How do you drive traffic to your blog? Everybody wants more traffic. But Michael Martine of Remarkablogger makes a really good point:
Most of us don't have a blog traffic problem. What is really going on is we are:
- Not clear on who our market is
- Not clear on what problem we solve
- Not clear on how we're unique/different/better than competitors
- Ignorant about our market's hopes and fears
- Ignorant about what motivates our market to click on a link
- Ignorant about how search engines work
He's recently published a series of five free videos called Blog Traffic Fisher. I suggest you register and get it.
His point: most of us don't have a traffic problem. We get traffic, we just don't get traffic that brings great results. What we want is new business, not bigger numbers of visitors.
Michael says what I've been saying all along, and what I explain in my Time-Saving Tips for Smart Blogging program:
You must know your business, know the problems you solve, communicate clearly, and offer help:
- A blog is a platform for communicating
- A blog is where you attract people who have problems that need solving
- A blog is where you can connect with those people
- …where you showcase your expertise
- …where you build trust with readers so that you can help them
- …where you are generous with your help and services
- …where you offer advice and free information
- …AND offer services and information products for a fee
While an understanding of search engines and how they work is important for bringing in traffic, if you haven't done the basic work of establishing clarity about your market, i.e. the target group of people who have the problems you solve, then SEO is a waste of time and money.
What do you think? Have you thought about this and how it relates to your own blog?
Recent Comments