Blog Post Traffic and How To Make It Last Longer

Blog post traffic is something that we have a tendency to take for granted. Especially when we think about the longevity of it. So, take a moment to think about how long a blog post lasts before it’s forgotten. Maybe three months? Turns out the time frame isn’t as long as you might think. Granted, the popularity of a blog post spikes right after it’s published – it isn’t too long after that, that it’s forgotten. Here’s the thing: blog posts tend to get the most impressions within the first 30 days. After that, it barely receives any traffic at all.

Now there’s no need to worry about the quality of your content. Your blog posts don’t die because they’re badly written. They are just simply forgotten. Honestly, they remain that way everytime you add new content. But there’s good news! It doesn’t have to be this way. Those blog posts can still generate more traffic. There are ways around it! So the question then becomes: how do you make it last longer? Naturally, the goal is to make sure that your blog posts continue to receive traffic. Even after that thirty-day mark. Below you’ll find four ways to do just that…

FOUR WAYS TO MAKE BLOG POST TRAFFIC LAST LONGER

1. Harness the Power – Share Multiple Times On Social Media. Of course, it’s always a good idea to share new content on social media. But there are certain exceptions to this rule. And the exception will be our golden ticket to the longevity of your posts.

We all know that you can repeat what you share across all your social media platforms. But the trick is to do it from time to time. The reasoning behind this is that not every one of your followers will be online at the exact same time. This truly applies towards your old blog posts. It’s a shame to leave them hidden beneath your new posts. Another thing to keep in mind is that you’ll get new followers over time. And those new followers might not have ever seen those older posts.

For example, you might share one of your blog posts today on Facebook and gain 1000+ followers within the next month. Now if you share the exact same post on Facebook a month later, those 1,000+ new followers will see it. This is extremely crucial when it comes to keeping the post alive after those first thirty days. So, in order to keep up the traffic, you need to share your old blog posts from time to time. At least once every month. Keep in mind that, the time period for repeated content varies from platform to platform. On Twitter, you can repeat your posts more often than on Facebook and Instagram.

2. Link Out To Related (Older) Content In Your E-letter. E-letters are important. Especially because it’s truly all yours. Unlike social media where you have to follow certain rules in order to reach your potential audience.

Now I’m not suggesting that you create a chaotic email and annoy your subscribers. It’s exactly the opposite. The goal is to use the emails to your advantage – as a way to drive traffic back to your old content. With e-letters, people have voluntarily signed up to hear from you. And surely they would love for you to provide them with your content (including the older posts).

For example, you can offer this by giving links to the older content within the email itself, or towards the end. Just make sure it’s relatable. You could even create a section within your email titled “My Latest Blog Posts” and link three older posts. This is a great way to add life to your older posts. Best of all, it doesn’t have to be JUST your newsletter. You can direct people to your best performing/helpful older posts whenever they subscribe to your email list. It could read a little something like this:

Looking for some social media tips right now – and don’t want to wait until the next email. Check out these links…

• How To Create A Social Media Calendar for Your Business
• Why You Need To Brand Your Instagram
• Identify Relevant Hashtags for Your Business

The best part is that you can direct them to any (old) post that you want. This tactic works because it directs brand new subscribers to older content that helps them get started. This gives your subscribers a headstart and also drives traffic back to your old posts. It’s a win-win.

3. Interlink Your Own Blog Posts. This is something that you can do regularly to make sure that your old posts don’t meet an early grave. It takes a little finesse and the ability to know what relevant posts to share.

Whenever you write a brand new post, you should use it to your advantage and add links to relevant older posts. Simply because quality content can always add value. Even if it was written a year ago. Just make sure the content is still current. You wouldn’t want to share something on Facebook Ads that no longer applies.

Take a moment to think about how you read articles online. Whenever you read something interesting you want to learn more about it, right? Well, the same thing goes for your readers. If you are able to get more info from the same post your reading, you won’t have to use Google. You want your audience to be able to find ALL of the info (or at least most of it) straight from your blog.

What happens is that they stick around to read more of your content. Think of it this way, interlinking makes things easier for your reader. This interlinking can occur both within the post or at the end of the posts. For example, you can give your readers the opportunity to read more posts by providing a “Related Posts” section. Or even a “You might also like this…” pop-up after each post. The purpose is to let your readers know that there’s a lot more to read on your blog.

4. Include Social Share Buttons. Up until now, all the work you did to make your blog posts live longer was performed by you. But you can also transfer some of that responsibility onto the readers themselves. Which is pretty awesome and best of all, super freakin’ simple. All you need to do is make it easy for them to share your content. This works because people love sharing things online. And if you make it easy for them, they’ll share your stuff (if they like it).

The key is to make sure that you include social share buttons with all of your blog posts. This will make it so they can share your content with one, easy click. You can include social share buttons at the top or bottom of each post. Heck, you can even use it in both places! Just make sure that they’re there. You might also want to include CoSchedule’s click to tweets within your posts to make it easier for your readers to tweet them. Another tip is to include social share buttons on your images. This makes it easier for them to share to Pinterest.

The main thing with this tactic is to not leave any stone unturned. Especially when it comes to making things easier for your readers to share your content. For the WordPress users, there are plenty of plugins that you can use. If you’re new to WordPress plugins be sure to check out our What They Are and How To Use Them post.

TIPS TO INCREASE BLOG TRAFFIC BY UPDATING OLD POSTS

The best way to increase your blog’s traffic is to update your old posts. If you’ve been blogging for awhile you probably have a ton of posts waiting to have life brought back to them. Those updates posts can draw in new visitors and boost traffic. Those 10 new visitors a day to those old post can mean a big growth for your blog. The goal is to tweak, edit or add to your existing blog posts – instead of starting from scratch. This method allows you to save time since you aren’t starting from scratch. All you’re doing is reusing your old content. Below you’ll find some tips on how to do just that…

Tips To Increase Traffic On Old Posts

• Add keywords. Keywords are incredibly important for SEO and they really do matter. A keyword is essentially the specific topic of your post. This is what people type into Google in order to find your post. Your post should mention your keyword several times within your content. Doing so will help you rank higher in search engines. Which in return, increases blog traffic. You also want to make sure that the keyword is mentioned somewhere in the title.
• Make old titles more SEO friendly. The title of your post is one of the most important parts of SEO. So, if you want to rank higher in search engines, you need to use titles that include those keywords. Your old blog posts might have titles that are cute or kitschy. Maybe these posts were written before you even knew about SEO. Now is the time to rename those old titles and make them work for you. But what’s the best way to rework these titles? Try to think of what YOU would search for in order to find your post and work it into the new title.
• Update and reuse. Maybe you have posts that never saw the light of day due to the lack of an audience. Well, it’s a lot easier to update old posts than it is to write brand new ones. If you have some good content that just didn’t get the views, it’s time to spruce them up and republish them. Just make sure to share these updated posts on all of your social media accounts. The more shares the better.
• Lengthen posts. It doesn’t hurt to add some more information to your old posts. Especially if there is more current information out there. Google loves longer, useful posts. Just make sure that you add information that is up-to-date. Maybe you talked about a plugin that is no longer active or a product that is outdated. Whatever it is, seek to add current, useful content to your old blog posts. Google really loves it when blog posts contain at least 2,000 words. This used to not be the case but is now one of the determining factors as to whether or not the blog post has quality content.
• Add images that match your branding. If you’ve had your blog for awhile, it’s likely that your style and imagery has changed a lot. Especially since you first started blogging. You probably know even more about blogging than you did back then. Like the fact that you should use vertical images instead of horizontal ones for Pinterest. The best way to update your images is to start with your most popular, older blog post. You can head over to Google Analytics to find out which posts have brought in the most traffic. Then you can edit the first 20 posts to make sure they have Pinterest-friendly images. Just make sure that these images are consistent with your current color scheme and fonts. Afterwards, you can pin the new images to your Pinterest account.

Well, there you have it. Some awesome tips to help those old blog posts thrive – even after you add new ones. Some of these tips are designed to increase blog traffic with SEO, social media and even Pinterest. The key here is to do whatever you can to improve your old content. Once you do, there are so many ways that you can use them to your advantage! You could share them in newsletters or add them to a popular posts section. What can you do this week to improve your old posts? Have you used any of these techniques before? Let us know in the comments below, so we can discuss.