How to Use Your Blog to Drive Traffic to Your Website
There are many ways to drive traffic to your website. Some can really dig into your marketing budget while others can be as simple as investing some time and energy into your blog. A well-written and optimized blog post is an invaluable resource for website traffic and online exposure.
Websites built on the WordPress platform already have a blog component. WordPress plugins for SEO are invaluable in preparing your post for better page ranking.
Simple (and free) things you can do to drive traffic to your website through your blog
Post Often – Post to your blog at a minimum of once a week. Consistency and frequency are key to your success. The more often you post, the more aware people become of your brand. Quality information posted on a regular basis will keep people interested in reading what you have to say. Frequent posts also get better search engine ranking.
Be Social – Each time you post to your blog, post it on your social media. Write a few words (teaser text) letting people know what your post is about. Include a photo and a link back to the original post on your website. Shorten your link by using a service like TinyURL. They will take your long URL and shorten it to a suitable length.
Reach Out to Your List – Each time you write a post, create an email blast with teaser text and a link back to your blog post. While your visitors are reading your post, they are likely to take a look at what else your site has to offer.
Newsletters – When you send out your newsletter, include a graphic or text link back to your blog. Provide an opportunity for contacts to sign up to automatically receive notifications when a new post is written. Add a sign up form on your website.
Other Important Things to Know
You don’t have to write a long post. An acceptable length can be as short as 300 words.
Search engines find your post according to the keywords you use. Use no more than 3% of your keywords in your text. Let them flow naturally or they could be viewed negatively by search engines.
Allowing comments on your posts is a slippery slope. We want to engage with our readers, but by allowing comments, we open ourselves up to spam. If you accept comments, make sure your settings don’t allow the comments to be seen publicly without your prior approval.
Start using these simple tips to use your blog to drive traffic to your website.
What do you do to get more website exposure through your blog?