The Top Way to Nab More Search Traffic

The best way to get more search traffic to your website: Blogging. That said, it takes a lot of blogging to see results.

HubSpot, an inbound marketing and sales software company, reviewed the blogging frequency and website traffic of 13,500-plus of its customers. They found that you don’t tend to see any significant boost to traffic if you publish just four times a month. Instead, companies had to publish 5-10 blog posts a month to see noticeable results. Further, the biggest traffic patterns were evident from companies that published more than 11 posts a month.

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Most companies don’t typically publish that much. Indeed, about 54 percent of businesses with blogs say they publish once a week or less, according to the 2016 Orbit Media blogging study. After all, it takes time to create and publish blog content. The Orbit survey shows that it takes, on average, two-and-a-half hours to write the average blog post, which is about 800 words in length. As such, small-business owners would need to add 5 hours to their day for two blog posts per week or 7.5 hours for three posts.

But for those who invest in a more robust blogging schedule, they stand to benefit, if they do it smartly. They’ll also need to take some effort into converting that extra traffic with effective lead generation too, Forbes.com notes in its report. Also, you shouldn’t just offer up weak content to boost your posting frequency.

“You’ve got to be delivering value to your audience or they won’t bother to read your blog,” columnist Brian Sutter with Forbes.com notes in the article.

To increase frequency of blog posting, Forbes.com recommends some other ideas besides just writing new content. For example, you could republish or refresh older still-pertinent posts (update it when needed) or look for a way to convert every post you publish into at least one other format (such as into a short video, quiz, or infographic).

Also, study experts note, don’t just focus on one traffic-building tactic. Blogging can be a traffic generator but page search engine optimization, link building, and mobile-friendly sites are also important strategies to implement too.

Source: “The Easiest Way to Get More Search Traffic,” Forbes.com (Feb. 17, 2017)