We’d all like more traffic. Regardless of your motives for writing, I’ve never heard of someone saying they wanted less traffic. Without 
readers, what’s the point of blogging? As your traffic levels grow, it gets easier and easier to get new readers, and with more people to share, retweet, and post about your content, you’ll eventually experience the snowball effect. Even big bloggers, though, need to think about traffic; those social shares and links won’t always happen on their own.
Whatever stage you’re at with your blog, these tips will help you get more traffic.
1. Write a Shareable Post
You always need to start with great content before looking for more traffic. Content is king! Write compelling posts that deliver real value, and make sure you have an attention-grabbing headline.
2. Pay Attention to SEO
Paying attention to SEO doesn’t mean that you need to hire a company to create a high-ranking blog; it also doesn’t mean that you need a degree in computer science to understand it all. Pay attention to the basics like having keyword-rich headlines, interlinking posts, and getting links from high PageRank sites and you’ll find that your serach engine traffic goes up.
3. Leave Great Comments
Commenting on blogs is a great way to grow your blog and create a community with other bloggers. When you comment, make sure you’re adding something relevant to the discussion; people will be much more likely to continue to your blog if you share an interest in topics.
4. Ask for Shares / Retweets
Some bloggers worry that it’s somehow wrong to ask their audience to share their posts, but asking readers to “Please retweet” or “If you enjoyed this post, please share it”, can build your blog. Sometimes a little reminder is all that it takes.
Make it easy for people to share your posts, too. If you’re tweeting a link and asking for a retweet, make sure your tweet is short enough that people can add a “RT @LesleyMCarter”.
On your blog posts themselves, have social share buttons.
5. Write a Guest Post
One of the very best ways to get an influx of targeted traffic is to write a guest post for a blog in your niche. (This also boosts your SEO by giving you an inbound link from a high PageRank site).
Your guest post should be your very best work – that way, it stands a good chance of being accepted. Make sure you use your bio and especially your link to full effect: try linking to a particular post or resource rather than to your blog as a whole, as this gives people more of a reason to click through.
If you’d like to submit to Bucket List Publications, you can review the submission guidelines and send your work this way. We publish to over 1.5 millions viewers per month and more than 43,000 followers.
If we have different content, you can always submit your bucket list for publication!
Don’t forget to share if you like this post 😉
Appreciate your site and your advice Lesley! I think one of your greatest strengths is the way you share yourself with all of us. That may not be an official strategy, but it is really valuable.
Thanks Carrie! I love sharing my life and experiences with others. The world is a lot smaller when we can travel through others. 🙂
Thanks for some really simple steps!
Any advice particularly on guest posts?
The more places where you can get a link to your blog, the better. Contact others and see if you can swap posts, share your work wherever possible, and write reviews and let the company know (sometimes they will be willing to share the link).
If you’d like to submit a bucket list related post to Bucket List Publications, please see the submission guidelines. We include a link to your blog and your name.
🙂
Thanks so much Lesley! I truly need so suggestions on increasing traffics because I have no idea what I’m doing! Lol
Thanks for this post. As a new blogger I find it difficult to get traffic, especially consistent traffic
Great, thank you!
You’re so great for sharing what you have learned. Always enjoy your posts. Now what are you doing next?
I’m off to Fiji on Nov. 25th 🙂
Have a great trip! You don’t seem to stop!
I try not to 😉
What’s your next experience?
Good advice you provide. I appreciate having readers, but it takes a lot of time to build through comments.
I think it takes a lot of time to build regardless, but when you have quality posts and a community of readers it suddenly doesn’t seem so over-whelming. 🙂
Thank you so much for taking the time to share this with us your readers. I do agree one must be in communication with your followers to keep them interested and come back. Looking forward to implementing a few steps. Best,, Silvia
Silvia,
Sometimes it’s difficult to keep up with comments, but I try my best.
Are you still living in California? Although I’m very happy in NC, I do miss the ocean and the weather.
I’m now following your blog and I will check back regularly.
Have a great day,
Lesley
Yes, Leslie I truly know what you mean but at least we try our best to keep in touch with them. They are a very important part of who we are or can be. I love California and I live in the San Diego area which is a beautiful place and the beaches are my favorites as well. Love relaxing in the moonlight and feeling the ocean breeze.
Thank you for following. Will do my best to keep you on the loop and motivated. Take care.
Silvia
Thanks for guidance.
I’m beginner, Your advice is very useful for me. I’m dreaming to have a hundred visitors every day, No, I’m not dreaming, I’m going to do it. 🙂
The more unrealistic we are with our dreams and goals, the more we are able to achieve 🙂
Thanks for the tips.. I am considering guest posts, never thought about it before reading your post : )
Great post as always Lesley! Btw had a question on guest post.. why do you suggest linking to a particular post and not to the full blog in our bio for guest post?
I’m asking because after looking at my food blog, I was approached by another online food website to write for their recipe section and I have used my blog address and not a particular post’s link in my bio.
Cheers,
Ashima
Readers enjoy related posts. If they find something they like, they’ll click on other posts, but any link to your blog is great (as long as it not spam links)
🙂
great list, enjoyed every bit of it
I think there’s also another bullet point to be added, which I’ve learned from Social Media officer, it’s called Branding.
It talks about how make your username your own brand; it’s very simple:
Use the same username on most social media platforms if possible, so people would are able to recognize you even more.
Thanks for the informative post 🙂
Awesome point and I wish I had of thought of this before creating a few social outlets that now can’t be changed.
I love hearing ideas from others 🙂
I realized the same thing about the username a couple months ago. I was having a hard time remembering which email I used on different blogs when I would comment so I created TheHomeVegetableGardener one to make it easier to manage my comments as well as manage all of the spam that comes with it. 🙂
All of these ideas are great but the best way to maintain readership on your blog is to simply have relevant content AND post everyday. I have been away from my blog for a couple weeks due to some personal issues and I’ve seen my readership/visits drop considerably.
Good luck.
Chris Benton
The Home Vegetable Gardener
Hi Chris,
While I completely agree that relevant content and posting daily are key, they don’t stand alone. There’s too much content out there for it to be as simple as that. Without utilizing other methods, it’s easy to get lost in the crowd. That being said, content is my main focus and it will always be the most important item on my list.
Good luck with your site and stay in touch,
Lesley
Lesley – Thanks for sharing your ideas on generating blog traffic. Only three months in with mine, I’m realizing it is a slow process increasing readership. Too bad my content doesn’t marry well with your site or I’d be happy to “guest” on your blog from time to time.
Thank you very much for all the advice for us newbies. I really need to go away and do my research on this SEO business and keyword stuff because I haven’t a clue about all of that.
I will definitely be asking people to share my posts straight away though – that’s an easy one.
BTW can’t wait to hear about your Fiji trip, we are just about to book our flights but have nothing else sorted yet so I will be very interested to hear your hints and tips of where’s good to go/stay/visit etc 🙂
Fiji is a dream come true; there will be lots of posts so stay tuned 🙂
Hey, this is very useful – I normally don’t ask readers to share my post explicitly, but it pays to know that people don’t find it tacky to do so 🙂 Thanks!
Content and Comments are two factors that I emphasize. I think that a blogger also needs to consider her or his motivation for blogging, beyond generating statistics. During our recent trip to South Africa (hope you had a chance to follow our safari trip), while keeping family and frirends up on our travels, I picked up a lot of new “likes” and about 15 new subscribers. Our internet time was very limited where we were, so I tried to keep up on the posts and respond to comments. Now, I want to get back to check on those new folks’ blogs to repay the favor of their interests.
Oscar
Thanks, Lesley for following us at Amamihe! and for liking our post. This post on getting site traffic is a real help. I’ll be checking this out more often.
Thank you for this post! I have just begun blogging for my University course and need all the advice I can get!
Please feel free to ask any questions (and to share my site 😉
Thanks for the great post, Lesley! A friend of mine just tagged me and four others in a blog hop. My blog readers learned more about what makes me tick, and were also linked with the person who tagged me and five more of my friends whom I tagged, and so on, and so on. It’s a great way to build community among writers and readers, and improve blog readership. I hope your readers will try it 🙂
Great advice – thanks for the tips! I’d like to echo @Mhamad Kleit’s point above, too, that branding is a good way to establish yourself. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy; I sketched a logo for my blog (about being a Dad) that’s just a cartoonish line drawing of me with my girls, and I’ve attached it to everything. It’s the banner on my blog, and a square version is my profile pic for FB, Twitter and Pinterest. It’s a great way to unify your online presence across all the different sites and it really goes a long way to expand your audience. (If you can do it without being tacky, it’s a good idea to incorporate your URL into it, too!)
The URL is always a fine line, isn’t it? Sometimes I read comments with links, URLs, names, posts. etc. and I approve them instantly while others annoy me and I delete them. I’m not sure I know where that line is or what makes me say, “You’re just trying to plug your site. Bugger off.” I wish there was a course on that alone. 🙂
Thanks so much for sharing, Lesley! Always looking for ways to grow readership and interest. =)
Whereabouts are you in Fiji? I can’t wait to swap stories!
Thank you for the great tips & for your constant support Lesley!
Your site is both informative and you are sincere with your readers, always wanting to help, that is why it is very appreciated.
I have been applying some of the things you suggest and it seems to be working!
Keep up the great work & I wish you nothing but love, success & prosperity.
Love,
Karla 😉
Thanks Karla!
I appreciate your support and the time you took to comment.
Stay in touch and good luck with your blog; I’ll be back to check it out again soon 🙂
I’m doing all four, but guest blogging. Hopefully, that will come in time.
Great post!
Tracy
Great post Lesley! Thank you for taking the time to share some valuable tips. As a beginner I am always looking for ways to improve and enhance my blog and I will definitely be trying out some of your tips in the near future.
Thanks! I’m following your blog and I love the Disney focus. With two bucket lists, I’m certain you’d be a great fit for a submission to Bucket List Publications. You can check out the guidelines at https://www.bucketlistpublications.com/submissions/. All work published on Bucket List Publications includes a link to the writer’s site.
I look forward to hearing from you again,
Lesley
Thank you for following me Lesley. My Bucket Lists were totally inspired by you, while I’m not brave enough to do half of the things you have done, your blog made me think hard about what I want to achieve in life.
I would be honoured to guest blog for you one day, I will have a look at the criteria and maybe I’ll submit something for you to consider.
Best wishes
Sam
Wonderful Sam! I look forward to it. 🙂
Lesley these nuggets of wisdom are always appreciated. I always wonder how do you manage all the increased traffic and commenting?!
I don’t sleep 😉
Good advice, Lesley, thank you.
I would add: include a graphic– a photo, illustration, or cartoon. One or two is probably ideal– it’s very easy to overdo visuals, we’ve all encountered posts with dozens of photos. But you need something to draw the eye– there’s nothing quite as self-defeating for a post than an unrelieved block of closely-spaced text.
Good luck with your continuing exploits!! : )
Great advice, especially to a newbie such as myself! Just learning the ropes and every bit of advice I can get is great.
thanks! this was really helpful! (:
Really great advice – thank you!
Sarah,
Is your last name Samways?
Thanks for the simple and helpful tips. I pinned it for future reference since I am in the midst of creating a new blog that is more focused than my current one. I always enjoy your inspiring posts!
Yup! 🙂
Lesley:
Again, thank you so very much for your always generous investment of time and energy. I always benefit from your experience. I would participate in your “Publication” if my genre was appropriate, but as you know, my focus is on personal and spiritual growth. Thanks again!
Another informative post. I am new to blogging and need to commit the time to research what SEO and PageRank means…thanks for the tips and motivation. Jude
Lesley,
First, thank you for visiting my blog and reading through some of my articles.
It’s nice to see more than just friends and family reading what I write.
It’s encouraging, to say the least..
I really liked this piece and was glad to see that I already followed some of your advice.
While my particular blog is little less than a month old it’s actually had more than a fair amount of views, now I can see why>
It’s good to know that the hustle I put into each piece is the right type of hustle,
Thanks for this post! I just started my blog about a week ago, and it is always good to hear these tips from bloggers who have been there.
I have bookmarked this blog so I can go back to it, so much information here and brings up so many questions for me. Being a brand new blogger I appreciate all the help and suggestions I can get. Seems to me that this blogging thing can take up a lot of time, that’s ok, I have a lot of time 🙂
Thank you so much for all your valuable information, I look forward to reading more.
I want to thank you for your suggestions. I have tried several of them and have had middling success. I have found that interacting with the blog community is one of the best ways. So thanks for your suggestions!
Great ideas that would be useful from novice to seasoned bloggers.
Could you tell me what template you are using I really like the design
Thanks for the suggestions and daily reads 😉 Have a great weekend and a Happy Thanksgiving!
Hi,
Thanks for the info. I am new to blogging so I am trying to get info so I can make it interesting, easier to search for, and have a better blog.
I post all of my entries as the current date. Is that a bad idea? Should I be putting a unique title there instead?
Thanks for any pointers.
You forgot this tip –
Inadvertently mention Justin Bieber. A few days ago hits on my post “Pondering Steven Harper” went crazy. Hundreds and hundreds of views. Like a proud mother, so pleased that my words struck a chord. My brief, naive bliss came to a grinding halt when the lightbulb went off. No one cared about “my Canada”. It was all about Bieber. I’m sure none of them even read it, certain my point eluded them, and suddenly feeling cheap and dirty; took a shower. Yikes.
Wow, Lesley. I feel like I just went to Blogging 101 in a few short minutes. Thanks for that! As a newbie, I’m having so much fun learning about this whole blogging underworld. Who knew? I’m actually trying out the whole re-blogging process on another screen as I type. I have no idea what will happen. Do they have such things as blogging conferences? I already think it would be so cool to meet all my blog-pals I’m making live!
Hi Lesley,
Thanks for stopping by and liking my post. I have just started to explore your blog. Loving your posts so far and the great tips for creating a successful blog. I never knew blogging could be such fun- I should have started years ago! Better late than never eh?
I am excited about the idea of writing a post for your blog! Thank you for liking my blog post Affirmation, Gratitude and Sun! Gratitude Dance! :~)