How to Get Traffic to Your Blog: 7 Great Ideas

Every lawyer with a blog wants to increase blog traffic. But when learning how to get traffic to your blog, you may see a lot of contradictory advice. One marketer may tell you to make very informative posts once or twice a week, while another recommends daily “microblogs” of a few sentences and a link or two. In truth, a lot of the specific content of your blog is completely up to you—you can increase blog traffic regardless of your blog format. In this guide, we'll look at how to get traffic to your blog no matter what topics you blog about for your law firm.

#1: Read and Comment on Other Blogs

This is a crucial component of the best strategies to increase blog traffic. However, when some firms do this, they're not really doing it well. You're not going to increase blog traffic if you're posting a generic “great post” comment on every legal blog you can find, then inserting an irrelevant link that goes to your own blog. The only blog owners that are likely to put up with these kinds of comments are new to the blogging world and aren't likely to have many readers yet.

So how to get traffic to your blog without spamming? Try becoming an actual valued contributor to other blogs, helping to inform and discuss with your comments. Don't dominate the conversation, but make sure that you're valuable to the debate. Then, post response blog entries. When considering how to get traffic to your blog, remember that no one likes to read the blog of a spammer.

#2: Network With Blog Authors

When you know that authors of legal blogs will be at conferences you're attending, you can start commenting on their blogs and contributing to increase blog traffic, then network with them at the conference later. This is a great way to get guest posting relationships (which can boost your inbound links from web pages with high PageRank values—the most coveted inbound links there are). They may also be able to help you learn how to get traffic to your blog.

This doesn't mean that you should be a pest just to increase blog traffic, or keep trying to guest post with someone who's clearly not interested. The best way to get a guest post is to earn one by having a consistently excellent blog that can be relied upon for good information on legal topics. You'll learn how to get traffic to your blog just by following the example of some of the blogs you comment on.

#3: Tweet Your Blog Entries

Lawyers so far aren't using enough Twitter to increase blog traffic. Research shows that well under half of law firms currently have a firm-wide Twitter account, even though this is one of the best ways to reach both other professionals and likely clients. Some very high power people use Twitter to increase blog traffic, and tweeting headlines for your blog entries, especially if you can find a related trending tag, can be a great answer to the question of how to get traffic to your blog. Make sure that you're also following other people and making comments on their posts that are relevant and informative. Consider answering general legal questions on your Twitter feed to increase blog traffic (although ethics rules will prohibit the giving of specific legal advice).

#4: Share Blog Entries on Facebook

Tweeting isn't the only thing you should do with new blog entries to increase blog traffic. You should also post your blog to Facebook. Don't make the mistake of just connecting Twitter to Facebook and posting updates automatically. This is a bad way to increase blog traffic because people on Facebook interact with posts in a different way. Instead, excerpt a portion of your blog entry to have appear with the link, in quotes. Then, put a “link bait” headline that draws people in—that's how to get traffic to your blog by using each social media platform wisely, and in accordance with the norms that have been set out by the community. People tend to stop following people whose Facebook feeds are simply reposts of their tweets.

#5: Consider Video Blogging With Youtube

If you're ready to really enter the technological era to increase blog traffic, why not video blog at least once a week? Video blogs appear in almost every list of how to get traffic to your blog, and there's a good reason: they bring in an audience that is poorly served by regular blog entries. Not everyone learns well from reading, and by creating videos on similar topics to the ones you're covering in your blog, you'll be able to increase blog traffic substantially.

#6: Develop Niche Audiences

There's no reason that you should learn how to get traffic to your blog by blogging about more topics. Some of the most successful legal blogs are the ones that have chosen very specific niche topics to talk about. When you pick a niche topic that is being discussed by very few other blogs, you ensure that anyone looking for information on that topic finds you quickly.

This is a great way to ensure that you can increase blog traffic. However, you may want to find intersections between your niche and other areas of the law in order to increase your broader appeal as well. Striking the right balance is a tough part of learning how to get traffic to your blog.

#7: Respond Courteously to Critique

No matter what someone says about your blog, don't angrily respond. If someone says something defamatory or hateful, feel free to moderate the offensive comment away—that's what blog ownership and comment moderation are for—but don't get into a mud wrestling match with a pig. You both get dirty, but only the pig enjoys it. Internet “trolls” aren't worth your time to get mad about.

On the other hand, if someone offers you genuine critique, even if it's posted in a harsh tone, pay attention. You might learn something that would help you increase blog traffic or even increase the overall amount of new business your firm gets. The people who are most successful at adapting to a changing world are the ones who'll listen when someone tells them that they're doing something wrong.