So you have taken the time to create a blog and even write some interesting posts for it. But… no one is visiting!

What do you do now? How do you increase traffic to your blog?

It can be discouraging in the beginning when no one besides your family members visits your blog. You have put your heart and soul into writing great blog posts, and you really want the world to read them!

However, traffic doesn’t just come to your blog automatically – you have to build it up. It takes some time at first, but with the right techniques, you can start building up a trickle of traffic that will eventually grow into a steady flow.

10 proven ways to increase traffic to your blog

As promised, here are the 10 proven ways of increasing traffic to your blog,

1. Write Attention-Grabbing Headlines
2. Focus on Website SEO
3. Get Active on Social Media
4. Blog Commenting
5. Guest Post
6. Start a Mailing List
7. Participate in Facebook Groups & Forums
8. Run Facebook ads
9. Write about Trending & Controversial topics
10. Make videos of your niche & post on YouTube

1. Write Attention-Grabbing Headlines

The headline is the first thing that people read when they look at your blog post – and the only thing they can read if they see your blog post shared on a social media network such as Twitter or Facebook. If the headline doesn’t make them want to click and read the rest of the blog, then they will likely keep on scrolling.

So how can you make your blog headlines more engaging? Here are some tips:

• Use numbers – “37 Ways to Save Money on Vacation” is better than “How to Save Money on Vacation.” People remember odd numbers more.

• Try using interesting adjectives – Rather than “Great” or “Cool” you can use “Incredible” or “Fascinating.”

• Use strong language – Write about something that you “Love” or “Hate” rather than something that is just okay or not great.

• Keep it Short – Your headline should be under 70 characters so that it doesn’t get cut off in search engine results.

• Use this free Headline Analyzer tool to check if your headline is effective.

2. Focus on Website SEO

Think about how you can improve the SEO of your website so that it will rank higher on Google and search results will increase traffic to your blog. SEO is complex and Google algorithms are always changing, but there are certain practices that will always benefit your website.

Check out our SEO guide to learn about SEO techniques that will help you to tweak your website and improve your rankings.

3. Get Active on Social Media

Another very important channel for growing traffic to your blog is social media. Create social media profiles for your blog on all of the major channels, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. Whenever you publish a new post, promote it on social media.

You can also then wait a week and share it again, for the people who may have missed it the first time. To organise your social media shares, you might want to set up a sharing schedule and use a program that allows you to schedule posts in advance like CoSchedule, Hootsuite or Buffer.

4. Blog Commenting

Another way that you can build traffic to your blog is by commenting on other blogs in your niche. First of all, find a blog on another site within your niche that is relevant to the topics that you talk about on your blog.

Next, take the time to actually read the article so that you can leave a comment that is well thought out and helpful. The more insightful your comment, the more traffic you will build from it. The comment is representing you and your blog to a new potential audience, so you want to use it is an opportunity to carry your brand over onto that audience.

When the visitors of that blog see that you have added something of value in your comment, this will make them interested in reading your blog and finding out what you have to say on the topic. You can even mention blog posts that you have written that are related to the topic, but only if you can do so in a natural and non-spammy way.

Also, you can encourage your visitors to comment and engage with the posts on your website. To begin with, you can make use of a brilliant commenting plugin like Hyvor Talk.

5. Guest Post

Guest posting is another great way in growing traffic to your blog. This refers to writing a blog post for another blog in your niche as a “guest author.” Some of their audience members might enjoy what you wrote and will click through to visit your blog for more.

When you are contacting other bloggers and asking them for the opportunity to guest post, make sure that you are offering something of value. Your guest post might be the first impression that a new reader gets of you. Make sure you “Wow” them so that they will be interested in your blog.

6. Start a Mailing List

Build up an email list with the contact information of interested followers. Then, you can send out an announcement of your latest blog post to all of these followers and generate traffic for your blog.

You could design your blog so that a lightbox pops up on your blog posts asking visitors to sign up your for mailing list. People who are interested in what you have to say will follow you and will click on your content.

7. Participate in Facebook Groups & Forums

There are tons of different Facebook groups out there for any niche, so find the ones that are specific to what your blog is about and join them. Once you have become a member, share your thoughtful and insightful posts and comments with the group. Don’t be too spammy, but if the opportunity comes up to share one of your posts because it is relevant to the discussion or helps to answer a question – then you can do so.

Also, join a forum about your topic and participate in the conversation there too. Make sure that you have a link to your website in your forum signature, so if someone likes what you have to say they might click to find out more about you.

8. Run Facebook Ads

Running a Facebook ad may not sound like a great idea initially, but it can do wonders over time. With the number of Facebook users increasing like crazy every year, a targeted ad for your blog will give a huge jump in traffic to your website.

Though it’s quite easy to set up an advertisement and get it running, you need to target it to the right set of audiences for results. Unlike search engines where you target ads based on what people search, in social media like Facebook, you need to target ads based on what people like.

Check our video tutorial on How to Effectively Run Facebook Ads to Increase Traffic to your website.

9. Write About Trending & Controversial Topics

Of course, when you write about something that makes people think and gets them talking – this is going to drive more traffic to your blog. Don’t be afraid to write about controversial topics. You can even encourage your visitors to share their thoughts in the comments, which might get a discussion started and drive even more traffic.

10. Make Videos of Your Niche & Post on YouTube

Last but not least, don’t miss out on the traffic that you could get by posting videos on YouTube. This huge website is visited by millions of people every day. Since Google owns Youtube, having videos that rank well is a great way to drive traffic to your website.

Keep the content interesting, engaging, and funny so that viewers will be entertained and make sure that the audio is clear. Make sure that your Youtube profile is filled out and that your profile and all of your videos contain links to your website. As your subscribers and your view count grow, you will see your website traffic grow alongside it.

These are just 10 ways on how to increase traffic to a blog. What strategies do you use?

Share your tips with us in the comments below.

And in case if you are still confused about starting a blog, check our video tutorial on How to Create a Blog.

And for more video tutorials, subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. How can I get more people to visit my blog?

Though it takes time for more people to visit your blog, here are some of the tips on how you can get more people to visit your blog,

1. Write Striking Headlines
2. Focus on SEO
3. Promote blog across social media
4. Start a mailing list
5. Write on trending topics

2. How often should you post on a blog?

Instead of a particular number, you need to focus on consistently delivering content, say at least two blog posts per week. This way, you will constantly engage the audience which will bring more and more traffic in the long run.