Blogging is so much more than just a pastime or a journal, even though it’s a perfectly valid reason to start one. Companies with blogs have 67% more leads monthly than those without blogs in the business world.
The more people see your blog, the more chances to convert them into leads, so any blog is interested in boosting the traffic. However, with ad prices rising, blog promotion becomes increasingly more expensive. Here are other tactics that you can use to get more traffic without having to spend money.
How to Get More Traffic to Your Blog With no Ads
If you want to increase traffic to your blog without ads, you need to focus on what your blog is about. Beyond simply writing better or writing more, you need to get strategic about your blog’s content.
Do keyword research to get traffic to a new blog
To match your niche and search requests, you need to find keywords to include in your copy, title, headers, and meta description. Keyword tools such as SEMrush or Ahrefs can provide you with monthly searches and difficulty ranking for particular phrases. To maximize your chances to rank on the first page of the search, try targeting long-tail keywords consisting of 3 or more words. They are easier to target because they usually have less competition.
Keywords can also help you conceptualize your writing and focus your sections. However, don’t let your SEO overshadow user needs.
Create content your readers need
Google search ranking takes meeting the readers’ needs very seriously. The more your content answers the right questions, the better. Google even has a metric called search intent and refers to it in its mission.
It defines whether your site visitors got what they looked for when browsed through your blog. There are four types of search intents:
- Informational, for example, ‘Who is Harry Potter?’ or ‘Strategies to drive traffic.’
- Navigational, for example, ‘Facebook login’ or ‘Instagram.’
- Transactional, for example, ‘LA to Berlin flight’ or ‘buy iPhone pro.’
- Commercial, for example, ‘best earphones’ or ‘mailchimp vs. mailerlite.’
To find out what type of search intent your keywords match, analyze the first page of search results, notice what content type dominates the search results, and make sure your content aligns with that. For example, if you search for ‘make coffee, ’you’ll notice that most results are how-to guides.
If they got to the first page, then, chances are they nailed the search intent. Analyze the type and structure of content to find what can work for your readers.
Find out where your potential customers hang out
Promoting your blog can be time-consuming, and you don’t want to spread yourself too thin across every social network. So it makes sense to spend time on social media and websites your audience frequents. To find out what might work for you, you need to find where your traffic comes from.
Try Google Analytics – it’s really easy to use & gives you a lot of info on how people arrive at your site. Think about forums, blogs, social networks, etc., your target audience is using. Engage in discussions, leave helpful comments here & there to make an impression. It’s important because linking back will help you get more traffic.
Optimize your blog for speed and mobile devices
Google uses site page load speed to help its algorithm rank pages. So the better your website experience is, the easier it is to rank higher on search results. You can check your page speed with Google’s PageSpeed Insights. And also, get tips on improving your speed score. If you made your blog on WordPress, to optimize your blog’s speed, you need to use caching, WordPress speed optimization plugins, and optimize your images.
In addition to working on your site load speed, make sure your website is equally fast and pretty on mobile devices. In 2021, more than half of all internet traffic comes through mobile devices.
Keep your blog shiny and fresh
Once you write your posts, your work is not done. Google isn’t a big fan of old content, so if you want your content to keep showing up in search results over time, you need to update it. Check your analytics and find what content isn’t getting as much traffic as before.
Update the information, for example, include fresh research and make the content more helpful to the reader. It can include improving the structure, readability, or even the post format. For example, if you have an opinion piece and people are looking for guides while searching for the keyword, you might want to add some practical steps.
Reach out to generate more traffic
To make sure your blog is noticed in your niche, you can reach out to the blogs and professionals who already have an established audience.
- Start guest blogging. It can be fairly time-consuming, especially given people’s low tolerance for spammy emails. However, if you craft your pitch well, and your post will be written as well, as you aim to write for your blog, guest blogging might be the way to go. If you write on similar topics, including a link to your blog can bring you more traffic. However, even without links, it helps you establish your presence and authority, which can be helpful, especially if you just started your blog.
- Invite writers to blog on your website. When you invite people to guest-blog on your website, they’re likely to share the link to the article on their social media or newsletter, which means more traffic for you.
- Interview industry influencers. Whether you think of them as influencers or thought leaders, or even celebrities, adding an interview can help you create a well-rounded perspective on your blog. The recognized name can also lend credibility to your blog. If they share a link to the interview, your content will get more reach.
- Connect with people on social media. Social media platforms are not just for sharing content. Leverage their social aspect and connect with other bloggers in your niche and people interested in what they have to say. You can join in group discussions on Twitter, answer questions in comments on Facebook, engage with people on LinkedIn. The rule of thumb is although no one appreciates spam, people still use social media to answer their questions, so a helpful answer will be welcome.
- Participate in communities and Q & A websites. Find people interested in your niche on Reddit, Facebook, or LinkedIn groups. Join communities to build your authority, and share links to your content when appropriate. Answering relevant questions can result in spiking traffic to your blog. For example, Ahrefs rocked answering questions to get traffic.
How to get traffic to your blog with email marketing
Email marketing is still an important way to share your content and connect with potential prospects, especially if you write for the B2B segment — 93% of B2B marketers use email to distribute content.
The best thing about email marketing is that you own your list, which lets you build relationships with your subscribers and plan content as you see fit without depending on social media algorithms.
Blog traffic tips: final thoughts
There are multiple ways to get traffic to your blog, even if you’re not ready to pay for ads. Start with one tactic to see what works for your blog, and build your strategy from that. To see what effect your efforts have on your traffic, make sure to set up analytics to make decisions based on data.
Here’s a recap of proven ways to increase blog traffic:
- Start with keyword research. Focus on long-tail keywords.
- Create content that matches search intent.
- GO where your potential readers are.
- Optimize your blog for speed.
- Update your old content regularly.
- Create relationships with other writers and professionals in your niche.
- Harness the power of email marketing.
