How to Increase Your Blog Traffic | Content Marketing [Part 3 of 3]

This final installment on how to increase your blog traffic concludes on the importance of content marketing.

How to Increase Your Blog Traffic |  Content Marketing

The topic of content marketing continues to grow in popularity; and for good reason, you will discover the content that you provide on your blog will be the key to your blogging success.  Your website and blog must deliver valuable content for your readers.  Content marketing can be viewed as the water that leads readers to your blog to quench their thirsts.

Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to reach and attract your clearly defined audience.

A few content marketing ideas worth considering to increase your blog traffic:

• Ask your current readers to suggest topics that they would like you to add to your blog:
  • add surveys to capture their anonymous data
  • post your question as a blog post to get their thoughts in the comment section
  • add the question to your blog’s social media profiles to solicit your audience’s thoughts
• Repurpose popular content.  Create a new blog post that features the top 5-10 read articles and simply communicate that out to your audience (tweet, Facebook, email), such as:

Our Top 5 Article Read This Year [insert hashtag & shortened hyperlink]

• Compile 5-10 quotes from your previously published content into provocative tweets that includes: 120 characters, popular hashtag, and shortened URL that can direct new readers to your blog article.  Be sure to include any “.@mention” to identify the quote source in order for him and his audience to see the tweet.  Additionally, you may want to:
  • Create a blog post to feature these provocative tweets and add the Tweet This functionality in order for readers to easily click to tweet directly from your blogpost.
  • Add them to your social media content calendar in order to begin sharing them during your designated time period
• Write a selection of posts that feature key industry statistics or significant research that your readers would find interesting enough to share on their social media profiles.
• Provide a non-argumentative commentary regarding a hot topic in your genre.  Is there a current event or controversy that impacting your readers that you can share some insight or perspective?
• Engage your readers:
  • Invite your readers to submit a guest post for your blog on a specific topic/series.
  • Ask your readers to submit videos or images based on a key question or topic.  Select the best ones and create a blog post or series of posts around your users generated content.
• Create a “Top 10” resource list specific to your writing niche and share the lists with your readers, who will likely share with their social media audiences.  i.e.
  

Top 10 Books to read this year
Top 10 Companies…
Top 10 Online Tools….
Top 10 Influencers…

• Consider product & resource review opportunities.  Looking for a great value-add to provide your readers?  You should consider reviewing products and resources related to your core topic(s).  Your audience will find this informational content & your recommendations very helpful.
  • Your marketing opportunities within this area can include:
    • Connecting with book publishers.   A number of book publishers already have established blogger communities to review their new releases.
      • Do your research to find out which publishers you would like to be connected
      • Go ahead and selected 2-3 books/products to review and review them
      • Then – forward website links of those reviews to the publishers marketing teams along with your interest in being added to any new review opportunities that may become available.  These review opportunities provide you great content for your site while also positioning you as a leader within your niche market.  As you begin to review products, you will likely be contacted by other publishers and offered additional review opportunities for their products.
    • Searching for other blogger who have reviewed similar products.
      • Enter:  http://www.google.com/blogsearch
      • Enter the search terms followed by the 2 words:   book review (or product review, whichever is most applicable)
      • For example:   “best task management” product review.  This will provide you a glimpse of similar blogs like yours and the examples of products that they have reviewed on their websites.

Though there are so many more content marketing opportunities to grow your readers naturally and authentically, I do trust these initial ideas are helpful to at least get your started.

Blogging can become whatever you would like it to become for you and your family.  I personally know of some bloggers who have created a substantial revenue stream from their blog.  They are able to write and post content full-time.  Other bloggers I personally know simply choose to work part-time on their blog.  Then there are others like me, who simply blog as a hobby and repository of  thoughts, ideas, and notes on pertinent topics of interest.

Whatever your goals may be, please keep me posted how things go with your work.

All the best!

Part 1:  SEO Techniques
Part 2:  Build Relationships

image credit: Creative Commons via http://expertpcz.blogspot.com