You always hear about how important blog promotion is, but do you actually know the best ways to drive traffic to your blog?
It is true that blogging is 20% creating and 80% promoting. You can spend hours writing, put your entire heart and soul into a post, but if you’re not promoting it well, no one will see it.
Promoting your blog posts properly and getting thousands of views can seem difficult, and sometimes not possible, at first. But with the right strategy and using the right platforms, you can increase your views and build a successful blog!
3 Major Ways To Drive Traffic To Your Blog
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SEO
If you’re a blogger, chances are you’ve seen the word SEO thrown around a couple of times. SEO, or search engine optimization, is the practice of writing content that gets traffic through organic search results. In simpler terms, it’s writing content that ranks, or shows up, when people search for a specific thing on Google or any other search engine. (Ex. someone searches for a blueberry pie recipe and finds your post featuring your recipe).
Although it can be a little tricky to learn at first, you’re definitely going to want to get comfortable with it. SEO is extremely important when it comes to driving traffic to your blog. When done correctly, it can continue to bring you traffic without you having to do much work, unlike paid ads or traditional social media promotion, which requires you to create and update frequently.
SEO works when you include related keywords in your posts. So if you’re writing a review about a specific product, you’re going to want include that product’s name in your post title, your introduction, your alt text for included images, and throughout your post. Although the basis of SEO is the same across the board, there are a few different strategies and techniques for success with it, so it may take you a little while to find what works best for you.
A few SEO tips:
- Use an SEO plugin or tool, like Yoast to help guide you.
- Don’t go “keyword crazy”. Your keywords should be spread out across your text organically.
- Be patient! Posts take a little bit of time to rank on search engine.
Another huge way to drive traffic to your blog is using Pinterest. There are so many bloggers out there who get thousands and thousands of views each month just from Pinterest alone!
Pinterest is commonly mistaken for a social media platform, but it’s actually more of a visual search engine. People use Pinterest to search for specific things, like tutorials or recipes. When you search a specific keyword on Pinterest, you’re shown a bunch of pins that are related to your keyword. (Ex. someone searching for drugstore makeup products will be shown pins that feature, you guessed it, drugstore makeup products).
Just like with SEO, keywords play a big part in Pinterest success, but images are just as important. You’re going to want to focus on creating pins that are eye-catching, as well as using keywords appropriately.
A few Pinterest tips:
- Create boards for each topic and subtopic you blog about and have good descriptions to those boards.
- Only pin content from related boards. (Ex. don’t pin something about cooking on your fashion board).
- Pinterest loves fresh content, so try not to pin the same pin to the same board.
- Use different descriptions for each pin, or try not to repeat the same description too many times. Pinterest may view this as spam
- Check your analytics frequently!
If you’re looking for some Pinterest help I highly recommend the Pinterest Perfect eBook , it teaches you how to master Pinterest and come up with a strategy that brings you loads of consistent traffic, plus it comes with a few added bonuses!
Social media platforms
The three big social media platforms, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, can also help you drive traffic to your blog. Each of these platforms work differently, so there are different strategies for success for each one.
Twitter is one of the best platforms for building a community. It’s easy to share ideas, answer and ask questions, and create friendships with other bloggers here. Twitter also allows you to engage with and update your readers in a super simple way! Having a good relationship with your readers and other bloggers can definitely help drive traffic to your blog!
Facebook is a great place to share stand-alone content or elaborate further on topics you’ve discussed on your blog, since there’s no character limit on posts. Just set up a Facebook page for your blog, add your links, and write up a good description so people know what you’re all about.
Facebook Tip: You can also join blogging groups on Facebook, like the Blogging Babes Facebook Group, to get inspiration or help from other bloggers!
Instagram is arguably harder to drive traffic on. Many bloggers report lower conversion rates on Instagram, especially those with less than 10k followers, because they don’t have the swipe up feature for their stories. Instagram also doesn’t allow you to use links in captions, so you have to redirect your followers to your “link in bio”, which for some people is an extra step that’s just not worth it.
Your goal for Instagram should be to organically build up a loyal following that you engage with often. The more often you engage with your followers and others on Instagram, the more likely they’ll be to head to that link in your bio.
What are some of your favorite ways to drive traffic to your blog?
I have a lot of work to do with Pinterest growth still! Thanks for the ideas.
Pinterest takes a little getting used to, but it’s a platform that’s totally worth it!
Great tips!! Thank you for sharing! ?
Definitely all great tips! I’m slowly building my following on my blog – almost up to 40 peeps now!!! I’ve really only been focusing on my blog seriously for the past month though, so that’s not terrible I guess. I’m already utilizing all 4 of the big ones (Pins, FB, IG & Twitter) but I don’t get a lot of interaction on any of my Twitter posts… so thats frustrating! Thanks for sharing these tips/tricks though!
It takes a little while to build up, but consistency is really important. Even if the growth is small, keep going! All of the hard work will pay off! (:
My favourite way is Twitter. I love the writing community there.
Twitter really is such a great platform for finding a community and building engaging relationships with readers! (:
I am learning about pinterest a lot. Also I like facebook. Promoting content is another of work.
Yes, promoting content takes time and lots of effort, but the pay off is totally worth it!
Great post!! Lots of awesome tips. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much! (:
I worked on my Pinterest for a week and saw amazing results. I definitely prefer Pinterest over SEO.
They each have their own benefits, and depending on your content you may see better results or results quicker with one source over the other! (:
These are all great things, but one thing that bothers me is that I have a blog about Myrtle Beach- there is soooo much information on this town. I fear that my blog will never be found on google if I google Myrtle Beach Blogs – I’ m not even on page 4- it’s like I don’t exist and the only traffic I get is from the FB groups that I constantly post my blog on – I think they are getting sick of seeing me – LOL I am trying Pinterest and doing pretty good with that- except that it likes vertical pics and my blog favors horizontal pics- I’ll figure that one out.
I also use All in One SEO- Hopefully, you will like my post on pets- just started a new board on Pets.
If you work on SEO strategies, you could definitely rank on the first page of google for your keywords. You can also focus more on targeted keywords for specific posts and work on ranking for those as well!
For Pinterest, you do want to use vertical posts, but you don’t necessarily have to include those posts on your blog. You can just use them specifically for Pinterest promotion! (:
I have really been focusing on SEO as of late. With the current global situation Moz Academy has been offering their SEO courses free of charge – making it the perfect time to dig into their great content! I know that SEO isn’t something I’m going to see the impact of quickly – it takes time, but it’s a long-term game that can really pay off down the road!!
Yes! That’s amazing that they’re doing that!! And I totally agree, SEO takes time but it’s so worth it! (:
Super helpful tips! I’m still trying to master SEO, but Yoast has been really helpful for me.
That’s good! SEO definitely takes time, stay patient and consistent with your strategies and you’ll see results! (:
These tips were very helpful! Thank you!
So happy you found them helpful! (:
Great tips! I’m still learning all of it but Yoast for sure has been a huge help!
Yoast is such a great tool for beginners! (:
All great tips! I’m definitely focusing on my SEO right now. Pinterest is great for an immediate boost and I love it. I’m hoping to use SEO for more of a long-term strategy. Thanks for the tips!
Exactly! Different promotional streams for different results! (:
Great post! These platforms can help your blog grow so much! My favorite to use are Pinterest & Instagram. 🙂
Yes, Pinterest is great for promoting content! And Instagram can also work if you have an engaged following! (:
I recently started to use Pinterest to get some traffic over to my blog! I’ll have to check out the course you mentioned. Thanks!
It’s a great course! It really helped me understand Pinterest so much better! (:
These are some major blog Basics that sometimes we forget to implement.I like the SEO explanation is simple and direct.
Thank you! So happy you found it helpful! (:
This is super helpful! I recently started my blog and social media platforms, so this was a great read.
Oh how exciting! I can’t wait to see where your blogging journey takes you! (: