8 Effective Content Marketing Tactics to Drive More Traffic to Your Blog

Optimize Your Blog Headlines

The headlines you use for your blog posts are one of the most important elements when it comes to content marketing. Spend time crafting headlines that accurately convey what the post is about while also enticing readers to click. One helpful tool is the Write Better Headlines: Free Headline Analyzer From CoSchedule which analyzes headlines based on factors like word count, readability, and SEO. Aim for a score of 70 or higher for your headlines. Browse top magazine covers for inspiration on crafting compelling headlines.

Leverage Key SEO Strategies

To optimize your blog posts for search engine visibility, incorporate important SEO best practices. Install the popular Yoast SEO plugin to your WordPress site for automated structural analysis and keyword targeting support. Conduct keyword research using tools like BuzzSumo to discover related topics and queries your target audience is searching for. Make sure your blog post URLs, title tags, and meta descriptions include identified target keywords to boost rankings.

Monitor Competition and Industry Trends

Tools like BuzzSumo and Google Trends allow you to see what content is already performing well within your industry niche. Analyze top blogs and articles to understand what themes and formats resonate most. Stay on top of industry news and events using RSS feeds so you can create relevant, timely posts. Being in touch with industry discussions on forums and social media also provides a steady stream of potential post ideas.

Engage in Content Curation

Spending time each day curating and engaging with five to ten influential blogs in your niche through an RSS reader like Feedly is beneficial. By observing successful content marketing styles, you can incorporate similarities into your own content. Curating relevant industry posts on social platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn enables further connection with your audience and positions you as a thought leader.

Develop Reader-Centric Content

When creating content, shift focus away from arbitrary metrics like word count and towards the overall reader experience. Similar to prolific content marketer Seth Godin, craft posts with concise yet informative length tailored towards reader attention spans. Address your audience’s most prominent pain points by developing content that provides value through problem-solving information and actionable takeaways. Engage readers with content tailored to their needs and interests at each stage of the marketing funnel.

Leverage Guest Posts and Interviews

Contribute high-quality guest posts to other industry blogs and websites as a means of expanding your own brand reach and authority. This tactic also drives new traffic back to your own content. You can also conduct interviews with industry leaders, experts and influencers to develop unique, shareable long-form content for your blog. Both techniques help diversify your content library while also strengthening relationships throughout your niche.

Optimize Posts with Visual Elements

While not absolutely necessary, incorporating relevant images, charts, diagrams or videos into your blog posts increases engagement metrics like time on page and sharing. Visual elements help break up walls of text and convey information in an easy to digest format. Test different visual styles like explainer drawings, screenshots, graphs or product/service images to see what resonates most with your readers. Optimizing images with relevant alternative text is also an important accessibility and SEO best practice.

Promote Content Through Social Sharing

Once you’ve developed high-quality blog posts optimized for discovery and readability, the next critical step is promotion. Actively promote new releases through your social networks, engaging communities and email list. Pay close attention to analytics to track top performing posts and their embedded longtail keywords. Refine future content based on what topics and formats drive the most shares, links and backlinks over time. Continual promotion is key to growing organic reach and cementing your brand as an authority within your industry through information distribution.