How to Drive Traffic to a Blog with 14 of the Best Blogging Practices

Are you looking for effective ways to drive traffic to a blog?

So many techniques are available that it almost becomes a nightmare to try to decide which ones to use. Some may work, and some may not. For the time that they don’t work, your time is wasted, and that’s not good for anyone, no matter what your blogging goals are.

So, what do you do aside from just giving up blogging altogether?

First, don’t give up. That would be silly. Instead, focus on techniques that work because they’re measurable and make sense once you understand them.

And in this article, I’ll show you 14 of the best practices of how you can drive traffic to a blog without stressing out about it. Let’s just get right into it!

1: Drive Traffic to a Blog with Highly Valuable Quality Content

The only kind of content that will drive traffic to a blog is high-quality content with value included.

Shortly after starting this blog, I quickly learned that the only real way to get traffic to my blog was to change my content value. I mean, I posted the content that I felt was high-quality. But I needed to add more value to it, like a post all about the best ways to drive blog traffic, right?

If you want to get real readers and many of them on your blog, the value must be a big part of your content strategy.

To create high-quality content that is extremely valuable, every article you make should leave a reader with something after reading it. That means your readers must get something useful from every post you publish. It must be of such great value that it will improve their lives. That’s how you’ll win more traffic with blog content.

2: Use Search Engine Optimization Best Practices to Drive Blog Traffic

Search Engine Optimization can make you a blog traffic winner for every post you make.

One I started mastering SEO and getting on page one of Google with my hiking blog, I realized a significant increase in advertising and product sales because of all the new blog traffic I was getting. Now I carefully craft every article I write with SEO best practices in mind and thorough keyword research. I’m getting page one and loads of new blog traffic on every post.

Once you turn keyword research and search engine optimization into a habit (and it’s easy to do it), you’ll notice significant traffic boosts to your blog.

Focus on choosing a long-tail key phrase that is being searched for but isn’t extremely competitive. Ensure you have a unique keyword (key phrase) for every article. Insert your keyword into your title, meta description, H1 header, first H2 header, first paragraph, and your first image’s ALT tags. Make the slug of your page include the keyword. You’ll easily drive traffic to a blog by doing this, combined with choosing the right keyword/key phrase.

3: Drive Blog Traffic with Social Media Community-Based Promotion

Many people make significant mistakes with social media and miss out on such great opportunities to drive thousands of new readers to their blogs.

You have to treat social media like a community. Each social platform you want your blog’s presence on must be its own community. Once I started posting native content rather than promotional content, I started building an audience. Getting my social audience to enjoy my blog content has never been any easier than it is today.

You can get unlimited amounts of new traffic to your blog using simple social media community development strategies without overloading yourself with too much work.

You must post organically – text-based content, photos, videos, and streaming uploaded or created on the social platform. Limit external links to one or two daily, but most daily content should be native. Post at least three times every day. Use something like Buffer to automate it. Reply to every comment possible and actively participate in communities related to your niche. Be active here and there, and you’ll gain that social traffic quickly.

4: Guest Blogging and Podcast Interviews are Valuable Blog Traffic Drivers

The more you get away from a blog and other people in your niche sees you, the easier it will be to drive traffic to a blog.

I started regularly guest posting, doing podcast interviews, and accepting every invitation from my local news stations for guest interviews for my local hiking platform. This opened me to new audiences my collaborative partners had already built up. I got more blog traffic and gained more social followers and new loyal fans of my work.

If you occasionally put yourself out on the internet and away from your blog, you can attract loads more readers for your content.

Start by researching all the blogs and podcast shows focusing on your niche and offer to become a guest of them. Look at the ones your competition has been on and try to collaborate with those blogs and shows. Always be willing to say yes but don’t approach these contributions as a way to promote your blog. Instead, promote yourself, and they will find your blog organically.

5: Drive Traffic to a Blog with Effective Email Marketing Techniques

Email marketing is the best way to have an audience with which social media and search engine algorithms can never interfere.

When I started my newsletter, I had about 60 subscribers for about a year because I didn’t take it that seriously. Then I started marketing my newsletter and grew it to 1,500 subscribers in less than a year. With an open rate of more than 53%, that means about 795 people are reading my blog posts each time I send my newsletter out. That’s a big number that Facebook and Google can’t manipulate!

Social media platforms can dictate who sees your blog promotions, and they do. Google can also adjust your ranking based on over 200 factors that you might not meet. But neither social media nor any search engine can manipulate your newsletter reach, so you should have a mailing list.

Get on MailChimp or ConvertKit and start with a free account. You can send it to many people without paying a dime for quite a while. Create a good newsletter landing page with ideal copywriting techniques to get subscribers. Send your subscribers awesome content exclusive to the newsletter and link to your recent blog posts. Be consistent and tell everyone about your newsletter as much as you can. Link it everywhere. Offer a freebie to subscribe. And make sure you put a popup subscribe box on your blog. That’s about where 50% of my subscribers come from.

6: Use Communities and Comments to Drive Real Blog Traffic

If you engage with your audience and people within your niche, getting them over to your blog will not be as difficult as you might think.

I’ve adopted the “leave no comment unanswered” philosophy. Many bloggers have adopted it. That’s because you’ll start to notice regulars when you keep talking to them. I respond to every comment, whether it’s on my blog or my social media page for my blog. This allows me to engage with my audience and turn them into loyal readers in the process. People want your attention; when you give it to them, they return the favor.

If you want to drive traffic to a blog, you need to be responding to every comment on your blog and the social communities you’ve created and become a part of.

Start engaging with them daily to get loyal readers through comments and community. Respond to every comment on your blog, and don’t turn off comments. Try to engage with your responses by asking questions and keeping the conversation going. Try to add more value to the comments so that your readers become loyal, knowing they’ll get more out of your blog from engaging with you. Make sure you practice these techniques on your social media pages, too. And join other communities on social media and engage with members on them as well.

7: Make Your Niche Easy and Your Site Usability Easy for Blog Traffic Boosts

If you have a mission for your blog audience, and it’s easy for an audience to see it, you’ll gain more traffic.

Once I geared down the niche of this blog, I started seeing a significant increase in readers. I focus on blogging, community, and newsletters for solo business owners. I have a target audience that is specifically looking for target topics. My mission is clear, and I make it clear to you and the rest of the readers. And then, I focus on an easy-to-use blog because understanding the topic and ease of use is one of the most important things you can achieve as a blogger.

If you want to drive traffic to a blog, the blog needs to be simple to use and have a clear and concise niche, or it won’t work.

If you want this to work – you’ll have a specific niche. Your niche should be your biggest passion, but always make sure there is an existing audience for it. If not, move on to your next passion until you find something that matches an audience. Then decide on your cornerstone topics. These are the main topics you’ll write about. Every new article will branch off one of these topics. Try to be specific and less broad about your cornerstone topics. And then, make sure your blog is easy to use, easy to find information on, fast loading, and extremely friendly for mobile use. Do these things and watch the masses of people start visiting your blog.

8: Create an Advertising and Giveaway Budget to Drive Blog Traffic

You don’t have to spend much money to get more readers on your blog, but spending a little bit can improve your audience rates.

I don’t like spending money unless I make more money than I put in. That should always be a top goal when purchasing promotional services for your blog. But sometimes, you might need to spend some money on ads to get some initial readers and even spend money on some cool prizes for a giveaway to keep your readers coming back. The payment isn’t profit; it’s getting loyal readers, which can be just as good as a monetary profit at the end of the day.

Buying ads and spending money on great giveaway prizes is the only real thing to need to spend money on as far as your blog goes.

Try to focus on ads where your industry and communities are. If your kind of followers are on Facebook but not Twitter, focus your ad spend on Facebook instead of Twitter. You’ll need to research your niche, and that’s where you should spend your money. Be careful with Meta, as they will try to get you to mix ads on Facebook and Instagram when your niche might not be as active on both platforms. Go with the platform where they’re active for the best result. Do giveaways instead of contests. Don’t make your audience work for their prize; instead, offer it after a few social page follows and likes and give prizes worth doing it for.

9: Become a Top Industry Expert to Get More Traffic on Your Blog

By becoming an expert in your industry, getting more traffic to your blog will never be a difficult task for you in the future.

Regarding my hiking niche, I’m a local expert on hiking in my area. Everyone comes to me for information about hiking trails. I post two times a week on my blog and really don’t have to promote the posts that much. Between how well I do on Google Search and my loyal fanbase because of the reputation I’ve created for myself, I can easily expect many people to see my new blog posts. I’ve done this by getting my brand name out there and focusing on expertise development.

If you become an expert in your industry, you’ll get more of everything. This includes blog readers, sales, deals, and so much more.

The best way to become an expert is to follow a few strategies daily. First, you should be getting your name or your brand name out in the industry. Write new blog posts frequently and consistently. Try to become a guest blogger on related topics, and make sure you write in a way as if you’re writing for your own blog. Your reputation is on the line here. Then, get interviewed on podcasts and radio shows if it’s applicable. Join communities, answer the hardest questions with the easiest solutions, and be as social and friendly as possible. Network. Network. Network. Find the hardest problems in the niche and write simple solutions. Be known and be known as someone who knows what they’re talking about, and you’ll drive traffic to a blog in no time.

10: Create a Community with Organic Ambassadors to Get More Blog Traffic

An online community will always guarantee you a quick way to drive traffic to a blog through the development of organic ambassadors.

I’m a big advocate for online communities. An online community can help you create loyal followers, customers, expertise, and a brand. Outside of social media platforms, your community isn’t easily manipulated by social media and mega search engines like Google and Bing. Social and search can’t control your community; they usually can’t even see it. That gives you a significant advantage in driving more traffic to your blog content.

If you want to create organic ambassadors who will help you drive traffic to your blog, you must first provide a community for them.

An organic ambassador is a follower who becomes loyal on their own based on the high value you provide to them. These types of people will help you market your blog without you even having to ask them to do it. You should emphasize these people and praise them often. Take care of them because they’re taking care of you and your blog’s authority online. But to find these folks, you must build an online community. An online community can be anything as far as platforms go, but you have to provide significant value and networking among those who are a part of it. Create your own space for your blog and provide as much quality as possible at no cost. Do this, and you’ll build a powerhouse of ambassadors ready to drive traffic to your blog.

11: Create a Brand and Become Known in Your Industry to Drive Blog Traffic

If more people immediately know who you are, you can drive traffic to a blog without putting too much effort into it.

I started my hiking gig as a hobby at first. Then as it gained more local attention and popularity, I realized that it was a brand in the making. Once I started treating it as a brand and growing it as a brand, getting people to my blog and content wasn’t that difficult. Nowadays, it’s even easier. It’s because people know me by my brand, see my content, and immediately know who I am because of the brand I’ve created. I meet these people while grocery shopping. I meet them on the trail. I meet them in other states. Branding works.

If you build a brand, you’ll not only be able to easily drive traffic to a blog, but you’ll open yourself up to be able to make more money and gain more clients in the process.

The best way to build a brand is to know your niche and have a mission of what you want to do with your blog. You also need to understand your audience and have an avatar of your perfect reader. You can’t build a brand if you don’t fully understand who your readers are. You need to find your voice, make it your brand’s voice, and use it everywhere. You need to use the same photo, colors, and themes on every social media page you make. Make yourself familiar when people see you anywhere you are. Think about the biggest brands and how immediately you can recognize them. Think about brands like Nike, Adidas, and even Netflix. What do they do that you can mimic to create and maintain your brand?

12: Turn Your Blog into a Profitable Business to Boost Your Blog Traffic

Sometimes a simple hobby blog keeps you from growing your authority and driving more traffic to your blog.

I used to treat my blogs like a hobby. I could never remain consistent or keep a good flow of quality content because I wasn’t taking it seriously enough. I wanted that to change. So, I started treating my blogs like a business, and then my motivation grew to keep consistent and maintain the highest and most valuable quality content possible. Once I started doing this, getting more readers got a lot easier than it ever was before.

If you want a blog just for a hobby blog, don’t worry about traffic but consider making it a business if you more or even want to make a profit machine.

To start treating your blog like a business, create a business plan for it. Include your missions, values, objectives, and overall financial goals. Take it a step further by registering it as a business. Here in the States, I make my blogs officially registered LLCs (Limited Liability Company) for a few hundred dollars. Start looking at ways to make a profit with your blogging business. Make important decisions to benefit your business and create paid products. Start looking at your blog as a business, and you’ll start making better decisions that will drive traffic to it.

13: Consistently Create Content that Solves Huge Niche Problems to Drive Blog Traffic

Solving problems in your niche is your biggest secret weapon to drive traffic to a blog, become an expert, and even earn more profit.

There are a lot of problems in blogging, newsletters, and online community. I created this blog to solve those problems and provide easy solutions. I find the biggest problems in these topics and then create blog posts showing you how to solve them independently as a solopreneur. In return, you keep coming back to read more content on my blog because you enjoy what I have to say. My mission is just that; it should be your mission, too.

If you consistently use your blog to solve the biggest problems in your niche, everyone in your niche will always excitedly wait for the next post you make.

Start this task by learning as much as possible about the topics of your niche. Learn something new every day. Subscribe to all the newsletters and news sites for the industry and read every story that gets posted. You need to become an expert in the niche, and you’ll accomplish that by learning daily. Then you should start researching your industry’s biggest and hardest questions and concerns. Figure out how to solve and answer these difficult questions and concerns. Then transfer your resolutions into a blog post. Do this consistently, and you’ll have no trouble getting more readers on your blog.

14: Analyze Your Competition and Fill in the Gaps to Drive Traffic to a Blog

Your competition might have all of the answers on how to drive traffic to a blog, and you need to exploit them as soon as possible.

I used to try to write everything that my competition wasn’t writing about. Then I started understanding SEO better and learned how important it was to recap what my competition writes about but in my own words. But it’s also important to add value to your version by including the stuff your competition has left out.

Find the information gaps in articles that your competition has created, exploit those gaps, and then write a better article than theirs.

I have a system for how I create these articles. I develop my key phrase based on trending topics in the industry and niche. Then I turn to my competitors. I search for my key phrase on Google. I opened the first five blog posts related to my key phrase. Then I read each of them. I write down how they relate and how they don’t relate to each other. Then I look at what they don’t include – these are called gaps. I take those gaps and fill them in with my own content on my blog post. I am writing about the same topics as my competition but in my own words, but I’m also adding more value to it by filling in the gaps that my competition has left out.

You can now see how easy it is to drive traffic to a blog. You just needed the right tools in front of you and some inspiration. I hope that this blog post has given you both of these things. If it has, please help support my writing efforts by sharing it with others who might like it. I’d also love it if you gave me a follow on Twitter, where I give daily blogging tips and more.

About the Author

Shawn Gossman has created content, blogged, ran online communities, and shared a passion for digital marketing for over twenty years. Shawn believes the best way to help content creators, businesses, brands, and marketers is to give away more than you sell. The same advice is recommended for the readers that follow this blog. Shawn also offers a variety of services for extra help in the area of content creation, blogging, forums, and digital marketing. Learn more about Shawn Gossman by clicking here.