Although 2022 just began, it’s never too late to decide to grow your blog!
However, simply aiming for more site visitors is not enough to reach this goal.
In this article, we’ll be sharing why you should prioritize highly-targeted traffic above all else. Plus, we’ll lay down the 11 best strategies to drive this kind of traffic to your blog to help it multiply this year!
What Makes a Successful Blog?
It’s a common misconception that the more people that visit your site (i.e., having higher traffic volume), the more successful your blog is.
Monetizing your blog does open you up to the opportunity of earning money as a blogger, but having more traffic does not necessarily translate to more money.
We assure you that making money from your blog is not a far-fetched goal, and the best means to achieve it is by increasing highly-targeted traffic.
Attracting this type of audience results in higher conversion and is premised on visitors actively looking for the products, services, and other information you have on your site, your email subscribers, and potential customers who treat you as an authority on your niche.
In the blogging arena, keep in mind that quality trumps quantity.
Having only dozens of fans who trust your judgment and believe in your solutions is always better than a thousand site visitors who will leave your site within five seconds. This is what a successful blog is all about.
11 Best Strategies to Grow Your Blog Quickly this 2022
1. Narrow Down Your Niche
Picking your blogging niche is one of the first steps you’ve taken when you started your blog. But it’s never too late to re-evaluate and narrow it down further if needed.
To increase highly-targeted traffic and grow your blog quicker, make sure to devote yourself to a niche that you’re not only passionate about but also a profitable one with a consistent following.
To some people, choosing a niche is an easy thing. It’s either something they’ve been interested in since their childhood or a field they want to be knowledgeable about.
But if you’re not one of them, make sure that it is a niche that excites you. It should be interesting enough that you’ll see yourself earnestly researching and writing blog posts about them.
Marketing tools: To test your audience’s interests, search for keywords relating to your niche with helpful tools such as Google Trends or a keyword research tool like SEMrush or AHRefs. You can easily see if the chosen keyword is trending upwards or downwards and has enough search volume around it.
But, if your niche is too broad, you’ll end up competing with more players, including established and larger websites. Offer something different from the rest or size the topic down to arrive at more specific solutions to your highly-targeted audience’s needs.
Finally, if you want to earn enough income from your blog, make sure you’re in a profitable niche. You can make money from almost any niche, but some are more lucrative than others.
Check if there are affiliate programs for products and services related to your niche. You can also do a quick Google search and see if ads are matching your keywords.
Read more: Most Profitable Blog Niches
2. Establish at Least One Other Platform aside from Your Blog
Blogging is still profitable but diversified media has changed readership trends. For instance, a lot of traffic poured by readers to WordPress-powered blogs has been redirected to social media platforms.
Audiences now expect their favorite bloggers to be present on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, or Tiktok (if that’s your thing) so that they can enjoy all of their content simultaneously in one sitting.
Today, you can expand your reach and attract more loyal readers faster by sharing your blog content on at least one social media platform.
If you’re a blogger whose niche involves anything aesthetically-appealing, like fashion, beauty, or interior design, Instagram is an automatic option.
Try vlogging on Youtube if you want to share your blog content in a video format and showcase your personality.
In this day and age, if you want to spread awareness of your blog to a larger audience and generate more traffic and income, dedicating time to create high-quality content on other platforms is a necessity.
3. Create Content with Value, Quality, and Relevance
To drive targeted traffic towards your blog, creating valuable, quality, and relevant content is crucial.
Great content is captivating and memorable. It will keep your readers coming back for more and increase their likelihood of sharing it within their social circles. Additionally, your blog will rank higher in search engine results pages, which will expand your audience further.
To consistently produce quality content is both an art and a science. You’ll need to research and rely on a lot of data to know what will keep your subscribers engaged and attract more people like them, but also put your own spin to it to make it distinctively yours.
In any event, investing your time and energy in creating quality content is a surefire to make money and increase the chance of long-term growth.
Related: Most Profitable Blog Niches
4. Diversify your Content Offerings with Videos
Whether you’re a newbie blogger or not, expect that your audience consists of people with different preferences on how they want to consume content. Some love reading long-form articles, while others are drawn to visual content like infographics and videos.
Diversifying your content can help you grow your blog since you’ll be able to cater to as many persons and their preferred modes. You don’t even have to start from scratch since you only need to change how you’re communicating whatever content you already produced.
With that said, however, one of the best ways to diversify is expressing the information you want to deliver in video format in your blog and other platforms.
There are many reasons why video is the most preferred mode of content delivery today.
For one, it has many studies to back it up. If a message is communicated through video, viewers will remember 95% of the information conveyed compared to only 10% in text format. They will also share videos 1,200x more than images and text combined.
Posting videos also drive 41% more traffic than having none at all, and Google rewards websites with videos by ranking them higher on its results pages.
Finally, it’s a great way for your readers to build a stronger relationship with your blog.
Why do the most successful Youtube vloggers rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars yearly? It’s because they can show who they truly are and thus gain their subscribers’ trust and loyalty.
Again, more engaged viewers will lead to more conversions and, therefore, more money for your blog.
Here are some ways for you to add videos to your site:
- Feature a video on your landing page.
- Post short videos highlighting the key points of your blog post.
- Create video tutorials relevant to your niche.
5. Optimize SEO with Keyword Research
To allow more people to discover any blog and generate a lot of traffic that can make money, bloggers must optimize their sites to make search engines rank them higher.
Many search engine optimization (SEO) practices have been published and shared by experts, such as optimizing images, increasing page speed, and using backlinks. But the most fundamental SEO strategy you can find on any list is incorporating the right keywords on your site through keyword research.
Conducting keyword research may seem intimidating at first, but doing a quick Google search will link you to numerous resources and tutorials online that simplifies the process for beginners.
Marketing tools: It’s integral in any keyword research to use an SEO tool like SEMrush, Google Keyword Planner, or Ahrefs. An SEO tool will help you study certain keywords’ potential and identify related topics and even more effective ones.
Including every relevant high-volume keyword (words which receive thousands of searches in any given period) may be tempting at first. However, keep in mind that your target audience would search using specific and longer phrases to search for answers, products, or services that will best match their queries or needs.
Therefore, using longer and more specific phrases, also known as long-tail keywords, will drive more targeted traffic to your blog. These may not get as much traffic as high-volume keywords, but you’ll attract the right people that will most likely subscribe to your content and pay for your products or services.
6. Invest in Email Automation to Grow your Subscribers
Many experts agree that the most effective way for bloggers to make money online is by growing an email list.
Emails are more personal than your average newsletter and are a great way to cultivate a relationship with your readers. Having a great connection with your readers will help you make money since they’ll trust your judgment regarding your products and services.
One of the most effective strategies is to create lead magnets that offer valuable and actionable solutions unique to your brand to build your email list. These can be exclusive training videos and webinars, free trials, and discount codes.
Strategically place these lead magnets on your blog through visual call-outs, pop-ups or banner ads, or other platforms such as your Facebook or Instagram account.
To make your blogging journey easier, and impart valuable information to readers in your email list more frequently, consider investing in email automation.
If you’ve also segmented your audience properly, email automation can help you send the right messages to each reader depending on their preferred content. You can therefore connect with your readers more consistently with less hassle.
7. Make the Comments Section Accessible
A relationship is a two-way thing. You can’t nourish it if the other party is not given any chance to share and communicate.
The same principle applies to your relationship with your readers. Make it possible for them to voice out their compliments, opinions, or questions.
By offering a comments section for each blog post, you’ll be able to engage with your audience and gather insights from their perspectives. It’s a great way to build a community that is yours alone.
It can also improve your blog’s SEO since your readers’ testimonials will contain keywords that people will be typing on Google.
Don’t require readers to register or make them complete any steps before they can comment. This will discourage your viewers from sharing in the first place.
8. Provide Value to your Audience through Recommending Products or Tools while Earning from it
There are many ways to monetize your blog, but one of the most profitable tactics that bloggers rely on today is affiliate marketing.
If you’re not familiar with the concept of affiliate marketing, becoming an affiliate of a company means that you earn a commission every time a consumer buys the company’s product or service through your blog or platform.
Although making money is a huge part of affiliate marketing, you’re also investing in a better relationship with your readers.
By introducing them to products or services that work in solving their dilemmas, they’ll instantly have a positive association with your blog. Plus, it will make them trust your future recommendations of affiliate products even more.
It’s a win-win for you, who will earn affiliate income, and your reader, who has benefited from a valuable product or service.
9. Teach Online Courses to Your Readers
Having as many meaningful interactions with your readers is vital in creating and maintaining loyalty. To teach them valuable lessons about your niche and deepen your connection with them, launching online courses is always an excellent strategy.
Besides making money through online courses, you’ll be able to explain a particular topic more thoroughly than you would on a blog post.
Moreover, by attending your online courses, your readers will have the opportunity to ask you questions personally and share a conversation with you. This is likewise a chance for you to gain their trust further and establish your authority on the subject matter.
10. Guest Blog for Additional Exposure
Guest blogging is one of the best ways to grow your blog since you’re hitting two birds with one stone: expanding your readership and establishing your authority towards your target audience.
Through guest blogging, you’re introducing yourself to a new set of people and demonstrating your expertise. If you end up choosing the right sites, you’ll be opening more gateways for potential and loyal readers to reach your blog.
Start by reaching out to specific blogs in your niche where you think your target readers will most likely visit—research how to write persuasive proposals and blog outlines to convince your chosen bloggers successfully.
The more you write high-quality content in other blogs, the stronger your reputation and readership become!
11. Improve Your Copywriting Skills
Copywriting, which is the art and science of choosing the right words to call people into action, is an invaluable skill that any blogger should develop.
It’s not a talent reserved for professional copywriters who work in ad agencies. It’s one you can learn, practice, and soon earn money from.
Learning copywriting will help you write any content more persuasively, whether it be an email, meta description, or Tweet.
By strategically using the right words, you’ll increase the likelihood of provoking a positive response from your readers, such as buying affiliate products, signing up for your online courses, joining your Instagram contest, and so on.
Tips for Blogging
1. Have a Consistent Blogging Schedule
Depending on how much time you have and how complex your topics are, publish a blog post on set day/s per week.
Besides helping you form a productive habit, you’ll also keep your audience engaged as they have something to anticipate.
Being consistent will also help you rank higher in Google and drive more traffic to your blog.
2. Monitor your Analytics Data
Companies and entrepreneurs are now heavily reliant on data to make better business decisions and understand their market better.
As a blogger, you should also take advantage of data analytics to know which types of content fare better with your audience to convert them into potential customers and subscribers.
By linking your blog with Google Analytics and downloading WordPress plug-ins like MonsterInsights and Analytify, you’ll be able to monitor your site traffic and other valuable information to help you grow your blog quicker.
3. Keep Experimenting on New Techniques
Lastly, don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone. This is crucial to growing as a person and a blogger at the same time.
Staying stagnant and using the same old tricks will not propel you forward and keep you ahead of similar bloggers in your niche.
Always embrace change and learn about new techniques to keep your audience engaged. For example, consider starting your vlog or podcast. Or maybe sell eBooks that showcase your authority and expertise?
Conclusion
Growing any blog doesn’t happen overnight.
Due to the increasing popularity of social media platforms, running and growing a blog has become more challenging. However, choosing the right strategies to grow your blog, sharing your ideas on your blog, and making money from it are still sustainable career choices.
Although following the advice of successful bloggers like Neil Patel or Ramit Sethi can help you make smarter decisions, don’t be afraid of experimenting with newer techniques and mixing strategies.
For more tips on growing a blog, Mint Chip has got you covered. Subscribe to our newsletter to learn more ways to make money online!
