Nowadays it's easy to create a blog, but it's more difficult to create a successful blog with significant traffic.
This article is for all kinds of bloggers. Not all tactics will work for everyone, but at least some of them should be applicable and useful.
1 - Target your content so that it has more shares
When developing strategies, examine your audience's ability to get the word out.
Some readers will naturally be more or less active in sharing your content, but there are particular communities, themes, writing styles, content types that regularly work better than others on the web.
For example, graphics that touch the chord or beautiful videos that tell a story are well targeted to audiences that are likely to share.
2 - Participate in the Communities where your hearing meets
Some advertisers spend huge sums of money to determine where different types of consumers meet and what they do with their time to better target their messages.
They do this because wanting to reach a group of 65-year-old women to advertise sports equipment would be a waste of money, while on the other hand if they reach a group of 25 -30 years who attend gym clubs they are more likely to have a better return on investment (ROI).
Fortunately, you do not need to spend a euro to know where most of your audience gather on the web. In fact, you already know some blogs, forums, websites and communities on social networks where there are discussions and content on your topic.
Once you have found where your future readers meet, you can start participating. Create an account and read what others have written, and write only appropriate content. Do not troll or spam on the forums, otherwise you will have a bad reputation.
3 - Work your content to support SEO
Search engines can bring a lot of traffic, yet some bloggers forget about this channel for multiple reasons that have more to have with fear and misunderstanding rather than real problems. The SEO, when done well, should not interfere with quality content.
Taking advantage of this opportunity can really have value in the eyes of bloggers, who often find that all the business part of a blog, such as advertisements or guest posting, comes from research.
The SEO for blogs is both simple and easy to configure, especially if you are using a blog platform like WordPress. Or Joomla. Read this article for more info: Seo for bloggers.
Do not let the press or bad experiences with spammers prevent you from seeing the power and significant traffic intake through SEO. The 20% effort and tactics you'll put into working on your content so that it is optimized for search engines will earn you 80% of value, and thousands of people will fall on your published content . This will be your reward.
4 - Use Twitter, Facebook and Google+ to share your articles and find new connections
Facebook needs 1 billion active users. Google+ must have more than 360 million active. Twitter 240 million active users. And Linkedln 180 million assets.
Together, these networks attract the interest of many Internet users around the world, and those who participate in these services are "content distributors", which means that they are likely to talk about your blog .
Taking advantage of these networks requires patience, study, attention to change, knowing what to publish as content, and how to publish it. Here are a few tips :
- If not yet done create a personal account and a pro account, two pro accounts on Twitter and Facebook. Similar to Google+.
- Fill in your profiles correctly by putting a good description and a link to your blog.
- Connect with people you already know personally and professionally, and start following the influential people in your niche .
- Start sharing your content - your own articles, those of other bloggers, what you think can become viral etc ...
- Interact in your community, use hashtags, search for good conversations.
If you consistently use a participatory strategy, share good content and make a good impression on those who see your publications on these sites, the number of your fans and followers will increase and your ability to attract traffic to your site Blog will be huge.
For many bloggers, social networks are a main source of traffic.
5 - Install Analytics and pay attention to results
I would recommend to all bloggers to install Google Analytics (which is free), and see the results from where the visits come, which sources bring traffic.
The use of Analytics is essential to know where you are most successful, and where you have more opportunities. Do not deadlock, or you will never learn from your mistakes.
6 - Add graphics, photos, and illustrations
If you are someone who can create graphics, take pictures or make illustrations, you can practice your talents on your blog.
By downloading and hosting your images on sites like Flickr you can create another traffic source.
When using images I strongly recommend that others be able to use them on their own sites legally and with your permission, but in such a way that it shows you are the creator of the images.
For example you can put under your images that they have the right to use them provided there is a link back on your site.
7 - Use keyword research when you write articles
Unsurprisingly, the best way to appear in search engines is to target the terms and phrases that readers type in a search engine. It's hard to know what the words will be unless you really do research, and by chance there is a free Google tool called Adwords Keyword Tool or Keyword Planner .
Type a few keywords, enter (do not forget to select France). Adwords will show you the words or phrases that match well with the words you typed.
8 - Make frequent references to your articles and those of others
The web was not created to have only static text content. Readers appreciate the links, as well as bloggers, admin websites and search engines.
When you refer to your own content in a good context, in a non - manipulative way (be careful not to put links in every word of your articles - this may seem horrible to your readers and search engines) Can potentially bring you visitors and give a signal to the search engines regarding your old articles.
Perhaps what can be more valuable is to share the content of others. We must give to receive. Other website owners will receive alerts from Google Alert to see who is talking about them and what is being said.
9 - Write Guest Items
When you get started, it can be difficult to convince other bloggers to post on their sites. This is where the connections of friends and colleagues are important. When you do not have a powerful marketing message, tap into your relationships.
Guest Blogging (actually publishing guest articles on other blogs) is a fantastic way to introduce your brand to newcomers who have never seen your work, and this can be useful to gain early links to your site , Which will bring traffic and will help you position yourself well in Google.
Here are some recommendations:
- Look for sites that have a good audience. Spend some time researching the most successful items on the websites, look at reviews, and you'll be able to fit your future article to get the maximum return.
- Do not be discouraged if you receive a "No" as an answer. The more you will be known in your niches, the more opportunities you have, the new demands, and you will more easily have a yes. Do not take the refusal badly. Persevere without harassing bloggers (not to be frowned upon).
- By submitting your guest article do everything to make it easy to understand. When you ask to publish, make sure you have written quality content that is unique.
You can also use social networks to find opportunities for Guest Blogging.
10 - Integrate a super design on your site
A beautiful professional design on a blog has a lot of power. When readers watch a blog, the first thing they judge is what design makes them feel.
Sites that use templates by default, or that have 90s design will receive less confidence from readers, there will be less time spent on a page, and little chance that content will be shared.
Those who use a beautiful design clearly indicate that there is a good quality of work behind, and they will reap all the benefits.
This is an area where some spend a lot of euros to have a beautiful design, as this can affect the sharing of articles, the vitality of an article, traffic etc ...
11 - Comment also other blogs
As bloggers, we see a lot of comments. Most are spam, some bring some value in their comments, and a minority are fascinating and remarkable.
If you are part of the latter category, and you get what a blogger says "wow, this guy should write comments more often," you can achieve great things for the visibility of your own site through the Participation in the comments of other blogs.
Try to keep the same name or nickname when you comment. Take care to put a good link back to your site. Some blogs use the Luv Comment plugin to prompt you to comment because the links are in do follow.
12 - Participate in the sites Questions Answers
Every day, thousands of people ask questions on the net. Popular services like Yahoo! Answers and others serve those looking for information whose web searches could not give the answers they needed.
The best strategy for these sites is not to answer all the questions but to bring value to the community by engaging where:
- The question is of high quality and there are few answers
- The question receives many visits (well placed in research)
- The question is a question you can answer by bringing value to any curious person
You can also write a blog article by bringing a clear and helpful answer to a question from a Question Answer site and then making a link back. It is also a good method to find topic articles.
13 - Participate in events (or create)
Despite the power of the web that allows us to connect from anywhere in the world, person-to-person meetings are always remarkably useful for bloggers looking to increase their traffic and influence.
The people you meet and with whom you keep in touch will discuss discussions about your blog, and you can discuss how you can help each other. This can bring guest articles, links, tweets, sharing and much more.
14 - Use your mail to promote your blog
As bloggers, you'll probably send lots of emails via the web to expand your work.
Make sure you do not forget the email as a channel. When you engage in an interesting discussion, take this opportunity to speak freely about your blog posts that you have written. You will find yourself answering questions by email.
If several questions come up often, write an article about the problem.
Also use the signature of your mail to promote your blog or blog posts. You can include links to your social networking profiles.
15 - Probe your readers
Surveys on the web are easy to set up. They allow for a lot of interaction and discussion. You can use sites like SurveyMonkey , PollDaddy, or Google Docs .
16 - Bringing value in a popular conversation
Many niches in the blogosphere where key problems arise, are discussed and where conversations are found on other blogs and sites.
Entering the discussion is a good way to present its point of view, and gain the attention of those who are interested and potentially get links and trafficking from industry leaders.
17 - Find the best of your niche
Bloggers, publishers and administrators of sites of any kind on the web like and hate to be compared. This incites intrigue, discussion, methodological arguments and competitive behaviors, but it is interesting to gain attention.
On the Ebuzzing website you can see the ranking of popular blogs in each niche, as well as the most "remarkable" articles. The ranking of blogs as well as the score is calculated by Ebuzzing based on numerous parameters (network of blog links from other blogs, shares of its tickets on Facebook, Twitter etc ...).
It's up to you to register and try to make you an entry in the rankings.
18 -Connect your web profiles to your blog
Some of you have profiles on services such as Youtube, Slideshare, Yahoo! and other social web sites. You may be able to upload photos to Flickr or Facebook. No matter what you put on the web, always link to your blog.
Including a link to your blog in your profile pages is one of the most obvious things, but it also brings value.
On any service where there is interaction, those who are interested in you, and what you have to share, will follow these links and if they come back to your blog, there is a good chance Win a loyal visitor or win a share (or both!).
But do not just do that with your profiles, do the same in your content. For example, if you put a Youtube video, put a link at the beginning or at the end of your video. Also include a link in the description of your video.
Do not forget to use Google Authorship to link your blog to your Google+ profile. The benefit to bloggers who make a lot of audience to earn the trust of Google is to have the opportunity to have their Google+ profile photo next to your content. This brings more clicks from the search results.
19 - Discover the links of your niche bloggers
If other blogs in your niche have earned references from sites around the web, chances are they will do the same for you someday. The search for competitive links can also show you what contents of competing sites have had good results and which strategies they used.
OpenSiteExplorer is a good site to check this out. It is free, and you can register and create an account to have more features.
Discovering a link is good, but it's through searching for tens of hundreds of links that you can get an idea about strategies.
20 - Be constant and never give up
There is this true story of Geraldine. Geraldine was blogging daily. She wrote articles, took pictures, visited other sites, always had new subjects of discussion, made guest blogging, and gradually increased her number of followers. By the way, she was not too interested in SEO.
And then after 2 years, and more than 500 published articles, things started to improve. She was able to do more guest blogging, and she even appeared in the top of the best blogs. It has gone from a few hundred to a few tens of thousands of visitors!
Many bloggers create their blogs, then give up after a few months.
Do not be like them, persevere!
To you
Well it's an article a bit long, with lots to see. Take the time to digest. If you have things to add comment below. And as usual do not hesitate to share the article!
EmoticonEmoticon