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.
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:
- 18 Free ways to promote your blog
- How to drive free traffic to your blog
- How to improve the Readership of your blog
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.
Recommended Articles & Resources:
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:
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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.
Related articles:
- Content Marketing Mistakes you should avoid as a blogger
- 9 Creative Marketing Strategies you can’t live without as a Blogger
- 7 Blogging Tools that every Professional Blogger needs
- 12 Content marketing tools for Bloggers
Comments
401 responses to “8 Reasons your Blog Traffic is very Low and How to Fix it”
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
Welcome.
Thanks for these wonderful tips. I really need to start promoting my posts more. I should also look into affiliate links and networks. Thanks again!
Valerie | avecvalerie.com
Welcome.
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.
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.
I love your formula for a clickable headline! I will definitely utilize that from now on 🙂
Hi Nicole, grateful for visiting again. Yes, you can always try out some of these tips, and see the results.
I will keep this for future reads! Thank you for sharing these tips and tricks with us
Welcome.
Awesome tips. I’d never even heard of xml sitemap. Gonna check that out. Saved this post to refer back to as well. Thanks!
Welcome.
[…] 8 Reasons your blog traffic is very low and how to fix it […]
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.
Hi Leanne, yes, promotional is the most challenging part of blogging you can’t avoid it if you want to succeed as a blogger.
Some food for thought, thanks for the tips
Welcome.
Awesome thanks for sharing. Blogging is just more than writing! There is some PR work to it and maintainance too,
Yes, writing quality content is important, but getting it noticed by the right audience is the key to successful blogging.
So true John.
This information will make a fine addition to my collection. Thanks for sharing!
Welcome.
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!
Hi Ashley, am grateful for your comments on this post. Welcome.
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.
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.
Couldn’t agree more on a user friendly website! I can’t tell you how many blogs I’ve skipped over because the font was hard to read!
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.
Hi John! Thanks for sharing these helpful tips. My audience at http://littlefoolbook.com has been steadily growing over time, but I look forward to putting some of your suggestions to work and seeing if I can increase traffic at a greater rate. Thanks again!
Hi Reanne, thanks for dropping by and for your comments.
Great tips, thanks for sharing..
Welcome.
Great post! Yes I’m working on the backlinks and SEO for my blog. Hopefully it would get me more traffic
Hi, thanks for your comments. Keep working, but it takes time to start seeing reasonable results.
This is great, so helpful. You are so knowledgable!
jenny | http://www.jennyrosee.com
Hi Jennyrose, am grateful for your comments. Welcome again.
I am taking note of everyone of these recommendations. They are gold. Thanks so much ♥
Hi, welcome.
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.
Yes, Catchy headlines is the key to attracting more traffic. If you get them right, you are one start ahead.
Super helpful tips here! So important for new bloggers or for bloggers struggling with their traffic, like myself.
Hi Sarah, thanks for passing by again and for the comments.
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
Hi Ryan, thanks for those insightful comments.
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!
Hi Darlingceo. thanks for dropping by. With good planning, you can get time when to write and also promote your articles.
I’m guilty of some of these and will set to right them as truly been having low traffic. Terrific tips!
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.
Gotcha!
A highly informative blog, indeed promoting your blog on social media is’nt an easy task. A lot takes to do so. Thoroughly a good read.
Hi, thanks for dropping by and for your comments on this post.
Great tips! Very helpful thanks!
Welcome.
This post was very informative and helpful. I will be reading the ones reccomneded in this post as well.
Hi Megan, thanks for those great comments. welcome again.
Great info. As a new blogger, I’m finding it hard to not write all the time, but it’s obviously not working for my traffic.
Hi Darlene, provided you write quality content and promote it adequately, then traffic will definitely increase. So don’t give up.
Thanks! Great tip!
Welcome again.
Great post. I think I should focus more on pinterest. I know it’s amazing to drive traffic
Yes, Pinterest can be a good source of traffic, but it requires much more effort to achieve this.
Truly said
Thanks for dropping by.
[…] 8 REASONS YOUR BLOG TRAFFIC IS VERY LOW […]
Great tips!
Welcome.
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.
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.
Great blog entry. I think I need to be more patient! Im doing most f the things you mentioned but Im impatient to get good traffic! Have to remind myself Im only 7 days in! http://www.theglobetrottergp.com
Thanks
Hi, traffic building takes time. Keep working on it, and soon you will see the traffic to your blog increase.