You’re probably here because you were frustrated by failing to gain new readers for your blog. We understand how demotivating it can be. Sometimes not getting enough blog readers leads many people to give up. Good for you. You’re here before giving up.
Here’s what you must understand. Growing your blog readership will take time. 95% of web pages fail to make it to Google’s top 10 the same year they were published. For the other 5% who make it to the top 10, it takes 61 to 182 days. Therefore, if you’ve implemented the right strategies and it’s been less than 185 days, maybe all you should do is wait to see the results.
Read along to learn how to get blog readers and practical strategies to maintain your blog readership.
Do People Read Blogs Anymore?
Yes, they do. Everyone reads blogs, if not as a hobby, to find solutions to their problems. For instance, you see your house plants dying even though you’ve provided everything they need to thrive. What do you do? Google the solution. That’s what almost everyone does.
Blogging is not going anywhere anytime soon. However, some blogging niches might expire or become saturated over time. Therefore, you need to select a relevant and in-demand niche.
As per a report, 77% of internet users read blog posts regularly in 2022.
How Long Does it Take for a Blog to Start Earning?
It takes around 6 to 12 months for a blog to start earning. But this also heavily depends upon the time and effort you put in. The more time and effort you put into creating, researching, and promoting your blog, the more likely it is to start earning faster.
The time your blog takes to begin earning depends upon the ways of earning. There are several ways a blog can make you money, like affiliate marketing, Google Adsense, offering subscriptions, etc.
Earning through Adsense might take time as your website needs to be approved by Google. And through affiliate marketing, you start earning when your readers make purchases through your affiliate link. Therefore, it doesn’t have a specific timeframe for when you can start generating revenue.
Hacks to Increase Your Blog Readership
Implement these strategies to gain new readers for your blog quickly.
1. Write a Catchy Title
The first thing blog readers see about your post is the title. Be it on social media platforms or Google search results. Therefore, your title should be catchy enough to make them read the whole article.
Here are some tips you can implement to create a catchy title.
- Tell what problem’s solution your article has through your headline.
- If you’re writing a guide, consider including words like “How to,” “Step-by-step Guide,” etc.
- Include numbers. For instance, “5 hacks to …”, “6 steps for …” etc.
- Keep it short and easy to read.
- Make it catchy, not click-baity. Writing a clickbait title may result in losing your blog readers.
2. Make Your Content Scannable
Nowadays, no one reads articles word for word. They scan it by reading the headings and some of the texts. Ensure that your article’s title, headers, and subheadings are identifiable. You can keep different font shades and sizes for headings, subheadings, and titles.
Another way to make your article scannable is by using numbered or bullet lists. Number or bullet points are easier to notice and read than paragraphs.
Keep your paragraphs and sentences short. A paragraph can consist of five to six lines max. And remember to start a new section when discussing a different idea.
Highlighting essential points will help set it apart from the general content. Ensure to add related images to keep your blog readers interested.
Here is an example of a nicely formatted article.
Image taken from Strikingly Blog
3. Include Links in Your Articles
Google likes it when you incorporate outbound links in your content. Outbound links take blog readers from your site to another, where they can find relevant information. Readers appreciate it when they can find all the information they need in one place. Ensure the links you’re including convey information related to your post.
Incorporating outbound links can introduce new readers to your blog. For instance, you include a link to another site. The operator of that website might notice that you linked to their page, and they might consist of links to your web pages on their website.
4. Upload Content Consistently
Google and other search engines value websites that update fresh content frequently. That helps in boosting your site’s SEO (Search Engine Optimization). To shine in Google’s eyes, you must update your blog at least twice a week.
5. Invite Guest Writers to Write for Your Website
Publishing guest posts on your blog is beneficial for both your blog and the guest contributor. That way, your website will have more content you didn’t have to write. And the contributor will promote the post to their networks.
Guest posting introduces your blog readers to the guest contributor’s blog and their readers to yours.
6. Include Videos in Your Posts
Videos are an excellent tool for teaching. Many people prefer watching videos to learn something than reading. Incorporating videos can also help make your blog readers understand complex information.
If your blog post conveys detailed information, attaching a short YouTube clip can be a great way to make understanding easy for readers.
7. Promote Through Social Media
Promoting your blog posts on social media is an excellent way of attracting readers. We will discuss two methods: one is paid, and the other doesn’t cost a dime.
Study your target audience and determine the social media platforms they use the most. For instance, if your target audience is women, you can run ads on Pinterest. According to research, 76.7% of Pinterest users are women. Many social media platforms allow you to select your target audience depending on gender, age, location, interests, job titles, etc. Therefore, make sure to target the right audience to get a return on your investment in ads.
The free way of growing your blog readership is by adding social media sharing buttons to your posts. This will enable users to share your articles with other people easily. You can also share your blog posts and ask your friends and family to share them on their socials.
8. Improve Your Website’s User Experience
A bad user experience can decrease blog readership. Here are some features you can include in your blog website to create an excellent user experience.
- Categorize your posts so your audience can find posts of different categories easily.
- Enable commenting to encourage your readers to engage with you and leave their thoughts about your articles.
- Include AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) technology. This will load certain pages faster on mobile devices.
- Ensure your text is readable across all devices by using the correct contrast of text and background color and keeping the appropriate font face and size.
Worried that your developer may charge extra for including features? Well, don’t. You can build your website yourself and involve numerous features to create a great user experience for your blog using Strikingly.
Strikingly is a ridiculously easy-to-use website builder that lets you create mobile responsive websites. Strikingly brings an intuitive website editor which offers tons of features you need to create a robust blogging website.
Image taken from Strikingly
You can visit Strikingly’s Knowledge base to learn to include the above features and more in your blog.
Image taken from Strikingly
Moreover, you can create your site for free with Strikingly or subscribe to any cost-effective plans.
9. Offer Blog Email Subscription
Suppose you gained some new readers for your blog. They love your writings, but between all their everyday activities, they might forget to check your latest post. That’s when a blog email subscription comes in. It is a way to remind your readers that you’ve posted new content they may love.
Strikingly allows its free and premium users to enable email subscriptions for their blogs. You can collect emails from your readers from your Strikingly site and send them updates on your latest articles.
Image taken from Strikingly
10. Give Something to Your Readers in Return
Giving something in return is a way of appreciating the time your blog readers put in to encourage you by consuming your content.
A gift doesn’t necessarily have to be something huge. For instance, you can give a free e-book or low-cost gift cards to your first few subscribers. Or you can do a giveaway on special occasions or hit certain milestones.
You can even do a giveaway and tell people that you will be choosing random winners from the audience who followed your call to action.
Search the web, and you will find many ideas for giveaways.
In conclusion, have fun with your blog. If you don’t love writing or the niche you’re writing in, your blogging journey might not be remarkably successful. That’s why it is crucial to do what you love.
