Don’t Read if You Are Satisfied with your Blog’s Traffic

Beyond the world of SEO, PPC and banner ads, blogging has been touted as one of the foremost methods to increasing traffic.
Sadly, if you poll marketers, you may find that most are unsatisfied with their blogging efforts. Their time investment simply does not match their blogs’ success.
Do I have a magic formula to get you more traffic to your blog? Certainly not. I could write on and on about the best blogging tips, but every person will interpret them differently and act on them with varying levels of intensity and urgency.
This brings us to my first tip of blogging:

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again

Blogging isn’t a “get rich quick” scheme or a fast way to increase traffic. It is a work in progress. As you continue to tweak, you will find what works for your business.
The following tips will help you increase your traffic; however, the manner in which they are applied will be dependent on your business model. Just remember that the best blogs understand the importance of targeting to a specific market, applying relevant and consistent branding strategies and writing great content based on their brand message.

Target Market

Successful blogging is so much more than great blog posts. I talk about a brand’s target market often because it is one of the most important strategies for internet marketing success. If you do not know to whom you are marketing, every marketing strategy you execute, no matter how excellent, will fall by the wayside.

First step? Create a marketing persona. If you do not know where to start, Heidi Cohen offers a detailed explanation in her article: How to Create Marketing Personas

Step Away from the Technical Language

Avoid using “5 dollar words” and industry-specific terms in your content. Just because you know what CTR and CPC represents, it doesn’t mean your readers will as well, especially if your audience is full of newbies. Assume that your readers know nothing about your industry and start there. The content does not need to be juvenile; it simply needs to be readable and easy for your readers to understand.

Interviews

Interviews can really get the ball rolling for your blog. Interviews are effective for three reasons:

• They create an atmosphere that breeds interaction
• They help bring a fresh perspective to your content
• The expert may link to the interview from several of his/her sites

Whom do you interview? If you can manage to interview a high-profile expert in your industry, great! However, this is easier said than done. Most experts do not respond to their many media inquiries. If you really want to land those experts, start hanging out on their blogs and social profiles, offer helpful advice and build a relationship with them. Purchase their products and write a review so you can more easily build rapport.
To access other experts in your industry, you can create a pitch on sites like HARO (help a reporter). You will receive a response from several experts. In order to use the service, you must have an Alexa traffic ranking of under 2 million.

Viral Content

Of course, we could argue that all content should be viral in nature, but there are a few content ideas that spread faster than others. Here are some ideas you can use to jumpstart your blogging:

• “Top” Lists – “Top 10” or “Top 100” lists continue to attract readers even though marketers have been using these ideas for years. For example, if you sell wedding dresses, consider an article on the “Top 100 Wedding Dresses of 2011”.
• Tutorials – People love DIY information or some education that will make their life easier. In the above example, you could write a tutorial on “How to Sew a Keepsake Under your Wedding Dress”. Use screenshots and videos to further emphasize your topic.
• Stats – Industry statistics and real numbers speak volumes especially to the readers who love real-time studies. Consider including some stats or infographics to make your content more interesting.
• Contests – Run weekly or monthly contests to increase readership and traffic. If you cannot afford to purchase a prize, give away your time and services.

Above all, remember to post regularly and often and don’t forget to stay focused. It’s perfectly permissible to write on other topics occasionally like during the holidays or special events, but stay focused on speaking directly to your target demographic most of the time. Without this focus, all of the above tips will not make a difference in your traffic.
There are many other great ideas to increase blog traffic. Which ones have worked for you?