Getting targeted, ready-for-action blog traffic is the goal of any serious blogger. As you create your SEO checklist, keep these tips at the back of your mind

Focused content = ideal blog traffic

Used to be that you would aim for all the traffic you could get and  hope for the best. Those catch-all days are over. In focusing your content, both blogger and visitor benefit. The blog gets more visitors who want what it has to offer while the visitor gets the information or products s/he needs. Classic win/win

Use multiple keyword phrases

Finding relevant, low competition keywords and crafting your content around those words and phrases is a basic tenet of SEO. However, what you want to do is to use between 2-5 keywords in your posts: One main keyword and the rest are used to create more relevance to help that stoke slow, organic internet traffic growth.

One more quick tip about keywords, make sure that you use your main keyword/phrase in the first paragraph of your post.

Limit your page length

I have a tendency to write novellas and have no problem doing posts that are easily 750+ words so keeping my content between 300 and 600 words is a big challenge.

So why that particular range?

As a general rule, most if not all search engines favor posts that are at least 300 – 350 words. Posts that are longer with a lot of information and research behind them can usually be broken up into a series of  posts. Not only does it take the pressure off the writer but it builds anticipation with the readers. Now, does that mean I will never write another 750+ word post again? Nope. You’ve been warned

Think bite-sized

Even when my posts are longer, I make sure to break up my content into bite-sized chunks. I have read blog posts that were long (but very good) and they felt long because of those dense blocks of text that I had to wade through.

Check out the competition

Yes, they are the ones with the the ever increasing blog traffic and healthy commission/sales checks that you may want. So why not learn from them? Check out their posts, keywords, to learn more about getting the internet traffic you want for your blog.

It’s not just about Google traffic

Having top rank in Google search is blog traffic mecca. But lately, Google has had some tarnish on its armor because of frequent algorithm parameter updates, aka Panda and Penguin, that have negatively impacted some bloggers. As a result of the discord, Bing has managed to chip away traffic share and is about 10%  of internet traffic. While they are nowhere near powerhouse status, they’re not to be ignored, especially since their adoption of social media context as a search ranking tool has Google on the defensive.

Link popularity and titles help increase blog traffic

Creating internal and external links is great but make sure those links are relevant. Yes, Google algorithms change frequently and those with irrelevant links get penalized or worse. And, yes, Bing seems to pay particular attention to that title tag. But more importantly, if you want to get a meaningful blog traffic increase from  targeted visitors ready to take action, you need to make sure it’s all ties together nicely.

Bonus blog traffic tips

• Check out Bing’s Webmaster Tools. It’s not Google but it can provide you with useful stats.
• Remember to read your post out loud to make sure it sounds natural and not stilted or contrived.
• There are hundreds of ticks to check off when it comes to SEO so make sure you get a good handle of the basics and stay with them.
• Every month there are at least 20% brand new, never-before-seen long tail keywords. This is a great opportunity to use  Google, Bing and other keyword tools to help you find and use them.
• Yahoo! Answers and BizSugar are two “underground” sources of blog traffic. With Yahoo! Answers you can find your niche topic, leave meaningful answers to posted questions and leave links to your site for people to follow! BizSugar is similar to Reddit but more focused on helping small businesses. It’s gaining in popularity so check it out.
• Reinvent your content by posting a video on YouTube or creating a Squidoo Lens

If you have any other blog traffic tips that have worked wonders for you, feel free to share below