Updated March 5, 2019
As a blogger, one of my goals is to get the people who visit my site to stay on my blog and share my content. Visitors who come to one page via a Google search or a Pinterest pin are more likely to click away after finding what they needed.
We all want more pageviews, a lower bounce rate (the percentage of people who visit one page and click away), a longer time on your site, and we want these readers to share our content. There are some simple things that you can do right now to start encouraging your blog visitors to click and share!
Have posts excerpts on your homepage.
Some may disagree with this method, but I actually really love post excerpts. It gives me a chance to see recent blog posts at a glance so I can decide on where I want to go next, instead of having to scroll through 5+ full blog posts on the main page. It can be cumbersome when posts are photo heavy… that’s a lot of scrolling! This also helps with pageviews, because readers have to click in order to see the entire post. They’re clicking to two different pages, so that lowers your bounce rate as well. If you’re on the fence about this, you can set your blog up to show the latest blog post in full and then excerpts afterward. I had my blog set up like that for a while but ultimately decided on excerpts because it made my blog look and feel cleaner.
Backlink as much as possible.
Our goal is to get our visitors to click around and stick around, right? If they land on one specific blog post, we want to try as much as we can for them to stay and click around. Link to as many relevant posts as you can. Link your social media accounts, if it makes sense. I don’t know about you, but anytime a blogger links to a bunch of other posts, I get curious and definitely click around. I’ve also noticed that my readers do the same when I backlink. Maybe they enjoy my blog tips posts, too? I’m thinking that’s a yes. Ah, ya see what I did there, ehhhhhh????
Suggest relevant content with your related posts widget
This is really easy to set up. You can use LinkWithin if you’re on Blogger, and if you’re on WordPress, I highly recommend the Related Posts by Zemanta plugin. It lets you decide which posts you want to show, instead of randomly selecting posts that it thinks is similar content. I love this plugin! I actually get more clicks on related posts than I thought I would.
Have share buttons on every post
This kind of seems like a no-brainer, but I can’t tell you how many blogs I come across that don’t have share buttons. Yeah, I know I can click over to Twitter/Facebook and share myself, but it’s more convenient when the share buttons are already in the blog posts. I like the Shareaholic plugin for my buttons, but honestly anything will do!
Encourage your readers to share or pin
Sometimes I ask my readers to share my blog posts or pin them to Pinterest. It’s amazing how many people actually will. I will also encourage on social media, as well. As a side note, it’s good practice to share lots of content that is not yours, because it will come back to you.
Put links to popular posts in the sidebar
If first time visitors become interested in your blog and want to read more, a surefire way to get their attention is to put some links to popular posts in your sidebar. This can be a mixture of actual popular posts, and posts you are really proud of.
Let me take my own advice. If you liked this post, would you pin it for me? Thank you so much, friend!
Tiffany @ A Touch of Grace says
Awesome tips lady! I need to do a better job back linking and customizing my related posts. Getting that bounce rate down is so important.
Meg O. says
Thank you love! You will love that Zemanta plugin for related posts… it’s so good!
observantturtle says
Great tips as always! And now I am going to *Share* it! 😉
Meg O. says
And this is why I love you. (AND MISS YOU.)
Courtney says
Pinning and saving to re-read again and again! Great tips, Meg!
Meg O. says
Aww yay! Thank you so much!! 🙂 That means a lot to me!
therachaelway says
One thing that’s really helpful to me is if I’ve worked really hard on a post I will ask my readers to pin it!!!
Meg O. says
Yes! It’s amazing how many people will actually pin when you ask! 🙂
Kim says
Oh I have so much work to do! Great post!
Meg O. says
Glad you found it helpful! Thank you so much for your comment!!
brittanyashmore says
Fab tips my friend! You know I always be sharin yo stuff! bahaha
Jenn says
Thank you so much for the tips! I feel like I am literally having a blogging crisis and want to do things differently. Adding a little feature is so helpful!! 🙂
mylifewellloved205 says
Cute pic of you, friend! 🙂 I’ll have to read through your tips on other posts!
Chasity @ Haute Mommy Blog says
Great advice and tips. Pinned for you, friend!
Stacey Loring says
I couldn’t agree more with you regarding post previews. My blog is set up in magazine style so my reader can pick and chose what content they want to see. Since I changed to this new layout, my bounce rate is in the low 40’s, where it was in the mid 70’s and my page views have tripled. You offer extremely awesome advice in this post, and I hope all your readers listen
adlibmom says
These are great. I took note and will be making some changes! Thank you
Brittany says
Great post on generating traffic to a blog. I have noticed a drop in bounce rate by adding popular and recent post I the sidebar. Also a revelent post widget is a excellent idea. I love add to this any share buttons plugin on wordpess.
Sushmita Padhi says
Great post Meg! I launched my blog a few weeks ago and I am so glad I came across this article. It will be a lot of help. I have pinned this and I will keep coming back to read this again and again.