When you finally decided to launch your blog, you bought the domain name, set up your email, got a custom template and header made, knew how much you were going to charge for ads, and even wrote a ton of posts. It’s been up for months, but your traffic is still virtually nonexistent. Every day you stare at google analytics wondering what is wrong? While it could be a multitude of many things, there are usually 2 main reasons why no one is reading your blog: 1. NO ONE KNOWS YOUR BLOG EXISTS. You did everything all of the blogging guides told you to do… except share your blog. Seriously, it’s that simple. If you don’t share your content, why or how would anybody else? Are you on any social media platforms? Did you join any blogging communities (IFB is still a good one!) Do your friends and family even know you have a blog? Do you comment on any blogs? If your answer is no, or you hem + haw with “yes, but…” then it should be no surprise that your blog’s traffic isn’t growing. This isn’t Field of Dreams (if you build it they will come), you have to actually work at blogging and gaining a readership. So many expect to have a huge following as soon as their site launches, but unless you have major connections that will help you spread the word, you will have to share your content yourself in the beginning. And Social Media is your friend, if for nothing else but sharing links to your new posts. You have to choose which platform works best for you (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest all serve different purposes) but PLEASE join a social media channel. Search out other bloggers, stylists, editors, foodies, etc anybody you like and follow them. Join in the conversation and after a while, you’ll have a pretty nifty community to engage with. Also, when commenting on other blogs, make sure it’s more than just “great post!” and twelve links to your blog. It needs to be substantive and relate to what you’re actually commenting on. Otherwise, people will scroll right over it, and/or the blogger might delete it. 2. YOU DON’T POST CONSISTENTLY There’s nothing worse than discovering a really cool blog that hasn’t been updated in 6 months. While you’re “taking a break”, Google is skipping over your site because it has nothing new to search. Or, you’re still active on Social Media, but may have stopped blogging to focus on something else for a while, but you didn’t leave a notice, so readers have no reason to come back (or to follow you elsewhere in the interim). Finding the time to blog is hard. Some people are able to update their blog multiple times a day. Others can only post once a week. You have to do what fits your schedule, but there has to be a schedule. There are tips + tools to help you if you want to increase your posting schedule but you have to actually create content for people to read and keep coming back to. There’s no way around it. The more you blog, the more your site is indexed, the more it will come up in search engine results, the more people will click the link and read it and so on. Again, there are other factors that could cause people not to visit your site, but when I’ve had conversations with bloggers about gaining traffic, it’s usually these 2 things that are causing it to be at a standstill. If you make some changes to your sharing and posting habits, I can guarantee your readership will begin to grow. But you have to actually work to grow it! Brands to Know | Question the Answer Links à la Mode: The IFB (@_IFB) Weekly Roundup | July 10th