With all the time you spend writing blog posts, creating products, and crafting services, you want to make sure your blog is getting the attention it deserves. The more eyes you have on your content, the more worthwhile all that work feels.
I’m not saying that pageviews are a stat you should be obsessing over. But let’s be real, it’s nice to see those numbers climb each month.
A lot of blogs have amazing high-value, well-written content, but aren’t doing some simple things to make those pageviews climb.
Now, my numbers aren’t anything crazy. Over the past 10 months, I’ve gone from 0 to 8700 pageviews per month. Others have seen much faster growth, but there are some things I’ve done that have helped those numbers climb more quickly over the past two months.
Today we’ll go over 7 simple ways to increase pageviews.
1. Attract your audience
This post will primarily focus on ways you can get the audience you already have to continue making their way through your website. However, I have to include this point because your pageviews won’t continue growing unless you consistently attract new visitors.
SEO and social media are huge in attracting new visitors consistently. Social media has had the biggest part to play in how I bring in new visitors. Specifically, getting new people to share my content, which you can read more about right here.
While I’m no SEO expert, my traffic directly from search engines has been slowly increasing. Check out this post from Dre of The Branded Solopreneur to learn more about SEO!
2. Write high-value content
How many times have you discovered a new website, read a mediocre blog post, and then stayed around to read a few more?
Probably…zero.
That’s why it’s so important to write high-value and actionable content. Write on topics your audience can take action on to learn something new or improve something they already have, whether that’s blogging-related or not.
I don’t believe that every single post has to be written this way, but you want the majority of your posts to encourage action. That way, after someone reads a few high-value posts, they’ll be just fine reading about something more personal. They’ll probably even appreciate the chance to learn more about you!
My top-performing posts are Is Your Blog’s Footer Working For You and How I Grew My Business While Juggling A Full-Time Job.
Both of these things teach my audience how to improve something about what they’re already doing.
3. Make it easy to find relevant content
Think of what you did the first time you discovered your very favorite blogger. I know for myself, I read the entire post that I discovered them through and then opened a billion (approximately) tabs with all the blog posts that looked even semi-interesting.
You want to make it easy for your readers to do this. If they read one post they really enjoy, it’s likely that they’d be excited to read more on a similar topic. To make this as easy as possible, consider adding the following items to your blog:
- Organized categories – Use relevant categories to sort your blog posts and make those categories easy to find. Mine can be found over on my blog page as well as at the bottom of each post.
- Popular posts – Include your popular posts in your homepage, Start Here page, sidebar, or footer. This way new readers can get off to the right start after discovering your content.
- Related posts – Include related posts at the end of each blog post, which you can do on WordPress through the Jetpack plugin. Also, be sure to link to relevant posts throughout each of your blog posts.
Making your posts easy to navigate will help your new audience members become your biggest fans.
4. Include a little of yourself
I don’t know about you, but I really enjoy reading posts from people who infuse a little bit of themselves in their content.
Whether it’s through telling personal stories or from showing their personality, posts that show a little about the person behind the website are simply more fun to read.
Next time you write a blog post, be sure the post sounds like you and consider throwing in a story about your own journey for your audience to relate to and learn from.
5. Make use of your email list
Wednesdays, when my newsletter goes out, are almost always my biggest traffic day of the week. It makes perfect sense. The people who have invited you into their inbox are going to be the ones who are the most interested in your content.
However, be sure you’re not just sending a link to your blog post. I like to send my list completely original content from what is on my website (one of the many tricks I learned in Kickstart Your List!). Sometimes it adds to my post from that week, but a lot of the time it’s completely different. However, a quick mention of that week’s blog post is all it takes to drive some traffic from an inbox to your website.
6. Post consistently
Being consistent with a posting schedule is a great way to keep your readers coming back to your website regularly.
I know the day of the week that most of my favorite bloggers post. When they’re consistent about it, I’m likely to hop over to their blogs on that day to see what new content they’ve posted.
If consistency is something you struggle with, plan out your posts ahead of time. Not having to think up a topic each week is a great way to relieve a little of the pressure that comes along with writing each new post.
7. Create a round-up post
After I’d heard about round-up posts several times from Sue of Successful Blogging, I knew I had to try one for myself. I reached out to about 25 of my favorite bloggers and business owners with a question for them to answer. After I heard back from 20 of them, I combined their tips and tricks into one big round-up.
Not only did this nearly double my daily pageviews for a few days, but it also led to the most email subscribers I’d ever gotten in one day. Having traffic referred to your website by so many other people is a great way to find some new audience members.
To try a round-up for yourself, think of a question relating to your niche that could have multiple different points of view, tips, and tricks. Then, email your favorite bloggers including a personal greeting, a quick explanation of what you’re doing, the question, and the date you need their answer by. Don’t expect a response from everyone, but use the answers you do get to create an insanely high-value post!
What tips can you put into action?
After reading through these 7 simple ways to increase pageviews, what tips can you put into action right away?
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