This article has been contributed by Cari Bennette.
Does it seem as though there’s a secret formula for getting blog posts shared that you don’t know about? Building the blog itself was pretty easy, but… where’s all the traffic?
If you’re struggling to build substantial, consistent traffic for greater shareability, look no further. I’ve gleaned through the posts of three top content marketing experts with a keen understanding of what it takes to create a shareworthy blog. Let’s see if we can learn the techniques of pros Neil Patel at Quicksprout, Rand Fishkin of Moz and Zane Kitschke at Canvo to leverage social media for maximum benefit.
Create Killer Content
You must provide your readers with valuable content or they just won’t stay. Strategies for producing shareworthy content are:
Learn to master the crafting a compelling headline, and then write your content to fulfill its promise. Writing the headline first and content second will keep your writing focused, crisp and on-topic.
Use great images in your post. Photos, screenshots, graphs, charts, maps and data all help to boost credibility and provides a break from the monotony of the printed word.
Increase content length. If you really want to be helpful, you simply must write longer posts – as being truly useful in 200 words or less is painfully difficult! And, it turns out Google likes longer content too, with the 2,000 plus word count rating a higher spot in Google’s page rankings.Your readers are looking for solutions, so go into detail and give those awesome, actionable steps you know will help.
Always write for your niche audience, not for the search engines. I know, I know – if you don’t please the search engine Gods your content will never get read. But if you don’t write with sincerity, addressing your readers’ specific concerns and needs, you won’t get read either. When you’ve made your point and covered your topic, stop writing. Nothing triggers readers’ scanning habits quite like fluffy, empty content.
Make content SEO friendly. While writing for your reader is your best strategy for generating traffic, optimizing your content for SEO is easy. It’s also a great strategy for tapping into the well of the estimated 6 billion daily searches on Google in 2014.
Do keyword research. This gives you a “fly-on-the-wall” perspective into your readers thinking; their problems, concerns, needs and desires. You can utilize searches by using long-tail keywords in longer posts to identify and address what they want.
Be generous. As in life, the more you help others to succeed, the more successful you become. Acknowledge your peers and competitors by linking to their sites and posts when relevant, and publish links to reference material you believe to be beneficial. If it’s helpful for your audience, you’ll be seen as professional and caring and will reap the rewards of social media support. And don’t be shy about linking to your own posts as well, where appropriate.
Be consistent in your productivity. If you really want to create shareworthy posts, you must be consistent in publishing material. Whatever your schedule may be, stick to it so your readers won’t be disappointed. And make sure you give yourself enough time to create posts of first rate content – a post that’s been thrown together is apparent from the first word and not usually of a shareworthy caliber.
Great Design Counts
Your website needs to be visually appealing, easy to use and professional in appearance in order to increase chances of being shared and retaining visitors. Ones that appear amateur, sloppy or outdated simply don’t indicate quality material and readers will quickly move on to sites that do.
Make it easy to share. Have sharing icons on every page and post and at the bottom of posts as well. Readers who have finished a post aren’t likely to scroll back up to find share buttons, so give them an easy option.
Optimize for social media. Install Twitter Cards and Facebook Open Graph to allow visuals from your posts to be displayed when shared.
Connect all web profiles and content back to your blog. Any profile or content you’ve produced should be linked back to your blog. This way, those interested in your posts will have a trail to follow for more of your great and interesting ideas.
Participate
If you want your blog posts to be shared on social media, you must be sociable. Makes sense, doesn’t it? Some popular strategies for earning “traffic, trust and fans”are:
Share on social media. Schedule postings via RSS to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Tumbler and Google+ or use one of the available delivery tools for automatic scheduling. And use the same social media sites for branding – remember to fill in all of your profile for a stronger presence.
Connect with the influencers in your niche. Interact with other blogs in your market, and when you have a feel for their audience contribute some value with your insights and expertise.
Guest blog and permit guest blogging on your site. Another tactic that will generate new readers is to guest blog on sites related to your niche. Provide your usual brilliant content with a link in your bio box for new followers to join your community. And allowing guest blogging on your site is a good way to provide fresh content for your audience.
Join in the communities where your audience already gathers. Find the Q & A sites, forums, social media sites, blogs and websites where your audience already spends their time, and start participating.
To create a popular blog, give your focus to incorporating one new strategy at a time before moving on to the next. Perseverance and daily, incremental improvement will go a long way towards getting the shares your content deserves.
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Post written by Cari Bennette. Cari is a blogger and freelance writer for JetWriters, she provides help both in academic research and creative writing. She is a literature addict and also adores to prepare engaging content for the Web.