As an active blogger, one of the most important additions to your strategy is the ability to capture and engage the attention of blog subscribers. Improving upon your content, honing your skills and maximizing your site’s value is key to increasing brand awareness and blog traffic.
A blog that screams quality has mastered two vital elements. Superior content and a rhythm or “groove” in the frequency and voice in which the content is presented.
If you are a blogger interested in building a loyal following and increasing your blog subscribers, integrating a few powerful strategies into your blog can and will improve performance.
Increasing Blog Traffic
While I cannot offer one “magic bullet” that if implemented will skyrocket your traffic and blog subscribers, I can tell you that fine tuning your blog, focusing on your goals and then remaining consistent in your efforts will generate results.
Commit to just a few of the actions below if you are ready to succeed as a blogger and truly make more then a hobby out of your online efforts.
4 Tips to Increase Blog Subscribers:
1. Make it Easy to Subscribe
This one might sound incredibly basic, but can be easily overlooked. It’s not enough to simply provide excellent content, you want to give the reader an easy way to stay up-to-date.
- Use a pop up form (e.g. Pop Up Domination) and ask your visitor for their subscription to your newsletter or other valuable giveaway.
- Offer an incentive for subscribing such as a white paper on the “Top 10 Mistakes Made By Homebuyers.” Make subscribing visible and easy by including the text “Subscribe by E-mail” and “Subscribe by RSS” above the fold and then use Feedburner to track your subscriptions.
- Create a monthly newsletter that will allow you to stay in front of our database on a consistent basis.
- Use a system like Aweber or a free version of MailChimp to place a highly visible and easily accessible opt-in form on your blog. With this system you can send out a welcome email and automatically place vistors into a drip email campaign.
2. Flex Your Blogger Muscles
Have you been a sporadic blogger with updates that are few and far between? Even the most beloved blogger will begin to lose a following if they can’t provide consistent value to the reader. Post quality content that encourages new subscriptions and repeat readership with a minimum of 3 posts per week.
- Create a Blogging Calendar: This allows you to stay focused on the quality and consistency of your content. The key is to keep an eye on your niche market and an ear to the ground so you are constantly listening and responding to what your readers needs are.
- Blog Content: Build out your calendar with answers to frequently asked questions, video tips, event feedback and other relevant topics suited for your audience to keep your message fresh.
3. Become a Guest Blogger
Identify two blogs relevant to your niche and submit a guest blog request. Guest blogging on well established authority blogs can increase the awareness and visibility of your website and blog as well as boost your reputation as a leader within your niche.
Chances are an authority blog that has been around for a good amount of time has an established and loyal readership. Your job as a guest blogger is to offer quality content that connects with their readers. Do your homework, determine your value and then reach out to the blog owner.
4. Do a Little Housekeeping
When was the last time you took stock of your blog theme, plugins, keywords and content? Is it easy to navigate and nice to look at? Have you properly optimized your posts and pages? Take time to make your site visually appealing for readers, but also appealing to search engines.
A regular analysis of your goals, optimization of your website, and a simple tracking system will offer insight into blog health and growth.
Be diligent in keeping your site up-to-date and relevant. The rewards are well worth the time and effort!
Ileane says
May 20, 2012 at 6:30 pmHi Rebekah, these are all great suggestions for helping build a subscriber list. I think there is still a lot of confusion on this issue and many people think that using Feedburner is the best way to go.
I still keep the Feedburner RSS option available but I use a plugin called OptIn skin to build my list. It’s far less intrusive than Pop-up Domination and my list is growing at a steady pace.
Thanks for the post Rebekah.
David Frey - MarketingBlogger.com says
May 3, 2012 at 9:31 amOne of the best things I ever did was create a publishing calendar for my blog articles. It dramatically cuts down on the time it takes to prepare an article and I know exactly what I’m doing over the next several months.
For some reason, it just brings a sense of freedom to me. Weird, I know. But that’s what clarity does for me.
Great article Rebekah!
Rebekah Radice says
May 3, 2012 at 6:41 pmYou and me both David! It took time to put it together, but it was so worth it.
It’s not weird at all to me…I know exactly what you mean about the freedom it offers. It takes a lot of the writers block and time spent structuring the ‘right’ blog post out of the equation. There’s the freedom for me!
Nick Carpenter says
March 26, 2012 at 8:48 amGreat post on driving traffic! I’m going to check out the Popup Domination and see how I can integrate it into some sites. Thanks!
Rebekah Radice says
March 26, 2012 at 1:06 pmThank you Nick! I’m sure you will find a way to put that to good use across the network!
Donna Merrill says
March 24, 2012 at 8:54 pmHi Rebekah, Great post about increasing your blog subscribers. I’m a fan of Social Media and like to grow organically. I like the idea of guest blogging especially from authority sites that you have given.
I haven’t done my pop-up…just have too many mixed feelings, although all the stats point to it being very successful.
Thanks, I will share with my peeps,
Donna Merrill
Rebekah Radice says
March 26, 2012 at 1:05 pmI am in complete agreement with you Donna about growing organically. I am constantly in search of new ways to grow my brand via social media and with so many unique ways to choose from…it’s really up to the blogger to choose the one that works best for them! Thank you so much for sharing!!