Thank you to “Traffic Secrets” for sponsoring this post on five ways to grow your blog traffic that actually work! As always, all thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.
When I first started my blog back in 2014, I didn’t know the first thing about growing a readership or creating valuable content.
I’d post photos of my daily outfits and some college related advice, but most of the time my articles and social media posts were a shot in the dark in terms of who I was actually speaking to and what I wanted to achieve by putting these posts out there into the world.
Though I didn’t really have a strategy, I started to read up on different ways to grow an audience and provide value. I started implementing these new tactics as I continued to learn more, and slowly my website traffic and following started to grow.
This resulted in a whole new influx of opportunities, like sponsored posts, display advertising income, and more.
I clearly remember when my blog readership started growing to over 10,000 people per month, and how exciting it was to reach that milestone at that time.
The goal post is constantly moving these days, and I continue to seek out new ways to grow and reach an even bigger audience with my content.
Most recently, I’ve been reading Traffic Secrets: The Underground Playbook for Filling Your Websites and Funnels with Your Dream Customers by Russell Brunson.
For those of you who haven’t heard of Russell Brunson before, he is a best-selling author and also the CEO of the $100M software company ClickFunnels.
In addition to being successful in business, Russell has also built an audience of over one million entrepreneurs and sold hundreds of thousands of copies of his previous books, so it’s safe to say he knows a thing or two about building traffic and growing a following!
So far, I’ve been really enjoying Traffic Secrets and the 30-day traffic challenge that goes alongside the book, which is designed to teach you key strategies to increase your traffic.
If you’re looking to build your traffic as well, check out some of these key takeaways that I’ve gained so far.
I’m only halfway through the challenge at this point, so make sure you follow along on Instagram stories where I’ll be posting daily updates on what I’m learning!
5 Ways to Grow Your Blog Traffic That Actually Work
1. Know Your Audience
One of the biggest things I’ve learned so far from Traffic Secrets is the importance of identifying your audience.
You know how the saying goes…try to appeal to everyone and you end up appealing to no one.
The importance of knowing your audience and their core desires is highlighted in Traffic Secrets, because it’s going to guide the rest of your business strategy.
Whether you’re selling a product or just creating content like me, it’s important to figure out WHO you’re writing for and WHY.
Not only does this help you appeal to the right people, but it’s great for establishing a content production strategy for bloggers since it helps you understand the personality you’re writing for and what you can provide.
2. Help Your Audience (Provide Value!)
Another key point that’s covered in Traffic Secrets is the idea of helping your audience and providing value.
One of the best ways to do this is to help them go from pain to pleasure. Identify your audience’s problems, and help them solve them!
This strategy doesn’t only work for people that are selling products, either.
As someone who covers multiple topics, this was tricky for me at first. However, I’ve learned to break down the categories I blog about and determine how I can provide value for each type of post I write.
For example, when it comes to my travel content I try to think about how I can help someone who wants to experience new places but doesn’t know where to start. I then create in-depth travel guides that cover everything I personally would want to know about a location or think travelers might be interested in.
It takes the reader from being unfamiliar with a location and unsure of how to structure their trip, and it provides them with a solid guide to creating an itinerary – including what attractions they should put on their list, and which they should skip.
This strategy works for any niche, especially when you start trying to think about taking someone from a place of uncertainty to place of excitement and joy about a topic by solving their problems for them.
3. Find Where Your Audience is Hiding
Another strategy taught in Traffic Secrets includes identifying where your audience is spending time online.
This includes listing out the different Facebook groups, podcasts, blogs, etc. that your dream audience follows in order to find out where they’re currently spending their time.
Once you figure out where your dream audience is hiding, you can start targeting them to grow your traffic.
4. Strengthen Your Hook
When it comes to creating a funnel, you need to have a strong hook. This is true whether you’re trying to sell something or just get people to read your blog posts.
There has to be something about your product/content/etc. that grabs your audience’s attention and gets them to stop scrolling.
Whether it’s a catchy title or an inspiring image, identify what it is that’s going to draw people in! This is the first step in obtaining and growing traffic.
5. Tell a Story
In addition to providing a hook, it’s important to keep your audience interested once they do click.
Traffic means nothing if the audience automatically clicks away from your page or product!
Telling a story helps to not only engage and entertain the reader, but it also makes you more relatable and trustworthy as well.
This is what keeps people coming back to your site again and again for long-term traffic, instead of a one hit wonder.
What traffic building strategies have worked for you?
Don’t forget to check out “Traffic Secrets”, for more in-depth tips and tricks on building long lasting and meaningful traffic!
Thank you to “Traffic Secrets” for sponsoring this post on five ways to grow your blog traffic that actually work! As always, all thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.
