8 Reasons your blog traffic is very low

As a blogger, you do everything right to make sure that your content is good and of high quality, but one thing keeps you back in your tracks, and that is traffic. Traffic numbers matters so much to a blogger because this is what determines your success online. In this article we are going to look at some of the  reasons that may be contributing to the low blog traffic.  

Reasons your blog traffic is very low and how to fix it

You write more than you promote

Though creating a blog post say weekly has high chances of generating a flow of organic traffic, it is not guaranteed. Please note that no matter how good your content is, if you have no website or brand authority, then no one will find it in search engines or news feed. It is advisable that you spend 80% on content promotion, and 20% on creation. There are so many ways to promote your content, using social media is one of the most commonly used ways.

Also read:

Your site user experience is bad

If your site isn’t friendly, no one will want to visit it, no matter how great your content might be. If you publish something your audience wants to read, they may opt to go somewhere else for the same information just because your site is unfriendly to them. You can fix this by improving on the performance of your site in terms of loading time. Make sure it takes not more than 3 seconds to fully load. Don’t use intrusive pop ups that block the reader from reading the content. Ensure your blog design is good and enables the users to navigate to different web pages easily and lastly make sure your site is mobile responsive, this will also ensure that you rank in the mobile SERPs.

Also read: How to Improve the WordPress Site Speed & Performance

You aren’t active on social media

Note that social media plays a big part in traffic generation besides the search engines. If you can build your presence on social media networks by growing your followers and engaging with them, then you will benefit from the large traffic generated by these networks. Facebook groups if well use can drive large traffic, I personally use them and have seen my traffic skyrocket. Find groups in your niche and join, read the rules before doing anything then engage the members by making contributions through: asking questions, commenting while dropping links from your blog where necessary  Pinterest is also another good source of traffic, try as much as possible to join group boards, this is where big traffic comes from. There are other online communities that you can join besides Facebook groups, here I would recommend you read: Content Promotional Communities.

Your Content is not of high quality

If you write posts without enough research, with little to no helpful information, then people won’t find a good reason why they should visit your site. Note that driving traffic is one thing, getting them to stay is another. Make sure your content is of high quality to keep your readers yearning for more. You can write high quality content that is optimized for the web at the same time by doing the following:

  • Using Bold and italics for emphasis
  • Including images or multimedia within your content
  • Backing up your claims with proof, links and sources
  • Using Short paragraphs
  • Using keyword tools to find highly searched phrases
  • Exploring online communities to find questions being asked in your niche

If you study your target audience carefully, you will find the right topics to write about, which will translate to more traffic to your blog.

You are using keywords that are out of scope

While writing good content is the best thing to do, there is no guarantee that you will be able to achieve high rankings. The SERPs will give the top rankings to authority websites such as Entrepreneur or Ebay. So if you are targeting highly sort keywords, there are chances that you may never come near to the top 10 ranking. To solve this, you can use targeted long-tail keywords. If your aim is building an authority site, then it will take time for you to rank but you can keep doing the right things with regard to SEO and content creation.

Related: How to increase your blog traffic and views

Your blog is not optimized for search engines

If you site is optimized for search engines, you stand a chance to benefit from free traffic coming from search. Without implementing SEO on your site, then you stand almost zero chance of appearing in the search. To optimize your site, you need to install and configure a SEO plugin like Yoast. You also need to install Google Analytics, Search Console and a XML sitemap. Google analytics allows you to track your site’s overall traffic. The search console allows you to keep track of your search presence and the XML sitemaps provide a way for Google bots to crawl your site.

Read more on SEO:

Blog traffic

You have no or poor backlinks

Note that backlinks plays a very important role when it comes to SEO and search rankings. Most web pages that rank in the top 4 SERPs usually have-quality links directing browsers to them. They also have authority, meaning that their link profile consists of dozens of backlinks from their industry’s best. If you have no links on your site, then that could be the reason you don’t have any traffic from search. You can solve this problem by simply commenting on other blogs, guest blogging while linking back to your site.

Also read: 10 Effective and Safe ways of building links on your blog

Your headlines aren’t click-worthy

The headlines are the first thing any internet user will see before they make the ultimate decision of whether to visit your site or not. If your headlines are not compelling, chances are that you won’t get many clicks. There is an easy formula you can employ for a clickable headline → number +adjective + keyword + promise 

For example: 10 Tested & Proven ways of list building that will triple the number of your subscribers.

The Bottom Line

Having a reliable traffic to your site, is not an overnight job, but it is a continuous process that requires hard work. All you need to do is learn how it is done.

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Author: John Mulindi

John writes on a variety of topics. He blogs on topics ranging from social media marketing (SMM), search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), email marketing, business, personal finance tech, entrepreneurship to personal development. In free time he likes watching football, reading, listening to music and taking nature walks.

401 thoughts on “8 Reasons your blog traffic is very low”

    1. Hi, sometimes social media networks may reduce the reach of articles but try to be creative in the way you share, to avoid repeatedly sharing same content over and over again.

  1. These are all great tips. I am currently working on improving most of them for my site. I like the idea you presented for the headline. It’s the first time I see it presented as a formula. It’s very helpful!

  2. Thank you for a very good post! I appreciate all your tips and I will definitely check myself and how I do stuff with my blog. Thank you yet again!

  3. Thanks for the tips in this very informative article, John. I learn so much from your posts. Longtail keywords and understanding how I can use these in my posts are my current focus. The printout that I made on this should help as they show me competition and trending percentages. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

  4. these are wonderful tips, I really do appericate you sharing them with us. Which I will be implementing some of these. to improve my blog traffic too.

  5. These are really helpful, thanks! I really never put much emphasis on promoting myself until recently, and even a little push now and again goes a long way to being found!

  6. Definitely a good list! I’ve been trying to apply most of these to get better traffic. I even recently got my xml sitemap up and running for Google to crawl. It’s all hard work but definitely worth it!

  7. Thanks for sharing this. You explained everything very clearly and I am now going to work on my long tailed key words. Very helpful tips.

  8. Some really good tips here. So many things to remember. At least im doing some of these. Thanks for the tips.

  9. Great post! Thank you for the tips, I have tried to use some of these methods but I do think if I got on pinterest, joined more Fb groups, made shorter posts, made my site very easy to navigate and pair it with lovely pictures, it would attract new audience! You have a great blog!

  10. I enjoyed reading your blog post. I agree I don’t like popups that block readers from reading the post. I tend to click away from the blog to find another source. I started my blog in June, and I am working on getting traffic to visit and stay on my blog.

  11. I’ve been blogging for around 5 months now and find that traffic varies. I can’t seem to break the 200 – 300 views a day bracket though, and I wonder is it to do with the fact that my blog is still so new. I am doing all the promotion, reading other peoples posts, pinterets and pinning daily, key words etc.

    1. It takes time to build a reliable traffic, I would also suggest you invest in guest blogging on other sites, this helps build backlinks to your site and drive more traffic otherwise thanks for reading.

  12. Thank you for this advice! The search engine thing you were talking about & the plugin are definitely things I’ll be looking into!!! Keep writing ?

  13. Thank you for sharing- you help guide me when I’m going in the wrong direction and cheer me on when I see I’m getting it right!

  14. A very informative post. There are many things that I did not pay attention to before reading this. Well laid article.

  15. Thanks for the great tips. I have to save this post for reference as I work to improve my blog!
    4youiwill.blog

  16. User experience is such a big one! I run into so many blogs that are over burdened by ads and other slow loading and space consuming things that just make the reading experience suck.

  17. Great tips for a successful blog! I have also noticed that if content is too slow to load, my blog loses interest.

  18. Thumbs up for this article. I think this is really helpful for us newbie bloggers. Thanks you so much for sharing!

  19. These are all great points. I try to keep all of these in mind when blogging and updating my website! -Tonya Morris

  20. I think every new blogger – and probably a lot of long-timers – should read this. There are a lot of things that will absolutely tank your traffic.

  21. This is a really useful post! I personally have found that since I have been engaged on social media, my traffic has significantly increased. Thanks for sharing xxx

  22. Some very valid advice here! I definitely find that engaging with others have helped me slowly increase the engagement that I get back! In the beginning I just wrote and hopped for the best.

  23. Great tips! After reading this article, I see that there are a few places where I need to improve so my site can rank higher on each engines. Now I w=know where to start! Thanks John.

  24. Very useful and informative post…..it will surely help many who might not be aware of the reasons why the blog is not growing at all in spite of creating great content…..thanks for sharing.

  25. I had to laugh; mainly because I totally agree with all of this and know these things are my downfall. Number one– that is me! I write a new post everyday and do very little promoting. I love writing; sharing and shouting my praises not so much. 🙂

    1. No that bad, it also depends on what your goals are: If you write as a hobby, then promotion won’t be a priority. But if your aim is to reach many people and make some money through sharing your content, then Promotion is a key factor.

  26. Great tips John. I definitely write more than I promote. Many of your tips centered on SEO. I agree– vital but people think just too confusing to try.
    Janice

    1. Hi Janice, yes I remember when I was starting out, I had no idea of SEO, I started reading blogs on SEO, and with time have come to understand what SEO is all about. I think most people don’t want to invest in time and resources to learn some of these things.

  27. So many things to think about! I know the big things for me are promoting on social media. I need to learn a lot more about that. The writing and photography come much more naturally, but marketing without feeling inauthentic is a challenge!

  28. Great insights and the tips! Thanks for sharing ♥️ ♥️ By any chance you are interested on doing collaborations, you can check out the collaborations portal of Phlanx.com and connect with amazing brands!

    Xoxo,
    Tiffany

  29. Write about topic which are trending. Now all social media platforms tell you about topics which are trending you can also use Google Trends for the same purpose.

  30. Lots of great tips! I’m pretty sure I spent 80% of my time writing and 20% promoting. LOL. The writing is a lot more fun than the promoting.

    1. Hi, It depends on your goals, if it is just a hobby and not aimed at say making money, then promotion may come second, but if you want to reach a bigger audience, and make an income from blogging then writing quality articles and promotion go hand in hand.

  31. Very good points. I’ve definitely been guilty of having an imbalance of content creation vs. content promotion. When the ideas just keep flying at you, it’s hard to stop and focus on the promotional aspects. Thanks for the great list!

  32. My blog traffic seems to be dropping off and i am struggling to figure out why. These are some great places to start looking into. Thanks!

  33. This was very informative. I just started out a few weeks ago so I’ve been trying soak up all the advice I can. I’m going to keep this post in mind as I move forward. Thank you for sharing.

  34. Awesome tips! I know I’ve been having a lot of trouble with traffic to my blog and until recently, I had been slacking on my social media posts and promotion of my blog. I will keep all of these tips in mind and hopefully I’ll gain some new readers! Keep up the great work!

  35. Hi John,
    1. Happy new year!
    2. Congratulations! Your post won the last Inspire Me Monday Linky Party of 2017. You’ll be featured on my blog this Monday.
    3. How do you do so well on Pinterest? Do you have an article with tips I can read?
    4. I am doing a post on whether people should get an SSL certificate. I see you don’t have one. May I ask why not? If I use your comments, I’ll link to you.
    Thanks and congratulations on again!
    Janice

    1. Happy new year Janice, thanks for the win, looking forward to it. I can’t say I have succeeded with pinterest yet, there still so much work to be done. My traffic from pinterest is directly proportion to the effort I put in with regard to pinning so in fact is like Facebook, the more you engage( Pin), the more you get traffic, Maybe you can read this blog for some simple tips on Pinterest: How to grow your blog with Pinterest. . One of my plans this year is to get the SSL certificate, I didn’t want to invest so much at first, but since am establishing a good audience base, it is now worthy investing more in the Blog. The best advice I read somewhere, is not to invest heavily when you are just starting out blogging, but do it gradually as you build your presence online otherwise thanks again for the win, and for visiting.

    1. Hi Sabrina, don’t worry, as you read articles like this you gain knowledge slowly and with time you master it. You can start with a simple way like exchanging links with bloggers you know in your niche.

  36. You have listed some great tips here. I especially like how you tied being active on social media to increasing viewers on your blog. I agree with you too on producing quality content and find many of my blog post ideas in social media groups where I see topics and questions repeated.

  37. Thanks! I’ve been working hard on my blog, I’ve only had it 4 months and traffic is definately better than it was 2 months ago. Don’t think I’ve figured out the whole SEO thing though.

    1. Hi Kathy, it takes time to reach there, SEO too takes time to master, I remember when I was starting, SEO seemed too complicated thing to me, but with time, I have come to understand it, thanks to Yoast Plugin and many posts that have been written on the same that really helped me.

  38. Hi Jon,

    A very nice article you just give me the reminder for my social media activity.
    Thanks for the sharing this such a good article.

    Ashutosh Singh

  39. It is a very eye opening read for me..it makes me want to re-do everything i’ve done..and I’ve been procrastinating on maximising my socia media activity..thank you for the article

  40. This was extremely useful. I need work more on my blog and your tips will help with improving it. Thank you!

  41. Writing more than promoting is definitely one of my problems. Thanks for this list–it helped me identify areas I need to start working on.

  42. Thank you for writing this. I have been trying to improve my daily/weekly/monthly views and I have managed to increase it from 500 monthly views to 1300 so far – in the past couple of months. My numbers are not high, but it makes me happy and keeps me going because know I am heading in the right direction 🙂

  43. Really good points! All of them are very important but choosing the right keywords and getting a few links from the right places do the trick most of the times. Thanks for sharing!

  44. Very nice and insightful post. although my traffic isn’t stable at the moment but am sure with time it will. i all look into some of the point you raised. am sure it will help me in getting more traffic.

  45. I can relte, I remember posting non stop and no one seeing my posts,traffic was so slow that i thought of giving up until I realized SEO alone is not enough when you have a new site.

  46. This is really helpful and a reminder that I’ve got work to do. Thankfully joining blogging groups is showing me where I’m falling short and can improve. My biggest struggle at times is consistency with content. I want to make sure what I talk about is an interesting read and providing something to think about.

  47. Awesome tips! I have implemented some of them on my blog, but I will definitely try the others! Something I do is write content more than promoting it! I certainly need to promote more and write less. What’s the point on writing so much if there’s not a lot of people readin it. Right? Great tips.

  48. Pinning this post! Very detailed and some of your tips I have not completely focused on it because I don’t completely understand it like target words.

  49. Very useful tips – thanks! Blogging is a creative outlet but if you want to make it visible to a larger audience there is so much behind the scenes that come into play.

  50. Thanks for the tips. I am just getting started in blogging, so all of the advice helps. As far as the titles are concerned, many of the SEO plugins I see recommend putting keywords in the beginning of the title if possible. Does using the number – adjective -keyword – promise, method interfere with the keywords at all?

    1. Hi Chris, thanks for the visit and taking time to make comments. Using a number doesn’t affect the keywords, since they stand on their own.

  51. Thank you so much for all these great tips! Looks like I need to get to work on building back links and optimizing for SEO. I wouldn’t know these things without your post!

  52. This article is great. Every blog should focus on design, content, and promotion in the ways you have mentioned. Thanks for sharing valuable information.

  53. Well said. I’m just getting started on the social media stuff. And this is actually where I am receiving most of my knowledge about sound blogging practices.

    Will definitely heed your advice. Thanks for sharing.

    – Oscar

  54. This list is a great reminder that it’s important to also look at the logistics of blogging and maybe even create a process sheet so that you don’t forget to do the things that you listed in the post.

    1. Hi, that is the reason, every blogger needs to create a plan. Having like a marketing strategy will guide you on the way when you are promoting your content. This will prevent you from getting lost on the way.

  55. I’ve learnt how important promotion is in the past few months. Usually, it would take me hours to write an article and I wouldn’t promote it enough. Now it can take me longer to promote than it did to write. It’s frustrating if you’re a writer, but it’s a necessary evil.

  56. Great read and very helpful. I need to work on that 80, 20 rule. Sometimes I feel like I have nothing “worth” sharing or that people might not find me interesting. It’s an inner battle too. But this was very helpful John, thank you!

  57. Awesome list! There is so much more to learn! I think I’d focus more on Social Networking and joining FB and Pinterest groups. Lately, I’ve read a lot about Pinterest traffic since it’s basically a search engine.

    1. Hi Rose, I really appreciate your visit and comments on this post. Yes, FB groups can be a good place to get big traffic if well use. Engage with members, be active, post when necessary and do everything within the group’s rules.

    1. Hi Kristen, I appreciate your comments on this post. Having an easy navigational site, makes it easy for visitors to get more information hence stay more on the site.

  58. Great post! Yes I’m working on the backlinks and SEO for my blog. Hopefully it would get me more traffic

  59. Those catchy headlines are a killer. I can easily think of a topic to write about but that title is where I always get stuck. I’ve noticed a lot of catchy ones are ones that deal with milestones or DIY projects. Thanks for sharing this.

  60. The content quality quote resonates with me John. Some bloggers focus on every strategy save the fundamental, foundation-building basis of creating helpful, thorough content that resonates with readers. Do that and you really are golden, and your traffic will steadily increase over time.

    Ryan

  61. These are all great suggestions. My biggest struggle right now is finding the time to write AND promote. It requires a lot of time. Great post, thank you!

    1. Hi, thanks for dropping by. You can start, say by facebook groups.That is where you can get traffic coming in faster, as you work on other strategies.

  62. Thanks so much for the information and following links. I’m really struggling with figuring out how to correctly promote my posts. I’m horrible at social media platforms, but hopefully this will help me get a better grasp on how to work them probably instead of getting annoyed at them and quitting. It’s been one year already so really want to get it out there now.

    1. Hi, social media communities can be a very good source of traffic, if well used. Try to join groups in your niche, read the rules and engage with the members, overtime you will see your traffic increase.

  63. I’ve learned the hard way that you should promote more than you post! I like that formula for a good title as sometimes I struggle with them.

  64. This is great! I always start with good content and then go back and work on SEO when I’m writing but the keywords seem to make everything sound unnatural. Finding a balance between SEO and writing naturally can be difficult but both are necessary.

    1. Hi Mercy, thanks for those insightful comments. Yes,finding the balance between SEO and quality content that is appealing to readers is very important because, you are writing for people not robots.

  65. Thank you for this post. I am really struggling with my blog right now and trying to read as many of these informative pieces as I can to help determine where I might be going wrong. I am on social media but trying to figure out how much I should be posting because it really doesn’t seem like I have enough true followers (not just dead numbers) to make a difference. I will try to work on making my site more user friendly but I hope that I can start seeing at least SOME positive results sometime soon because I just don’t want to start losing hope. Thank you again and sorry for dumping my innermost thoughts on you!

    1. Hi, I think for you to be successful with social media, you need to strategize. Posting directly on your social media account wall, won’t drive a reasonable traffic to your blog. Try to join Facebook groups in your niche and Pinterest Group boards, that is what drives big traffic. You can post directly on facebook group walls if they allow or use promotional threads if they are available in the groups. Also you can engage members by answering questions while linking them to your blog. I get 80 % of my traffic from facebook groups, so it is a good place to start. Also timing is very important, try to get the time when your target audience is most active, then plan to be posting around that time. I hope this helps.

    1. Hi, am really grateful for your comments. Yes blogging requires so much work from your side, keep working and success will find you on the way.

  66. Thanks for these good advises! I just started to get serious with my blog and ever since I started to engage with other I have seen more traffic. My biggest problem I think has to be quality of my language as I write in english and my SEO that I totally ignore. Once I have time to improve those two hopefully I will get even ore traffic.

    1. Hi, am grateful for your comments. You can install the WP Smush plugin, I use it on my site (wordpress), this plugin reduces the image file sizes hence improving the performance of your site which leads to a boost in SEO.

  67. Thank you for this post. I’m not sure I completely understand stand what your saying about back links.

  68. Definitely a few things here to keep an eye on when it comes to your traffic. Some of these things are obvious and well known to most bloggers, but some are easy to miss.

    1. Hi Vladimir, yes, most experienced bloggers know most of these tips and tricks, but we have a big number of new bloggers coming up everyday, that need to be educated as well.

  69. Writing good quality content is must for any blog to get huge traffic.
    Thanks for sharing these tips, John.

  70. Thanks for the post! Saving to my blogging tips board on Pinterest! I should be taking advantage of promotion more, but really lack organization skills. Yikes! I am learning though. Blogging is such a learning curve, but I love every minute of it! 🙂

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