6 Tips To Grow Your Blog

The desire for growth and development is one thing that all commercially orientated businesses have in common. If you’re not making it online, your business is probably not doing that well.

Therefore regardless of the niche, online growth almost always comes in the form of increased traffic, and recognition is rewarded in more income from the blog.

There is usually a direct correlation between blog traffic and income; when traffic increases, you can receive a higher level of engagement on the blog. That alone may be how you’re monetizing the blog, or it could be with paid advertising.

Also, when your blog traffic is higher, it attracts the attention of advertisers.

What Are The Different Ways To Grow Your Blog?

Since the first blog was created, people have been mapping out different possible strategies to get more people interested in what they offer.

Internet audiences are renowned for their very short attention spans. Therefore you need a plan to be seen and visited.

Get Your Readers’ Emails

As a blogger, you have seen the popup forms requesting your email address regularly visiting many websites. While the popup may seem aggressive marketing, it works insofar as visitors will complete the short form so they can continue to the site. If you are a new blogger collecting email addresses is very important. Among other reasons, it helps reduce customer churn.

Imagine a scenario where you write a blog post on a particular topic in your niche. The article was written so well that it went viral. Several hundred thousand people worldwide are clicking your link to read what you have to say.

You would want all those people to come back even after that post, wouldn’t you? Nobody really wants to be a one-hit-wonder. One of the most effective ways to ensure that is by collecting emails of people who come onto your blog. Every page on your website includes an option for visitors to give you their emails.

That way, you could send them weekly, fortnightly, or monthly reminders that you have posted new content. Not only will this help you grow your blog by turning visitors into regular customers, but it will also provide some level of security. This is so because you know you always have a set of people you can reach out to for traffic generation.

The Value of Networking

Network with other bloggers as often as possible, as all bloggers face the same hurdles irrespective of their niche. Use social media to learn how your peers communicate and share their posts.

Do as they do – i.e., like and share their posts, and they are sure to reciprocate with likes and shares of your posts if you too have focused on creating content that makes them look good. High-quality content always attracts more likes and shares, so take your time and grammar check your articles before publishing and sharing them online.

The best thing about networking online is that even if you are an introvert and shy away from the face to face interaction, particularly with new people, you can cooperate with other bloggers and increase your visitor traffic.

Continually Contribute To Blogs In Your Niche

This tip might seem counterproductive. You are trying to build your own blog and your audience base. Someone behind a keyboard somewhere is now telling you to spend time playing a part in growing someone else’s blog, almost to the point of needing a project management tool. To blame you for this line of thought would be ridiculous because it is entirely understandable.

However, you would be giving yourself free exposure by contributing to other people’s blogs and talking there as often as possible.

You will reap the benefits if you do it right with proper conversations, so you don’t get kicked out. This initiative is an alternative to waiting for other bloggers to promote you. You could simply go into a widely-read blog’s comment section, speak on the topic, and let it link back to you. People will visit your site when they read the comments and like what they see.

Your Site Should Be Easy To Use

Use a template that is proven for your niche. Make sure it is fully optimized for devices and SEO and provides the UX (user experience), so your visitors stay on your site for longer and visit many pages. The longer they are online, the more money you will make with clicks on links and adverts. Make sure you use plugins to improve the site’s features. A search bar must be present on all pages, and use popular posts and your Facebook and Twitter feed.

Search Engine Optimization

For some bloggers, the majority of their audience comes from social media and social media shares. However, social networks’ power hardly compares to the organic traffic from search engines, namely Google. When people type use Search with keywords and your site pops up in the first handful of results, your site will get tons of visitors. However, this will be impossible if your website is not properly optimized for these search engines.

As a blogger, you must always include valuable keywords in your content. These would prove helpful when people type in a query because search engines would recommend your site when there is a match.

Apart from your content, your site should be search engine optimized, which is an expert’s specialty. Get an SEO professional to manage the setup, including plugins, then either learn how you can manage it from thereon or continue to use an expert to keep your site SEO ready for Google algorithm updates.

One area of SEO you can and should manage is content. High-quality, unique content is precisely what the search engines want and value, and this is ever more valuable if your website has an online store.

You can use e-commerce KPIs to guide you on content and then you can measure the outcome via conversion rates with your website analytics reports.

Site Speed Must Be Quick

A slow-loading site has many disadvantages, including ranking your website lower and having a higher bounce rate.

Imagine working hard and going through all the five tips listed above, and despite your best effort, slow page loading has visitors leaving before they’ve seen what your site has to offer. Wouldn’t that be heart-breaking?

Almost no one would spend a few extra seconds waiting for your website to load when they can just move on to another site. As such, it is of utmost importance that you take care of your site’s speed.

Ensure that images and audio-visual content are not too large or cached. Evaluate your plugins to ensure that they aren’t taking up too much space or processing power, but offering real value, i.e., deactivate and delete plugins that prove ineffective in providing your site with what it needs to grow.

In Conclusion

Many people think blogging is easy because you simply have to stay indoors and write, and ‘boom’, everything is fine. They couldn’t be more wrong.

Blogging is a skill that can be learned, but it also takes discipline and consistency. Now it’s over to you. Get started, and learn as you go. A final tip, get grammar and spell checker for your blog content. 🙂