Starting a blog is like igniting fire out of sheer passion and zest
for innumerable, wonderful things. The best thing about blogging is that you
get to express ideas and emotions you would rather speak about through writing
than being argued and condemned verbally.
Then, you realize that there’s more to
blogging than the rudimentary process of expressing yourself. And voila! The
idea of monetizing your blog finally struck your head.
As per ProBlogger, here are some branches
of profiting through blogging:
- Advertising (Ambassadorships, Ad Networks, Sponsored Posts, Newsletter Ads, RSS Advertising, Video and Podcast Advertising, Competitions and Giveaways);
- Affiliate Marketing (Shopping Sites, Private Affiliate Programs, Affiliate Networks);
- Services (Freelancing, Coaching, Consulting, Copywriting, Training);
- Products: Virtual (eBooks, Courses, Software, Apps, Printables); Physical (Books, Merchandise, Teaching Materials);
- Other Income Streams (Donations, Syndication, Selling Blogs).
Every blogger who aspires to make it to the
big league drools over the aforementioned income streams. However, you can’t
just expect Google AdSense to immediately pop on your inbox informing you of
their approval. If you don’t provide relevant content or enticing page design, your
well-crafted outreach may just go for naught.
Online partners are also stringent when it
comes to meeting certain SEO metrics (e.g., bounce rate, average page visits, relevant
backlinks, etc.)
Here are 6 often taken for granted tips
that will help make your blog traffic off the charts.
Tip #1: Write content that are
comprehensive
Neil Patel’s blogs, for instance, average
4k-8k words. If you think of that humongous amount, it’s easy to get discouraged
especially if you’re used to writing short blogs. Nevertheless, big risks, upon
consummation, yield big results right?
But what’s really the optimal content
length? According to a study conducted by the serpIQ blog, top-rated posts contained
over than 2,000 words.
Let’s not only talk about word count.
Screenshots and images make a whole lot of difference too. For one, it
naturally forces readers to scroll over that Mona Lisa picture to get to your
take on Picasso’s.
Both of those increase visitor’s time on
page, and eventually traffic.
Tip #2: Write frequently and identify
the best publishing time (pattern)
When I was starting my blog, I used to post
once a week and the trend continued for 2 months. I noticed no significant
increase on both session and user volumes. But when I did it twice per week, my
metrics increased by a whopping 35%.
What also contributed to my version of
success is analysing my fan base (we’ll delve on this later on). These are guys
whom I’ve observed sticking with my blogs like glue for some time. It was critically
important for me to identify the time majority of these guys go online and
visit my page. That, then, dictated my publishing pattern.
Tip #3: Create followers from mundane visitors
Building traffic requires a chain effect. The main cog should
come from your main followers. How can you make every visitor your blog’s
ambassador then? First, try to help everyone out.
Are you sincerely responding to every question, comment and
suggestion your blog post receives? When I mean sincere, it goes beyond that
simple “thank you!” greeting; it must provide add-on value too. Here’s an
example.
Thanks for bringing up the
matter Susan. A decent one night stay in a Philippine hotel would cost you
around $200 including food and accommodation. Hope this helps.
You don’t only appear genuine when you try to help readers
out. You can also pick valuable information from conversation threads.
Tip #4: Spread the wealth
Blog commenting is not a new thing. In
fact, many webmasters hire people to comment on other blog posts. However, the
drawback here is the quality of blog comment they’re getting.
Here are typical, eyebrow-raising blog
comments:
I
love it! See more comments at (insert backlink)
It’s
really amazing. Visit my (insert backlink) to see more suggestions.
Nice.
More tips await at (insert link).
Such type of comments wouldn’t invite readers
to click and visit the backlink you provided. For one, those appear like clickbaits
to spam websites. Second, it didn’t provide any value to inform readers and
stimulate the conversation – it just highlighted the link. Getting those types
of comments wiped out or removed by the webmaster is a thing of certainty.
Write comments for value, not for quantity.
If you’ve sounded motivating and substantial, a handful of visitors from the
person’s blog may be yours as well! The blog owner, meanwhile, can be a friend,
a reference person, or even a business partner.
Tip #5: Put SEO at heart
Search engine optimization, most of the
time, is the turning point of taking your blog to greater heights. Some
bloggers are hesitant when it comes to delving into the nitty-gritties of SEO,
but it’s pretty much about doing the little things.
- Instead of leaving an image file name as “Picture1,” you can opt to name it with something aligned with your keywords.
- Ensure that your post’s title, content, and meta description contain your relevant keyword.
- Use easy to use plug-ins for putting relevant tags and meta descriptions.
Tip #6: Update old blog posts
Old blog posts boost your traffic when
they’re updated. Just imagine if you have 100 old posts and each could receive
15 new readers per day. That’s a booming 1,500 page visits in an instant.
Melyssa Griffin, on her blog, suggested 9
ways to give old blog posts a facelift. Add friendly, invigorating
images from Pinterest that fits your branding.
- Add concentrated keywords to previous posts that aren’t optimized.
- See opportunities to link new posts to old posts.
- Modify dull titles to be more optimized.
- Beef up past posts that didn’t turn out to be hits. Republish them.
- Do what Google loves: lengthy posts. Lengthen and update old posts with recent discoveries or new information.
- Get rid of spam comments that affect site credibility and aesthetics.
- Ensure that links are functioning and spelling is accurate.
- Enhance readability (i.e., breaking paragraphs into smaller chunks, include texts that would make readers want to read more).
As a wrap-up, traffic is crucial to
monetize your passion in blogging. It’s important to be considered as one of
the bigger guys in the virtual world. While you cannot absolutely predict the
volatile demand of online readers, it’s the amount of effort and determination
that you can predict.
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