A common phrase in web content writing is “content is king.” While this is true to an extent, in reality your content is only part of the equation, especially when it comes to your blog. You could have the best blog content in the world, but what’s the use if it isn’t getting read? To maximize the effectiveness of your business’s blog, you must take the right steps to increase your readership.
The following are some tips for increasing your blog’s traffic:
- Make regular updates. Although quality is certainly more important than quantity, it behooves you to strive for both when maintaining a blog for your business. Frequent updates encourage readers to come back and visit your blog content on a regular basis.
- Establish a community. The entire purpose of having a blog is to increase engagement with your brand among your target audience. Encourage readers to leave comments and respond to the comments they do leave. Don’t be discouraged if you receive very few comments at first—it takes some time to establish a thriving blog community.
- Tag your posts. Tags categorize each of your posts and make it easier for interested readers to quickly find more posts on your blog about the same subject.
- Use social networks. Advertising your blog across multiple channels is a simple and effective way to increase readership. Use your company’s Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ pages, and encourage your followers on those networks to share links with their friends.
- Use effective titles. The title of your blog post should always be straight to the point. Asking a question is a search engine-friendly tactic, as is titling a list. The title of this post, for example, is search engine friendly and (hopefully) draws readers in to learn more.
- Use images. While the most important part of your blog post will always be the written content, a blog can feel rather naked without visual aids. The more aesthetically appealing your blog is, the more likely it is that readers will come back for more.
- Use search engine optimization tactics. If you have already established the most effective SEO keywords for your website, use them regularly in your blog posts. As always, however, it is important to make sure that you do not over-saturate your copy with keywords, as it can severely hamper the readability of your posts.
- Don’t be afraid to link. Whether you link to relevant articles or to other industry blogs, links are an important tool for facilitating traffic. Not only do they present additional information to your target audience, but they also are a subtle nod to the linked source that you enjoy their content. That source will be more likely to link back to you in the future.
Good content creation is an extremely important part of running your blog, but it’s how you promote that content that’s truly important. Take the extra steps necessary for building your blog community and becoming a viral success.
Tim Backes is a senior editor with ProPRcopy.