I’m often asked by clients and peers, “How do I (we) increase my site traffic? How do I (we) get more people to read the blog?” Well, it’s a matter of targeted marketing, brand consistency and good writing. All of which even the BEST writers, marketers and bloggers struggle with on EVERY post. But once a successful post formula is found, it’s like crack. You want, no, NEED to do it over and over again until your eyeballs rollback in your head and you fall to the ground in crippling ecstasy…
Okay, maybe not that far, but it’s close. 🙂
So, how do you write blog posts that increase traffic?
- Fill The Tank Before You Travel: Or in clearer terms, read before you write. You are the master of your blog, but once you’re topic and professional and personal point of view has been documented, what do you do? Just like a car, you need to fuel it to keep moving. Reading about your industry, target audience and related segments will help keep that tank full and diversify the content you develop, making it easier to write on demand and create a broader interest in your content.
- Write Regularly – Post Often: We all know the phrase “Practice Makes Perfect.” Well, it pertains to blog writing as well. When I suggest to write regularly and post often, that means practice your writing – not post-by-post, but day-by-day. If you write every day about your subject and to your audience, only posting the best of the bunch on a regular schedule (weekly, daily, etc), your writing skills WILL improve and the enjoyment of reading your posts will increase.
- Write With SEO Strategy: This is a tricky topic. SEO. Writing for SEO and creating content that is keyword rich is often difficult. Writing for SEO is not peppering “keyword this and keyword that” into the posts. 1) you still want the post to be readable and, 2) search engines look for keywords and phrases relevant to your site in MANY places other than your post. It’s best to be coached or have an SEO strategy in place before you start writing. If you write focused on SEO, it does become easier, but the strategy is better left to the professionals.
- Write To ALL Of Your Readers: When you’re writing, assume that those that will be reading your posts have NO IDEA what you’re talking about. Sure, you know your business and industry inside and out, but if you want to be able to really engage with those that will buy your service / product, you need to write at a level THEY will understand and be comfortable reading. Try it this way: Pick your most industry savvy client and write a paragraph about your service directly to them. THEN, read it aloud to your children. If they tilt their heads like a dog hearing a whistle, then you may need to rewrite. If they say, “I get it.” You’re gold.
- Toot Your Blog Horn: Social media has destroyed the modest mastermind and created monsters of meme, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t let people know that you’re trying to speak to them. On the contrary, if your content is meaningful, if your content is engaging, if your content is valuable, SHARE IT! The opportunities to submit your feed or link to any number of industry-specific outposts is endless. Whether you post it to your Facebook Page, or Tweet it, or even syndicate it to Newswire services; make sure you tell anyone and everyone how to find you.
Before all of my “Social Media Guru” friends get all up-in-arms about promising higher traffic and better ROI on a blog, I have to offer one caveat. The tips I’m offering above are general at best. If your website, and therefore its content is brand-driven, with a strategically developed content schedule and focus, then these tips will simply augment the work you’ve put in. this is how I as The Brand Chef and CreateWOWmarketing have seen measurable increases in traffic. When applied strategically, they WILL show results. But testing and editing your strategy is the best advice!
Food for thought…
Keep Cooking, (and cooking… and cooking…)
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef
