How to Increase Blog Traffic for Free – First 3 Things You Should Do!

22 Comments / By / August 19, 2019

Last week, we discussed about how to blog consistently. Blogging consistently is one of the simplest things you should do to increase blog traffic for free.

If you are a beginner who is looking for other ways to drive traffic to your website, this post is for you.

You should also take note of all the tips below on how to market your blog this 2019 and start taking action as early as now.

However, if you are an expert blogger who is looking for in-depth ways on how to increase blog traffic for free, you can check out these Proven Strategies to Increase Your Blog’s Traffic to 206%.

Today, I will be sharing with you 3 of the most important things you should be doing right now. Ms. Me-an Clemente of YogoandCream.Com was so generous enough to talk about these in the podcast episode below.

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Why Increase Your Blog Traffic?

“Yeah, c’mon, bakit pa tayo nagba-blog kung ayaw din naman nating mabasa ng iba, ‘di ba?”

To keep it simple, we want to increase blog traffic because we want our message to reach as many beneficiaries as possible.

We want our purpose to be served not only for personal purposes but because we have a burning desire to touch other people’s lives.

This is kung ang purpose mo is to be of service to other people (which is actually 99% of the reasons why we blog).

Sabihin na nating 1% is for our “business purpose” of earning money.

To make it clear, it is best to start a blog like you are starting a business (which means you need to have a blog business plan). However, always remember this piece of advice from Bo Sanchez, “Serve first, Money comes next.”

I had been writing contents, blog posts in particular, for several businesses abroad (some in the US, UK, and Australia).

One thing I noticed about them is that, they do blogging because they want to drive traffic to their website. When they get people to their website, they could gain more sales.

This means to say that blogging is one of the most important ways to increase website traffic for free (kung sila sana ang nagsusulat, lol!) and also a business’ revenue.

Pero, eto nga, hindi naman basta-bastang mababasa ng mga tao ang ating blog posts if we don’t promote it.

So, here’s how to increase blog traffic for free.

How to Increase Blog Traffic for FREE

In the video above, I interviewed Ms. Me-an Clemente, the other half of the YogoandCream food and travel blog, one of the traffic generating blogs here in the Philippines.

I requested her to share her 3 Most Recommended Tips on How to Increase Blog Traffic for Free.

Alright, so let’s check them out!

#1 - Content Marketing

“Content is King”

How many times have you heard that already?

Maybe, it’s your first time. If it is, the quote above simply emphasizes how important contents are when created “properly” (I don’t want to use the word perfect here). If you have bought the Blogging 101.1 e-book or are one of my students in the e-course, you will know why.

So how should you be creating your contents, especially your blog posts?

  • It should be well-written (not just something copied from another page and tweaked a bit). Your readers should feel that you are talking to them personally and that your blog post is something valuable enough to spend time on.
  • It should be readable. Create breaks, add images, videos, spaces, dividers, or anything to please the eyes of your readers and not harm them.
  • Spelling and Grammatical Error-Free. I don't want to stress out on this because I, too commit mistakes. However, you can always use tools like Grammarly (https://www.grammarly.com/) to proofread your contents before publishing. Lalo na kung ang blog mo is about proper grammar and English, hehe.
  • Search Engine Optimized. This is a bit technical (like Ms. Me-an said in the video) but, you should make time to learn about it. We will talk more about it below.

#2 - Social Media Marketing

When you hear the words “Social Media Marketing”, it sounds techie. But no, it is actually one of the most interesting part of blogging.

Iyong mga techie stuff about it siguro is Facebook Ads, Google Ads, etcetera but those are paid platforms and we are looking for ways on how to increase blog traffic for free.

What should we be doing to use the social media properly in order to market our blog?

  • Find your target market. Before you started your blog, you should have identified your ideal customers or target market already. In the Blogging 101.1 ebook, I created a Blog Business Plan where your target market is super important in order for it to be polished accordingly.
  • Research and Study. Make sure to do your research on when you should be posting on social media. As a start, use their demographics. For example, if working ang target audience mo, try posting during break times or oras ng pag-uwi (10am, 12noon, 3pm, 8pm). Experiment and observe which works best by checking your Facebook Insights.
  • Engage. If "Content is King", "Engagement is Queen" (I read this somewhere else, can't remember nga lang, CTTO na lang). If an audience commented, make sure to comment back, if they followed, you can follow back. Kapag may nag-message lalo na kung nagtatanong, sagutin mo.
  • Optimize your Page. Make your social media pages an easy place to navigate to your blog. Make use of the "Button" in your Facebook page. Use the homepage link in your Instagram profile properly because it is the only place in the platform where you can add a link. Make your purpose, vision, and mission clear enough on your page and don't forget to fill in the "About" or "Description" sections.

#3 - Search Engine Optimization

Like I said earlier, this is one of the techie stuff in managing how to increase blog traffic for free.

However, I made it clear that as a beginner, you still have to make time to learn about it because it is a great way for you to be found in the Google Search Engine Results Page (SERPs).

I have also proven it effective many times. Some brands approach me for collaboration because they found my blog post in the Google results page using certain keywords.

I also feel impressed checking my Google Analytics and see that one of my oldest posts are still generating traffic to my blog.

So, what am I actually talking about? Let me give you a basic insight about SEO.
  • To make sure your blog post is Search Engine Optimized:
  • Keyword Research - Do your own keyword research by using free tools such as Keywords Everywhere and Ubersuggest. Look for the keyword with a high search volume but low competition rate.
  • Use headers - This is one way to add breaks to your contents. If you noticed in this blog post, I use headers or subtitles to introduce a sub-topic. I also add keywords here.
  • Install Yoast SEO - One of the limitations of having a free-hosted blog or website is not being able to install awesome plugins like this one. This is very helpful in monitoring if your blog post is optimized for search results.
  • Be Unique - In order to rank in Google SERPs, you have to have something unique to offer. If you remember, I said earlier that you should write something that is not just copied from somewhere and tweaked a bit. Be authentic to gain loyal readers and give a good impression in Google's algorithm.

25 More Ways - How to Market Your Blog

As promised, I will also be sharing with you 50 more ways on how to market your blog. However, this doesn’t mean that you have to stress out yourself doing everything.

Find out what works for you. You can bookmark this page and test each on the list.

This is also a how to increase blog traffic for free but some of the things I am going to share with you are not free.

Like I said, find out what works for your blog and practice until you make it a habit.

Do this to generate traffic to your blog this 2019.

  • Write and Publish e-books and add your blog links inside it. It can be a FREE or paid e-book. Put your links using anchor texts, images, or simply at the header or footer area.
  • Publish more contents. The more you publish, the more traffic you get. But, like we said in the previous post, do something that works with your commitment or schedule.
  • Write longer contents. Check out your competitors using your keywords and observe which works better. As a reader, which caught your attention first? Which of the contents delivered your expectation better? After that, do your own unique thing.
  • Market to your e-mail list. Have you built your e-mail list yet? If not, you have to start doing it now. I gain some of my blog post reads from e-mail newsletters I sent to my subscribers. You may be one of them, comment below if you are. 🙂
  • Guest blog. Collaborate with relevant websites with higher DA and write guest blogs for them. Of course, it would be free of charge (more often) but it's all worth your effort.
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  • Comment on other Blogs. Depending on the situation, you can also leave your link inside your comment.
  • Link to other Blogs. According to Neil Patel, he usually adds 100+ links to other bloggers inside his blog posts.
  • Case Studies and Interviews. You can compile case studies of different influencers into a blog post and let them know so they can share.
  • Contests. We all love freebies (admit it!). Give away something for FREE to your readers so that they will join your contest.
  • Collaboration. Join "exchanges" like a shoutout in exchange of a shoutout with relevant bloggers.
8 Easy Steps to Create Your Own Blog
  • Be Active on Forums. Extend your help by answering questions in forum sites that are covered by your niche such as Quora or Facebook groups.
  • Make sure to have the "Social Sharing" buttons inside your pages.
  • Grab opportunities. If it can help grow your traffic, grab it. Examples: Interviews and Speaking Engagements
  • If you are brave enough, write about controversial issues. Just make sure to follow cyber and blogging rules (mahirap na matulad kay Mam Ressa, I feel really sad about it).
  • Find the best Social Platform for your blog.
  • Repurpose your Content. You can create a PDF or Slide version of your blog and submit it to relevant sites like Slideshare.
  • Make sure to have the "Social Sharing" buttons inside your pages.
  • Podcasting. Study your audience and try podcasting. I chose to launch the Work from Home Business and Career for Filipinos podcast because I know it will be a convenient way to deliver my contents to you (my audience).
  • Participate and Join Support Groups. This may be the second time you will be reading about this advice from me but, really, joining support groups is a great help.
  • Write and Publish Lists or Roundups related to your Niche
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  • Submit your images on Photo sharing sites like Flickr and add a Creative Commons license with your link.
  • Use responsive themes to make sure your blog loads properly on mobile gadgets.
  • Invest time in crafting your Blog Post Titles or Headlines
  • Invite other Bloggers to Write for your Blog for an incentive or a fee. This is especially if you can't commit time to publish contents consistently.
  • Write about what your readers ask.

Here are 57 More Ways to Boost Your Blog Traffic

Conclusion: Increase Blog Traffic

Increasing your blog traffic doesn’t happen overnight.

“Panis na ‘yan”

I am just being honest, my friend.

Lahat naman talaga pinaghihirapan, right?

Parang itong blog post natin for today about how to increase blog traffic for free, pinaghirapan ko din talaga para sa inyo.

Which of the above recommendations are you doing right now and which of these have you heard for the first time?

Please let me know in the comment if what else do you want to learn more so that I will write about it next.

Thanks for reading!

Please share if you think your blogger friends can benefit on it too

22 thoughts on “How to Increase Blog Traffic for Free – First 3 Things You Should Do!”

    1. Charlyn June

      Neil is my man among others in online marketing. Sobrang hindi madamot sa information. 🙂 I like how he gives value to his readers kaya I want to follow his footsteps in terms of writing and sharing information.

    1. Charlyn June

      Hi Kath, you can self-publish your own e-books. Use your blog to do so. Create a funnel system that has your offer (which is your e-book) and ways for people to be convinced first before they buy your e-book. Or, if you want to give it for FREE, just upload it inside your database and get the link to it and integrate it inside an anchor text or a signup form. 🙂

  5. Monz

    Love this post! I learned a lot.. Baguhan lang din ako sa blogging. Commitment is the key talaga. I rarely have time to blog dahil sa babies ko but if it’s sponsored I would really find time.

  6. May Palacpac

    web marketing is such a tricky thing. while there are strategies that have proven effective, the internet keeps evolving, so hard to keep up. napagod ako, haha!

    Anyway, what I want to happen is to put ads on my blog but i can’t figure out how to get approved for ads. They gave me a link to possible reasons why i’ve been declined, but none of them make sense to me.

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