How to Increase Blog Traffic: 10 Tips to Bring Users to Your Site

Blogs are valuable marketing tools – perhaps one of the most valuable marketing tools if it’s being used correctly. It’s a tactic that is multifaceted, offering the ability to inspire customers, generate leads, establish your business as a trusted voice in the industry, and subtly reinforce your brand. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of competition online, and putting together a blog that leaves a lasting impact can be easier said than done. When you are interested in blogging for your business, it’s more involved than simply writing your thoughts and hitting “publish.” Knowing how to increase traffic to your blog takes careful, strategic planning, but the rewards are worth the effort, helping you claim your space within a crowded platform, boosting your site’s traffic, and making a connection with your audience.

Why is Blogging Important?

As part of your marketing strategy, blogs help get the word out about your brand, build trust with your audience and potential customers, and position your business as a thought leader within your industry. Blog posts are not a strict environment where specific copy guidelines must be followed — you can write about industry-related information, share company news, explore product updates, or offer a deeper understanding of industry strategies, terminologies, and processes.

Blogs are easy to repurpose with other marketing strategies, such as email and social media. They’re easy to share and create a place to bring site visitors in, whether they’re clicking a link in an email or on a social post, or simply researching the product or service you offer and finding the blog post organically.

Additionally, regularly adding fresh content to your website helps with corresponding search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. As you add more content to your site through a blog, search engines will revisit your website, increasing the opportunity to achieve higher rankings. The content you add to your blog should not be created just as a piece of fresh content, because quantity will not get you where you want to be — the quality will. Keep your content standards high because frequently posting low-quality articles stuffed with keywords will end up penalizing your site and having the opposite effect on performance.

If you already have a blog, are you doing everything you should to grab your target audience’s attention? If you’ve analyzed your current blog traffic and determined it’s not getting you the attention you want, try some (or all!) of our tips and start bringing the audience to you.

Tips for Increasing Blog Traffic

1.  Understand Your Audience: Who Are You Writing For?

You shouldn’t write a blog full of humor and puns when your topics are geared toward medical malpractice, and your blog about creative packaging shouldn’t feel stiff and serious. Always ask yourself: Who am I writing for? Understanding your audience is a crucial first step to increasing blog traffic as it’s going to help you tailor your message to what they’re looking for.

To begin understanding your audience and creating a strategy, ask yourself a few questions:

• What issues do your customers face that your services or products help solve?
• What kind of content do your users interact with most?
• What is the general age range of your customers?
• What occupations do your typical customers have?
• What level of education do they usually have?
• How knowledgeable are they about your industry, services, or products?

Understanding your audience on a more personal level helps you create a more effective blog content strategy. You’ll know where to find them on social networks, the kinds of resources they review, and the types of questions they have that you’re able to address. You’ll also be able to tailor your blog tone and voice based on these answers — if your blog is about medical products geared toward and audience of practicing physicians, you’re most likely not going to have to spend your time simplifying or defining industry terms. If a blog is helping homeowners discover interior decorating tips to implement the products you sell, the language will need to cater to a more general audience who most likely won’t have any industry experience.

2. Create High-Quality Content

A blog has to be much more than a collection of articles. The content needs to be high-quality, but this means more than simply being a good writer. There are plenty of people who can write well, but understanding how to write to increase a blog’s traffic takes some specialized knowledge. Creating high-quality content takes a lot of thought and consideration, both on the individual blog level as well as the strategy as a whole.

Here are some ways to ensure your content is considered top quality:

• Create long-form blog posts: Search engines love longer articles that are comprehensive and provide all the necessary information on the topic, setting your business up as an industry expert. Long-form content also more commonly receives more backlinks, which is when another site links back to yours. Unfortunately, long-form content also makes it obvious how much humans and machines differ, because attention spans are not long enough to justify tons of copy-heavy blogs. Your writer can help strategically break up the longer blogs using bulleted lists, line breaks, and headers. Essentially, make it as easy as possible to read, digest, and skim.
• Verify readability and grammar: Considering a blog “easy to read” is relative. What’s easy for one person is advanced for another. Take advantage of available tools, such as the All In One SEO (AIOSEO) tool or resources like Grammarly, to gain a readability score. These scores are generally based on how long sentences are, the terminology used, and more. Some will even evaluate the grade level readers would require to fully understand the content, helping you tweak copy where necessary to make it more available. Grammar checkers, like Grammarly, will also help you write better and prevent misspellings or grammar mistakes that could end up penalizing your website if there’s too many.
• Create catchy, relevant blog titles: When your blog populates in search results, the headline is the first thing readers see. Catchy titles that stand out and offer an idea of what exactly the reader can expect will get more clicks. Effective headlines should trigger an emotional response, offer value, promote the content with target keywords, and include a subtle or implied call to action. That said, don’t create titles that read too much like clickbait as users may feel cautious about clicking. Sensationalized or misleading headers would be considered clickbait.
• Write evergreen content: It’s important to have blog posts that can remain relevant over time as they can help target keyword ranking over the long term and continue to bring organic traffic to the page. Evergreen content would include blogs like how-to’s, case studies, listicles, tutorials, white papers, and expert interviews. Blogs that have specific years or dates quickly make them outdated. Even if they offer relevant tips or tricks, researchers will be less apt to click on them because of it. Prioritize informational content offering long-term value and include original research when possible to make it most useful.
• Update old, underperforming blogs: Sometimes, blogs perform well right away, but trend down over time. Others just didn’t meet the users’ needs at all, requiring some reevaluation. It’s important to revisit these blogs to determine how they can be improved to bring attention back. When optimizing, try to keep the URL the same. Update or remove any outdated statistics or information, taking care to link to new research or data. Locate, replace, or remove any broken links. Ensure your post title and meta description are updated to help improve click-throughs. Run through the entire blog and rewrite as necessary because — let’s be honest — we all look back on things we’ve worked on in the past and feel a little less than impressed with content we once believed to be perfect.
• Fit the search intent: Search intent is the why behind the search. This is important because Google is essentially trying to find relevant articles and pages that would meet this search query. Your blog needs to answer the right questions. You can determine how Google envisions the search intent by performing a search of your target keyword and examining the top-ranking organic (non-sponsored) pages that populate to determine how you should approach your content piece.
  • Content Type: Are these results blog posts, products, category pages, landing pages, or videos?
  • Content Format: If the results are blogs, are they how-to guides, listicles, news articles, opinion pieces, or reviews?
  • Content Angle: What is the main point of the content? For example, someone searching for “how to increase blog traffic” is looking for specific strategies on doing so correctly, so those top results will most likely follow suit.
• Explore new, trending topics: If there’s a new topic you are ready to write on, don’t wait. New topics generally won’t have much competition yet, making your content stand out. This could be an in-depth guide on how to get the most out of a brand-new online writing tool, or a review of a recently or about-to-be-released product that is relevant to your business.
• Adhere to Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines: Experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trust — Four very important concepts you want to include in your blog posts. Essentially, when you’re posting informative content to your website, it needs to be presented in a way that effectively demonstrates you are experienced, you have expertise in the field, you have the authority to present on the subject, and your credentials qualify you as a trusted voice on the topic.

3. Work in Partnership with SEO

If your writer is experienced in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), let them use their knowledge. If they aren’t, offer the ability to learn, time to collaborate with knowledgeable colleagues, or use helpful SEO resources to improve the performance of the content. At a minimum, there are a few SEO tactics to keep in mind when writing to help bring in more blog traffic:

• Apply at least the basics of SEO: You don’t need to be an SEO whiz to bring more traffic to your blog, but there are some basic principles you should be following. Some of the most important SEO-related tasks you should incorporate include keyword research and implementation, following a proper and organized content structure, keep URLs simple, utilize image descriptions, and be conscious of title tags. There are plenty of tools and plugins available online that can help flag potential issues and help you learn as you go.
• Keyword research: Beginners will often take an educated guess at what the top keyword should be for a blog post, but this could end up being hit or miss for ranking. Even if you end up guessing a good one, there may be too much competition to realistically rank. For the best research, you may need to invest in a keyword research tool that can help you find the best keywords to fit your topic. Keywords can be specific words, long-tail or short-tail keywords, or phrases. It’s important to remember that whatever keyword you are focusing on, you refrain from repeatedly stuffing it into the copy or using it in a way that cannibalizes traffic from another important page on your website.

• Utilize internal linking: As you create more good content, you should consciously make the effort to link between various existing blog posts, otherwise known as internal linking. Internal links help Google understand how different articles and site pages are related. They can also help increase your pageviews and minimize bounce rate when utilized strategically. While writing, think of any previous topics you have that could easily and naturally tie in as a supporting piece.
• Generate backlinks: Backlinks are also influential on Google’s rankings, but it’s not always easy. A backlink is an incoming link directing to your content from a different website. Some ways you can get your blog linked from other sites is by reaching out directly, writing a guest post on other blogs or sites, interviewing other bloggers to include on your site, or adding a website link on your social media profiles.
• Improve on-page SEO for existing blog posts: On-page SEO helps the search engines get a better understanding of what your content is about, helping increase organic visibility. Some on-page best practices for SEO include writing content that meets the search intent, including the target keywords in the page title, meta description, and H1 tag, include external links to authoritative resources, and including internal links to relevant content on your own site.

4. Treat AI as a Friend, not a Foe

Artificial intelligence and the new AI tools that offer their own writing services are seen as somewhat of a threat to writers. While this isn’t an unfounded concern, it’s essential to remember: keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. In other words, ignoring AI tools completely will only mean you’re doing yourself a disservice. Instead, use AI as a tool that can help make your writing better.

Writing a blog is easy when you know everything about a topic inside and out. In many cases, though, bloggers aren’t going to be the end-all, be-all topical authority on everything. Writing authoritative blogs often takes a lot of research, and AI can help spark ideas for relevant sections related to the unique target audience you may have otherwise not thought of. It can also be a great help in breaking out of some intense writer’s block, assisting in organizing your thoughts, or helping you phrase things differently.

Of course, AI is a tool that should be used with caution. Some content generators concentrate heavily on the SEO needs, resulting in repetitive content and keyword stuffing, topped off by poor flow and readability. Content generators, like ChatGPT, may not have the most up-to-date information they are referring to – or even real information – so any claims or pieces it presents as fact should be double-checked against credible sources. Plus, always ensure it isn’t completely plagiarizing from a source — what got you in trouble in school will get your website penalized by Google. Plus, your business is also (presumably) run by humans, so your content should also be given that human touch that offers customers a sense of trustworthiness as they read.

5. Use Relevant Visuals

Visuals are a great way to drive home important points and make your content easier to digest by readers, offering an at-a-glance reference. People have become more visual, and a variety of images help boost overall engagement.

• Visual images: Colors, objects, and pretty aesthetics trigger an emotional response in the brain, making readers feel immersed in the content.
• Infographics: A lot of information written out can be confusing, particularly when describing comparisons, processes, workflows, checklists, and statistics. An infographic makes the information easier to review and visualize the concept you are trying to get across. Creating an infographic will typically require working with a graphic designer or an individual with design experience.

Whatever route you decide to go with your imagery, keep a few of these tips in mind:

• Ensure you have the right to use the image. You cannot simply Google an image, copy, and paste it within your blog. That image is most likely copyrighted and unable to be used without explicit permission. The safest route is to use stock image libraries, like Adobe Stock, iStock, Shutterstock, and Getty. Higher-quality images will most likely require subscribing to the service or purchasing the image, but some images may be available for free.
• Only use images if they add value to your blog. Don’t add them just to add them. If it’s not providing extra context or contributing to the copy in any way, you’re probably better off just leaving it out.
• Compress the image file size when necessary. The bigger the image, the slower it’s going to cause the page to load. A slow-loading page is going to make people search elsewhere. Don’t lose out on potential site visitors because your image was too large. If you’ve worked with a graphic designer, they should be able to help with this.
• Add alternative text to your images. If an image doesn’t load or a site visitor is using a screen reader, they won’t have any idea what they may be missing. Image alt text will offer context in the event the user is unable to view the image as well as help search engines understand your image context.

6. Publication is Not the Final Step: Share, Share, Share

So you’ve written a blog and hit “publish.” The traffic should just start rolling in, right? Not exactly. While there’s hope that readers will find your blog organically, you can’t (and shouldn’t) just set it and forget it with your blog. Once it’s written, you should be sharing the post with your social media followers as part of your social media marketing efforts, including a link to the blog in your email marketing newsletters, and sharing across relevant online communities. Anywhere you can reasonably share information about your blog to drive traffic to your blog is a good idea.

Sharing doesn’t have to only be done with brand new blogs, either. If you have an older evergreen blog that is relevant to what’s happening now, share it! If it’s a new weekly post you’re publishing, make sure your social media channels get a heads-up that it’s available to read! Equip your blog with share buttons to allow users to easily send your article to others who may find it useful, too. Just remember, if you’re going to share, don’t do it too often or you’ll end up causing customers to unfollow, unsubscribe, and start ignoring your requests for attention.

7. Continue Tracking Performance and Optimize When Necessary

After your blog is published, keep tabs on it’s performance. Your blog’s analytics can give you a wealth of valuable data and insights into your audience’s behaviors that will guide you toward more successful, related blog posts in the future. The particular keywords the blog post is ranking for can give you an idea of what users are searching for and how they’re finding your site.

Using tracking tools such as Google Analytics, you can see what users are doing once they get to your site, what pages they’re navigating to, and what links they’re engaging with. This data will help you understand what information your audience is most curious about and what they aren’t so you can guide your blog topics toward only those items your audience finds most useful.

8. Avoid a Surprise Release: Keep Publication Consistent

Blogging takes organization, and that includes keeping a consistent publication schedule. By creating and following a calendar, you ensure you’re publishing updated content regularly. Calendars also help you create and adhere to a strategy and offer a reference point if you are unsure whether or not you published a topic recently.

Your content calendar can also hold additional information, such as keyword ideas, overall goals, and more, so you can produce higher-quality content when the time comes to write. Keeping tabs on a calendar also helps ensure you don’t post when your blog’s traffic is almost guaranteed to be low, such as on holidays or weekends if your company primarily caters to other businesses or office professionals.

Consistent blogging efforts keep fresh content on your site, offer predictability for users, and keep production routinely moving forward.

9. Attract Users to Your Site by Sharing Knowledge Elsewhere

One less-often-explored tactic to bring more blog traffic to your site is sharing your knowledge in other ways online to promote a following. Putting yourself out there as a topical authority for your business showcases your credibility to others and can draw them in to see what else you have to say. There are a few ways you can approach this:

• Write a Guest Post on a Related Blog: This is exactly what it sounds like – write a blog post for another industry website. This works to get your blog in front of new audiences who will be interested in your same topic areas. To find an opportunity to write a guest post, simply search your specific industry with a phrase like “submit a guest post,” and relevant results should populate. If possible, include a link in your author byline to direct interested readers back to your blog
• Comment on Other Blogs or Interact with Other Bloggers: Much like writing a full guest blog post, commenting or interacting with other blog posts can help show that you know what you’re talking about. Other users reading the blog may be interested to read what else you have to share, as long as the insights you’re sharing are valuable or contribute to the existing information.
• Participate in Relevant Online Communities: Online communities, like those you find on Reddit, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube, help you grab the attention of an already engaged audience who is interested in the same topics you’re writing on. Don’t simply post links to your blog posts as most moderators will consider this spam and block you. Instead, use these communities to build your reputation among colleagues, answer questions, join discussions, and then share your website or blog only when appropriate to do so.

10. Still no Traffic? Your Site Could be To Blame

If, despite your best efforts, your blog is still not receiving any traffic, it may be time to take a look at the bigger picture — your website. Some common issues could be turning potential readers away and even lowering your credibility and trustworthiness. These potential site issues include:

• Site Speed: The world moves fast, and if your website doesn’t load within milliseconds, potential visitors will probably close out and seek answers elsewhere (usually from your competitors). Not only will you upset your readers, but a slow-loading site could hurt your Google rankings. To help increase speed in the short term, utilize caching, avoid unnecessary site bloat, and ensure your images are optimized for website use.
• Cluttered Website Design: Creating a business website is exciting, but how you design it is important. If you’re throwing every potential functionality or feature at it to try and appear “cutting-edge,” you’ll just end up cluttering things up or creating a website that truly doesn’t fit your customers’ needs. A poorly designed website leads to less time spent on your website, leading to fewer readers of your blog and low pageviews across the site.
• Non-Responsive Website: A vast majority of consumers visit websites using a mobile device rather than a desktop. Websites need to be designed with that in mind with the capability to adjust itself to the screen size it’s being accessed on. If your website or blog loads the desktop site on a mobile device, users will be left with the frustrating experience of having to zoom in and scroll up, down, and sideways just to read what you have to say (if you’re lucky enough to keep them on your website after that loads).

Many DIY content management systems, like WordPress, can offer a simple foundation for almost anyone to create websites, but building a website with best practices takes an experienced website design agency with knowledgeable developers and designers.

Craft a Blog Strategy that Works with Timmermann Group

Creating an effective blog strategy takes more than simply writing words and hitting publish. It takes careful thought and consideration to bring more traffic to you, from understanding your audience to working closely with SEO, writing the “right” content, tracking performance, and so much more. Your entire goal for creating a blog should be creating a content space that works for your business, not simply a place to dump seemingly relevant thoughts.

Crafting content and a developing a strategy to increase your business’s blog traffic is not easy. Make sure it’s done right with help from Timmermann Group. Our team of writers, SEO strategists, and marketing professionals understand what it takes to create effective content that will resonate with your audience using your brand’s tone and voice.

If you’re ready to increase blog traffic to your current page or want to start a new blog for your business, contact Timmermann Group today. For more insight into other marketing strategies (and get a feel for what we can do for you), check out our blog.