So you’ve been working hard on your website’s blog, you’ve been working on producing high-quality content day and night yet somehow you’re still not making any progress – you’re still not getting any decent website traffic. You just can’t tell what you’re doing wrong….
Don’t worry my friend I’ve been there myself. I’ve hit publish on my latest blog post a number of times and expected the likes, comments, and shares to start pouring in, but instead, I get… ZILCH. Although there are billions of people and millions of blog out there, the World Wide Web sure can feel lonely.
Just wait up though, don’t take down your blog just yet. Instead, give it a good revamp. Here are some proven tips and strategies to increase the traffic to your blog post.
1. Use compelling headlines
According to Copy Blogger, an average of 8 out of 10 people will read the headline, but only 2 out of 10 will read the rest. This is the secret power of a fantastic headline, and why it so crucial to your blog post.
If a blog post piece lacks a compelling headline, it doesn’t matter how good your content is. You might as well throw away all the effort you spent writing your content because your potential audience won’t click to read any further since it doesn’t grab their attention. Here’s the secret to writing compelling headlines:
Using simple but engaging language
Words that are too technical or boring aka “dull words” are highly likely to turn potential readers away. Try addressing the audience directly by using the word “you” to grab your readers attention on a more personal level. You can also try using words that “leap off the pages” according to Wordstream. A word like “never” can definitely pique people’s interest. Here are some examples:
“You’ll Never Flirt The Same After Watching This”
“What you’re about to see will leave you speechless”
“You’ll Never Guess What’s Below This Abandoned Shopping Mall”
Try to make your headline more mysterious
If your headline gives too much away already then the reader will have no reason to click and read the rest of your content. You need to make sure you’re giving away just enough information to pique your audience’s interest so that they’ll be forced to click and find out more. It’s just like the movies, if the trailer gives too much away then you won’t be interested in watching the movie anymore right? Here are some examples of mysterious headlines:
“Lost Child’ Social Experiment Takes A Terrifying Turn For The Worse”
“Warning: This trailer is making people faint all over the country”
“It Only Takes 3 Minutes To See Why This Coke Ad Has Gone Viral”
Provide a shock factor
Injecting a shock factor into your headline is always a crowd pleaser. Think of different ways to add zing to your headline, and word it in a manner that can immediately draw readers to your headline. You can never go wrong with controversy on your headline. Here are some examples:
“This Short Film Shows Just How Terrifying Life Is For LGBT People In Russia”
“He Was Found Freezing And Dying. Yet Somehow The Last Photo Made My Entire Year”
“This Guy’s Dad Hadn’t Been In His Shed For 2 Years. When He Opened It Up… OMG!”
Create a headline with a Sense of Urgency
Creating a sense of urgency always grabs people’s attention. You can create a sense of urgency by providing a date when a special offer is going to expire and using urgent language like in the examples below:
“Hurry! Limited-time offer. You don’t want to miss this!”
“Last chance! This special offer expires tonight. Don’t miss out.”
Ask a Weird or Witty Question
Asking a quirky or funny question is a great way to grab a reader’s attention because the reader would be interested in finding out what the answer is. If done right, this technique can rake in traffic in your blog post.
Helen Nesterenko of Writtent said “Questions appeal to reader emotions like few others can. It promotes that ever-important conversational tone vital to a good blog post. It makes readers want to know more.”
Here are some examples of compelling headlines based on questions:
“Can You Make It Through This Post Without Getting A Lady-Boner?”
“Want to Raise Successful Daughters? Science Says Nag the Heck Out of Them”
“Think This Cruise Ship On Top Of A Cliff Is Weird? Wait Until You See How It Got There.”
Include numbers
People love reading articles with numbers because it’s much easier for the brain to process since the format is going to be pretty straightforward. According to Buffer’s Courtney Seiter “Numbers work well in headlines because humans like predictability and dislike uncertainty,”
Below are some examples of compelling headlines with numbers:
“The 12 Most Powerful Photos Of Grooms Blown Away By Their Stunning Brides”
“Here Are 16 Foods So Bad For You They’re BANNED In Some Countries”
“9 Celebrity Facts That Might Explode Your Brain”
Now once you’ve laid the click bait and managed to convince visitors to click on the post and show interest in reading your content, it does not end here. The article with a gripping heading should then be followed by high-quality content to retain the interest of the reader.
2. Tell a story
People love reading stories. Don’t you?
Alex Limberg wrote an excellent post on storytelling at BoostBlogTraffic.com and here’s what he said:
“Why a 30,000-Year-Old Trick Still Works Today
“As long as humans have existed, we have been hardwired to satisfy one urge. (No, it’s not what you think.) I’m talking about storytelling.
“Some 30,000 years ago, when our ancestors carved the thrilling tale of their last mammoth hunt into rock walls, their scraggly-haired friends must have consumed these stories eagerly.
“That’s because the need for stories is rooted deeply inside our brains.”
If the blog post is in the storytelling mode, there’s a higher chance you’ll keep the reader engaged even though you’ve written a lengthy article.
Let’s be honest; gripping stories have a strange hold on people. I can name a number of people who can just sit on the couch and binge-watch their favorite shows all day long.
If you want potential customers to care about your brand, then you have to understand them first. People love hearing compelling and rags to riches stories. Invite your audience to your brand’s story, and speak honestly about the hardships you went through on your journey. You’ll not only make your brand more relatable to the public but by demonstrating your vulnerability, you’ll also lay the foundation for a connection to bloom.
Figure out your brand’s story, and determine what will interest your readers. Once you finally know what your audience likes they’ll be able to empathize with you, and you can use it to your advantage.
Make sure your blog has a tone that is simple and can be understood easily. Avoid spelling or grammatical errors as this may ward off some audience.
3: Create list posts
Hands up if you’ve heard of Buzzfeed.com?
This website is a master at creating list posts hence the reasons why it has millions of readers.
Do you know why Buzzfeed is focused on writing list posts?
Because list posts get the most social shares.
So how many items should you actually have in your list post Well, the magic number seems to be 10.
After analyzing 100 million articles, Ok Dork and Buzzsumo discovered that the most popular list posts featured the following number of items: 10 followed by 23, 16, and 24. So if you’re planning to do a list post, might be a good idea to stick to a top 10 list to encourage social shares.
Just make sure you have an introduction in your list post, include plenty of visuals to engage your readers, use words such as “you” and “I” to create a conversation with your audience and ask questions within the post. The more conversational your blog sounds, the more engagement you’ll get. Don’t forget to write a conclusion as well at the end of your post to summarize your message.
4. Make your content search engine friendly
If you want people to read your articles and find your website, then you need to make sure you optimize your blog post so that people can find you.
So before you publish a blog post, here are some things you can do:
You need to have a focus keyword for your blog. For example, if you’re blogging about women’s shoes, then this keyword needs to be present in your headline, in your blog post’s URL, in the first paragraph of your post and spread out within the blog. Just make sure the keyword is not overused to the point that the blog doesn’t sound natural anymore because search engines like Google will penalize you for “keyword stuffing.”
You need to specify a meta description (summarized description of what your blog post is about) otherwise search engines will just randomly pick lines from your blog instead.
You need to add appropriate images, the more visual, the better.
Add alt text to your images. Alt text is for visitors who can’t see your pictures in their browsers. If a reader can’t see your images, alt attributes will show up when the user hovers over your image.
The recommended minimum word count in any blog post is 300 words, but you need to be looking at around 1,000 words or more because long-form content is the best way to engage your readers, get return traffic and brand searches.
Link from your blog post to other parts of your website. This is a great way to bring traffic to your much older posts.
5. Focus on Long-Tail Keywords
Long-tail keywords are actually just keywords that are longer and much more specific. Basically, instead of focusing on a single keyword like “handbag,” you need to focus on a 3-4 word keyword like ” designer handbags online.”
Why? Because focusing on a common keyword is way too hard – there’s just too much competition. But if you focus on a long-tail one, you’ll probably attract less traffic, but the traffic you do attract will be much better because it’s more focused and more dedicated to your product or services.
For example: if you sell handbags online, there’s probably no chance in the world that your website is going to appear near the top of an organic search for “handbags” because there’s too much competition for that keyword. If you’re a small business, there’s no way in the planet you’ll be able to beat the websites of massive companies with deep pockets. But if you specialize in, let’s say, cheap designer handbags, then keywords like “designer handbags online,” and ” handbags on sale” are going to find those consumers looking for precisely that product consistently.
Focusing on long-tail keywords is merely a matter of setting up better lines of communication between your business and your potential customers.
Conclusion
There are numerous ways to get more readers to visit your blog. These five tips are just the tip of the iceberg. You need to implement them and then test the results – that’s the only legitimate way to determine what will work for your website.
Which strategies are you using to get more visitors to your website?
