So you keep a blog. That’s great. Get your thoughts out there.

Your well-written blog hopefully covers topics that will draw the interest of readers and intrigue and inform.

But what makes a blog SUCCESSFUL? Ah – that comes down to promotion.

You want people to actually read your blogs, which will direct traffic towards your site, to be potentially shared with others, and reach a far wider audience.

So here are some key insights to let your blog hit the popular notes it deserves:

Effective crosslinking to boost your reach

While there is usually an initial burst of interest as soon as your new post goes live, it is an error to think that this is the ONLY time your post will get traction.

Clever crosslinking, even between your own pages, will drive new traffic to your older posts while lowering your bounce rate, keeping them active and relevant for as long as you can find reasons to crosslink to them.

These are two important metrics: traffic, and reader retention.

Building Relationships – making strong connections with influencers

In itself, your blog may generate traffic and raise your Google ranking.

What can really accelerate this effect is by building promotional relationships.

An influencer in your niche – someone with a lot of draw in your area of interest – might take an interest in some of your content and want to link to it or repost it.

If they indeed are upstanding and popular influencers, by all means let them!

Indeed, spend some time working to put your posts on relevant forums in order to get this attention, or at the very least the attention of readers who might be interested in what you have to say.

Raising your SEO performance

SEO is still the best way to increase organic traffic to your blog posts.

You still get great benefit from creating content around key words that are underused yet popular in searches, as opposed to writing a piece, then wedging in key words inorganically.

Remembering to optimise your SEO with image alt-tags and meta descriptions on your website for that SEO boost.

Crafting a plan for your blog so that it works for you – getting that traffic, making those connections, increasing your influence – is the productive part of your blog.

Achieving this and turning traffic into conversations requires a website that is optimised to do so, in accordance to your needs in your industry.

This is why you need a formal website audit. Professionals can make sure you are maximizing the gains from your blog promotion strategy.