You have a blog, you have your first posts up, and you are just waiting for the traffic to start rolling in. You share the links on social media sites, get your friends to visit, put the link to your site in signatures… why isn’t your website being launched into internet fame? Where is the glory your genius so richly deserves? You are are your content is high quality, and that is what everyone says it takes to get noticed. Why isn’t your blog generating income? What gives?
Every time I am advising someone on a new blog, I give them one fact that none of the alleged “traffic gurus” will admit: popularity is going to take time. In fact, I tell bloggers not to expect enough traffic to monetize their blog for about a year. Yep, that is a full twelve months. Though you will be steadily growing in the meantime… hopefully.
Why does it take so long? Well, just having good content isn’t enough. You have to have a lot of content, have that content optimized, be working a good marketing strategy and plenty of patience while it all comes together. No one just becomes popular over night. It is going to take time and work.
Here are a few tips to help you to make your blog popular.
Keep At It
It might seem cliche, but you just have to stick with it. No matter how frustrated you get by the numbers, keep writing high quality posts, and do so often. I recommend three or more times per week, but five times a week is better.
That means you will be continuously publishing, and so up your chances of being seen.
MyBlogU
A quick way to get popular is by writing posts for blogs that already are. While it helps to already be friends with these websites, affiliations don’t grow on trees.
Try a platform like MyBlogU, which will allow you to post articles you have written that you would like to see published elsewhere. These can be published on up to ten different sites, with a byline linking back to your site. This is a very easy way to get noticed.
Don’t Forget The SEO
You should be optimizing all content to the very best of your ability. Too many bloggers mistake SEO for spam, which is not at all the same thing. After all, you aren’t injecting keywords into badly written content.
You are providing quality posts that use SEO the way it is meant to be used. You are just utilizing a beneficial tool. If you want guidance, and you have a WordPress blog, pick one of the free WordPress plugins.
Check Out What’s Trending
A good way to attract attention – on a short term basis – is by following trends. For example, an occasional post on a bit of news relevant to your niche can really go far. Try checking out Google Trends, or see what people are posting about on social media.
It won’t work for long, but it will at least get people to your site. The rest of your content will be what keeps them there.
Use Social Media
Your blog should have its own social media profiles…that is pretty much a necessity at this point. Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, they are all useful. Update them regularly, and engage with your followers. Having a more personal touch, and showing your appreciation to readers one on one, will boost your popularity quite a bit.
Interlink Your Posts
Every post should have a footer that gives other relevant or interesting blog posts on your site. You should also link within the text of your post if possible. For example, don’t be afraid to reference something that has been published in the past. A link to another article can bring it back into the limelight.
What are some of your tips for making a blog into a hotspot? Let us know in the comments.
Image by Rudy and Peter Skitterians from Pixabay
