5 Ways to Power Up Your Blog Posts for More Traffic

The truth is, it is important. But there’s a caveat.

The internet is literally full of blogs competing for attention. Millions of them, and probably at least a few hundred or more in your specific industry.

So what’s a would-be blogger to do?

In my years as a marketing professional, I’ve found that the key to boosting your blog’s organic traffic – not to mention the ROI on the time you’ve spent producing said blog – is in amplification.

What is Content Amplification?

Content amplification is the process of increasing your content’s reach across a wide audience – a much wider audience than it would normally reach on its own. The methods vary from paid promotions and link building to the simple act of sharing your blog post on social media, and everything in between.

Over the years, though, I’ve found that there are certain extra powerful (and simple!) ways to make your content work for you.

Here are my 5 top ways to power up your blog posts for more traffic and better performance.

Make Your Content Scannable

Our first content amplification technique isn’t truly an amplification technique at all.

Stick with me though, because it’s one of the best ways to amplify the performance of your blog content so once all that traffic starts to flow, you can actually get those visitors to stick around.

It’s no secret that readers prefer to skim your content before committing to giving it a full read. Nothing puts off a reader like walls and walls of text. Perhaps one of the most powerful tips in this guide is also the simplest – make your content easily scannable.

How to make your blog content easy to read:

1. Avoid large blocks of text. Taking a more conversational tone makes it easier to break up your thoughts into smaller chunks. Paragraphs of two or three sentences at the most, for example.
2. Plan your headlines carefully. Your section headings should provide a true outline of your content. A good way to test for scannability is to quickly read down your list of headings and subheadings. Do they tell a story? Paint a clear picture? If they do, congrats! Your content is one step closer to being skimmable. If not, consider breaking up your content into smaller chunks and rethinking your heading strategy.
3. Use bold text to draw attention to key concepts. This is a fantastic way to make your content more skimmable without having to restructure it completely. But use bold text sparingly! Make sure you’re only highlighting the most important sentences within each section. Choose only the sentences that add substance and clarity to the story your headlines are already trying to tell.

After breaking up your content into easier to digest chunks, writing headlines that provide critical structure to your blog post, and bolding key concepts you should be left with a blog post that tells a complete story, even if your reader chooses not to read the entire article.

Create a Summary Video

Let’s say you have a blog post that has been getting a fair amount of traffic. You know the topic resonates, but it’s just not reaching as many people as you’d like it to.

Enter the summary video. This is, quite simply, one of the most powerful ways to drive free traffic (and rankings) to your blog. And it’s SO easy.

How to create a summary video for your blog post:

1. Choose your delivery method: Decide whether to film a “talking head” style video with you in front of the camera, or a slideshow-style video. I personally find “talking head” videos filmed with my smartphone easier and quicker, but if you’re not totally comfortable speaking on camera, try making a slideshow video using a free or cheap tool like Canva or Biteable.Biteable has convenient templates already put together. All you need to do is choose your music, update the graphics and stock video, and click “download”.
2. Write your script. Take the key concepts you drew attention to while you were making your blog post more scannable, and focus on those. Shoot for about one minute. You’ll want to make sure the video can function as a standalone piece of content. In other words, if someone winds up viewing your video alone and not in conjunction with your blog post, they will still feel that it was time well spent.
3. Upload your video to YouTube. Make sure to include a detailed, keyword-rich description, hashtags, and link back to your blog post as well.
4. Embed the video on your blog post. That way, when someone winds up on your blog post, they have the option of scanning the post, reading it all the way through, OR watching your new summary video.
5. Share the video on social media. Make sure to upload the video directly to Facebook since native video tends to perform better. Share the video far and wide, making sure to link back to the original post on your website.

You guys, 95% of the time I’ve done this, the video summary has wound up in the featured videos section of Google search results. That’s some highly valuable search engine real estate.

Cross-Post to Medium

Medium is an open blogging platform that allows writers to publish on an infinite number of topics. It functions as a sort of open-source magazine where anyone can publish, but only the best content gets real attention. Because of this, this strategy should be reserved for only your most in-depth, meaningful blog posts.

First, spend some time browsing Medium for topics in your niche. This is a great way to get a sense of what will perform well. If you’ve identified a potential post of your own that looks like it belongs on Medium, get yourself a free account.

Posting on both your blog and Medium used to be a complicated process involving plugins. Now, it’s easy-peasy.

Follow the steps outlined below to use Medium’s Import Tool

1. From your Medium homepage, click your profile picture and select Stories.
2. Click “Import a story”
3. Enter the URL of the original blog post on your website.
4. Select “Import”
5. Edit your post as needed to make sure it’s formatted properly for Medium, then hit “Publish”

That’s it! You don’t have to worry about Google viewing your article posted on Medium as duplicate content because Medium automatically sets a canonical link which signals to Google that your website was the original source of the article.

Bonus Pro Tip: Sign up for Medium’s partner program. It’s free to do, and if your articles perform well, you will get paid based on how people engage with your post. Once you publish your article and review your settings, just make sure the “metered content” box is selected.

You can also have your article promoted by editors in high traffic, curated topic feeds. I’m still receiving payments for articles I published over a year ago.

Send Your Post to Your Mailing List – With Added Value!

Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to grow your brand and increase your revenue. If you haven’t started working on building an email list, then drop everything you’re doing and get to work! There are so many great, free, or low-cost tools available to help you through the process. I use ActiveCampaign, but MailChimp is one of the most widely used options out there.

If you have a list – even a small one – then this tip is for you. You’re probably already sending a regular newsletter to your list that provides links to your most recent blog posts. But let’s say you notice more of your subscribers clicking on a particular blog post – clearly, it’s resonating with them! Why not dive a little deeper and write some additional content just for your mailing list?

Newsletters are, to be honest, pretty boring. Your subscribers want to feel like they’re getting something special, so sending exclusive tips and tricks related to your blog content is a natural way to do just that.

And it also means you’re more likely to engage those subscribers and get them back over to your website. It’s a win-win.

Repurpose Blog Series Into a Gated eBook

Speaking of building a list, one of the best ways to do that is by offering a free gated resource to your website visitors in exchange for their email address.

But if writing an entire eBook seems way too complicated to you, fear not. There’s an easier path to follow for those of you just starting out into the world of inbound marketing.

If you’ve been blogging for any length of time, you probably have at least a few blog posts that complement each other. Maybe you even have a multi-part blog series you posted a few months ago.

Why not take those complementary blog posts and repackage them into a helpful piece of lead-generating gated content?

Here’s how to turn existing blog posts into a gated ebook:

1. Identify 3-4 blog posts that, when put together, give a complete overview of a topic.
2. Read through them and identify any gaps that need to be filled in. Write additional content to fill those gaps. Usually, this means writing a great intro, a conclusion, and a paragraph or two between each post to make the connection from one topic to the next.
3. Use a free tool like Canva to put your eBook into a beautifully designed PDF.
4. Add a form, popup, or link to a landing page from any posts on your blog that are related to your newly created eBook. Ask for very basic information like the reader’s first name and email address.
5. Once your reader has opted in – congratulations! They’re now a member of your list. Send them your PDF, and be sure to follow up with them regularly through newsletters and general email marketing campaigns.

Which Content Amplification Strategies will you try?

The five strategies outlined above are just a few of the many, many ways you can increase your blog content’s reach and effectiveness. Remember, starting with making your content skimmable should always be your go-to first step for better-performing blogs. After that, try one, or try them all! Don’t forget to share regularly on social media, and you’ll be primed for content marketing success!

Which amplification technique will you try first? Share some other techniques in the comments below!