Any successful blogger will tell you that blogging is not a walk in the park. You need to be consistent, write quality content, market your blog, and learn effective strategies to increase blog traffic.
When it comes to increasing traffic to your blog, you can either go the cheap way or the expensive way. The cheap way will take time but yield lasting results, while the expensive way, which involves placing ads, will yield quick results but the moment you stop advertising then your traffic will drop instantly.
Traffic can be clustered into four types;
Organic Traffic: Traffic generated from search engines without having to pay for it. Search engines could be Google, Bing, and YouTube among others. Organic traffic from search engines is often called search traffic because a user came to your blog after searching for something on any of the search engines.
Referral Traffic: Referral traffic is when a user clicks on a link to your blog from another website. The source website acts as a referral for the traffic you get.
Direct Traffic: Direct traffic is when a user types your URL into their browser and visits your site. Brand new websites do not get direct traffic because no one knows about their existence.
Paid Traffic: Traffic generated by paying for adverts. This could be Google ads, Facebook ads, Twitter ads, Banner ads, or ads placed on networks such as Outbrain, Taboola, or Revcontent.
Now that you know the types of traffic a blog or website gets, we will highlight the most effective free ways to increase blog traffic that have been proven to yield great results.
1. Make your content visually attractive
According to research done by Xerox, using colorful visuals and placing them above the fold will increase the chances of consumers reading a product guide by 80%.
Buffer did similar research and found that including a featured image in your post ensures all the social shares contain images, which will lead to 150% more retweets on Twitter and 53% more likes on Facebook.
Images grab readers’ attention and make consumption of your content easier. A reader is more likely to keep reading your content if you use the right images to break up blocks of text.
We, however, recommend that you avoid using stock images because your readers will most likely have seen such an image online. You need to stand out, and you can do so by creating your own custom images using tools such as Canva.
You can also add relevant videos to your content. It’s worth noting that readers spend more time on posts with short videos than those with none.
Brian Dean often adds short videos to his content on Backlinko, a good example is this guide on the Skyscraper Technique.
2. Share high-quality infographics
According to research done by Springer, using a combination of text and illustrations (such as infographics) to give directions yields better results by 323%.
Apart from increasing dwell time, making content easy to consume, and increasing engagement, other bloggers will gladly share your infographic in an instant with a link back to your site, especially if you create quality infographics (just like I am using the infographic above and linking to the source).
So, how can you take advantage of this?
Create an infographic around a highly searched topic and look for bloggers who have written quality content about the same topic. Then contact them and offer them the infographic to include in their blog posts with a credit link back to your website.
If the infographic is good and irresistible, then they will gladly do so. Besides, their aim is to provide value to their readers, and if they can achieve that without having to spend a couple of hours making infographics themselves then so be it.
3. Focus on evergreen content
Evergreen content is one that will always be relevant no matter when it was written. It will never go out of date and revolves around a topic that will always be relevant to readers.
This means evergreen content published in 2023 will still be relevant in 2025, with just a few minor updates once in a while.
If you can rank multiple evergreen content on the first page of search engines, you will be guaranteed consistent search traffic month after month.
A few examples of evergreen content would be;
- How to lose weight
- Ways to tie a headscarf
- How to make pancakes
As you can see, there are effective ways to lose weight in 2023, and the same will still apply five or ten years down the line. None of them will be out-of-date. The same applies to tying a headscarf or making pancakes.
The secret is to identify evergreen topics in your niche and focus more on them. Then do good keyword research, optimize your content well, and write in-depth content.
4. Target long-tail keywords
Successful bloggers have mastered the art of “stealing” traffic for giant websites by targeting long-tail keywords, which are generally considered long-hanging fruits and easier to rank for.
Long-tail keywords are target phrases containing at least four words. Examples include:
- content marketing strategies for startups
- best pdf to excel converter
- free keyword research tools
- kids sneakers for girls
- best camera for fashion bloggers
Although long-tail keywords have fewer searches per month (volume reduces as the phrase length increases), they are easy to rank for without the need of building backlinks.
As you can see from the graph above, long-tail keywords have fewer searches per month. You should focus on search keywords to increase your chances of ranking faster and generating organic traffic to your blog.
5. Have a consistent posting schedule
Any successful blogger will tell you that while topic research, quality content, and SEO are some of the cornerstones of their success, being consistent is an indispensable trait that you should have if your blog is to succeed.
A study by Hubspot revealed that blogging consistency has a direct correlation with the amount of traffic or leads a blog or website gets/generates.
According to the study, businesses that published at least 16 blogs a month saw almost 3x more traffic than the ones that only published less than 4 blogs a month.
Depending on your niche, you can choose to post thrice per week and stick to that schedule. Be consistent all year round and with time your traffic will gradually grow consistently.
Search engines also have a liking for websites that post new content on a consistent schedule. Alternatively, you can take time to update old content with new data, statistics, and info to ensure your content remains up-to-date.
6. Guest blog for quality backlinks
One of the best ways of building backlinks is through guest blogging. While guest blogging will not generate millions of traffic a month, getting do-follow backlinks to your blog from authoritative websites will improve your organic rankings.
Backlinks are like a vote of confidence, and the more votes you get the more authoritative your website gets. The more backlinks you get, the easier it will be to outrank your competitors.
There are many guest posting opportunities out there. You just need to find websites that accept guest bloggers, write quality, insightful content, and link to quality external resources including your website.
7. Implement good SEO strategies
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is the cornerstone of most niche websites. It is a set of practices that helps you to rank your content on search engines and generate organic traffic.
While most people get scared when they hear the term SEO, it’s actually quite easy to optimize your website and make it friendly for users and search engines.
While on-page SEO involves optimizing your content around a specific topic or search term, you need to do good keyword research to identify the right keywords or topics to blog about.
If you’re still new to SEO, then I would recommend using SEO plugins to act as a guide and make this a little easier for you. Over time you will learn the basics of optimizing your content.
If you’re a serious blogger, then I presume you’ve already set up your Google Search Console and Google Analytics. Here is a guide on how to use your search console for SEO.
8. Focus on long-form content
There is no way you’ll ever rank at the top of search engines, especially Google if you write low-quality content. Content is still KING and if you want to generate decent search traffic then you have to create quality content.
Besides, quality content is one of Google’s most important ranking factors. Move away from writing a 300-word article hoping to rank top on Google, unless is the type of content that doesn’t exist (100%) in any search engine index database.
Depending on your niche or topic, I would recommend you try the Skyscraper Technique, where you aim to write the most in-depth article in your niche (but don’t just add content for the sake of creating the “longest” article).
That way you stand a chance of outranking even the “big fish” in your niche without having to build any backlinks.
9. Partner with other bloggers
There are many ways you can partner with other bloggers including through blog post roundups, podcasts, and guest blogging. With blog post roundups, you get in touch with bloggers in your niche and request them to contribute to your roundup post.
Once you publish the post, you can send them a link and they will be glad to share because they’ve their contributions included along with a link to their blogs.
Getting shares from other successful bloggers will generate instant traffic and some readers will even link to it (hence generating backlinks).
Some of these bloggers will also be willing to link to your roundup post in the future, which is a win-win situation.
10. Use catchy headlines
Does every user who searches for something on search engines such as Google click on the first or second result? Of course NOT.
WHY?
Because users only click on search results that they feel will best answer their search queries. The best way to make your posts stand out on search results is by writing catchy headlines.
A catchy headline will stand out, generate more clicks, and help your post rank higher on search results. On the other hand, a plain headline will appear “boring” and users are more likely to ignore it even when it’s ranking higher.
If you wish to learn how to and why writing catchy blog post titles are important, then read our previous post on catchy blog titles that drive traffic.
In a nutshell, include a number in your title, and if possible try out the “inverted list” technique like in this article.
11. Do internal linking
Internal linking is one of the most important on-page SEO practices. You should always link to your older posts from every new post you publish. But why is internal linking important?
- It helps search engines such as Google understand the relationship between different posts on your website, hence using it as a ranking signal.
- Linking to related posts helps increase page views and dwell time while reducing bounce rate.
To make it easy to remember, we recommend you have a pre-publish checklist that will keep you grounded and always remind you to link to related posts before you hit the publish button.
12. Optimize your website’s speed
Another great way to increase blog traffic is by optimizing your website to load faster. According to Google, page speed is one of its most important ranking factors.
Google aims to show its users the best content, and having a slow website means your user experience will be poor. Besides, no user wants to wait for 10-30 seconds for your website to load.
That’s why it’s important to optimize your images, use caching plugins, and apply image lazy loading to speed up your website.
The better your page speed, the more likely you will rank higher on Google, provided you have implemented all the necessary things needed to rank high on Google.
13. Share your posts on social media
Building an email list is not the only way to reach new and existing users and keep them engaged. Share your new blog posts on social media, including Twitter and Facebook.
While these platforms will not generate tons of traffic to your blog, having hundreds of blog posts will generate a decent amount of traffic.
It’s also recommended to keep sharing your old blog posts on social media once in a while. You will generate more traffic without having to write new content.
Final thoughts…
There are many ways to increase website traffic, some free while others paid. The most important thing, though, is to create quality content, be consistent, and adhere to good SEO practices.
Now to you…
Which of these tips have you used or do you think will be the most effective? I’m ready to respond to your opinions in the comments section below.
