Are you stuck in the blogger merry-go-round? Are the only people reading your blog posts, other bloggers? Do you feel like if they had a choice and weren’t “forced” to reciprocate they wouldn’t read or share your post at all?
I hear ya!
I know in the beginning, it’s hard to get traffic without commenting on other blogs or participating in share threads.
But if those other bloggers are not your target audience, you are spinning your wheels.
Case in point: if you skip a day, does your traffic drop considerably? I know you want traffic but if it isn’t the right traffic, you are wasting your time.
There is a way to reach your avatar but you must be strategic. Think about long term gain. It may take you longer to get the traffic you want but in the end it will be worth it.
Stop being in a rush. Set yourself up for success by aiming for the non-bloggers in your niche.
How To Reach Your Audience Beyond Other Bloggers
1. Comment and share blogs in the same niche. You don’t have to stop participating in Facebook share threads altogether but you do have to connect with bloggers in the same niche.
By commenting on those blogs, you will be seen by the right readers.
And if that blogger reciprocates, you have the potential to reach a whole new bunch of people that don’t know you but are interested in your type of posts.
So stop thinking about it like you are supporting your competition and start thinking about it like you are building a community of like minded people.
Try to either join niche specific Facebook blogging groups or when you do participate in share threads, interact with those in your niche as much as possible.
Keep in mind that relevant, on topic comments enhance SEO. That is what will increase your search engine results and get you traffic for years to come with no more extra work or promotion from you.
Leave great comments on blogs in your same niche and I bet, some will do the same for you. And honestly, isn’t it easier to comment on a blog in the same niche? If you are struggling to leave a comment, don’t bother.
Note: Facebook will shadow ban or delete your comment links if you participate in a lot of share threads.
- Keep it to a minimum, less than 3 a day.
- Space out your link comments throughout the day. Do not do them one after the other.
- Have text before your link describing your post. Don’t just drop the link.
- Drop a different link in each thread so that you don’t get flagged as a spammer.
2. Join non-blogger Facebook Groups in your niche. No matter your niche, if you do a search on Facebook, you will find groups that are not for bloggers but discuss issues important to your niche.
And although it is probably against the rules to drop links in comment threads, there is a way to gain visibility without having to resort to that.
If you can answer someone’s question with a thoughtful comment and help them out, your profile may be enough to garner awareness of your blog. Make sure your blog is attached to your profile (set it as your employment) and is visible to the public. This can be done in the privacy settings.
People will be interested in you if you are helpful and they will click through to see what you are about.
3. Pinterest is where the non-bloggers hang out. I don’t mean to beat a dead cat, but if you are not on Pinterest, you are missing the boat.
Pinterest is filled with millions and millions of daily users that are not bloggers.
They use it just like a search engine, looking for solutions to their problems.
I see tons of pins with thousands of repins in money saving, relationships and mental health.
If you are not convinced your readers are there, do a search on Pinterest right now using one of your keywords. I bet you will find tons of pins that cover topics just like yours.
If those bloggers can use Pinterest successfully and drive oodles of traffic to their sites, so can you.
4. Use Pinterest share threads on Facebook or Tailwind Tribes to push your pins to a wider audience. If you choose to participate in Facebook Pinterest share threads, be sure to follow the same rules as above.
I personally like Tailwind Tribes better because they are specifically set up for sharing so you won’t have to worry about getting banned on Facebook or Pinterest. If you do not belong to any tribes, do a search on Tailwind for tribes in your niche and send a request to join any that fit.
Always follow the rules of the group or tribe and reciprocate accordingly. You do not want to get labelled a spammer by other participants or be removed by the group administrator.
5. Write content for your niche. Don’t fall into the trap of writing for bloggers if they are NOT your target audience!
I know it is really easy to write about blogging because you feel like you get more traffic when you do but if you want to go beyond bloggers only reading your stuff, don’t write content that only they will read.
I have 2 other blogs besides this one. One is about living with a spouse who has bipolar and the other one is about midlife women. I do not talk about blogging on those 2 blogs AT ALL.
One of those blogs is coming up to 6 million pageviews in just under 4 years!
So unless your post is directly related to your niche, example: “How blogging helped me survive my husband’s mental health issues”, stay away from blogging how to posts unless you are prepared to rebrand yourself and go the full Monty. (i.e. create courses, offer services, etc.)
Believe it or not, outside of our little blogging world, people in general, do not want to blog.
6. Focus on solving your avatar’s problems. Though you can build a blog sharing your experiences and relating to readers with similar issues, you will get more traction by framing your knowledge with lessons.
Really think about how you’ve gone from A to B. Be detailed. If you were talking to a friend, how would you help them get over or get through whatever it is that you just navigating through?
Try to write “how to” posts and always keep your reader in mind. If you write a post and can’t answer “what problem did I solve for my reader?”, go back and edit.
Then share your transformations on social media platforms like Instagram. It is meant for story telling and that goes a long way in creating connections with your audience.
No matter how small you believe you niche is, there is an audience out there waiting for you to reach them.
Millions of people read blogs everyday that don’t blog.
Most of the time, they don’t even know they are reading a “blog” or what a blog even is.
They are out there. Go beyond bloggers and you will find them.
62 comments
Interesting article! I’m sure you’re not wrong….
… but I am intrigued by your use of the word ‘avatar’ (you’ve used that word twice here). I have to admit that I don’t understand what you mean by this. To me, an ‘avatar’ is the character one plays in a role-playing game, or the image associated with a user in a forum.
Just like the image for a forum, you create an image of the person you are writing for. It helps to see them as a person and address their wants and needs. Are they male or female? How old are they? Etc. Give them a name too!
Ah, I see now. Thanks for clarifying! (It’s not a usage of the word with which I’m familiar, though.)
Holy cow, I have a lot to learn! I’m working on getting my blog set up TODAY….and trying to remember, it’s all about the baby steps.
It is! Have patience. There is definitely a learning curve.
Love this blog post. This really helpful especially when you are quite new with blogging. I myself forgot how could I attract my audience back to visit my blog, and this post just inspired me to make the most of the other social media platforms to increase my blog traffic.
Love this blog post. I need to review my strategies and who my target readers are. I agree with pinterest and facebook helping us bloggers reach a wider audience. Personally twitter, facebook and pinterest is one of my biggest driver.
Great article with excellent tips… very helpful… thanks…
Very helpful Helena. I know I don’t use Pinterest properly. I really need to spend more time sorting it all out. The majority of my readers are bloggers.
*Elena* sorry!
Very helpful article. I never thought of Pinterest as being this useful to a blogger – my impression was it was all about practical things like arts and crafts. As a fellow midlife blogger, I’ll obviously have to take another look – and at your course. Thanks!
Interesting about Pinterest being non bloggers realm. Never thought of that. Thanks for This, Elena. 🙂
Thank you Elena! This is the post I needed to read right now, I’m one who is going round in circles and have to make a couple of changes. Thank you!
An excellent, encouraging post for those of us in midlife and mental health niches!
Yes, for beginners, it is really hard to drive traffic on your blog.
However, I’m not getting any benefits from Pinterest but I am sure after some time It will work.
Thanks for sharing…
It takes a few months of good work to see results from Pinterest but it is so worth it. Thanks for reading!
How do you do that? You always seem to write the post I need to read right when I need it! Thank you.
I’m psychic! You will also meet a tall stranger in September.
Tall? Really?
And really smart.
Uh-oh. Smart too. That package might be too overwhelming. Lol
This is one of the most practical and insightful blog posts I have read recently Elena. I have become all too aware recently of the incestuous nature of blogging communities and you give great advice how to break out and focus on your target audience while maintaining healthy relationships with other bloggers
I’ve never heard it phrased that way but how true! I’m not sure why in blogging the concept of conforming and following a roadmap is so prevalent when we know uniqueness is the path to success. Thanks for reading.
I’m sure you are!
Thank you for this helpful post. I found your advice regarding Pinterest particularly informative.
As a poet, I find that fellow poets do follow my blog. These do, however also tend to be bloggers.
I do have the option to follow my blog by email prominently displayed in the hope that it will encourage non-bloggers to subscribe to my website. However the bvast majority of my readers continue to follow my site via the WordPress Reader.
All of my (most recent) books have a “Contact Me” page, which contains my blogg’s address and other social media links. I shall continue to include this information when publishing future books. I am, however unsure as to whether it encourages those who read my books to visit my website.
Kind regards, Kevin
I’m finding people moving away from email. Too much spam is getting sent and people are reluctant to give out their email. Bloggers, on the other hand, sign up in droves! Just keep working at it. You never know when you will find that one person who will share your stuff to the right audience.
Nice post, what about Instagram or Twitter, do those work?
I get thousands from Pinterest daily and maybe a handful from twitter and Instagram combined. You can see why I personally wouldn’t waste my effort there. However, it could be quite the opposite for a travel of fashion blogger.
My content is of international relations, so maybe Pinterest will be better
This is such a helpful post! Just the perception that I really needed to hear right now. Thank you!
You’re welcome!
Reblogged this on Dream Big, Dream Often.
You are so right, especially on the Pinterest thing. For a while I didn’t see traffic from Pinterest then about 3 weeks ago, Pinterest traffic began to out do Stumble Upon. This just reminds me to cultivate it even more!
That’s only the beginning! Keep going. 3 months from now, you will thank yourself.
Love reading your posts, they’re so informative and really get you thinking. Great advice that I must get on and follow.
Thank you for reading!
What an excellent piece. Thanks a million!
You’re welcome!
Excellent advice. I still haven’t got on board with Pinterest. One day I will give it some time!
Stop waiting woman! Get on it!
Also do you always have to be solving problems? Sometimes I do that but sometimes it’s just me moaning about my kids – maybe that’s why I don’t get many views! Lol
Moaning can be good if someone can relate. A blog should be a mix of all different kinds of posts. Variety is the spice of life!
This was really helpful – thank you!
You’re welcome!
Thank you so much for the wise words and advice. I’ll be following up on your suggestions and invitations!
Let me know how you make out!
I doubt any of my readers are bloggers. LOL. If they are, it is a coincidence.
I love your Instagram! I can see why everyone should follow you!
You’re instagram is fabulous! Everyone should follow you!
Thanks for the vote of confidence.
Very helpful and useful post!
Love the advice. It reminds me again that I need to dive into how to better utilize Pinterest. I know I love to pin to find ideas. Though I struggle with being on the other end of the equation.
I’m so impatient! Ha! These are great tried and true tips. I’ve gotten lots of clicks from blog comments over the years.
Adding a mailing list is one of my goals this year. Then I might be able to corral those who used to read my blog on Facebook but don’t see the posts anymore. I’ll run into to someone in Boulder and they’ll ask if I’m still blogging. GAH!
That sucks! Get on that ASAP.
I know…
Thank you for the Pinterest resources. I’m gonna make a hot cup of tea and read them all!
You’re welcome! I’ll test you later.
I love a pop quiz!!
Damn girl, you’re weird. Lol