How I increased blog traffic & got the audience back in few days

written by Amila Gamage Wickramarachchi August 16, 2013

5 proven tips to increase blog traffic & get a bigger audience in few days

As some of you know, I was away from the blog for few months. When I came back to blogging, the first shocking thing I experienced was I have lost my audience and traffic. The initial posts I posted in last June didn’t receive much comments or post views. My daily page views were reduced to a numbers such as 1500-1600 views per day. The percentage of returning visitors were lower, that is because most of the subscribers and followers knew that I don’t update the blog.

I spent June & July months to increase the traffic to my food blog and to get the audience back. There are lot of tips and tricks over internet about increasing web traffic. But most importantly I wanted my audience back who engage with the post. Even a little comment from readers, followers and fellow bloggers make my day than tons of traffic.

So here are the top five tips I practiced to get my audience back together with increased blog traffic.

1. Update the blog frequently (at least once a week)

I found updating the blog frequently is more important to attract readers. If I compare a day which I posted a new content with a day without new content, always traffic is higher when there is a new post published. Last months I experimented with the posting frequency. This is because earlier I thought frequent updating can make the readers bored with the blog. But the blog data showed the increased page views and engagements with frequent posts. However I tried to change the subjects of new posts, if you have noticed; now I don’t post Sri Lankan recipes in two subsequent days.

On the other way, writing & posting frequently is not an easy task. Quality is a matter over quantity.

2. Keep visiting other blogs and give appropriate comments.

I spent some time daily to visit other blogs. (Mostly 1 hour) Always I followed the rule of not to spam their blogs with hyperlinks, this attracted more new bloggers to my blog including my fellow bloggers. I found it is interesting and engaging when I write a meaningful comment than just say yummy!

3. Participate with weekly linky parties.

Weekly link parties sent me a great traffic together with new followers. Most of the parties are hosted by a team of bloggers. So, by linking a post to one blog gives the exposure to readers of few blogs who host the party. Always numbers of post views of those linked posts are higher than a post not linked to a linky party.
However, stick to the rules of link party. Most of the blog owners require simple rules such as share the party and become a follower of their blog. That is reasonable with the effort they take to host a party every week. I use my Blog events calendarto link all the parties I participate. Therefore it is easier to find blog parties every day.

4. Share the posts in other social media sites and food galleries.

Recently I joined and started to share posts with food galleries and some social sites. Most of the food galleries such as KitchenArtistry, Finding Vegan, Foodepix ,Dishfolio sent blog traffic on my way. Comparatively I received the highest traffic from Recipe Newz, it is sad now this site is closed.

Fridgg.com is a site I found recently to share my food photos and found it is a very interesting site with many features.

From all the social media sharing, Pinterest sent me the highest amount of traffic.

5. Publish different types of posts which attract traffic from different interests.

Sometimes I feel bored with posting Sri Lankan recipes everyday. So I tried to change the subject but still within the niche of the blog. That really worked. For example, the post ‘How to clean a stainless steel kitchen sink’ attracted more traffic and that post was pinned by many readers. Other than that posts like ‘how to make Ginger Garlic paste at home’ received more views than some of recipe posts.

Above are my proven tips to increase the blog traffic and engagement. Thought this might be helpful for some of you if concern about blog growth than just posting. However I didn’t spend much time for all this. Most of the days I only spent 2 hours for the blog.(except cooking time and taking photographs )

Hope you enjoyed this post. I really love to hear your ideas and comments. Please share them.

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Amila Gamage Wickramarachchi

Amila Gamage is the founder of Sihela Consultants which she shares her services as a Contracts Engineer for construction projects.(www.sihelaconsultants.com) She also writes this food blog to share her recipes with the world.

Naan Bread on the stove top

60 comments

Priya Anandakumar August 16, 2013 - 8:26 am

Nice tips and tricks, iam very very inactive in pin interest. I actually dont know how it works. so I will start working on those grounds… Thanks for sharing…

Harini M August 16, 2013 - 12:44 pm

I second Priya Amy,even I am not sure how pinterest works :(Very very informative n thoughtful post,thx for sharing your tricks 🙂

Amila Wickramarachchi August 16, 2013 - 8:29 am

Pinterest is really addictive and even can get many creative ideas from pins…It always give exposure to my posts.Please try it

Amila Wickramarachchi August 20, 2013 - 1:39 am

Glad to hear these are helpful….Pls open a pinterest account.You will be confused in first few days,but it is a site with lot of new ideas….

Subha Subramanian August 16, 2013 - 8:26 am

Thanks for ur info…..It may be useful for me……..

Amila Wickramarachchi August 16, 2013 - 8:30 am

Glad to know that this post is helpful….

Shruti August 16, 2013 - 8:29 am

That’s really cool post, Amila 🙂 Loved reading each tagline here… A pretty helpful one!!!

Beena.stephy August 16, 2013 - 8:29 am

Good post .

Tamilarasi Sasikumar August 16, 2013 - 8:34 am

Nice Post…Thanks for sharing…

Shruti Dhingra Wahi August 16, 2013 - 8:34 am

Informative post …..
How are you Amy ??

Sebeena Loyd August 16, 2013 - 8:37 am

Amila, informative post. thanks for uploading.

Sapana Behl August 16, 2013 - 9:32 am

Great post to increase traffic !

Chitz August 16, 2013 - 9:44 am

Good one.. Like some basics bloggers shud know abt 🙂

Engineers Love Cooking August 16, 2013 - 10:15 am

Good tips to maintain the traffics.

Pooja Agrawal August 16, 2013 - 10:35 am

nice post…thanks for sharing Amilia!!

Madhavi K August 16, 2013 - 11:33 am

Great post! Appreciate u sharing these tips with the fellow bloggers. Hope u r feeling better now,

Amila Wickramarachchi August 17, 2013 - 8:29 am

glad you liked it,am better and preparing for the big day! 🙂

DivyaGCP August 16, 2013 - 1:11 pm

Very useful post. Thanks for sharing. 🙂

Meena Selvakumaran August 16, 2013 - 1:40 pm

nice post.will be very helpful

Veena Theagarajan August 16, 2013 - 2:33 pm

nice useful post

Manjula Bharath August 16, 2013 - 2:34 pm

very useful post dear 🙂 its going to be helpful for all of us 🙂

Melissa@Natural Beautisms and Flappings in Life August 16, 2013 - 3:32 pm

I try to do most of these things but yet traffic is slowly increasing. I wish I had up in the 1,000 page views.

Amila Wickramarachchi August 17, 2013 - 8:35 am

these tips are helpful in increasing traffic mainly from subscribers/followers and readers.As I know,other than that,we need to concentrate on attracting traffic from search engines.For that,need to use search friendly key words within our post etc…

Manju @ Manjus Eating Delights August 16, 2013 - 6:23 pm

Hi Amila,
A very informative post indeed. And btw, how do you check your blog stats? Any particular tool that you use?

Thanks,
Manju

Amila Wickramarachchi August 17, 2013 - 8:41 am

Hi Manju,sign in with ‘Google Analytics’,after the basic settings you will be able to see most of the data/statistics.
Other than that,in blogspot,when you click posts,you can see all your drafts,published and scheduled posts list,isnt it? in that list,you can see ‘view count’ for each post which gives some idea about the posts views.

Man Ridwan August 16, 2013 - 11:45 am

Great post, Amy Thanks for the info!

Clairejustine oxox August 16, 2013 - 8:18 pm

Great post and tips, thanks for sharing with us atwelcome to the weekend blog hop 🙂

Betty Taylor August 17, 2013 - 2:58 am

I found your post very helpful. I hope you get your blog back to where you want it soon. You post lots of great recipes.

Divya Shivaraman August 17, 2013 - 5:03 am

It is not so common with all bloggers to tell the fact or the way they were able to succeed…sharing your views and letting us select our needs is wonderful…that is a wonderful post…thanks for posting

Poornima Porchelvan August 17, 2013 - 5:30 am

Very informative. Thanks for sharing.

Shirley Tay August 17, 2013 - 7:37 am

Nice post, Amy! I haven’t seen you visiting my blog for sometime; now I know you’ve been kept busy. Happy blogging & enjoy your weekend!

Amila Wickramarachchi August 17, 2013 - 8:45 am

haha Shirley,actually I read your posts through email subscription.On the other way,was busy with arranging blog and scheduling few future posts….oh don’t want to disappear again after the delivery of baby… 🙂
Have a Great weekend!

Tami @ This Mom's Delight August 17, 2013 - 11:37 am

Visiting and commenting on other blogs not only gets you out there, reading their posts gives you inspiration for writing your own posts.

Amila Wickramarachchi August 17, 2013 - 11:49 am

yes that’s true,I always learn many new things by reading other blog posts,Thanks for sharing the idea…

Karen August 17, 2013 - 3:01 pm

Thanks for the great tips! It is thru a linky party that I found you! Karen from NourishWithKaren.com

Linda Bouffard August 17, 2013 - 9:39 pm

So happy to meet you and thanks so much for the tips. I’m always looking for ways to increase traffic to my blog.Thanks, again. Linda

Priya Suresh August 17, 2013 - 2:07 pm

Very informative post..

Sona - quick picks/pick quicks August 18, 2013 - 8:44 am

very interesting post Ami !!

Sarah-Louise Bailey August 18, 2013 - 7:38 pm

Fantastic post! I honestly have no idea how to up traffic and get people coming who enjoy my content and will return again and again so this is such an intresting post for me. I shall have to try each point slowly and see what happens for me thank you again.

Thank you for link up with the I Love My Post Blog Hop

Sarah
Life in a Break Down
xx

Maha Gadde August 19, 2013 - 12:51 am

This is really very informative n inspirative one…Even i too many thoughts but sum hw busy vth home n kids..Can u help -hw can I update my blog in reading list…even aftr updatings its still showing 4 mnthns back posts..PLZ..thank u advance..

Amila Wickramarachchi August 20, 2013 - 1:38 am

Glad to hear that this post is helpful,I will share a post on this soon…

Shannon Wijnker August 19, 2013 - 1:22 am

I like your tips 🙂 Most of this I’m doing already, but it is great to get a confirmation that what I’m doing when trying to grow my reader base, is the right way to go about it.

Cheers,
Shannon @ <a href=”http://www.mamamusing.ca>Mamamusing</a>

Amelia August 22, 2013 - 1:47 am

Hi Amila, thanks for sharing the blogging tips. Great posting. No doubt blogging do take up a lot of time but it’s sure fun and get to meet a lot of new friends. I try to maintain at least 3 to 4 postings a month cos I’m working full time. My posting take up a lot of my time too. 🙂

Have a great day ahead.

Kit Ed August 31, 2013 - 12:07 pm

Thanks for the tips. I also find that pinterest generates the highest number of hits than any other social networking site. Good to hear that you experienced the same.

Dhanish K September 7, 2013 - 2:53 pm

wonderful tips and thanks for sharing dear.

Juggling Real Food and Real Life September 26, 2013 - 4:50 pm

Great tips! Pinterest is my #1 traffic referral source. It is quite powerful. I was thrilled to find your blog and I look forward to reading more.

Smishri October 4, 2013 - 12:09 am

Loved the tips..and very helpful too..I also have a food blog will apply your tips..thanks
rgds
Smita
http://www.smishri.blogspot.com

naz khan October 13, 2013 - 7:47 am

HI, just started my blog about 4 months ago, and find your site,, Thankyou so much for the useful information..looking forward to a new post soon

naz khan October 13, 2013 - 7:48 am

Thankyou so much for the helpful information.. just started my food blog about 4 months ago.. and found this post really helpful..Naz

sakthi priya November 8, 2013 - 2:47 am

Nice guide. I use Search Engine Visibility service to increase traffic for my website. I got it from TuckTail.com Here they also provide Google keyword generator, One-click submission of your site in many search engines like Google, Yahoo!, Bing, and AOL etc… and they also provide Powerful reports that show you how to move your website up in search results.

Nithya Govind January 2, 2014 - 10:11 am

Great information for a new blogger like me…Thanks for sharing.
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Nithya Govind January 2, 2014 - 10:11 am

Great information for a new blogger like me…Thanks for sharing.
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http://nithyascorner.com

Priyanka Gajwani January 19, 2014 - 8:32 pm

Thank you Amila, I just started food blogging and these tips are really helpful, looking forward to more tips x

WildRose/SnowDrop February 2, 2014 - 6:40 pm

Thanks for sharing your tips dear!

Blossom Sanders February 7, 2014 - 3:21 am

I appreciate how straight to the point you were in conveying your information. Thanks a lot for your advice!

Blossom Sanders February 7, 2014 - 3:22 am

I appreciate how straight to the point you were in conveying your information. Thanks a lot for your advice!

nandoos Kitchen February 24, 2014 - 3:19 am

A very nice and useful post dear. As you said, I have also tried out some of these steps and have found an increase in traffic.

Sanoli Ghosh February 24, 2014 - 12:18 pm

Thanks Amy for sharing these tips, its really very useful to each of us…..:)

Subhash Mod April 14, 2014 - 4:02 am

Good suggestions for the front end of the blogging process, but promotion is still the key on the backend to driving more traffic..I think there are many other factors have come in importance when we talk about SEO to increase traffic. i think getting natural backlinks is tough so it is better not to be dependent on this. I am using some of your techniques that you mentioned above and i am getting good results too. Like i did exactly as you said and after 10 days of reading this post , i am writing here that yes!! my traffic increased. Thanks for your post.Social media is still a key and better than blog commenting.http://bestofshayari.blogspot.in/2014/03/11-inspirational-life-quotes-for.html

Anamika Jain February 26, 2015 - 2:06 am

hi
thank you for sharing nice tips and tricks I will definitely follow the tips you mention above

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How I increased blog traffic & got the audience back in few days

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