How do I get people to read my blog?

 

I’ve been asked this question a lot. I write blog posts for all sorts of businesses, most of them simply want well-written content so that they can publish it on their blog page, thus getting loads of new traffic to their website and selling loads of stuff. Except it doesn’t really work like that.

“Tereasa”, they tell me, “The blog posts that you wrote are great. I publish them every week on my page, but then I’m not seeing any extra people visiting my website. No-one is reading them. Am I wasting my time?”

And every time I hear this, I want to wallop my head against a brick wall (not too hard, though – that would hurt).

OK, let me explain this in simple terms. Imagine you write a book. And then you put that book on your bookshelf. Is anyone going to read it? Of course not! So why do you think that publishing your blog post is any different?

Now, if that book was real, how would you get people to read it? You’d have to do 2 things – first, tell people what it’s about to get them interested, and then tell them exactly where they can find it, right? So, how do you do that in terms of your blog?

Sharing your blog posts on social media

Social media is probably one of the most effective tools for sharing blog posts – it’s simple, it’s free, and everybody uses it. But if you’re not sharing your content, or you are but are still not getting readers to your blog, then you need to do a whole lot more.

This deserves to be in capitals: SHARING THE LINK TO YOUR BLOG ONE TIME AND THEN LEAVING IT THERE IS NOT GOING TO WORK.

Right, here’s how social media really works. That thing you posted appears on the timeline of the people who are on your friends/connections/follow list. But algorithms dictate which of those people gets to see it – at the moment, that’s estimated at between 2% and 5%. So if you have 1000 people, it might only be shared to 20 people.

As well as that, it’s really unlikely that all of those 20 people will be online at the exact moment your post goes live. So it might in fact only be seen by, say 3 or 4 people. Those odds aren’t so great, are they?

To get more coverage, you need to share your content more than once – LOADS more. And believe me, you won’t be annoying people by doing that, because most of them won’t see it every time anyway.

Email

I’m going to talk about 2 separate methods here. First up, are you utilising your email signature? Honestly, think about how many emails you send every day. There’s no reason why you can’t add a text line to your signature (it’s easy to do – and actually, if you are not using this space to at least place your logo, your really should do it).

Just add the line: Have you read my latest blog? Here’s the link – www.yourname.com

You’d be surprised how many people will peek.

The second thing you really should be doing is sending out an email newsletter. This is the perfect way to get your blog posts read, because all of the people on your email mailing list already know you, and want to learn more about you.

So make sure that you’re telling them about your blog, what you’ve been blogging about, and ask their opinion on the subject. And do it regularly.

Make it good

It goes without saying, in order to get people to read your blog regularly, it needs to be well-written, interesting, and entertaining. If the content is boring, littered with spelling errors, and not well planned out, people will leave and never return.

I hope this little blog post has helped you – let me know if you try any of these tips, and how they work for you.

Are you looking for a copywriter to write blog posts for your website? Contact me for a quote.

About me

Tereasa Hedges, freelance copywriter for creatives, designers and makers.

I’m a freelance copywriter who specialises in writing content for creative people, helping you to reach larger audiences through blogging, web content, email marketing, and a little bit of social media for good measure.

Want to work with me? Contact me for a chat via shirecopywriting@outlook.com