10 Ways to Get More People to Read Your Content

You work hard to create great content — people should see it.

Content marketing creates brand loyalty by engaging current customers and attracting new ones. It gives your company a voice and positions your brand as the expert in your field. Producing great content increases sales and customer referrals and offers a strong ROI (return on investment). It’s a time-tested marketing method that consistently increases the value of your brand.

Getting eyes on your content entails using a combination of SEO (search engine optimization), content curation, social media outreach, optimizing for readability, and email marketing. All of these elements work in concert to drive your target audience to your posts.

10 ways to get more eyeballs on your posts:

1. Post good content regularly

Give visitors a reason to return to your site frequently by creating original content that people can’t easily find elsewhere. If you don’t post very often, readers may never come back again. Make your posts useful, funny, and worth reading.

2. Make your posts shareable

Merely posting content doesn’t make it shareable. It should have an eye-catching title that is relatively short, be easy to read, and contain lots of useful information. Make sure you engage and inspire your readers with videos and other visual content that makes them feel connected.

3. Use content curation tools

Content curation tools have surged in popularity the last few years. If used correctly, they open doors to new readers who you many not have been able to reach before and result in more traffic to your site. Content curation enables you to find the best content in your niche and put your own spin on it, which helps demonstrate thought leadership.

4. Accept guest posts

Guest writers can breathe new life into your blog and offer a different perspective. The authors will share their guest content with their audience as well, which generates new traffic and attracts new readers — and if they like what they see, they’ll come back for more.

5. SEO

Being on the first page of Google search results is like having the busiest store in the mall — this is where you want to be. Be sure to optimize your posts by creating rich content that contains keywords you’ve researched and found to be important to your audience. It will make a big difference in your page views.

6. Edit and proofread before you publish

It’s vital to proofread your article when you’re finished writing it. Make any necessary edits before publishing. Check to make sure all of your facts are correct, check your spelling and grammar, and make sure that the content is easy to understand. It can be difficult to proof content that you’ve authored yourself — if necessary, ask another team member to read it and offer suggestions before you post it.

7. Link building

Two types of links can help with page views:

Work a related post into the text of your article and link to it. This invites your readers to explore more of your content and see what else you have to offer, enticing them to become subscribers.
Links from other sites have the potential to improve your page views and SEO. It’s important to create high-quality content that attracts new readers who naturally want to link to your content.

8. Email marketing

Email marketing still trumps social media marketing when it comes to driving traffic. It’s easy these days to create robust email newsletters that contain excerpts of your posts and encourage people to read more content on your website. Francisco Rosales, author of the outstanding blog Socialmouths, offers some great insights into email marketing, including this article: 10 Reasons Why Email Marketing Should Be Your Absolute Priority. All of his articles are must-reads if you want to take your marketing to the next level.

9. Break up long posts

If you have a lot to say, divide your post into a 2- or 3-part series and make sure that each one stands on its own. Shorter posts hold readers’ attention much better than those that are very long. Once published, be sure to link them so that readers are able to find them all no matter which one they read first.

10. Use social media

Use social media channels to publicize your content. Post links on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram, and your other platforms — making sure to use best practices for each. Read Social Media Marketing Tips and Tricks for Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and More to learn how to leverage the latest trends.

This article by Pam Dyer was originally published on Social Media Today.