Ideally, a good blog would attract traffic on its own. The content is so good and the topic is so popular that people can’t help but flood your site. Unfortunately, this rarely works in practice—at least at first. Once a blog has a steady stream of traffic and a decent amount of popularity, it should be able to sustain its own momentum.
But establishing that initial stream of traffic and an initial base of followers is challenging. If you want to begin generating momentum, you’ll need to employ the help of traffic generation strategies.
So what are the best strategies to use?
The Best Strategies for Attracting Initial Traffic to a Blog
There are many strategies worth considering, but these are some of the best:
- Digital advertising. First, you could consider placing digital ads. With the help of professional digital ad design, you can create captivating pieces of content that persuade users to visit your site. There are many options in terms of placement. For example, you could use pay-per-click (PPC) ads to get in front of users on major platforms like Google or Facebook; one of the big advantages here is that you can target a hyper-specific audience, based on demographic data, search behavior, and more. You may also want to place ads on other sites. Whatever path you choose, make sure you’re measuring and analyzing your results so you can keep tweaking and improving your strategy.
- Search engine optimization. Next, you could try search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is a series of techniques designed to make your website more likely to appear in search engine results pages (SERPs) for relevant searches. In other words, when a user searches for a term related to your blog, your blog will be more likely to show up. Onsite content development, keyword optimization, and link building are all valuable here. The only real downside to this strategy is the time it takes to get rolling; it often takes months to build momentum.
- Guest posting. Guest posting is the process of writing and publishing content for sites that aren’t yours. If you do this, you’ll typically be able to include a link back to your own work, generating referral traffic. You can also build your notoriety as an author, and build a more loyal following. Oftentimes, publishers are excited for your contributions—so it’s a win-win for everyone.
- Social media marketing. You can also try your hand at social media marketing. Via social media, you can connect with a hypothetical audience of billions. Flesh out your author profile, reach out to new people, engage in groups regularly, and make sure you share your content actively. If you’re consistent, you should be able to build a following.
- Influencer marketing. You could also try to take a shortcut by leveraging the influence of someone who’s already popular. Get a mention or a shout-out from a known influencer in your field, and it could skyrocket your popularity. Just don’t use this method exploitatively; offer something valuable in return.
- Content collaboration. You’re a content creator, so get more attention by collaborating on content with other people. Reach out to popular bloggers in your field, and see if you can work together on a mutually interesting project. You can cross-promote and build each other’s audience this way.
- Email marketing. Start getting more traffic to your blog with the help of email marketing. You can use a landing page or other strategies to generate an email list, then send out regular blasts to let people when new content is released.
- Viral content creation. This is a tricky strategy, since there’s no guarantee you’ll be able to make it work. But if you can create a piece of “viral” content, capable of being shared by millions of people, your blog could become a household name overnight.
The Importance of Quality Content
These strategies may be useful in attracting initial traffic to your blog, but those visitors are only going to stick around if you have enough high-quality content to appease them. Additionally, your reputation won’t grow, and you won’t attract many new followers unless your blog is worth talking about. Accordingly, your first priority should always be developing the quality of your blog.
Once you’ve established a steady stream of traffic to your blog, you can turn your attention to preserving your marketing momentum. That means learning from the tactics that work and don’t work, experimenting with new approaches, and of course, engaging with your audience so they remain loyal to your brand. It takes a long time to make a blog popular—even a fantastically written one—so remain patient and diligent in your pursuit.
The post The 8 Best Strategies for Attracting Initial Traffic to Your Blog appeared first on Blogtrepreneur.
