Hello,
I'm Mervi Eskelinen!
An artist, nerd and sorcerer, dedicated to make world softer and better for everyone, and to get you to make more art. Make art, change the world!
How to get more readers to your blog
In past year or so I have managed to multiply my blog's readership. The traffic is high up and the bounce rate isn't bad either. I previously told about 3 simple ways I added more traffic to my blog. Below is a couple of more for you to consider.
You will notice how your own activity is a big part on luring the readers in. Get active now!
Keep on blogging
I know how depressing it is when people don't comment and the traffic is low and slow. At that point it's easy to give in and blog less and less. Don't do that!
I've noticed that the blog readership goes significantly up every time I write something new. This doesn't apply to only the new content, but also the old ones.
Simply the reason is that people remember my blog exists. When I don't blog, they forget there's such thing as this blog.
In addition the search engines (Google, Bing) look how often your website content is updated. When your site is silent, it is likely to drop further down in search results. This includes those old blog posts too.
Keep the quality of your posts great. The readers and the search engines are picky and they will move away from badly written and blank content.
If you run out of things to write about, there are many easy ways to find new blog post ideas.
Comment other blogs
Commenting other blogs is a well known and well tested method to get readers to your blog. It's not about SEO, but it's about connecting.
The blog owners may visit and the other blog readers (and commenters) will be coming to check your blog. Commenting other blogs has gained me lots of new readers and a couple of friends too.
When you do comment, be nice and polite. If you feel like giving constructive criticism, make sure it's really constructive and not destructive. There's no point nor benefit to be rude.
Share your posts
Always share your posts on your Facebook profile and page, Twitter feed and everywhere else you are active. Don't repeatedly share the same content in a very short time though.
In case there are photos or other images on your blog posts, share them on Pinterest. Currently most of my referral traffic is from Pinterest, even though my blog is more text oriented. It works, believe me.
Most importantly set up a Google+ profile and verify your authorship with Google. Share (plus) your own content on Google+.
Keep track of the readers
Obviously track and check how much traffic your blog gets. It's likely to be much more than the amount of comments.
See how many pages readers visit, how long they stay on your blog and where they come from. This way you will in time learn what sort of content works, what doesn't and which efforts (commenting, sharing, etc.) work best.
Test and analyze which days and times are the best for blogging. Not when it's the most convenient for you, but when people actually come to your blog.
Remember that the tracking information tells only partially about your blog's readers. Some people opt out from tracking and there are other reasons why they won't show up in the results. Also the "average reader" doesn't exist. Therefore all the analytics will only give you certain guidance, not the whole truth.
Design for the win
Add all the necessary parts to your blog and apply good design.
If there's advertisement on your blog, design them to look as good as possible.
Content does come first and design must add to it. Not the other way around. Make your blog more readable and don't let it fail.
Do your thing
What ever you do, do your own thing. Don't copy others, have your own voice and style.
Show your personality. You can do it with the design and even better yet with blogging to keep us a view to who you are.
There are plenty of blogs out there. You can shine by blogging in your way.
This is a reader supported blog without paywalls and advertisement. If you appreciate my work and want to help me rewild the internet, please consider becoming a free or paid patron today. I can't do this without the support of readers like you. So if you can to contribute financially, I would really appreciate your help.
