8 Things That Might Stop the Traffic on Your Blog

For every professional blogger, it's most important that users read, engage and share his content.

Sometimes blog owners decrease the traffic on their blogs by mistake – they don't reflect on the blog's name or post content with no pleasant visual aspects. If you're struggling to make your blog an online success, here are a few things that might be stopping the traffic on your blog, decreasing its chance to reach the full potential.

1.  Your Blog has a Bad Title

The blog title is crucial – it's the first thing people will see, so make sure they notice and remember it. If your blog has a long and complicated name, readers might not be interested to access it and, even if they do, they won't be able to remember it and spell it correctly. Allude to some newsworthy keywords or names, stir a bit of controversy or play off a common saying to get the attention of your readers.

2. Your Blog has a Long URL

Your blog's long URL might be standing in the way to getting more traffic. Make sure your blog has a short URL, which is easy to spell and remember – advertising a short and clear name is more efficient. It's a good idea to shorten your blog links when tweeting or sharing – you can do it using Hootsuite, Tinyurl.com or Buffer.

3. Your Blog Lacks Engaging Content

The content is blog's most valuable part, so if what you write is somewhat forced or not that original, you can count on your readers to sooner or later abandon it. Write content that is engaging and shareable – something that inspires people enough to pass the message.

4.  You Don't Include Visual Materials

Visuals are crucial when it comes to blogging, so if your blog lacks graphics or photos, you should realize that your readers are not going to have their attention captured in any way. Posts with photos are more likely to be clicked on, and the same goes for Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram. Remember to stamp your photos – you can do it with a simple stamping app and add to your visuals a crucial marketing value.

5.  Your Posts Have Bad Timing

Posting without a time order can be much less effective than blogging about things people find relevant – important dates, upcoming holidays or season changes. The media usually look for things like that on short notice and who knows, maybe they'll turn to your blog?

6.  Your Blog is not SEO-Friendly

If your blog is invisible to search engines like Google, it's practically invisible to everyone. To make your blog more SEO-friendly, add headings that are likely to be searched on Google, such as “how to...”, repeat keywords from the heading in your post and link to credible outside sources to create a high-quality content that is more likely to be prioritized by search engines.

7.  You Overuse Social Networks

When using social media to boost the traffic on your blog, you might get carried away sometimes and post things that might look suspiciously like spam, which, to be frank, everyone hates. The best strategy is to focus on one platform, instead of splitting your energy into several that aren't going to give you substantial results anyway.

8.  You Post Only About Breaking News

Posting about cutting-edge subjects is okay, but including some of the so-called “evergreen information” won't hurt your blog either. Blogs that delve into evergreen information never get outdated  and can be read, clicked and shared without any time limitation – they're always relevant.