So it’s been some while since you created your blog and you have been testing Google Analytics and visiting Reddit and Stumble Upon as well. And despite all that, your traffic is really low and stagnated. Of course you know the mantra- keep your blog fresh and keep adding content… and you’ve been doing that- still viewership going down! And then there are those stupid competing bloggers that keep getting hits on Reddit and Stumble Upon. It’s frustrating, isn’t it? To help you, I’m going to share some secrets about blogging and how to get those visitors coming back for more.
1. List it out
Lists are easier to read. Plus when you give stuff in points, it gives your readers a chance to quickly glance through the post and still understand most of it. People are busy- they don’t want too much mumbo jumbo. Give them something interesting, and keep it simple.
‘15 Ways to keep relationship working’
’12 Things you should never buy’
’21 Ways to kill your boss’
These lists will keep people engaged and they would want to read your blog too often. Give them good info, and write it in a style that would keep people attracted. Do not write in a dry style.
2. An image is worth a blog post
You can get many images from the internet. Make sure you do not get copyrighted images. They can be funny, adorable, or just related to your topic to help people understand it better.
3. Keeping it short
This isn’t a hard and fast rule, but it mostly works- for two basic reasons.
First, on an average, a reader would give your post about 30-40 seconds of his life. You need to keep him involved for that long. People don’t generally have hours to go through long and boring posts.
Second, if you make a target of let’s say, 2000 words for your post, you would soon run out of stuff to write. And this would make maintaining your blog a burdensome task.
4. Attention-grabbing headlines
I’m assuming that you knew about it, but never gave a thought to it. Compelling headlines do work. If you are writing a blog for dog lovers, ’10 ways to take care of your puppy’ would be a good headline. In fact, ‘how to’ and ‘x ways’ always attract people’s attention. Of course it would go well with a list, as I mentioned in the first point.
5. Avoiding a sales pitch
And then there are some bloggers who keep their sales volume high. They want to sell their products so they keep discussing them. If you want people to read your blog, keep the sales volume low. Even if you ARE trying to sell something, do not talk about it all the time. Give useful and interesting content to your readers and keep them involved.
Try all these tips and see your website traffic increasing. Of course it won’t happen overnight- give it some time and see the magic!
Emily Cartman is a serial blogger and a web enthusiast who loves design and technology. She’s into writing because she loves it. She also loves to play on Wii and PSP. Emily works for website builder Wix.com, a free online platform for the easy creation of customized Flash websites.