How to Get More Traffic on Your Blog – The Basics of SEO for Bloggers

Have you been wondering how to get more people to visit your blog? It is not as difficult as the SEO specialists trying to sell their services claim it to be. However, not all SEO tools for bloggers actually reap fruitful results. Since you are reading this article, I can boast that my SEO tools have actually worked. Try the following six basic tips and get more people to notice your work too.

 

1. The Title Should Say It All

Start with a title that gives a clear insight into what your post is about. It should be rich in keywords and reveal enough information to arouse the curiosity of the reader. Make it simple and straightforward. It should actually be the first thing a reader would type on his search engine if he is looking for a particular content. For example, ‘How to write a book’ would be the first thing anyone would type if what they want is content for writing a book. Be witty and always try to put yourself in the reader’s shoes. Also, do some research on similar articles before finalizing your title.

 

2. Meta Descriptions

If you want to gain a competitive edge over other bloggers, you need to focus on crafting the perfect meta description with call-to-action phrases such as ‘Find out more, check it out here, free trial,’ etc. The meta description should actually be a summary of what your post is about, as it will appear right below your article title in search engines. Use it to tempt readers to click through the link to your blog. It needs to be loaded with SEO keywords. In the past, Google wanted meta descriptions to be no longer than 160 characters. However, they have now extended it up to 320, giving you more freedom to word your description with care.

 

3. Link-Building

The most successful bloggers have more than half of their audience directed from other sources. This is done through backlinks where you meticulously place a reference to your blog in the blog or web page of another. Write as many guest posts as possible, engage in useful and popular conversations on social media and link them out to your blog in such a way that the readers won’t smell the marketing intent behind your work. The more popular your blog becomes, the higher the ranking it receives from Google.

 

4. Use Keywords

Scroll up to notice that I have started the article with a question. This is an attempt to naturally embed keywords into the article. Once you have done your research and carefully picked the keywords related to your article, include them in the title, URL, body and the meta description. Make sure your keywords are concentrated mainly in the first two paragraphs of your article so that it would be detected by Google search engine radar once the reader types it. Then sprinkle some throughout the body of your text.

 

5. Post Frequently

Have new content available for your readers at least twice a week. Recent articles tend to attract more readers, and revisit you more often for freshly-brewed content. This will help Google notice you as well, and rank you higher in their search results. Just like businesses do, try to build a rapport with your audience, invite them to freely share suggestions to your posts, and connect with them so that they will be tempted to visit you more often.

 

6. Include Images

Relevant and appealing images can double the interest of readers. Make sure to provide keyword-rich titles and descriptions to the images so that they will also generate leads to your blog.

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