Blogging is an essential part of any content marketing strategy. For B2B companies, blogging can be an effective way to build authority, be seen as an industry leader and ultimately generate leads. For Local SEO, blogging is a great way to build links, target localized keywords, and connect with your customers. While you may be actively blogging and following best practices for content marketing, are you receiving the traffic and results that would like to see? Your blog shouldn’t just sit on your website. Here are a few best practice I have found to be effective for improving traffic to your blog.
- Social Media Sharing
Once you publish a new blog post, the easiest way to start generating traffic is to share it across all of your social media accounts. The most effective method is to schedule your posts ahead of time using a program like Hootsuite. Don’t be afraid to share it multiple times during the first week or so of it going live (depending on what network you’re using). Social media is the easiest way to distribute your content and generate the most possible eyeballs by posting regularly. While it’s ok to share a link to the same post multiple times, be sure to change up your message so it doesn’t come across spammy. For example:
Post the Title Including Relevant Hashtags
Pose a Question to Your Network to Engage Followers in Conversation
Quote and Tag the Author
Cite and Tag Your Sources
Did you use any contributors or quote sources in your blog post? Tag them in your social post. Reach out to them and ask them to share your post within their networks. On the flipside, when planning your content, seek out sources/experts with a strong social following to contribute to your post. Build the connection, and send them a follow up email asking them to share your content once it goes live. Not only is creating partnerships a great way build traffic to your content, but also to create links, gain social influencers, guest blogging opportunities, etc.
Do you work within a team or group environment? Utilize your resources- ask your team to share your posts within their networks.
- Don’t Let Your Visual Fall Short
According to Hubspot, utilizing a unique colored visual within your post will increase people’s willingness to read content by 80%. Likewise, content that includes a relevant image get 94% more views than content without a unique visual. Whether you use an image to convey information, make a point or for esthetic effects, make sure it’s a good one (not a stock image). It’s important that your image translates well to social media. Brand your image with your company logo.
- Email Marketing
For small businesses, sending out a monthly newsletter to your audience is an easy, low-cost way to promote and drive traffic to your latest blog posts. B2B? Send out a periodical newsletter to any partners or connections that includes links to new posts on best practices, new offerings, case studies, etc.
- Participate in Groups and Communities
If it makes sense for your target audience, take advantage of LinkedIn groups and communities. There are thousands of active, niche groups where you can easily get your content in front of your target audience. If LinkedIn doesn’t make sense for your blog, try leaving meaningful, non-self promotional comments on relevant blog or forum discussions.
- Choose the Right Topic
Whether your latest post is about a trending topic, answering a question, interviewing an expert or covering the latest news, you’ll want to choose a topic that your reader actually wants to know about. There’s a ton of different ways to go about this. If you’re having trouble finding the right topic, use Ahref’s Content Explorer to see what else is out there or their Site Explorer to see what your competitors are writing about, how the traffic is coming in and who’s linking to their post. Use this knowledge to write a better, more in-depth post around a similar topic. You’re sure to get traffic. Contact those linking to your competitors post and tell them about your new post.
- Repurpose Your Content
I believe that its better to invest your time in writing fewer, longer post that are valuable and unique, rather than frequently writing short post that are regurgitating information that’s already out there. With the being said, it can be frustrating to have put the work into creating unique, well thought outcontent that doesn’t receive the result or traffic you had anticipated. If you have tried everything to boost traffic to the post, why not repurpose it? Add new value to it. Has there been any new discoveries or research around the topic? Create a new appealing graphic or infographic. Turn it into a slide share or create a short teaser video for the post.
Building traffic to your blog and ultimately to your website doesn’t happen overnight. It may feel like a continuous cycle of researching, writing, promoting, outreach, etc. Don’t be afraid to try out new ideas!