Do you currently write a blog but don’t seem to get very many readers?
Do you need some tips to get more eyes on your posts?
Writing a blog is one of the best ways to help educate customers and get more online leads for your business. Here are some tips to help create interesting blog posts and drive more traffic to your blog.
1. Analyze Popular Content Online
When you aren’t sure if the content you are going to write about is going to be interesting to others, or if it will be shared, analyze other content that already exists.
Do a search on Pinterest for the keywords you will be writing about. Take a look at the similar content already existing and see how many saves it has. This will give you an idea if blog posts like this already exist and if people find it interesting. Don’t be discouraged if similar content isn’t saved many times, this could be a huge opportunity for you to write something that is saved.
Buzzsumo
Buzzsumo is a great tool to use to analyze content to see what content is performing best. It shows you how many shares a post has received and also identifies the leading industry content contributors. You can use Buzzsumo for free and there is also a premium paid option.
Google Trends
Google Trends is a quick place to find how popular a topic is. Simply do a quick search and you can find if that topic is trending, losing interest, etc. You can also see the area that a topic is trending in, as well as month.
For example, when I was writing content for a real estate agency and saw that every spring the search for selling a home spiked, it was a great topic to write about during that time of year.
2. Share Your Content on Social Media
I know this seems super obvious, but how many times do you share a blog post on social media? A really interesting and relevant blog post can be shared more than once on each social media platform.
For each blog post I write, I share:
- Immediately on Facebook and then again 2-4 more times during the next few months. If it is an evergreen post I will share again throughout the next few months.
- Tweet right away on Twitter and then again 10-20 more times during the next few months. For this, I use Hiplay App and Buffer which allows you to automatically create a queue of posts to reshare.
- Pin to Pinterest immediately (using a custom, longer sized graphic), and add to my Tailwind schedule to post onto a group board.
- Mention the post in my Instagram Story and an Instagram post. I might even change my bio link to go to that post.
- Create a podcast episode with similar content and link to the article for more information.
For posts that are useful to your audience and the content doesn’t ‘expire’, share year-round! I have a post called 50 Creative Social Media Post Ideas which simply provides people with new ideas for social media posts and get a lot of traffic to it, so I keep sharing the article. When your content is helping your potential customers, why not share?!
QUICK TIP: Create several different graphics for each blog post so that you can change up the look of the post on social media.
Need more ideas for how to share your blog posts in a creative way? Read How to Creatively Re-Share Your Content on Social Media.
3. Make it Easy for People to Share
Include social sharing buttons on your blog so that people can easily share. Personally, I’ve been on amazing posts and want to share, but without simple, easy-to-use social sharing buttons, I’ve simply left the post. People won’t usually go out of their way to share your content.
QUICK TIP: Make sure your blog post gets shared the way you want it to. Use Social Warfare (a plugin for WordPress) so that you can add custom graphics and wording so that each time your post gets shared, it is displayed properly.
4. Include Visuals
Photos and images add interest to your blog post and there are great websites you can use to create custom images. I love using PicMonkey for quick edits and Canva for social media images. There are many other easy-to-use sites and most have a free option.
Canva makes it easy to create social media and blog graphics
One other way to add interest to your blog is by embedding useful videos, audio and screenshots. This helps to break up text content and get your message across in a more visual way. People often scan articles and visual content helps people understand your message quickly.
5. Know your Audience
Do you truly know who you are speaking to?
Someone who writes an informative financial planning blog will have a totally different style and information than someone who is writing a travel blog. You need to know who you are writing to, and what interests them.
A great way to know what your readers enjoy reading is by adding a comment section under each blog post or to ask for their input on social media. This is also a great way to engage with your readers, ask their opinion, and answer questions they might have.
Also, take a look at your analytics and social shares to see the articles that get the most traffic, the most shares and the most read time. This is a great indication of what blog posts people like on your website.
6. Create Interesting Titles
Blog titles that include ‘how-to’ or ‘x’ number of ways to do something- think ‘10 Quick and Simple Tips to Improve Your Social Media Marketing‘ – these numbered of list type posts are a great place to start.
You want the title to be attention-grabbing and give just enough information to intrigue someone to click on it. People see so much information in a day that you need to catch someone’s eye quick, but have an article interesting enough to keep their interest.
Quick Tip: Use Portent’s Content Idea Generator for some quick ideas and inspiration. Plus, some of the ideas are quite hilarious.
Depending on your audience, try touching on a pain point, or appeal to an emotion, whether you write a funny title, sad, or even one that makes someone angry.
7. Write an easy-to-read blog
People often scan blog posts, so when you write your blog, include headings to break up content, and to make it easy for people who are scanning through the article.
If you have a post with a lot of content, try using bullet points to highlight key facts.
- use headings and sub-headings when necessary
- include visuals that add value to your post
- use bullet points to highlight important information
Make sure to use an easy-to-read font on your website, and if you can, link to other relevant articles that would be useful for readers to also read.
BONUS TIP: I had a couple of my blog posts submitted to Quuu Promote and they got shared 20 times more than they regularly got shared!
No matter what you do, make sure to write about a topic that truly interests you. Your passion will show if you truly enjoy the topic you are writing about!
Aside from using keywords and ensuring your website SEO is great, do you have any tips for getting traffic to your blog posts? Please share with me!
