No matter how amazing your blog content is, if there’s no one stopping by to read and share it, you won’t get much traffic. The idea is to create content that people want to share. Each time they find your post via Google or Pinterest, they want to make sure their friends read it too. They feel that everyone should see what you have put out there. That’s your goal – crafting blog posts that everyone can benefit from.
Read on for tips to get your reader to share your blog posts, to get more traffic to your content.
- Write engaging content.
In order to get more shares on your posts, they need to be informative, amazing, funny, or a combination of these three. People share content that resonates with them and their lives in some way. A delicious recipe, a collection of memes, or a helpful tutorial for a craft or DIY project are all great types of posts that tend to be shared.
- Be thorough in your posts.
You won’t get many shares on a post that leaves your reader scratching their heads. Longer posts that fully explain the topic tend to get more shares than thinner content. This may mean you need to spend extra time crafting a 2,000-word blog post over a leaner 500 word one, but the amount of shares you will get on the meaty post will be worth it.
- Include social share icons.
You want to make it incredibly easy for your readers to share your blog posts. Use a social share plugin that will place buttons at the top and bottom of each blog post. When clicked, your reader will easily be able to tweet, share on Facebook, or pin your content. Shareaholic and Social Warfare are two examples of great social share plugins.
- Ask them to share.
In your call to action, request that your reader share the blog post if they enjoyed reading it. Sometimes, just adding this to the bottom of each post will result in more shares. Visitors need to be told the next step to take. If you want more shares, ask for them!
- Add shareworthy images.
Sometimes, it’s the visual aspects of a blog post that make your readers want to share it on social media. Make sure you are using images that will look great once shared to Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
A long image works best for Pinterest, while a horizontal rectangular image is better for the other networks. These images should have a headline stating what the blog post is about, to encourage shares as well as clicks.
- Publish your posts during the week.
You may notice that people aren’t around as much to share content you have published on Saturday or Sunday. Many readers sign off from their computers on Friday and may not return until Monday morning. Schedule your blog posts to go live Monday through Friday, so your readers aren’t missing out on content they can share.
Getting more shares on your blog posts isn’t a difficult task. Above all, make it easy for your reader to share your content – and create posts they are dying for others to read too!
