Is your blog getting you the traffic you deserve?

When it comes to traffic, many small businesses put up a site and leave it. It takes time and energy to not only optimize a site for visitors, but also to gain traction in Google. There a many ways you can increase your traffic, often with minor tweaks to what you are already doing. Here are a few mistakes people make most with their blogs, and easy ways to fix them.

5 Mistakes That Are Costing You Blog Traffic

Mistake #1: Ignore Google Updates

Google makes changes to its algorithm all the time. It’s how it stays relevant in the world of search, and provides continual rankings for content people most want to find. Each time Google updates its algorithm – be it Panda, Penguin or such – you will either gain traffic or lose it depending on how your site is set up.

Dig Deeper: The 4 Most Important Parts To A Blog Post … And Its Probably Not What You Think

The problem arises when you don’t spend time understanding Google updates, and the update impacts you without your knowledge. Your status slides, your traffic is impacted, and you’re left wondering why. You can compensate for it in two ways. First, always write relevant content that is helpful for your readers. If you focus in on using SEO strategies to try and “beat” the system, you’ll wind up getting caught over time. Second, learn what you can about SEO and Google updates. With a simple search you can find all kinds of helpful guides that can show you how to overcome the challenges of updates.

Mistake #2: Have Bad Hosting

Who do you host with? Why did you choose that hosting company? For many they choose simply on popularity or the very low cost. You get what you pay for, and if you focus in on price rather than reliability, chances are you are paying the price over time.

Dig Deeper: Do You Write A Blog Post For The Search Engines Or Your Reader?

Traffic and load time impact how well Google ranks your site. They don’t want to give top placement to a site that takes multi-seconds to load, or in some cases may not load at all. Downtime issues are not only a bother for your clients, Google will banish you too.

Mistake #3: Your website isn’t user friendly

When was the last time you updated your site? Is it mobile friendly? Do the pages load quickly? Does the navigation make it search friendly? Some small businesses choose to get artsy and creative, trying to make sites that stand out and say wow. While a few clients may appreciate it, the majority will not. They want to get where they want to go. They want ease of use. And if they can’t pull your site up on their smartphones, or navigate through simple navigation techniques, they won’t want to stay. Google realizes this and penalizes when your site doesn’t deliver what people truly want.

Mistake #4: Keyword Mistakes

Keywords work both ways – they can work for you and they can work against you. Keyword research is essential for drilling down and focusing your site on the specific things your customers want. Yet people often become too focused on one or two keywords that are the heaviest searched terms in the industry. Long tail keywords are essential for narrowing your focus, gaining traction over the search engines overall, and finding new ways to reach out to people with very specific needs.

Mistake #5: Create More Content

Content is important. But promotion is equally important. Content alone will do little to increase your traction. If so, people would simply sit around and churn out content all the time. Instead, you should focus on who your target audience is and how you’re going to reach out to them before you ever hit publish.

Dig Deeper: Ghostwriting For Blogs

Use social media to spread your content. Create an email list that allows you to send out your message. Find blogging forums and engage and build relationships with people in your industry. Focus in on longevity, not just what you can get from this moment in time.

Are you making any of these mistakes? With just a little tweaking, you can start seeing results today.