Have you been writing articles for your blog for sometime now but can’t seem to get people to read your blog posts? If so, you’re not alone. This is a common problem. In fact, many people who are not too familiar with how the Internet work, just expected to write an article, post it on their blog and immediately get thousands of people instantly flock in to read. Unfortunately, that is not how the internet works. To get other people to read your blog posts, there are couple of actions you have to take.
So, just how can you get other people to read your blog posts?
One suggestion to help you get other people to read your blog posts, is to learn a bit about search engine optimization, or SEO. SEO techniques, when done properly, will help get your articles index in search engines, such as Google and Bing. There are many SEO tricks. One of the basic but key suggestion is to make each blog post about a single subject. Having a unique subject and keywords in your blog will greatly increase your chances for your articles to be indexed and ranked well on search engines which will help you get other people to read your blog posts.
For instance, if you are writing about your child’s (Billy) first day of school, keep your article focused on that subject. Use keywords surrounding your subject in the title of your post. Title your article something like: “Taking Your Kids to Their First Day of School” instead of: “Billy’s First Day.” The reason for this is; a). it makes better sense, b). it let search engines like Google know exactly what your article is all about. This will make these search engines index your article and list it when people do searches related to their kids first day of school. That way you get other people to read your blog posts. Also, depending on your article “word count”, be sure to have the proper density of your keywords or keyphrase in the body of your article. If you do, you’ll be able to get other people to read your blog posts.
For example, if you have an article that has 1148 words, a great keyword density is 1.41%. Which means your keywords or keyphrase should appear in your article 16 times.
- Reference Article on SEO: 4 Effective SEO Strategies that are Free or Low Cost.
Another good way to get people to read your blog posts is to join Facebook groups or Internet forums that are built around similar subjects. For instance, if your blog is about raising your kids, find Facebook groups on kids and families. Introduce yourself to the group and then start commenting right away. Make sure you comment on other people’s posts and offer good suggestions, tell stories, etc. Get to know members in these groups well through your participation in different discussion before you start mentioning that you have a blog. The reason for this is because you want to let group members know you care about the subject that’s why you joined the group, not just to promote your blog.
Once you start mentioning your blog, don’t oversell it. Doing this will not help you get people to read your blog posts! Mention your blog in brief. You might say something like: “That was a good experience. Something similar happened to Billy, my six year old. In fact, I recently wrote about it in my blog.” Then you can give the link to your blog. Do that only once for every 20 or 30 comments you make. The idea is not to overdo it! Let me say it again, “overdoing it will not get other people to read your blog posts! It will be seen as spamming”.
While you are participation in various discussions, if other people leave links to their blogs, go and read their posts and leave a helpful comment! In fact, you can search for other blogs on subjects similar to yours. Check these blogs out and on those that interest you, leave helpful comments about things they have written. Be a good “online citizen” and give good comments that show you are really in tune with the subject. Many blogs will let you add your blog link or URL when you comment. Make use of these, but do not spam! Spamming the blog of others is not what “good online citizen do” and it will not get other people to read your blog posts.
Another suggestion especially for ongoing and long term success, is to develop an email list. Ask visitors to your blog to join your email list so you can send them an update whenever you post a new article. You might even have something to give them instantly when they join. One successful blogger posts a word game on her blog each week. Folks who join her email list get the answers immediately, others have to wait until the next week’s post. A free ebook is also a good idea.
When you create an opt-in form for readers to sign up to your email list so they can receive your blog updates, it’s best to give them the option to choose what update they will want to receive from you. Use your blog categories as the options they can choose from. So when you send out your new blog post, only those that are interested in the category of that new post will receive the update. For instance, if your categories are; baby food, school uniforms for kids, baby strollers and toys for kids, some of your readers who will want to receive update on “baby food” may not be interested in “school uniforms for kids”. By giving them options to choose from, you’ll limit loosing your subscribers because they will not get updates from you base on topics they are not really interested in. Remember, having an active email list will help you get other people to read your blog posts.
- Reference Article on creating email list: Email List Building Is Key to Internet Marketing Success.
For those of you who have a blog or website built on WordPress, I will be posting a video tutorial on a plugin that will easily let you create signup forms in which you can add these categories or options. I will also show you how you can send your updates out immediately after you publish your new blog post. This tutorial will further help you learn how you can get other people to read your blog posts. To get an update when I post this tutorial, leave a comment below.
It can be frustrating when no one come to your blog and read your articles. However, that shouldn’t happen to you. Try these suggestions, they’ll help you get other people read your blog posts. There are many other methods including advanced once. However, these methods outlined here are good place to start on how you can get other people to read your blog posts.
Attribution: Image modified. Original image from Free Digital Photos by Stuart Miles.
