5 Easy Tips to Increase Blog Traffic

Posted on by Caitlin

I’m a firm believer in celebrating even the smallest of achievements, and at the end of last month I finally reached two long time goals with my blog: the first milestone I reached was receiving over twelve thousand views in a month, and the second was gaining 4000 WordPress subscribers.

I’ve just uploaded an updated version of this post to my YouTube channel, so be sure to check it out here:

My website has been a labor of love to say the least, and after two years of writing and rewriting and endless Facebook shares of my posts, I feel that in the last few months I’ve finally started to gain organic interaction with my blog. At the end of February I decided I was going to start taking blogging much more seriously, and I consolidated the five main ways in which I began to have greater and longer interaction with my website in the post below. I’m not an expert by any means, but these are the methods in which I seen my blog traffic increase from several hundred a month to several hundred per day.

  1. Network: The aim of the game is to try to attract as many people to your blog as possible. This, along with everything else you do both on your blog and related to it, should be relevant to the content of your blog. I follow tags such as ‘Travel’ ‘Hotel’ and ‘Restaurant’ because those are the types of things I write about. When I read, comment and like posts of similar themes to my own, the person who’s post I have interacted with is more likely to interact with my blog. There are also tons of Facebook groups out there relating to different niches of blogs for different countries and cities, so be sure to get involved in your local blogging group as it’s a great way to have your blog supported and to support other bloggers.
  2. Be consistent: It’s one of the most important things when having a blog that you find a niche and you stick to it. When I first started my blog I used to only write when I visited a new place, and the lack of new content kept both my SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and blog traffic pretty low. Only now have I realised there are so many different ways of writing about travel. Now I write hotel reviews, restaurant reviews and so much more. Not only does it mean that I have more content, but the content is now a blend of personal experiences and photographs alongside factual information about travelling.
  3. Use hyperlinks: Everything I write about in my travel posts I try to cover in more detail elsewhere on my blog so that if someone is curious about that particular airline, location or hotel they can read about it on my website instead of elsewhere. I try to ensure each of my posts has at least three hyperlinks to other posts on my blog. It’s important that hyperlinks work properly or your blog will look unprofessional which in turn is off putting to readers, so be sure to click through a post after you publish it to ensure each of the links works as you intended it.Screenshot 2017-05-09 at 17.56.30
  4. Be accessible: We live in such a demanding culture, so be privy to that when designing your blog. After redesigning my blog to have clear headings, I’ve received feedback from viewers telling me they find it much easier to maneuver the website. The tagline underneath my blog name as well as each of the headings tells new visitors which kinds of topics I write about. Adding a search bar meant that if someone was trying to look up a particular location, hotel or restaurant they were able to do so without trawling through several pages beforehand. People want to know what they’re getting upfront, and I have absolutely found that the more organised my blog has become, the more returning visitors I have received and the average time spent on my blog has increased.Screenshot 2017-05-09 at 17.12.38.png
  5. Utilise social media: I recently wrote a blog post on increasing Instagram engagement with links to my Instagram account. This post helped increase traffic to my Instagram account, helping with things like followers, likes and comments. On the flip side you can use your Instagram, along with Twitter and Facebook, to advertise your blog. Every time I post a new blog post I share the link with a brief explanation on my social media accounts, and every time I post a new Instagram photograph I caption it with reference to the photograph itself followed “Click the link in my bio” to encourage people who like the photograph to click onto my website for more similar content. However simple this may seem, when I began to consistently make reference to my blog alongside a link to it on all of my social media platforms, I seen social traffic boom almost instantly.

I’ve read so many posts with regard to increasing blog traffic with lots of blog jargon I didn’t understand, but the crux of it is the more effort you put into your blog the more organic traffic you’ll receive. Spend time engaging with other blogs, make sure your website is clean and clear and easy to move around and stick to your niche(s). Social media is more powerful than you know, so make sure you make reference to your website and recent posts on all of your platforms to attract more traffic and once people arrive on your page make sure they have something interesting to read.

278 thoughts on “5 Easy Tips to Increase Blog Traffic”

      1. Caitlin, good article, thank you for posting.
        It took me a bit to find the comment area though. It looked like a reply section for someone else’s comments.
        There are a lot of requirements to respond though.

      2. Hi Hal,
        That’s just because of the number of comments on this particular post, the others are much less crowded!

    1. Hi, thanks for reading! It all starts with good content and guiding people in the direction of your blog – Facebook shares, liking and commenting on other blog posts etc! Don’t worry, it takes time, I have so far to go until I reach my goals!

      Reply

  7. Thanks so much for posting! I found your blog by you “networking” and liking a post of mine. Will definitely want to keep your post handy to look back on for these tips!

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  16. Yeah I definitely need to start learning about SEO…. and I need to decide once and for all if my blog is basically just my travel diary or if it is/could be more.

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    1. Mine started out as that but as time has gone on and during the time I don’t travel I try to add informative and factual content too! Thanks for commenting 😊

      Reply

  19. Such an interesting and important post! I’ve been blogging since 2 years. Through my journey, I’ve attracted a few people to my blog, a thousand per year. I’ve read many articles on the subject but this piece is particularly relevant to me. Consistency and patience are keys. Thank you for sharing.

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  21. I think being accessible is so important these days… It’s easy to make a blog, but it’s really dificult to design a good blog!
    loved the tips 😉

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    1. Thanks for reading, and commenting! Hopefully the summer of 2019, we are headed to the USA next year! Have you ever visited Scotland?

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      1. Yes, only got to Edinburgh though. I worked in the UK for 4 years, tried to see as much as I could there and on the Continent, plus visit the places from whence my ancestors came. Just loved every moment.

      2. Incredible – Edinburgh is so beautiful, a fantastic place to visit! Thanks for stopping by my blog, it still blows my mind that people on the other side of the world come across it!

    1. I always dip in and out of it, but started back on the 2nd and the results I’ve had already have been crazy! I’ve never been, but it looks incredible! Thinking of combining Taiwan, Japan and South Korea for our next trip!
      Thanks for commenting 😊

      Reply

  33. Hi Caitlin. I started my blog as a way to keep in touch with family but have started to wonder if I could do a bit more with it. Your advice has been very much appreciated and I will be following. Thank you 🙂

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  43. Good tips! And a very informative blog. And congratulations on reaching your goals. I’m at an early stage of building my own audience but I already know it takes persistence, strategy and focus.

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  45. Thanks for visiting my blog I’m just getting into blogging so for you to find my post was strange 🙂 one of your points was very correct as I am now here! Your blog is lovely! Keep posting great content! 🙂

    Reply

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