I have a blog that targets educators.
The obvious answer is that you have to create content that has value for educators. Think about the problems they have, the questions they need answers to, and write blog posts that address these concerns and answer their questions.
The second thing you should do to grow your readership is to make a list of the top 3-5 sites where educators are going today to get their information, and start commenting on those sites. As you leave smart and relevant comments on these sites that educators are reading, it will increase the chances of them checking out YOUR blog.
Do both of these together, and you will see your readership grow pretty quickly.
Do you have a marketing budget? If so, try Facebook's power editor to create very targeted newsfeed ads to educators. Don't push a traditional ad. Rather, push great tips and other relevant information. If you write a great short piece, it will lead to click-through's to your blog. Do a similar thing with LinkedIn.
On the organic side, join LinkedIn groups where educators gather. Participate in the discussions. Become a known collaborator.
Post your blog URL any chance you get. There are a lot of free directories. Most are worthless as a directory, but the link-backs do add a little SEO value.
Find out what your educators are using for search terms. Make sure your articles are relevant to those searches.
Create a YouTube video blog - something I am getting ready to do.
Bottom line: Do not "advertise" or self-promote per se. Become known as a content expert and community collaborator and people will start following your blog.
There are lots of ways to get readership. Give me a call if you would like to discuss the options further.
Best regards,
Kevin McCarthy
Here are a few things you can do:
- Get on a consistent posting schedule. Post as often as you are able to do consistently - aim for 2-3 times per week, then see if that is sustainable for you and adjust.
- Push out every post via social media. Ping some friends privately asking them to share with their network.
- Familiarize yourself with SEO and build an SEO-friendly site. The basics will get you a long way. Read Moz's Beginner's Guide to SEO to start.
- Create a place where people can sign up to your email RSS list. If you word it right, you can also email them updates. Building an email list is hugely valuable.
I hope all this helps. By doing these things, and connecting with influencers in the space, I've grown blogs to 20k+/mo no problem.
Happy to talk more if you'd like.
I would do market research on how you would position the blog. There are thousands of education blogs and making sure your voice stands out and matches the market is essential.
After positioning, you need to make a list of all the content you can produce: original blog posts, infographics, videos, pictures, lists, news commentary etc. It's essential to begin with your best piece and make sure you keep the rhytm.
Packaging (i.e. layout, headlines, design) is as important as the layout. Visitors need to know they're on a unique blog
Finally marketing. I recommend checking out the upworthy strategy, with a strong foundation on social media marketing (twitter/facebook), and as an aside, also build a good mailing-list for followers.
Let me know if this helps, would be happy to detail.
I started my blog honestonlineselling.com with zero readership about 4 or 5 years ago, now I have an active membership in the thousands. In short, I started by posting helpful content on my blog, then hanging out online with peers (other people in the same profession) and directed them to my site for the free information (when it was applicable to help them with said free information). I didn't 'sell' anything, just grew a loyal readership by providing valuable help (the key is 'valuable') for free. To learn how to do all this, I took a $7 course (it should be $700 in my opinion (it helped me tremendously because I followed it to the 't'): http://nanacast.com/vp/116351/272845/
0. Build a growth plan with a coach like me
1. No one mentioned the most important tool - email.
2. Create a regular posting schedule and stick to it
3. Split test your signup forms
4. Get referrals using something like Rafflecopter
Get an email list started with Mailchimp or Sendgrid or GetResponse. Offer these educators something of value and get them on your list. Social media followers are a good complimentary to email. Give them a reason to join your email list.
This is truly how top bloggers build audiences (some also make social media work) -- surprised it was not first on everyone's list.
People want to talk themselves -- not just read. Engage in conversations as much as possible through the comments section and encourage social tie-ins.
If you really want traffic to avalanche, consider switching gears. Why not develop a forum? Off-the-shelf software exists to build one. You can always promote your blog through the forum and vice versa.
Websites that operate on this social model get free original content and marketing from their customers. That sure beats paying for it! That includes thousands of niche forums as well as big sites like LinkedIn. Frankly, the same is true of this "Answers" section on Clarity.fm. You'll see traffic skyrocket if your content is being supplied by your visitors rather than all coming from you. They'll also feel more engaged and return more frequently.
When it comes to the educator niche, I've been meaning to develop MathTeachersForum.com and LanguageTeachersForum.com along those lines myself, actually.
One of the fastest ways to build your reader ship is to build a simple landing page with the key "WHY YOU SHOULD READ MY BLOG" front and present. (a video works great, even if its slides with a voice over) Using capturing tools like, email, "like my (add social profile)" then I would create a Facebook campaign targeted your audience, I would do the same on LinkedIn.
That is a simple real world example that I use for clients that are on a low budget. Let me know if you have anymore questions.
Keep these strategies in mind and your blog traffic will grow well:
1. Be Strategic About Your Content: If you want to increase blog traffic, the best thing you can do is quite simply create better content. You have probably heard this before - the term “content is king” is thrown around more than a funnel at a frat party. But creating “better content” is not just about quality. It also means being more strategic with your content marketing efforts. The most successful content is the kind that meets a specific need. Think about your audience and what they love. Content these days almost always falls into one of two categories: cool and funny or useful and educational. Choose either and you are probably off to a good start. If you need ideas, check out Quora and see what questions are being asked that relate to your industry subject. Also try using Buzzsumo to see what others have written about in your field, then make something even better. Or use one of these eight handy blog topic generators. When it comes to content style, shoot for shocking statistics, beautiful infographics, and rich storytelling via video. Create stuff people want to link to and share. Evergreen content is the kind of content that can live forever on the web and that time will not make irrelevant. For example, a post about this year’s Oscar nominations will become useless in a few months’ time. A post about the greatest movie classics will continue to be relevant over the years, making it evergreen. As a blogger, you should always ensure that you’re creating irresistibly awesome headlines. Your headline is what gets visitors to your site and captures their interest. Some even suggest that your headline is more important than your actual post! If you have a great content piece hiding behind a shabby headline, it will die a quick death. Appearances are everything, and just as you would not show up to a wedding wearing your stay-home-sick clothes, you cannot rely on lacklustre headlines to promote your blog posts. Share your post multiple times with different headlines and see which style works best. Promotion needs to be a big part of your content strategy, so that your hard-earned blog posts drive that traffic you so desperately desire. One quick and easy way to start driving more traffic to your blog is to start collecting emails for a blog newsletter. Once you have captured those contacts, you can send them weekly or monthly emails featuring your best posts, bringing already familiar visitors right back to your website. Since these users are already comfortable with your blog, chances are they might explore a bit more on their next visit.
2. Do not Fear the Keywords: If you really want to drive big time traffic to your blog, keywords and SEO must be a part of your strategy. People get nervous these days when you suggest doing something in the name of SEO, but remember, search engine optimization is fine when done right. You get targeted traffic from Google, and users find the information and answers they are searching the web for. Long-tail keywords are search phrases composed of 3+ keywords. They are easier to target long-tail keywords (and cheaper when it comes to PPC) because there is less competition for these phrases. Targeting long-tail keywords is really your only chance of getting a top SERP spot in Google. For example, maybe you’d love to rank high in Google for “health food” because your business is a health food store. Well fat (or slim) chance of that happening – “health food” is a competitive term. However, if you focus instead on “health food meal plans” or “health food on a budget,” your chance of ranking for those longer keyword phrases is tremendously higher. How do you brainstorm these awesome long-tail keywords? Start with Google. Begin typing in a phrase and see what Google’s auto-complete suggestions are. Make note of the “eureka!” suggestions. Next, put a few of those terms into Google and scratch down some Google’s related search suggestions (you will find them towards the bottom of the page). Next, take all the long-tail phrases you have come up with and put them into the Google Keyword Planner. See which phrases drive the most traffic (also look at other keyword phrases Google suggests) and siphon out the ones with high search volume and low competition. Those are your gold nugget long-tails. Try to create content targeted around those keywords. There are some great WordPress plugins designed to help bloggers with SEO. They make it easy to set up your URL slugs correctly, help you craft perfect meta descriptions, setup sitemaps, and aid you in navigating other SEO technical bits that may not come naturally to bloggers.
Two favourites are:
1. Wordpress SEO by Yoast
2. All in One SEO Pack
3. Find Your Flock: Hunt Down Your Audience’s Nest: When it comes to promoting your blog, it is essential that you are strategic about where you spend your time. While it’s nice to establish your presence across a range of social networks, you’ll quickly burn out trying to excel with every social site. Dip your feet and see which social networks work best for you. Is your blog heavy on the visuals? You will probably want to set your sights on LinkedIn. Is your blog catered more towards nerd culture? Find the right subreddits and you could strike it big. If you are looking for seagulls, you go to the seashore. To drive blog traffic, you need to go to where your flock hangs out. Know where to find your bird of a feather. Understanding your audience is also key for building strong referral links from relevant websites. Find the forums and sites your target audience visits and get active. Engage in discussion and post links or blog comments when appropriate. This is big – you cannot come off as spams. You need to be a valuable member of the community who is sharing something of merit. If someone mentions needing advice about scheduling healthy meal plans for each week, go ahead and point them to your resource. If they are discussing their struggles in mastering the fine art of clowning, you can probably move along. Once you’ve discovered your key networks, make those your focal point. Neil Patel points out that Upworthy, in addition to utilizing curiosity-focused headlines and emotional content, also limits the number of social sharing buttons they have on a given page. The choice paradox shows that too many choices can overwhelm and stress users. While we may assume more choices are better, studies have shown that most individuals are happier with a few different options, rather than hundreds. Upworthy only has two share buttons Facebook and Twitter. Consider limiting your social sharing selection to the sites you get the most leverage out of. Sometimes getting what you want can be a simple as asking for it. A study by Social Bakers found that users who asked their followers to “RT” their posts on Twitter received 73.48 average retweets per tweet. Those who didn’t ask for retweets received just 2.09 retweets.
4. Optimize for Speed and Mobile: Your visitors are not going to wait around for your blog to load. If your page is not coming up fast enough, they will hit the back button and move on to the next Google listing (i.e. your competitor) before you can flip a flapjack. Google’s Page Speed Insights tool will give you your speed score, as well as tips on what you can do to give your site the kick in the pants it might need. In the same vein, modern users spend nearly 3 hours a day on their tablets or mobile phones. Going mobile is a no-brainer for bloggers. If you don’t think your current blog is up to snuff, consider checking out one of these fine WordPress plugins that help create a version of your blog that is optimized for mobile devices.
1. WPtouch Mobile Plugin
2. Jetpack by WordPress (there is a mobile theme option baked in)
5. Play Nice with the Other Kids: Good manners go a long way online. If you are looking to build blog traffic, you will want to establish good relationships with other bloggers in your niche. Sometimes you will even want to team up with your enemies, Game of Thrones style. Comment on other blogs and be active in various communities. Consider interviewing major industry loggers or including other bloggers in a “best of” post (for example, Top 10 Blogs Rocking Pinterest). Once you have a blogger cited or featured in one of your posts, tag them in a tweet to let them know. Chances are that blogger will retweet and share a post mentioning them, getting more shares and more traffic as a result. Linking to your own blog posts is great for SEO, but it is important to link to outside sources as well. This signals to Google that you are not a spammer and helps build positive relationship with the others blogs you are linking to. Establishing good relations also makes pitching guest posts a ton easier.
Besides if you do have any questions give me a call: https://clarity.fm/joy-brotonath
