If you have a blog you know how important traffic is. More traffic means more people buying your products, joining your list and more sales for your business. The challenge is to know what works.
Search online and you'll find lots of advice - some works, some doesn't. It's confusing and can waste a lot of your time.
That's why we've polled 21 of the most successful bloggers to bring you simple, but uncommon, changes to get you better results.
Mari Smith
Pat Flynn
Brian Clark
Neil Patel
Darren Rowse
Jeff Bulas
Brian Dean
Anne Handley
Mitch Joel
Jeff Goins
Leslie Samuel
Peg Fitzpatrick
2. "Finding success is all about
taking action. You can read all
you want, but nothing will
happen until you execute."
-Pat Flynn,
Smart Passive Income
3. If you have a blog,
you know how
important
trafďŹc is.
If you have a blog,
you know how
important
trafďŹc is.
If you have a blog,
you know how
important
trafďŹc is.
4. More trafďŹc means
more people buying
your products, joining
your list and
more sales
for your
business.
More trafďŹc means
more people buying
your products, joining
your list and
more sales
for your
business.
6. Weâve polled 21 of the most successful bloggers
to bring you the best tips to make your blog more
attractive, more sharable, and ready to attract
the right prospects to your business.
8. Your ďŹrst job is to
understand the
problem
your audience is
trying to solve.
UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE#1
9. #1UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE
âYou need to
understand your
audience better than
they understand
themselves.â
- Brian Clark,
CopyBlogger
10. Typically, more targeted is
betterâtargeting millennial
leaders is better than
targeting any leader and
writing for online
entrepreneurs is better than
targeting any entrepreneur.
#1UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE
11. If your goal is to build
readers by publishing
consistently it helps to
block time every week
on the same days (like
1 hour in the morning).
#2BLOCK TIME TO WRITE
12. "Writing is like the gym:
the more often you go,
the more results you see.â
- Ann Handley,
MarketingProfs.com
#2BLOCK TIME TO WRITE
13. A quick way to save time,
organize your content and
get to ďŹrst draft is with a
writing template.
#3SAVE TIME WITH A TEMPLATE
14. It could be as simple as:
1. Opening
2. The problem
3. Promise a solution
4. List 3-5 solutions
5. Conclusion
6. Call-to-action
#3SAVE TIME WITH A TEMPLATE
15. Just like buying a car,
your blog allows prospects
to test drive your solutions
before buying. Thatâs why you
need to share your best ideas
and solutions every time.
#4GIVE THEM YOUR BEST
16. âGive away free content that
adds value to peopleâs lives
âuntil it hurtsâ and
they will love you and
become loyal fans.â
-Jeff Bullas,
JeffBullas.com
#4GIVE THEM YOUR BEST
17. With just a bit of extra effort you
can turn a boring headline like
â5 ways to lose weightâ, into one
that gets more attention and more
shares, like âThis is How Much You
Should Walk to Lose Weight Fastâ
#5WRITE GREAT HEADLINES
18. âWithout a compelling
promise that turns a
browser into a reader the
rest of your words may as
well not exist.â
- CopyBlogger
#5WRITE GREAT HEADLINES
19. #6GO BIG WITH AN ULTIMATE POST
Sometimes a topic deserves
more depth and more content.
An âUltimate postâ is a more
detailed, in-depth post
about a topic your readers
are hungry for.
20. #6GO BIG WITH AN ULTIMATE POST
âLonger content is 52%
more likely to get heavily
shared. Aim for at least
2,000 words per post.â
-Brian Dean,
Backlinko.com
21. Get your copy of all
21 Pro Tips
in this
FREE DOWNLOAD NOW.
22. #7MIX IT UP!
If you want readers to keep
coming back, experiment
with different topics and
themes - just like a
magazine.
23. #7MIX IT UP!
Experiment with:
⢠List post â5 surprising
ways to reduce clutterâ
⢠Being controversial âMost
time management books
are a waste of timeâ
⢠Being contrarian âWhy a
little clutter is a good thing!â
24. #7MIX IT UP!
Experiment with:
⢠A case study âHow this
entrepreneur cleaned up
their lifeâ
⢠Personal sharing âClutter and
why I needed to get helpâ
⢠Video post âLearn how high
achievers start their dayâ
25. #7MIX IT UP!
âFocus upon creating content
that changes peopleâs lives in
some way and it
will help people to feel like
they know, like and trust you.â
-Darren Rowse,
ProBlogger.com
26. #8DRESS IT UP WITH PICTURES
Our brain can process images some
60,000 times faster than words.
Posts that contain multiple images
receive double the social media
shares compared to articles
with only one image.
27. #8DRESS IT UP WITH PICTURES
âHelp people help you by providing
an image that they can shareâif
people can look like a rockstar
sharing your content, itâs a win!â
- Peg Fitzpatrick,
PegFitzpatrick.com
28. #9GO VIRAL WITH VIDEO
Even a short video can
add variety to your posts
and enhance your readerâs
experience. Your videos donât
have to be professionally
producedâas long as
you have good light and
sound, youâre good to go.
29. #9GO VIRAL WITH VIDEO
âVideo is quickly becoming
one of the most effective
ways to drive ďŹoods of
targeted trafďŹc directly to
your blog, sales pages and
other online offers.â
- James Wedmore,
JamesWedmore.com
30. #10 EXPOSE YOURSELF
Even if youâre writing a B2B
business blog, readers
want to know something
about the person behind
the blog. If you write about
customer service, you can
share a story of a
good/bad/indifferent
service experience you had.
Even if youâre writing a B2B
business blog, readers
want to know something
about the person behind
the blog. If you write about
customer service, you can
share a story of a
good/bad/indifferent
service experience you had.
31. âDonât delegate
relationship building or
try to outsource your
personality.â
-Mari Smith,
MariSmith.com
âDonât delegate
relationship building or
try to outsource your
personality.â
-Mari Smith,
MariSmith.com
#10 EXPOSE YOURSELF
32. #11 CREATE ROUND-UP POSTS
A round-up post is a collect of
opinions, interviews,
reviewsâanything that
brings together solutions
from a variety of sources. For
example, a collection of book
reviews, or opinions from
authors, or advice from
bloggers (like this article)
33. #11 CREATE ROUND-UP POSTS
âThe experts that
participate in your roundup
can send trafďŹc directly to
your post by sharing it with
their (often large) social
followingsâitâs the type of
content people actively
want to share.â
- Jon Morrow,
Smart Blogger
34. #12DELIVER MORE OF WHAT THEY WANT
While you might be
tempted to keep
dreaming up new topics;
if readers already âvoteâ
with their trafďŹc,
comments and social
shares, give them more
on those topics.
35. #12DELIVER MORE OF WHAT THEY WANT
âPay attention to what
your readers respond to
and ďŹnd a way to deliver
more of the same.â
-Hugh Culver,
getSOS.net
36. #13 WRITE LIKE YOU SPEAK
Like any discussion, youâre more
authentic if you write like you
speak. Avoid unusual words, or
overbuilt, or awkward sentences
that slow the reading experience.
37. #13 WRITE LIKE YOU SPEAK
âAlways use a conversational tone
and keep it light.â
- Rich Brooks,
Take Flyte Media
38. #14 DONâT TRY TO BE EVERYWHERE
When promoting your blog, it
might be tempting to try to be
everywhereâone day youâre all
over Twitter, then itâs back to
Instagram and Facebook, then
LinkedIn. Instead, choose 2-3
channels (like LinkedIn and
Twitter), build up your
followers, and apply a simple
promotional sequence for
every blog post.
39. #14 DONâT TRY TO BE EVERYWHERE
âYour audience will dictate
where they want to see you
by the way they interact
with you.â
- Leslie Samuel,
Become A Blogger
40. #15 MAKE IT EASY TO CONSUME
Always design your post to
be easy to consume: use
short sentences
and paragraphs, dashes
and em-dashes to break up
your reading, sub-headings
for any post longer than 300
words and insert images to
break up long posts.
41. #16 BUILD YOUR EMAIL LIST
Building your list allows
you to use direct email to
promote sales, webinars,
contests, surveys and to
promote every blog post.
Experiment with different opt-in
offers and measure your results -
your blog should be a magnet to
attract more prospects to your list.
42. #16 BUILD YOUR EMAIL LIST
âBuilding an email
list is one of the
cheapest, most
cost-effective solutions
for staying in touch with
your prospects and
customers.â
- Derek Halpern,
Social Triggers
43. #17 PROMOTE, PROMOTE, PROMOTE
If you want to get noticed,
you have to promote every
post. Email your list,
promote on social media,
repost on LinkedIn and
Medium and respond to
every comment, retweet
and share. And document
your process - eventually
you should outsource part,
or all, of it.
44. #17 PROMOTE, PROMOTE, PROMOTE
âThink of it more as
publishing instead of
marketing. Be authentic as
a publisher and create
content that helps you
connect to everyone
else...because they're
already connected.â
- Mitch Joel,
Six Pixels
45. #18MAKE YOUR READER FEEL SMART
Readers share what
makes them look
smartâyour job is to
write compelling,
original content that
makes them think:
âThis is so good I need
to share it.â
46. #18MAKE YOUR READER FEEL SMART
âIf you want these people
to share your content,
create objectively
exceptional content.â
-Marcus Taylor,
Venture Harbour
47. #19BE CONSISTENT
Plan to publish on the same
day, at the same time every
week or two weeks.
Consistent publishing
encourages consistent
readers and makes it easier
for you and your team to
execute, measure and modify
both the publishing and
promotion of the post.
48. #19BE CONSISTENT
âItâs much easier to lose
your trafďŹc than it is to
build it up, so make sure
you consistently blog.â
- Neil Patel,
NeilPatel.com
49. #20DONâTMEASURESTATISTICSTOOEARLY
It takes time before
youâll see the results
you want from you
blog. Be patient and
create goals for trafďŹc
and list building, and
measure results (at
least monthly).
50. #20DONâTMEASURESTATISTICSTOOEARLY
âIf youâre obsessing over
daily numbers and
youâre only a few
months into your
blogging journey, youâre
wasting your time. Itâs
still too early to pay
close attention to
trends.â
- Jeff Goins,
Goins Writer