40 Proven Ways to Boost Your Blog Traffic

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This post is part of the #BetterBlogging series.

When you first start a blog, you understand quickly it’s not going to go anywhere unless you have traffic. Promoting your blog increases traffic to it, which in turn can bring you followers and loyal readers, which in turn can bring you passive income.

So, what can you do to get your content out there and to make sure it gets in front of the right eyes? Plenty!

Here’s a list of 40 proven ways to boost blog traffic + you can download the free cheat sheet at the end of this post to keep as a reference, enjoy!

1.Build an Email List

Email marketing is the second most effective online marketing tactic next to search marketing. You’ll be able to gradually build up an email list of dedicated readers. If you’re interested in learning more about growing your email list, then read my post: 7 Big Reasons Why Your Blog or Biz Needs an Email List Now!

2. Send a newsletter

You can begin a weekly or monthly newsletter for your email list, special promotions, free insight or advice, and much more. If you haven’t joined an email provider yet, then check out Mailchimp. You don’t have to pay for the service until you reach 2000 subscribers!

3. Add a signature to your emails with a link to your website

Your email signature is the perfect marketing opportunity. The recipient can learn more about you and your website.

4. Social Media Networks

One of the easiest ways to promote your lifestyle blog is to take advantage of social media marketing — especially since it’s free! Create a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, Tumblr, YouTube, and any other social media sites you can get your hands on. Start networking on these platforms and update when you’ve posted a new blog post. It’s that easy.

5. Add a CTA in the bio of all social media accounts

Adding a call-to-action to your Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest platforms is a surefire way to bring more traffic to your site. You can link to your website or a much better idea is to link to a landing page that leads to a freebie or collects emails.

6. Join Twitter Chats

It’s a great way to meet other bloggers! ChloeSocial.com has a twitter chat calendar which you can check out here.

7. Start a Twitter Chat

Create your own Twitter Chat and build a community around your niche site with other like-minded people.

8. Share your post on Instagram

This tactic helps me drive traffic to my site and many of those visitors end up subscribing to my email list. Post an image that promotes your most recent blog post like a product that you’re reviewing or a new outfit look.

9. Create a Facebook page

Build a fan page for your blog on Facebook. Use an app like MiloTree to increase followers so you can promote your site on your fan page and drive loyal fans back to your site.

10. Create a Facebook group

You can create a Facebook group and connect with an audience interested in your niche. For example, if you’re a food blogger, you can create a group that shares tips, recipes and advice to help promote each other.

11. Join other Facebook groups in your niche

Finding active Facebook groups is a great way to draw some attention to your blog and find new people.  Here’s a list a quality facebook groups for women entrepreneurs, bloggers, and creative business owners to start with.

12. Post in niche-forums and communities

Becoming an active user on niche communities and forums will help spread your name and ultimately, promote your blog. For example, fashion communities like Lookbook.nu, Polyvore, and TheFashionSpot are all great places to get started. Usually, communities and forums allow you to put a signature by your name, which is a slogan or phrase that other users will see when you comment on discussions. Linking your blog in this signature is a simple way to promote it.

13. Re-post old content on social media

Many bloggers forget to do this. After a couple of months, go back and promote your older posts. Use a scheduling tool like Hootsuite or CoSchedule to help.

14. Use Stumbleupon

Download the Stumbleupon browser button and stumble other people’s content daily. My rule of thumb: for every stumble from my blog, I stumble 10 others.

15. Start a Pinterest board for Your Blog

Create a Pinterest board that features only your blog content and name it after your blog. Move it to the top so it’s the first board people see on your profile.

16. Pin your images

Get in front of more viewers by pinning your images. Be sure to pin other people’s images too!

17. Create pinnable images

Creating a pinnable image is a must! Make sure the image is taller than it is wider. Pinterest recommended size is 600 x 900. Add text displaying the post title. I use PicMonkey to easily create graphics.

18. Share on Tumblr

19. Share your photos on Flickr

20. Comment on Blogs

Commenting on other blogs lets them know that you exist. Being in a similar niche, the author and their readers will be able to see your comment, and that can slowly but surely generate traffic to your blog. Make sure to actually link your blogs in the comments.

21. Add sharing buttons to your site

Make it easy for people to share your post by adding buttons. Social Warfare is a great tool that I use on my site. To see Social Warfare in action, hover over one of my images or look on the left side of the screen. If you’re reading this on mobile, you should see a small button on the right hand corner.

22. Post Frequently

The most important thing to remember, and probably the easiest way to promote your blog, is to post — and post frequently. Keeping your readers regularly updated and giving them informative or engaging posts on a consistent basis will build traffic to your blog. It’s recommended that you post at least once a week, if not more.

Also, mix it up with long and short posts. If you need help with blog post ideas, see the list that I made of 33 blog post types.

23. SEO your site

Utilize SEO techniques to help your blog get found in the search engines. Even just using a few SEO tricks like keywords, alt text, and outbound links will help grow your blog.

24. Reference people in your content and let them know

Reach out to them by email or tag them through social media. Whenever I mention a site, I make sure to tag them when I’m promoting my post on Twitter or Facebook. There’s a great chance they might share it.

25. Be a resource

Make how-to posts or provide a list of resources to make readers revisit your blog. These types of post are very popular and can easily go viral as they drive the most social media traffic to my site.

26. Create a freebie

Offering a freebie or lead magnet is a great way to attract new visitors and turn them into readers. Like my free resource library.

27. Guest post

Posting as a guest on other sites with backlinks to your blog is an easy way to boost your blog traffic. Find blogs that are under the same niche as you that you can see yourself writing for. The more popular the blog you post on, the better ranked your blog becomes on Google, and the more traffic you get to your site. Try emailing blog owners to see if they’ll let you guest post on their site.

28. Run a Giveaway

Use tools like Rafflecopter or Gleam.io to run a giveaway on your site.

29. Create videos and share on YouTube

People love videos! You can create an instructional how-to video that complements your blog content or you can repurpose your posts and drive visitors back to your site.

30. Ads

Promote your blog through paid advertising on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.

31. Republish your content

Skyrocket your traffic by republishing your content through other distribution channels like video, infographics, slideshare presentations, and pdf’s.

32. Create “Evergreen” Content

Create content that will still be great six months or even a year from now.

33. Feature People with an Expert Roundup

It can put your blog on the map. These types of post also go viral on social media. For example, you can write “45 Experts Revealed Their Three Favorite Fitness Apps.”

34. Make your blog visually appealing

People will stop and checkout your blog if it has appealing photos. If you’re not a photographer or can’t afford to hire someone, then I suggest you look into free stock photography. No, I’m not talking about the ancient 90’s style photos. There are tons of creative free stock photo sites to find stylish lifestyle photos that inspires people. No need to scour the net. I created a huge list of free photo sites here!

35. Do Webinars

Webinars have become increasingly popular these days and for a good reason. They attract traffic and generate new subscriptions. Here’s a great post on how to increase signups through webinars!

36. Do a Joint Webinar

Double your audience by hosting a webinar with someone with a similar audience as you can get in front of their readers as well.

37. Podcast

Start a podcast to build a deeper connection with your audience or appear on one and connect with professionals in your industry.

38. Write Attractive Headlines

Writing a catchy headline that grabs people’s attention and creates curiosity is an awesome way to boost blog traffic. Why do you think sites like BuzzFeed and Upworthy are killing it. A great tool to use is Headline Analyzer.

39. Link out to other sites

Linking out to authoritative sites can make your site look like a more valuable resource. It can also encourage positive participation and contribution. Search engines will love it too!

40. Connect with others

Connect with other like-minded bloggers and build relationships. Spend some time liking, sharing, and commenting on other people’s blogs and social media accounts. Answer questions on Quora and join other group communities like Linkedin and Google+. This will help you become an authority and drive traffic back to your blog.

Next Step:

Now that you know the many ways to boost your blog traffic, the next question to ask yourself is “How can I better monetize my traffic?.” As a blogger with over 8 years of experience, I’ve learned several different methods to create a profitable blog. If you’re ready to monetize, then check out my post: How a Lifestyle Blogger Actually Makes Money.

Or are your ready to take things to the next level quicker? Enroll in the Make Money Blogging for Beginners program to supercharge your results…making money, traffic, social media….you name it, it’s in there!

Until next time!

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