*This post is in collaboration with Ayomipo Adelakun. You can find out more in her profile below.

The major focus of an average blog is how to get blog readership. Every blogger loves to see those reads, pins and shares increasing. You have started your blog either as a business or hobby and you are itching to get it off the ground. Or you started it a couple of months ago, abandoned it due to stress or frustration and are ready to kick off again. You are at the right place.

If you are wondering how some blogs have thousands and millions of reads from a post and want the same for your blog, there are a few things you need to prioritize. Study these great tips and grow your blog’s readership from today.

5 Sure Steps to get Blog Readership and Grow your Site

1. Create Great Content

The only reason you would be able to stand out from other people writing on the same topic is if you are producing something that outshines your competition and draws people back to your site and that is Great Content. It is not about creating lots of content but lots of great content. Be strategic about your content. Your key objective is to solve people’s problems.

If you have numerous relevant and helpful posts on topics I am searching for, I’ll not only read, comment and like them, I’ll also share them with my friends who may be having the same problem. Studies show that most great contents fall either in the cool and funny or useful and educational category.

Key point: It’s better to have a few posts with great content than numerous posts with shabby content filled with fluff.

2. Work on Arresting Headlines

I am sure you have heard the popular saying that content is king. Well, your content is hardly going to get read without an arresting headline. An arresting headline seizes your reader’s attention and they’re more likely to read your content. That’s how to get blog readership.

Quick question; would you rather read a post that says

‘HOW TO SLEEP? ’

Or

’20 SIMPLE WAYS TO FALL ASLEEP AS FAST AS POSSIBLE’

The two posts are saying the same thing but the second is more captivating and prompts you to click on it even if the first may have better content.

That is the power of an arresting headline. Some bloggers spend more time working on their headlines than drafting their posts and they get those much-needed clicks. 

Key point: Great Content brings readers back. Arresting Headlines invites them in the first place.

3. Master your Keywords

Remember that great posts have helpful content. Your helpful content is hardly going to get noticed if you don’t label it as helpful. It is like selling a blue ball without writing on the package that the ball is blue. People looking for blue balls aren’t going to go opening all boxes to look for a blue ball.

It is the same thing with your post. Keywords are like labels that help search engines like Google find your post and put it before your readers. I have tried not to put the word SEO at the beginning so you don’t get discouraged. It’s quite inevitable because keywords and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) work hand in hand.

The joy of every blogger is to be considered an authority in their niche. If you rank high on Google, you are well on your way to being an authority in Google because it means your content has been considered very important and most helpful. If you are a new blogger and wondering why your post isn’t ranking on Google at all, don’t be worried, Google starts to recognize your site when you are about six months in.   

Tools like Yoast SEO, Ubersuggest and Buzzsumo help check if your post is well optimized, show you keyword ideas that are frequently searched and popular content by topic or website respectively. These tools help you know what content type is ranking high and you can leverage this to optimize your content.

The standing rule that you should follow when it comes to keywords is to never stuff. Keyword stuffing can get you in trouble. Try to enrich your post with keywords but avoid using them unreasonably.

Key point: Keywords help your readers find you and establish you as an authority in your niche.

4. Create Evergreen Content

Would you like to spend four hours working on a quality post with helpful links and eye-catching graphics only to have it expire in a couple of months?

 You should focus rather on creating timeless content. That implies content that stands the test of time.  For example, you should pick writing on natural products that help improve the skin over a company’s product that may be out of the market after a while (except it’s a sponsored post)

Creating evergreen content means that your content still has value a couple of years down the line. This improves your niche authority as well as ensures that time will not make your content irrelevant. It means your content will constantly generate an audience because people will keep searching for it. 

Key point: Evergreen content will constantly generate readers because it remains useful

5. Update your Posts Periodically

This comes in two ways for me.

Update your content on a periodic basis. Weekly, bi-weekly or monthly. Consistency and commitment are key if you want to gain a readership. If your readers know that you post on your blog every Thursday, they are likely to form a habit of coming to your blog at that time for fresh content.

Also, If you were searching for example, on the most durable hiking boots, would you check out a post written five years ago or one written last month? I will definitely check out the most recent post first. To get your blog readership, update your content to fit recent trends if any and your readers would not fail to take note of such. Your evergreen content will always rank high if it continues to be useful. This implies updating your posts when necessary.

Key point: Keep your content scheduled and updated and readers will embrace you. 

Finally, you should develop a relationship with your readers and let it reflect in your writing. Readers are more likely to connect with you that way and form an attachment with your work. Make your content easy to read and properly spaced out. The average reader feels less overwhelmed when words are spaced out.

Your content can draw readers without you seeming overbearing if you keep these tips in mind.

Ayomipo Adelakun

Ayomipo Adelakun is a web content, article and blog post writer. She loves working with small businesses to plan and create super quality content that attracts and converts their target audience. When she’s not writing, she’s trying to improve her blinding dancing moves, improving her public relation skills and researching for her personal finance blog at mimistidbits.com.