Boost Blog Traffic with These Content Strategies

Traffic is the lifeblood of the online world. If you have an ecommerce business, a blog, or an internet presence of any nature, you absolutely need traffic.

Though you can artificially manufacture traffic by setting up social media accounts or buying pay per click (PPC) ads, one of the best ways to generate those precious click throughs is by creating quality blog content.

Why Good Content Matters

You may have already heard that content is king, but without further explanation it can be difficult to justify putting all your resources towards your content strategy.

That said, it’s worth taking a moment to go over just how much of an impact publishing quality material can have on your site’s traffic. Content — that is, the content that you create and own on your website — can have a huge impact on your site’s web traffic through:

  • Establishing you as an authority within your niche or industry: The better known you are for providing results, the more effective your word-of-mouth marketing will be.
  • Helping you better understand your customers’ needs: If you understand your customers, it will naturally build your brand recognition.
  • Providing information rather than simply delivering a sales pitch: 80% of consumers prefer to get to know your company through articles instead of traditional advertisements.
  • Increasing dwell time: The longer a customer stays on your page reading, the higher Google will rank your site in search results.
  • Continuing to provide affordable traffic: After the content creation process is complete, you can trust your content to continue to deliver results far into the future.
  • Being shared more often: Quality content is shared more often and leads to organic traffic that requires no effort from yourself.

These are just a few of the many, many reasons that you want to incorporate content into your website traffic strategy.

How to Boost Blog Traffic Through Your Content

Of course, appreciating the importance of quality content doesn’t boost your site’s traffic all on its own. If you want to launch your blog’s traffic into the stratosphere, consider implementing the following tips as you go about curating the best darn content that your industry has to offer.

Set SMART Goals

Before you start typing or even brainstorming article ideas, the first thing you want to do is set an objective. What are you trying to accomplish by creating more content? Are you trying to double your traffic? Increase your conversion rate? Build up an initial flow of traffic in the first place?

As you consider, make sure to establish SMART goals:

  • – Specific
  • – Measurable
  • – Achievable
  • – Relevant
  • – Timely

If you’re a fledgling tech blog, simply declaring that you want more traffic than Amazon by 2025 doesn’t do you much good. You’re creating a goal that is too far removed from the present (not timely), unrelated to your niche (not relevant), and, frankly, utterly impossible (not achievable).

Instead, you could aim to have consistent daily organic traffic in the dozens or even hundreds by the end of 2020. That would give you a SMART goal that you can firmly fix your eyes on as you go along.

Focus on Longer Pieces

Content guru Brian Dean found that the average word count for articles on the first page of search results came in at a resounding 1447 words per article. In other words, the highest-ranking content was much longer than your average article. This extra length provides more opportunities for natural backlinks and keywords and increases dwell time as people spend longer periods on-page reading (all of which helps with SEO and overall site traffic).

The point is, if you have limited time to invest in content, don’t pump out dozens of short articles. Aim to create several longer ones instead.

Write with a Purpose

Remember, with a blog you don’t just want free traffic, you want quality traffic. If you get loads of people visiting your site, but they turn around and high-tail it out of there within seconds, it’s only going to hurt your dwell time, increase your bounce rate, and generally downgrade your search results — results that are critical to boosting your traffic.

Instead, focus on writing quality content that genuinely resonates with customers, connects with their pain points, and answers their problems.

Use an Onsite SEO Tool

Finally, make sure to use the tools available to perfect your content efforts. Start with tools KW Finder to get article ideas and the Yoast SEO plugin to optimize your existing content.

Then, use tools like Google Analytics and Website Informer to track and analyze how your content performs. If it does well, you can leave it to do its thing. If it struggles, you can use your Yoast plugin to look for ways to improve existing content for search engine optimization purposes.

Boosting Blog Traffic Through Content

Using content to boost traffic is an art, not a science. The same can be said for SEO, which also happens to be a driving force behind effective content. While using content may not be a precision activity, though, when done thoughtfully, carefully, and consistently across your blog, it can yield powerful results.

So, assess the suggestions above, analyze the state of your website, and start cobbling together a content strategy. Look for ways to boost your blog traffic without the need to resort to excessively leaning on exhausting social media efforts or expensive PPC ads. Given time you’ll eventually be glad you invested your resources in quality content above all else.

Bio: Jori Hamilton is an experienced writer residing in the Northwestern U.S. She covers a wide range of subjects but takes a particular interest in covering topics related to business productivity, marketing strategies, and talent acquisition. To learn more about Jori, you can follow her on Twitter and LinkedIn