Over recent years, bloggers and content sites have become a hot topic in the industry, with brands recognising their influence on consumer behaviour and value higher up the purchase funnel. Understanding that bloggers have developed a loyal, engaged network of visitors, advertisers have identified this channel as an effective way of building a trusting relationship with their customers.

A survey commissioned by affilinet in 2015 revealed that bloggers are consumer’s third most trusted source for online purchases after friends and family; demonstrating their value for engaging and instilling trust in their audience.  

With bloggers now recognised as a key part of a brands marketing strategy, sites with significant reach are becoming all the more attractive to advertisers. Creating a great blog won’t get you results unless you have an engaged audience, so here are some tips on how you can start driving more traffic to your blog.

Content is Key  

It’s easy to get consumed with the variety of different SEO plugins and blog designs available out there but it’s key to remember the reason visitors will keep coming back is because of the great content you have on your site. Stay inspired by using tools like Buzzsumo to find hot new trends and the most popular content. Identify who your audience is and what type of content your visitors want to read. You can then tailor your content based on what is relevant to your audience.

Build your own network

If you are new to the blogging space, it’s worthwhile developing relationships with other bloggers. Online communities such as Reddit and Triberr are a great way to increase your reach, find out what other bloggers are doing and share top tips. Search for other blogs that are interesting to you and leave insightful comments to reach out to others and promote your own blog.

Leveraging social media

Having a good social media strategy is key to growing your online traffic so ensure that every article you write is being fully supported by your social channels. Remember to keep the social posts concise and punchy; summarise what your article is about in a quick easy message. You’ll also want to make your content easy for users to share by adding share buttons on your pages. There are hundreds of Facebook groups out there in your niche so seek them out and see what you can contribute there.

Guest blog

Contributing to a blog in your niche is a great way to make a name for yourself if you are just starting out and attract new visitors to your site. Have a look around, find a blogger you admire with a well-established audience, and see if you can write a post for them. This will allow you to promote yourself as a voice of the authority in your niche. Don’t hold back, make sure you offer the best content you can and, if possible, use this as a good opportunity to link to a page with your author bio and an email link so you can start building your email subscriber list.

Promote your content

It’s important to create a regular schedule for writing blog pieces; it’s no good leaving months between articles as visitors will quickly lose interest and leave. Make sure you schedule in time to both write and promote your content. Utilise all the channels available to you to promote your blog – encourage visitors to leave comments and respond, promote on social media, develop an email subscriber list and ensure your audiences are kept well up to date whenever you have new content available.