbleUpon, Digg, Scoop.it...
It is a way of sharing popular content without all the personal touches you have on your social media.

However

Your content is easily swallowed in the amount of articles being shared
It is as for the rest, you have to pick one, and learn to master it.

#7 - Write GUEST POSTS

Another way to find your own audience is to introduce yourself to the audience of other bloggers.
The best way to do that is by writing guest posts on their blog.
The concept is that you find bloggers with audiences close to your target, you propose to write an article for their blog that should interest their audience and you link to your blog and /or social media channel.
And the added benefit is a backlink to your blog which is good for SEO.

However

Results vary greatly with that techniques.
And it requires a lot of effort since you have to write an extra piece of high quality.

#8 - Participate in FORUMS 

Helping is always a great way to attract people to your content.
Participating in forums is a good way to show that you can help people. Make sure you spend time properly answering the question of people before maybe adding a link to one of your articles for more information.
E.g. Quora, travel forums, recipe discussions...

However

You can't share links all the time, it is not the objective of the forum
It is very time-consuming and it is difficult to tell which question/discussion might take off

#9 - Pay for ADS

Well, ads do make sure that your content arrive in front of people. And if you are good at targeting your ads, then it arrives in front of the right people that are ready to click and maybe purchase. If done well, it can be really good to get monetizable traffic.

However

You need money
And once you stop, traffic stops too

#10 - Connect with your NEWSLETTER

However

You need visitors first before they can sign up to your list
It can be difficult to find the right balance between providing useful content and not overwhelming people with emails.

#11 - Advise in your OWN FACEBOOK GROUP

Alternative on Facebook: rather than create a page, a popular alternative with good results is to create a Facebook Group.
The people in your group are looking for interactions and for your advice, so they are more likely to click trough. And for the moment reach is higher. 

However

Management of such a group is very time-consuming
You need to have established an authority in the subject of your group or offer a specific service (link exchange, Sharing threads...)
You need a way to get people inside that group, via your blog or via other groups or influencer networking

#12 - Update OLD POSTS

This is one of my favorite techniques for advanced bloggers. I will tell you more about it in a specific article later.
As a blogger, you grow, you learn new techniques and it is great to go back to your older work to apply all that you have learn for traffic and monetization in order to give it a boost.
Basically you select articles with potential, you go back to improve on SEO, or add new Pin image, or share it better and maybe you add new affiliate links or ad spaces or link to products...

However
This is only available to bloggers who have been at it a long time
It can be depressing to see how bad you were doing things at the beginning 🙂

#13 - Develop PR

Once you reach a certain level, Public relations should be part of a strategy. You want to be featured in traditional media to reach a wider audience.
However
This is not so easy to do. Competition is very high.
You would need help from professionals

#14 - Talk at CONFERENCES

Blog Growth Example

Evolution of my Travel Blog

My First baby blog is ZigZag On Earth. I started it in August 2013.
My objective was not to live from it, at the time there were not many people screaming that you could get 'Paid to travel' . OMG how much I hate this sentence.
I started because I wanted to give others the information and photos that I could not find myself as a travel planning addict.
And ohhhhhh my first articles were catastrophic with hardly any text...

Beginning 2015, after a trip to Iceland, I discovered out how I wanted to write and discovered 'my voice' with detailed articles for a specific location rather than a whole region. I started also drawing maps.
Traffic started to come.
For monetization, I went opposite to what most people are doing. I created my own product first in 2015, and developed other products (travel guide) later on.
January 2016 is when I sat down with my brother to really think about what I wanted to do with that blog and how I wanted to get there.
And as you can see, it changed it all!
STRATEGY AND FOCUS!

Implementing on 2nd Blog

Under a year ago, I decided to start a French version of my travel blog but on a separate website.
So I started all from scratch just knewning my voice and my strategies.
And I am glad to report, that despite having a smaller audience pool to reach (since it is in French), traffic has been climbing amazingly from both Pinterest and SEO and monetization is growing incredibly well with good conversion.

About this Blog

The blog you are currently reading has been in my head for quite some time. But it is a long process to get it out.
I am still trying to find my voice, so content has been slow growing.
But I want to take my time, because I don't want to create more noise on the Internet. I want to be truly helpful.

In regards to marketing and traffic, I have opted for one stream.
However applying my SEO knowledge from travel blog is proving difficult because there is huge competition for even the smallest keywords. So I have still trying to decide on my second traffic option.

Share with me what your strategies are for your blog!