Great question.

Bloggers and marketers who have hosted a blog have experienced the frustration of trying to build a decent readership. In an ideal world, your audience would just naturally come to you with little effort. However, given the volume of blogs on the internet covering every possible topic of interest, it takes time to build an audience.

In my years doing content marketing, though, I’ve come to realize that the strategies below are very effective in terms of boosting traffic for blogs:

1. Be Consistent About Updating Your Blog

Make a consistent effort to produce high-quality content for your website. Google prioritizes sites that offer fresh content regularly. So, the more you update your blog, the better chance you have of being ranked well on Google searches. Updating your blog once or twice a week is ideal for driving regular traffic.

2. Make an Effort to Promote Your Blog on Social Media

Every new post you create should be supported by promotional efforts on social media. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram should always be included in your mix if possible, while considering other platforms that provide additional exposure by allowing you to share great content. For example, if your business is largely focused on visual content, maybe adding TikTok or YouTube to your social strategy is a good idea.

3. Pay Attention to SEO

Keywords are a great way to make sure you generate more traffic for your website. This ensures that your post is strategically optimized to rank well on Google searches. For every post you write, be sure to do appropriate keyword research that allows readers to find that post. It’s all a matter of incorporating that key phrase into relevant sections of your post—the title, headers, and throughout your article where it’s appropriate.

4. Add Relevant Links

Relevant links to resources, additional articles, and references—all these helps build the credibility of your post and your site. Not only do readers appreciate it when you make it easier for them to find additional material on subjects that matter to them, it also helps search engines recognize your post as a credible resource.

5. Make It Easy for Readers to Share Your Post

Be sure to add social sharing buttons to your post. Add major social networks that will make it easy for readers to share your post with just a single click.

6. Repost Past Content

Posts you share on social media don’t necessarily have to be the latest or most recent. While it’s important to support recent posts with social media promotions, doing so for previous posts is also helpful. Don’t be afraid to share past content as long as it is relevant to your audience.

There you have it. These six strategies have proven to be very effective for me in my efforts to build a bigger audience and drive more traffic for my blog. They’re simple to implement and you can try them for your own blog today.

If you have any questions, feel free to join the conversation on Twitter or LinkedIn.