10 Tips for Getting More Blog Readers

What’s the one thing every blogger wants? More readers. Easier said than done, right? Wrong. Getting more blog readers is actually much easier than you might think. The tips in this list aren’t just designed to bring more traffic to your blog posts; they’re focused on bringing quality traffic of readers that will come back time and time again.

1.    Promote your blog through social media—Digg, ReddIt, Twitter, Mixx, Stumble Upon, and other social networking sites provide a powerful forum for exposing your blog. If you can get a post to hit the front page of Digg or ReddIt, you can easily get over 25,000 visits in the span of a couple of hours. Will they all come back? Of course not. But some will, and many will link to you, increasing your search engine rankings.

2.    Focus on providing quality posts—You can’t trick anyone into liking your blog. Quality content is essential to growing your blog.

3.    Give and receive guest posts—Guest posting is one of the most effective things you can do to bring more readers to your blog. Ask other bloggers in your niche if you can contribute a post to their blog (with a link back to your blog) or if they’d like to write a post on your blog. This puts your content right in front of the other blogger’s audience. If they like what you have to say, chances are they’ll become your reader too.

4.    Know your target audience—Who is your blog’s target audience? What type of content do they respond to? What subjects are they passionate about? Tailor your posts to the wants of your target audience to start building a loyal following.

5.    Comment on other related blogs—Blog commenting is a great way to get your name out there. Not only will the blogger notice your comments, but their readers and commentators will get to know you as well. If you write insightful, unique comments that add to the conversation, eventually people will begin following you back to your blog to hear more of what you have to say.

6.    Optimize your posts for the search engines—Google loves blogs because they provide fresh content, keeping search results relevant. That’s why you should always optimize your posts for relevant keywords that drive search traffic. Use a free keyword tool like the Google Adwords Keyword Suggestion tool to discover the right keywords to target. Include these keywords in the post’s title, tags, and body.

7.    Provide a new viewpoint—There are about 150 million blogs online. This means every topic imaginable has been discussed to the point of exhaustion. Instead of being just another blogger mimicking the same content as everyone else, focus on providing a different viewpoint to your readers. Now, this doesn’t mean being controversial just for the sake of being controversial, but it means finding a new way to look at old ideas.

8.    Make it easy to subscribe—You don’t want to have a blog with a bunch of one-time readers passing through. That’s why RSS feeds are such a powerful tool. At the click of a mouse, your blog readers can subscribe to your blog, receiving notices every time you publish a new post. Place a “Subscribe now” button above the fold where new visitors will instantly see it.

9.    Submit posts to blog carnivals—Blog carnivals are essentially online magazines that compile the best posts on a particular topic. Submit your posts to relevant blog carnivals, and if they’re published you’ll earn a back link. Additionally, the editor of the blog carnival will usually share his or her thoughts on your post with their readers.

10.    Link to other blogs—You’d be surprised at just how effective using trackbacks can be. See, any time you link to a post by another blogger, they’re alerted via email or their blogging dashboard. Inevitably, they’ll come check out your blog to see what you said about their work. This is a great way to break the ice and to build a strong network with other bloggers.

Are you a blogger? What do you do to get more readers?