Aside from the number one thing that will drive traffic to your website, there are other key points which you must address and do correctly to give you the best chance of building traffic to your blog or website.
Besides your content strategy, here are 5 key things you need to get right.
1. Target one keyphrase for each page
If you just start writing whatever you want, it’s unlikely that you will accumulate decent amounts of traffic.
You may get some lucky strikes with a few pages, but it’s tough enough at the best of times.
So you need to really give yourself the best possible chance by researching target keyphrases.
What to look for when researching?
Firstly you need to target keyphrases that people are actually searching for.
Use a free keyword tool such as Google keyword planner, SEMrush free version, or a paid tool such as Keysearch.
I usually look for keywords with a search volume of at least 500. And you probably shouldn’t go any lower than 100.
This means that you are writing relevant content for answers or solutions that people are actually searching for.
It’s no use being number one for a term which has zero Google searches.
Then you need keyphrases that are going to be achievable to rank for.
The software mentioned above will have indications of the likely difficulty to rank for any keyphrases so choose accordingly.
It’s no use trying to rank for ‘Adidas trainers’ on a brand new blog with a domain authority of 1. It’s not gonna happen.
2. Publish Regularly and on Schedule
I’ve been trying this out recently myself. I committed to publishing 4 articles a week for just s fortnight.
And I’ve seen new user figures jump by over 50% versus a month ago off the back of this.
Google loves new content and you should aim to consistently feed it.
It’s not rocket science and there are no shortcuts. This one really is just about hard work and consistency.
3. Use a Content Assistant
KeySearch has a good content assistant built in, which means, once you nominate a keyphrases, it will tell you which words or phrases also appear in pages that rank.
It’s a great starting point for writing an article and can get your brain moving in directions you hadn’t thought of.
There’s also a free content assistant in SEMrush free version. Try them both out and see what one works best for you.
4. Try Clustering Content
Don’t just write one article on a certain topic. Write several on closely related keyphrases and interlink them.
Google likes this and will take it as a signal that your blog post is an authority on your chosen subject.
5. Use Headlines That Jump Out
If you want people to read your articles, the headlines are going to have to jump out.
Think of the headlines that you click yourself. Again it’s not super difficult but it can be easy to fall into the trap of writing a keyword rich ‘optimised’ headline versus an appealing headline that is going to appeal to people and literally ‘click’ with them!
Want some great ideas to get you started? Try taking a look at Pinterest. This whole app is based around grabbing people’s attention with relevant headlines.
Create your own board (make it private if you like) and start collecting punchy headlines that you like and that you think you could build interesting articles around.