When someone subscribes to your blog, they’re essentially saying “I’m invested.” With a visible interest in your content and automated emails conveniently sent to their inbox, subscribers are apt to revisit your blog on a regular basis as new content is rolled out, as well as share articles with their colleagues or on their own social media platforms. This all goes to say that as your blog subscriber base grows (and these subscribers become your promoters), your blog traffic will naturally follow suit.
As an ongoing goal for businesses, getting more blog subscribers is a shared effort across the spectrum. While companies in the early stages of blogging are working from the ground up to get blog subscribers, well-established business blogs may encounter a plateau in numbers and be on the lookout for ways to move the needle in the right direction. Whatever the case may be, these ideas can prove to be beneficial in getting more blog subscribers and boosting blog traffic.
Every day, prospects in your target market search online for answers to their industry needs — whether it’s a lab manager who wants advice on how to maximize the life span of their freezer or a mortgage lender that wants guidance on how to optimize their infrastructure for the customer experience. While businesses may have blog content that speaks to these types of questions, if the content isn’t optimized for relevant keywords, chances are it won’t be found in search results and potential prospects will find their information (and build on those connections) elsewhere.
These missed opportunities emphasize the importance of creating SEO-driven blog content. By building blog articles around keywords that align with the questions and interests of your target audience, your blog content is more likely to rank higher in search engine results and, with this bump, drive more traffic to your website.
As one of the main communication tools for businesses, email marketing presents a unique opportunity to promote your blog on a regular basis — without it taking away from the focus of the email itself. Within your email signature (and those of your employees), add a clickable call-to-action (CTA) banner that encourages customers and prospects to subscribe and points to the blog overview page. It will be the part of the email signature that stands out the most, and in turn, has the most impact.
Another space to add blog subscription CTAs is on “thank you” pages for downloaded resources. After having already expressed interest in your eBook or guide and filling out a form to receive their free copy, it’s a natural bridge to offer them another route to gain helpful industry insights.
Circling back to the eBook example above, think about the landing page for this resource. On it, you provide insights on key points covered in the resource as well as takeaways for readers — so the expectations are clear and the individual has more incentive to download the eBook.
The same rule of thumb applies to your blog. The more detail you can provide upfront about the type of blog articles readers can expect and the frequency of email communications, the more likely they are to move forward with filling out your blog subscription form — and stay invested.
While this messaging can be integrated into your blog overview page, there’s also the option to create a new subscription landing page that offers a more comprehensive overview of the blog, what subscribers can expect and includes a form to fill out.
The benefits of guest blogging are two-fold when it comes to increasing your blog traffic. On one hand, contributing to another industry blog extends your audience reach and generates greater brand awareness. On the other hand, a link back to your blog in the author byline translates into meaningful backlinks that further boost your rankings in search engine results.
While you may already have some ideas on places to pitch your content ideas, a quick online search can help add to this list, or simply get it started. Let’s use the example of a solar panel manufacturer. By searching for “solar panels + blogs,” you can quickly find blogs relevant to the industry — and as you find promising prospects, see if they have a guest post system in place.
Blogging is an integral piece of the digital marketing puzzle. So when you can find opportunities to earn more blog subscribers and increase traffic to your blog, you’ll have more chances to connect with and help your target audience, and in doing so turn viable leads into customers.
Learn more about the ins and outs of building an effective digital marketing strategy here.
