For every blog that succeeds and builds a solid following, you have at least a hundred blogs that end up in the graveyard. Building a high quality blog following requires both dedication over the long haul as well as an in depth understanding of what actually works and what doesn’t work in the blogging world.
Here are six tips for building a blog following that follows your each and every post.
Tip #1 – Stop Using “Get Traffic Quick” Tactics
Stop trying to circumvent the traffic generation process. Building a solid blog following is a process that does inherently take some time.
Tactics like gaming StumbleUpon or Reddit, writing deceptively attention catching titles and so on are not the answer to getting high quality long term traffic.
Instead, aim to provide quality content that people will actually want to share. Create content that inspires people to come back time and again. That’ll get you more blog traffic than any quick fix solution.
Tip #2 – Tap Your Customer Base
One place people often neglect is their existing customer base. Often time’s people try to separate their customers from their blog.
For example, they might only send marketing materials using email to their customer list, while they try to use their blog to attract new customers. This is counter productive.
Your customers need to be sold just like anyone else. They need to continually be reminded of your credibility and expertise. Furthermore, by continually providing value in the form of free content, you increase the chances that they’ll buy again.
Try and get your buyers to become readers. Let them know about your blog in your promotional emails and perhaps even in the product itself.
Tip #3 – Narrow Down Your Audience
Does your message hit home? Do your customers feel like you’re talking to them directly?
Many blogs try and be far, far too broad and generic. For example, a blog that’s targeting “internet marketers” is almost definitely going to get lost in the crowd.
On the other hand, a blog that’s dedicated to helping new stay at home moms create a second stream of income could work very well.
What is your core audience? Try and narrow your audience down to the people who would most likely relate to you. Then speak to them directly.
Tip #4 – Accept Guest Posts
Guest posting is one of the best ways for bloggers to vouch for one another and share traffic.
If you guest post on someone else’s site, they’re implicitly endorsing you. You’ll get your content in front of their audience, which means a lot of high quality traffic back to your website. You’ll also get a great backlink.
By accepting guest posts, you give back to the blogging community. You add variety to your blog, so it’s not always just you writing.
Tip #5 – Leverage Current Events and Trends
You can get a lot of blog traffic by tapping into existing trends and things that people are already talking about right now.
Tip #6 – Publish Consistently
Having a consistent publishing schedule is one of the most important things for a successful blog. If you get someone interested in your content, they’ll want to come back and see new content. If they come back a few times and don’t see anything new, they probably won’t return again.
Set a publishing schedule and stick to it. Let people know what to expect from your blog. That schedule could be every day, or just a couple times a month. You don’t have to publish very often, you just have to commit to publishing consistently.