Steps To Market And Grow Your Blog
Make Your Site Easy To Use
Make your layout easy to understand:
You want your audience to quickly and easily understand what you offer. You should always ask yourself: “If I were my ideal reader, would I LOVE my website? Would I easily understand what it was about?” If the answer is no to either of those questions, then you need to re-do the look of your site.
Have a clear navigation:
Make sure that your navigation bar, the content you offer and the general aesthetic of the whole site are all relatable. They need to work together as a whole: if they don’t, your reader will most likely close the window straight away.
Don’t forget the search box:
Put your search box somewhere clearly visible. It’s the easiest way for your readers to find the content they want, so force it into their attention.
Your blog must be mobile friendly:
Over half of internet searches now take place on a mobile device, according to an announcement made by Google, Google now judges mobile friendliness as an SEO ranking factor for search engines: so it really is key that your blog is designed for handheld devices.
Speed Up Your Site
No one likes a slow website: neither visitors nor search engines. In fact, Google has indicated that page speed is one of the signals in their search ranking algorithms. So it’s important to keep your site as speedy as possible.
Useful Tools:
Use Pingdom & PageSpeed Insights (by Google) to evaluate your website’s performance. They also generate suggestions to make your website faster.
If you’ve made your way through all of these tips and still aren’t seeing a change in your blog speed, then it could be an issue with your server. Ask your host to make sure that you have the right hosting plan. If you’re unsure about their reliability, it could be time to try another host.
However, be sure to read as many reviews and tips as possible before switching to another host. Hosting Facts is a fantastic resource that pulls together a bunch of hosting reviews.
Create crave-worthy content
You need to keep your audience happy and engaged: that way, they’re sure to not only stick around but keep coming back for more.
Creating quality content is about more than showcasing your talents, it’s about helping your audience grow, generating new leaders, spreading brand awareness and building your brand perception.
You do that by keeping it fresh. Keeping it interesting. By constantly endeavoring to provide something new and dynamic that really gets your readers talking.
Here are a few tips to create something special
Tell a story
Readers love a story or even just an interesting example of how your content really relates to you. Make it personal.
Use a conversational tone
Find the perfect balance between professional and personal and weave it into everything you write. Be sure to stay true to your voice.
Provide a range of content
Use short but useful tutorials, videos, case studies, reviews, list posts, interviews, how to posts, podcasts, and more personal pieces. Try it all and determine what your visitors love the most.
Find out your users interests
Check out your competitors and take a look at their most popular posts or use keyword tools (like SEMRush). Also be sure to check your Google Analytics to see your top content and most searched keywords.
Use visuals and always avoid unedited ones
Visage is a great tool to spruce up your pictures. Try to incorporate eye-catching photos, infographics, and videos wherever possible.
Always keep it original
Google rewards high-quality sites with their own material in their rankings, whereas those that duplicate their content will be penalized.
Focus on strong headlines
80% of readers won’t go any further than the title, so find a way to entice them in deeper.
Try to get the conversation going
If your post sparks comments, search engines will see that your content is important updated regularly. As a result, there will be a higher ranking in search engines.
Provide actionable content
Your readers want to learn and become better at whatever it is they’re passionate about. Always try to tie this into your content.
Build Engagement
For your content to be engaging, it needs to be easily scannable. Writing that is easy to digest in a clear, easy-to-read format that will keep your readers engaged regardless of the length.
This is easy to do. Here are some tips:
Keep your paragraphs short
Don’t scare your readers with lengthy and uninterrupted text.
Use subheadings
Divide your information into sub-sections using subheadings.
Use visual aids
Make your content a little more interesting with high-quality visuals.
Highlight important points
Use bolded or underlined font on important information.
Use readable fonts
Commonly-used fonts are Verdana, Arial, or Times Roman. Your font size must be at least 12px or larger (use 16px or above if you have an older audience).
Get social media savvy
Social media is your best friend when it comes to marketing your blog. Because it’s instant, it’s effective and it’s used by the masses. It’s easily your most important marketing tool and a guaranteed way to reach the right people and FAST.
The things you need to do to get most out of social media:
Brand your social media pages
Be sure to add a link redirecting to your website.
Add social media follow buttons
somewhere visible on your website.
Post on social media frequently
Be consistent with posting high quality and relevant content on your social channels. Use tools to schedule your posts such as Hootsuite, Buffer, and Tailwind. Be sure to focus on the channels where your ideal readers are.
Use live video
Use Periscope and/or Facebook live to create personal connections with your audience. Facebook live notifies your fans and followers when you’re live, so this is a great way to generate more leads to your blog.