How can you increase blog traffic to your site and get more eyes on your content without needing to spend money on ads? 

Here are 10 ways to drive more traffic to your blog for free!

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Drive more traffic to your blog for free!

If you are just starting out, you likely don’t have the funds for paid ads to drive traffic to your site, nor do I think you should right away even if you do have the money.

There are some really great strategies to help you get more blog traffic organically as you build up your business.

Follow these steps:

1. Increase blog traffic by leveraging other people’s audiences

It takes time to build an audience.  When you are first starting out, you are unknown and so you need to start getting yourself, your brand, and your content out into the world.

You may start to see some traffic and email subscribers here and there, but to speed up this process, you can reach out to other people in a non-competing area of your niche.

Make connections with them and figure out a way to work together. 

Blogging is all about making connections, so you could search out:

• Guest blog post opportunities
• Interview leaders in your field
  • Interview leaders on a specific (ideally trending) topic within your field and then share it with those you interview. They will likely share it out with their larger audience.
• Do a roundup post
  • Create a ‘Best of’ list for your field/niche, i.e. the 10 best toddler activities, keto recipes, mom bloggers, etc.
  • Highlight 10 different bloggers’ sites, sharing a link back to each of their blogs.  Then share it with those that you included in the post.  I wouldn’t necessarily ask them to share it, but chances are if it is highlighting their business in a positive way and giving them a backlink, they will happily do it on their own.   
• FB live swaps/Instagram Story takeover
  • Find someone with a similar, non-competing audience and do a swap.

• Podcasts 
  • Podcasts are huge right now.  There are FB communities you can join for the sole purpose of connecting with others to be on their podcast or to request people to be on your own.  
    • Check out these podcast communities
      • Podcast Guest Collaboration Community – Find a Guest, Be a Guest
      • Poddit – Podcast Guest Interviews

There are many different ways to leverage other people’s audiences to grow your own, so you can get really creative with this!

If you have another idea or something that has worked really well for you, share it with me in the comments below.

  

2. Increase blog traffic by using search engines via SEO. 

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing your online content so that a search engine is more likely to show it as a top result for searches of a certain keyword.

You want to make sure that you are writing about topics and targeting specific keywords that people are actually searching for.  This starts by doing keyword research to see what specific words people use when searching for information within your niche.

There are several resources and proven strategies I use to optimize my blog posts for SEO so that my content is found, which I cover in my Content Creation Blueprint course.

One thing that I cover in the course and highly recommend to everyone is the free WordPress plugin Yoast SEO. This is a great tool to help you along the way to improve and optimize your SEO.

3. Increase blog traffic via Facebook Communities- your own and other people’s

Provide value in other FB groups that have your ideal audience.

Answer questions, leave comments to help members, build relationships with others. 

If you can help them, ask if you can send them a private message with a link to a blog post or video.

Don’t promote your stuff everywhere though and be sure to follow the community rules!

Your main focus should be on being helpful and building relationships. It takes time, but if you are continually helpful, people will begin to notice your expertise.

I have actually gotten a few of my biggest coaching clients this way! 

It’s also great for market research because you get access to what your ideal client is struggling with and has questions about.     

If you feel like you have the time to dedicate to being the admin of your own FB group, then this can be a great way to build up your own community of people interested in the topic you blog about. 

Since you are the admin, you set the rules and can help your members by posting your own content whenever you want.

4. Increase blog traffic by using Pinterest

Pinterest is still the number 1 driver of traffic to my site.

I started using Pinterest to gain traffic with my first blog in the parenting niche over 5 years ago and it continues to drive massive amounts of traffic to my site for free. 

It is more than just a place to pin your favorite recipes and home decor. 

Pinterest is a powerful search engine. 

Over 459 million monthly active users (Hootsuite) are searching Pinterest each month for all different topics.  You may not think your audience is on Pinterest, but I assure you they most likely are!  Head on over and do a search on your topic and see what pops up.  

Unlike other social media platforms this one works for you over time. 

When you post something on FB or Instagram it gets lost in the feed pretty quickly, but with Pinterest, your pins continue to work for you over time as people repin them and they get shared to group boards and communities.

5. Increase blog traffic through your Email list

As you write content you want to be building an email list, because typically 75% of your blog visitors will never return to your site.

An email list allows you to keep in touch with your reader once they leave your blog and gives you a warm audience to share your new blog posts and content with each week.  

In order to get readers on your list, you want to offer them something of value. Essentially you are giving them a free gift in exchange for their email address. 

The gift doesn’t have to be elaborate or complicated.  You want to think of something that is going to give your audience a quick win. Something that will move them forward, but is not going to require a lot of effort on your or their part. 

Think a cheat sheet, checklist, coupon code, free training, etc.

Learn more about why you need an email list and how to start one for free, here

Want to learn about two of the most popular email marketing platforms and their different pricing plans (including a free one!) Click here.

6. Increase blog traffic by answering questions on Quora

Quora is an online community where people can ask questions and get answers from the public. 

You can create a Quora profile, search for questions people are asking in your niche and then provide them with a detailed response that answers their question and provides value.

Then provide a link to your site where they can find more information on the topic they asked about.  Answering newer questions or those with little to no comments will help you stand out the most.

And as a side note, Quora can also be a great place to do some market research. 

You can see what type of questions people are asking in your niche and get some great ideas for blog posts. 

Take those ideas and put them into a content calendar like the one below. This way when you are preparing to write a blog post you have ideas to work with!

7. Increase blog traffic by signing up for HARO (Help A Reporter Out)  

This is a popular online service for journalists to get feedback from the public.  Requests go out three times a day for multiple categories via email.  It is an index of query summaries that looks like this. 

If you find a query that you have knowledge in and you fit the requirements then you can send your pitch to the email address provided. 

If your information is chosen to be included this will give your blog exposure via media coverage and provide a backlink to your site which is great for SEO! 

8. Increase blog traffic by adding a video via YouTube

Like Pinterest, YouTube is more than a social media site.  It is also a powerful search engine.

If you create a video on YouTube and include keywords people are searching for in your title, description, and tags then your video will appear in the search results. 

You can provide links back to your blog in the description area and also embed the video on your blog like I do with my posts.

This will help build connection and credibility with your audience so much faster than with blog posts alone.

9. Increase blog traffic by writing high quality content

Don’t underestimate the quality of your content when it comes to driving traffic to your site.

If you want new and repeat readers to read your blog, then you need to make sure that the content you are providing is valuable, relevant and worth sharing.

Need help coming up with content ideas? Check out:

• 5 Foolproof Ways to Never Need a Blog Post Idea Again
• 10 Blog Post Ideas Every Blogger Needs To Write

10. Increase blog traffic by being consistent

This is the simplest, yet hardest thing for most bloggers and content creators to do.

You need to be showing up for your audience on a regular basis if you want your blog to succeed. It’s how you build trust and credibility. 

No one wants to follow someone who is inconsistent!  

Create a blogging schedule and commit to it. I recommend producing content once a week if possible.

Having built two blogging businesses though, I know that when you are first starting out there is a lot that you are juggling.

Start with twice a month when you are first starting out if you want to ensure consistency. Then move to once a week as soon as you possibly can.  

Take some time to seriously evaluate your schedule and come up with a realistic plan for yourself. Then stick with it. 

Consistency is how you build trust.

READY TO INCREASE YOUR BLOG TRAFFIC FOR FREE?

You now have ten strategies to increase blog traffic.  Which one are you most excited to start implementing today?  Let me know in the comments below.