Blog Marketing

How to Generate Traffic for a New Blog – Part 1

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Starting a new website or blog can be a frustrating process.

Hundreds of new blogs are started each day, and of all those few are still around six months plus later.

And this is due mainly to one thing: Lack of Traffic.

Perseverance is the watch word of the web. It takes time, dedication, know-how, and a little luck to get the traffic necessary to have a successful blog.

Often, when starting a blog, people think all they need to do is go viral. The problem with going viral is that it’s harder than it seems. Sure, something is always going viral. But realistically, compared to all the content on the web, going viral is like being struck by lightning.

So the real secret to a successful blog is strong and continual content. That being said, every blog struggles at first, even up to the first year. Even with continual, engaging, and strong content. So, what might help you drive some traffic toward you site, and earn you a little of the internet love? Well, here are some methods every new blog owner should be putting to use. Just remember, in the infamous words of Bill Gates, content is king.

Pre Release

1) Research your market/niche
– Anyone thinking about starting a blog should first determine what their specific target audience is, and what niche they’re looking to fill. Being unfocused and uncoordinated is a huge downfall of beginning blogs. So, do the research!

Decide the focus of your blog, and then research the current market and competitors!

2) Find a hole in the market
– Not every blog will fill a specific gap within their niche, but every blog should be trying to. Even if it’s only something that makes you a tiny bit different from the competitors. I mean, honestly, think about how many blogs there are.

Even good, high quality blogs. If you’re not looking to fill some kind of gap, and be unique in some vital way, than odds are you’re not going to be as successful as you hope. This can be done in lots of different ways.

For example:

  • Include humor in an otherwise humorless category. The Everywhereist is a great example of this; she adds an epic amount of personal and unique humor to a travel/everyday life blog. Truly, the blog is as much about her personality as it is about travel.
  • Target a specific area within your field. Rather than covering all of graphic design, you cover dealing with inept clients who have no idea how graphic design works. Clients from Hell does this spectacularly.
  • Have a different take on an old idea. For example, Everyday Carry, or EDC, has people feature what they carry on them every day. In this way he can review every day useful items such as phones, wallets, pocket knives, etc., while keeping the content fresh.

Basically the idea here is to try and be unique. Failing that, provide content in a way which sets you apart from the competition.

3) Understand where your competitors (or blogs similar to your own) get their traffic from. Then, try and get your blog featured in the same places.

This should be pretty obvious when doing proper research. I mean, if it’s working for blogs in your field, why not you? Obviously this shouldn’t be your only approach at getting traffic, but hopefully it should be a solid lead into more traffic.

4)  Line up content ahead of time
– Don’t wait until after you’ve released your website to start producing content. Ideally, you should try and have 2 weeks of content ready to go before launching your website. That way, there’s no possibility of lulls or gaps. Nothing will drive away new followers like a break in content early on in your blog.

Starting out with a solid foundation is extremely important—getting initial traffic and then stalling on content will drive away your readers before they’re even all the way through the door.

5) Make it visually pleasing, fully fleshed out, and ready for your target audience before release.
– No one is going to stick around in case the owner of a half-finished blog eventually finishes it. So, make sure it’s a finished piece before release. More than that, make sure the final product is something you’re proud of.

Check back next week for Part 2, which will be about how to continue to drive traffic to your blog after release.

Image Credit: Blinemarketing

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19 comments

Becca August 8, 2012 - 12:01 am
Good content marketing is another way of saying that you're convincing your viewers/customers to purchase your products. I love your great steps about wordpress SEO. They are very useful in my opinion.
Cory Collins August 8, 2012 - 9:33 am
Good content marketing--especially for SEO--can be so much more than convincing people to purchase your products. You should be providing interesting content that makes people excited, involved, engaged, which they find useful. Furthermore, it should be content that in some way helps your audience. Remember, content produced only for robots (aka a link) is essentially wasted content. Always try and produce the best and most useful content possible and eventually you should see the traffic results. Hope that helps and thanks for the comment!
Sam@Goa Trip August 8, 2012 - 3:00 am
This is common problem for every newbie because they thing we will get good response from very first day when they post a new article but they don't know this kind of thinking is huge mistake which can hurt them so much in future. Beside that if they will give more time to create a new article and get good ideas from others then i think they will get good response to generate traffic and money.
Cory Collins August 8, 2012 - 9:36 am
Thanks for the comment Sam! I agree that often people don't know what they're getting into when they start a new blog. It takes serious time, commitment, energy and thought. Not to mention perseverance! These things truly take time and there's no quick fix for that. Hopefully this guide helps though!
Jasmine August 8, 2012 - 3:00 am
Wow, great information here! I have learned a hell lot from you today... I assure you I will make good use of your tips and hopefully will bring good result to my new blog 100Webhosting.com! I especially like tip 3, "Understand where your competitors get their traffic from"... This makes me thinking. Perhaps I should check where Webtrafficroi is getting its traffic from and I try to borrow some of its sources, hehe! What do you think?
Cory Collins August 8, 2012 - 9:37 am
Hey Jasmine, thanks for the comment. I'm glad I could help and I wish you the best of luck with your new blog!
Nick Stamoulis August 8, 2012 - 9:56 am
When you start promoting your blog you should already have at the very least 5-10 quality posts that are live. Build up your content before anything else. If you only have one post up there people aren't going to have much reason to visit.
Cory Collins August 8, 2012 - 10:37 am
I agree with the caveat that it doesn't necessarily need to be posts. In fact, if your blog only has posts, especially to start with, I think you're not capitalizing as well as you ought to be. You should try and include a few different types of content when launching your blog, whether that be an infographic, video, interactive media, etc. etc. and see what gets the most views. This way you can provide an dynamic experience right out of the gate. Thanks for the comment Nick!
pnaybour August 8, 2012 - 11:45 am
Nick In my experience a blog will not take off in the rankings until it has 50 good quality posts. has anyone else experienced this?
JamesW August 8, 2012 - 6:08 pm
Great post Cory, one of the best ways to get traffic fast to your new blog is to copy your competitors. Don't try to reinvent the wheel, use what is working. thanks for sharing
PhuongLe August 8, 2012 - 10:44 pm
Be aware and focused on who your target audience is. If you have a site on the merits of paper recycling you are far more likely to find a receptive audience with the earth lovers than with the trucking union!
Jasmine August 9, 2012 - 12:20 am
I agree with some of the commentators that we need to have some good quality posts before it can really take off. Anyway, at the end of the day, it's good posts that is really matter. Visitors won't become readers if they do not find that they want - good content!
Cory Collins August 9, 2012 - 9:32 am
I absolutely agree. Without strong, relevant content that engages the readers, there's nothing you can do to make a blog successful. Hopefully everything in the article just speeds up the rate your traffic builds. Thanks for the comment!
Jessica August 9, 2012 - 5:33 am
Being a blogger your post is very helpful and i am agree with your points but after google panda update 3.9 i will say now content is more important then other resource to get traffic because if you have good content you definitely get good ranking position in SERP and your search engine visibility will increase in search engine which will help you to get good traffic.
Nanvy @ CRM Software Solutions August 10, 2012 - 2:03 am
I like #3 tip as it is the most useful to put in use but mostly people avoid it. One must pay attention on the competitors if it is all about traffic, there are lots of ideas can come out from it and they can put in action as well.
Anton Koekemoer August 13, 2012 - 4:20 am
Hi Cory, Yes – Great article, Thanks for sharing the tips. And it is important to remember than when you are starting with a blog it takes a lot of effort to increase the ranking of the website and or blog, but once you have a good enough readership and an increase in shares (socially) then it becomes easier and easier, and you then get to focus a lot more time on the main aspects like content and have the readers focus on the exposure of the blog. Personally, if it is a new blog – I would advise to put in a little more extra effort.
Samantha August 13, 2012 - 6:44 am
Good and quality content is a must. No reader will be visiting the blog again if he/she sees some bad writing or spelling errors. Of course, every begging is difficult, and in my opinion the start must be more aggresive. Love your Tips :)
Berkshire PPC Specialist-GlobalEcommerceGroup August 25, 2012 - 9:09 am
Yes – Great article, Thanks for sharing the tips. It is difficult to generate traffic for new blogs... but there needs to be start right... How about socially engagement with right people....
Fitness Wayne | Exercise and Paleo Diet October 22, 2012 - 7:31 pm
Good recommendations. I try to line up a few days of extra content at all times so if I am too busy on the weekend to write I still have new content.
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