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”
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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. 🙂
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.
[…] 8 Reasons Your Blog Traffic Is Very Low […]
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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
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.
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!
Hi, Thanks for reading and for the comments.
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
Hi Tiffany, thanks for the nice feedback.
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.
Yes, that is one of the best ways to come up with relevant Ideas for your blog, and which can drive traffic otherwise thanks for reading.
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.
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.
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!
Yes writing and promotion go hand in hand.
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!
Thanks for the feedback. Most welcomed.
Thanks for the tips. The article was super helpful.
Ninz
Most welcomed.
I agree with all your points here, especially writing more than promoting will see you drive less traffic. Great post!!
Stephanie
http://www.stephanievivienne.com
Hi Stephanie, welcome.
Good stuff here, I will be focusing on these points and have bookmarked your blog for the same.
Thanks very much.
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.
Thanks and all the best in your new endeavors.
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!
Hi Ashley, am glad that you found this article useful, thanks for visiting.
Lots of great tips. We’re always looking for ways to increase our traffic. I’m going to check out some of your other posts right now!
Hi, thanks for dropping by, you are most welcomed.
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
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.
Hi John,
Thanks for the article and for answering my question about the SSL certificate. Thanks as well for coming to my blog party today.
Janice
Loving this useful content! My focus is promoting this year! Thank you for sharing!
Hey Anissa, happy new year! and thanks for visiting again.
Great advice, I have to figure out the whole back links thing.
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.
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.
Hi Wendi, am grateful for your insightful comments. Welcome.
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.
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.
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
Hi Ashutosh, thanks for visiting again. Welcome.
What a marvelously informative post. It is especially helpful that you are blunt, clear and full of great tips.
Hello Dr. Elise, thanks for being a loyal reader and taking time to make comments on the post.
Love this article. Especially the part about backlinks. Very informative.
Thanks for the feedback. Welcome.
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
Most welcomed.
This was extremely useful. I need work more on my blog and your tips will help with improving it. Thank you!
Thanks for visiting.
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.
Hi Mala, thanks for visiting again. Most welcomed.
Great reminder to be more active on social media!!! Thanks so much for the tips! 🙂
Hi Jennifer, most welcomed.
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 🙂
Am glad that you found this article helpful. Thanks.
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!
Most welcomed.
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.
Thanks for dropping by.
this is very good article of blog which is very helpful to me and for others as well
Welcome again.
Loved this article. Very helpful.
Welcome.