How to Get More Blog Followers [41 Unbelievable Ways]

Are you stuck trying to get more blog followers to finally generate an income?

The thought of logging into your blog statistics every month only to see a trickle of readers can be frustrating.

I know because I have been there.

When I started my first blog over 10 years ago and published my first post all I heard were the sound of crickets.

Do you know what’s more frustrating than having no followers?

Not knowing how to get blog followers is worse.

In fact, let me know if you can relate to the following.

Working a 9-5 job is not exciting for you anymore.

You heard that blogging online can be a very rewarding experience.

After work and on weekends, you spend hours upon hours watching videos and listening to podcasts about the success stories of others like you.

Everyone seems to get lucky after they decide to take action.

If only there was a way to grow your online presence on a low budget.

In this post, you’ll learn about 40+ ways to get more readers to your blog so that you can finally generate an income online.

Disclosure: Please note that this post may contain affiliate links which means that if you buy one of my recommended products I get paid a commission for sharing the link at no additional cost to you.  I only recommend products that I have tried myself and have experienced success.

photo of a notebook next to a plate with chocolate biscuits and hot chocolate

Content Marketing Statistics

Before looking at how to get more blog followers, let us first look at content marketing statistics.

In case you didn’t know, blogging is a form of content marketing.

By understanding what others are doing in this area you’ll be better able to design and implement a strategy.

60% of smartphone users have contacted a business after engaging with a search engine result according to HubSpot.

Over 84% of organisations have a content marketing strategy in place based on a SEMRush survey.

Of those organisations who took the survey 76% of them have a content marketing team of fewer than 3 people.

Brands are using IG Stories more than ever based on a report from Top Rank Blog.

The top 3 hard skills that content marketers need to have to survive are social media, SEO and strategy.

This is based on that SEMRush survey of over 17,000 content marketing roles.

If there’s one statistic you need to keep in mind it is this one.

89% of content marketers rely on organic search as they believe it is the most effective distribution method.

As you can see there isn’t a magic pill or silver bullet that everyone is using to get results.

Knowing Your Audience

Wait! Before rushing out and creating a strategy for your content marketing or blogging plan.

The most important thing that you need to consider is your audience.

If you don’t know who they are, what are you going to say to them?

Developing a client avatar will help you create content to attract the right people.

Here are a few things you need to know about your potential followers.

  1. Age
  2. Gender
  3. Where do they live? (country, city)
  4. Do they live in a house or an apartment?
  5. Their neighbourhood, what does it look like?
  6. The kind of problems they are trying to solve personally, financially
  7. Their deepest desires and dreams for them and their family, what are they?
  8. In terms of their biggest fears, what are they? (not spiders, emotional ones?)
  9. Do you get their short-term and long-term goals?
  10. Any idea of their good and bad habits?
  11. What gets them excited?
  12. The stuff that annoys them, what are they?
  13. What are their daily, weekly, monthly or annual challenges?
  14. Outline their biggest needs?
  15. List the kind of items they spend their money on when they get paid?
  16. What type of podcasts do they listen to?
  17. Which software and/or apps do they use?
  18. Their passion projects, what are they?
  19. Where do they spend the most time online?

You may not know all the answers to these questions just yet but try to answer as many as possible.

Make Money Blogging

Once you have a better understanding of who your followers are and their challenges, it is time to figure out how you can help them.

In other words, why do you want to get more blog followers?

What value can you offer them when they visit your blog?

Yes, they can read your content but what happens next, do you have a solution for their problem?

Did you know that there are 5 ways to make money blogging?

These include:

  1. Affiliate marketing
  2. Ad networks
  3. Courses or products
  4. Services
  5. Sponsored posts

Of the 5 listed ways which one of these is included in your monetisation plan?

While this may not be something that you have thought of before.

It is important to consider it seriously because your follower wants to solve a problem.

If after reading your blog posts their problem is not resolved they will go to the next blog.

The Follower Journey

In terms of a strategy for solving their problem.

Let’s spend some time looking at the follower journey.

They come to your blog post and read your blog post.

What happens next?

Buyer Journey + Know, Like, Trust

This is where things get a little bit complicated because it depends on the price range of what you have to offer.

If the course, product or service is $47 or less then your follower can make a decision pretty much straight away.

Anything over $47 but less than $500 will need a few more touchpoints.

You may have to offer them a free checklist so that they can learn to trust you.

Other things you can do to nurture them include offering a 5-day challenge, nurturing them on an email list or getting them into a low-cost workshop.

Let’s say what you have to offer is more than $500.

A webinar funnel is best suited to help with conversions for products or courses over that price.

If you are offering a service then doing a free 15-30 consultation or discovery call will help them convert.

Create Your Conversion Path

One of the biggest mistakes I see newbies make when it comes to finding readers for their blog is they don’t have a way of converting them.

What I mean by this is that they are waiting until they get 1,000 visitors a day before monetising their blog.

Let me tell you that you’re leaving money on the table.

Remember what I mentioned previously about the follower journey?

These followers are coming to your blog because they have a problem that they need solving.

Depending on your blog your solution might be a recipe.

However, if you have a blog about decluttering and they need a step by step, comprehensive guide, have it ready for them to purchase.

Yes, I get it, you may not be technical or you don’t have a budget available to invest in expensive conversion platforms.

Sometimes all you need is a low-cost solution like Teachable or Thinkific to create a course.

You can use Easy Digital Downloads, Shopify or WooCommerce to sell your ebooks as well.

Whatever your conversion path, ensure that it is up and running before you get more blog followers.

Strategy vs Tactics

It is important to understand the difference between strategy and tactics before looking at the ways to get more blog followers.

A content strategy is an overall plan of what you will do to attract blog followers.

The strategy will include:

  • audience
  • media channels
  • creative formats
  • demographics
  • content
  • budget
  • timing

On the other hand, tactics go into detail about the approach you will take on each platform or media channel.

Here are a few examples of tactics:

  • what time of day to post
  • the best performing hashtags by content
  • how many times to post per day
  • which content performs best by the time of day
  • sending DMs or not

It is also important to have a good mix of media channels in your strategy to improve your reach and results.

In other words, have a mix of free and paid promotions to get a better return on your investment.

photo of a scrapbook labelled follow your dreams

41 Ways to Get More Blog Followers

Now that you know who your follower is, where they hang out online, where they spend their money and you have a solution with a conversion path set up.

Let’s look at how you can attract them to your blog and solution.

1. Pinterest

One of the fastest ways to get more blog followers is by pinning your blog post on Pinterest.

It is advised that you engage with the platform daily to get traction.

Using a 3rd-party application like Tailwind will help you with pinning daily. You can check out my review of the Tailwind app here.

2. Twitter

Using social media marketing is another quick way to gain traction. This can be achieved by posting content to Twitter.

Depending on your follower you may find that adding Twitter to your strategy may be worthwhile.

A great way to spy on your competition is by using TweetDeck. You can learn how to use TweetDeck here.

Twitter can also be a great place to participate in Twitter chats.

3. Instagram Feed

If your brand elements, products or services are visually appealing, consider using the Instagram feed to post 3-5 times a week.

Even if what you have to offer is not visually appealing but your followers are on IG there are other ways to get their attention.

Actionable content like quotes, short videos, tips and tricks can help you gain traction.

While using popular hashtags can be very tempting to use on your Instagram posts.

It is more important to use relevant hashtags to reach a wider audience.

Be sure to include a clickable link in your Instagram profile to a landing page in order to attract new subscribers.

There should be a clear call to action as well as the ability to collect email addresses.

4. IG Stories

Did you know that Instagram users spend 80% of their time binge-watching IG Stories?

For this reason, it is a good idea to use this media channel to get more followers.

If you find it difficult to create Instagram Stories, check out these apps that you can use to easily edit IG Stories here.

5. Instagram Reels

If you are more of a dancer or performer then you may want to consider using IG Reels.

There is a lot of contention at the moment when it comes to adding music to Reels.

However, don’t let it stop you from creating them.

6. IG Influencer Campaigns

A great way to grow your audience really quickly on Instagram is by running sponsorship campaigns.

This is achieved by finding an influencer with an audience who can benefit from your offer.

As I mentioned previously, having a mix of paid and free campaigns work really well to get a return on your investment.

Use a service like the Social BlueBook to help you find social influencers.

7. Facebook Profile

It is against Facebook’s terms of service to promote your business using your personal profile.

However, it is safe to use it to let people know about the person behind the business.

Tell stories about your successes and challenges but no links to your business in the post.

8. Facebook Business Page

As you probably already know a Facebook page is the place designated to promote your business.

While the algorithm on this section of Facebook is not great it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have a page.

I get notifications every single day of people who viewed my Facebook page that’s linked to my blog.

screenshot of FB Page Insights

9. Facebook Group

The ultimate way to grow your blog followers would be to maintain a free Facebook Group.

Compared to a personal profile or business page, growing and maintaining a group takes a lot of work.

However, it still continues to be the most lucrative way to grow your business for free on Facebook.

10. Facebook Group Threads

On the topic of Facebook groups, there are quite a number of groups that supports bloggers and they even allow you to post your latest blog post.

What is specific about threads is that there are rules involved in participating in these threads.

For example, visiting someone else’s blog for a minimum of 30 seconds could be one rule.

11. LinkedIn Posts

Promoting your blog posts on LinkedIn is probably the least favourite way to gain followers.

A better option would be to turn your blog posts into videos making them more attractive and digestible.

One awesome software that you can use to get this done is ClipScribe.

12. On-Page SEO

If you remember near the start of this resource I mentioned a very important statistic. Which is 89% of content marketers rely on organic search.

The reason for this is because search engine optimisation (SEO) has been proven time and again to get the highest conversions.

Did you know that there are close to 90,000 searches on Google every second?

This is because people use search engines to find solutions to their problems.

On-page SEO is ensuring that your blog post is friendly for search engine spiders so that it can be easily indexed.

SEO starts with good keyword research for your blog content on a consistent basis.

You can grab my SEO checklist here to help you get yours ready.

13. Off-Page SEO

As the name suggests off-page SEO involves making your posts or content attractive enough so that others may want to link to it.

Doing this is a lot more difficult compared to on-page SEO. This method is also known as back linking.

A clever way to get more links back to your blog is by creating infographics of your content.

There are three other ways to accomplish this which I will now outline.

14. Guest Posts

Writing content on other people’s blogs is called guest posting. One great benefit of this is that you get to promote yourself and your business in front of other people’s audience.

The other benefit is that you will get a do-follow backlink to your blog.

This is especially beneficial if the other person’s blog has a higher domain authority (DA) than yours and if their audience are your potential followers.

15. Sponsored Posts

In some cases, you may want to consider paying for a blog post on someone else’s blog.

This is called a sponsored post and it will be very beneficial when that blog has a much bigger audience as well as a much higher domain authority.

The only drawback of this is that the post will be marked as an advert, so the backlink will also be a no-follow link.

Google will give it a lower rating when the spiders are indexing it.

16. PR Outreach

The next free way to get your blog recognised is by doing a PR outreach campaign.

This involves getting your blog, brand or business on large publishing sites like Forbes, New York Times and HuffPost.

You can achieve this with the help of a PR company.

However, you can also reach out to journalists directly if you have an interesting story to tell.

One great benefit of doing this is that you get a high authority backlink to your blog from each post that goes live.

17. Facebook Groups (other people’s)

On the topic of other people’s audiences, another way to accomplish this is by presenting to other people’s FB groups.

There is at least one group where this is a paid service. The Women Helping Women Entrepreneurs (WHWE) Facebook group.

You join their Stand Out Online Membership Program for $97 a month and it gives you the opportunity to go live in front of 500,000 women weekly.

Also, you’ll notice in other groups people are looking for speakers to present to the members of their FB groups.

18. Facebook Ads

While on the topic of Facebook you’ll probably be aware that the main reason why the Business Pages don’t gain traction is that it is now a pay to play platform.

In other words, if you want visibility for your business you’ll need to pay for Ads.

This can work out well for you by using Facebook Ads to grow your business.

19. Promoted Pins

Pinterest also has the option for businesses to sponsor pins.

This service is called promoted pins and it can work out really well if you know how to get it done.

If your potential clients are on Pinterest then this is something for you to consider.

20. Instagram Ads

When setting up ads using the Facebook Business Manager you’ll be presented with the option to run ads on Instagram as well.

This is something to consider carefully.

You even have the option to run ads on Instagram only if that works out better for you.

21. Google Ads

One important strategy to consider when doing an SEO campaign is running it in conjunction with a paid search campaign.

The reason for this is because SEO can take 6-12 months before you start seeing results.

While you wait for organic SEO to kick in you can do a paid search campaign to capture your followers who are ready to go now.

The targeting is via keywords and the bidding mechanism is PPC or pay-per-click.

photo of a laptop next to a breakfast spread

22. YouTube Channel

Did you know that you can build the know, like and trust factor faster with video marketing?

Also, the 2nd most popular search engine after Google is YouTube. This is why you need to consider using video to reach your audience.

Simply repurpose your blog posts into videos to get more mileage from your existing content.

23. Youtube Brand Sponsorship

On the flip side of creating your own channel is the ability to sponsor content creators with an existing brand.

It means that you cut out all the leg work of creating your own channel from scratch.

Instead, you get the attractive opportunity of getting in front of your potential audience via YouTube video content.

Learn more about YouTube brand partnerships here. Also, this resource can help you understand how it works.

24. Video Ads – YouTube

Another way to get in front of your YouTube audience is by running ads on YouTube.

As you can imagine there are many different kinds of video ads available. These include:

  • Premium Buy Masthead
  • Trueview In-stream
  • Video discovery
  • Shopping In-stream
  • Bumper Ads

Let’s look at them briefly.

Premium Buy Masthead

It is a creative that is customisable and runs for 24 hours at the top of YouTube’s homepage.

You have the option to run it in your chosen market, it’s bookable by the day with great potential reach.

However, it is an expensive media buy.

Trueview In-stream

This ad type can play before, during or after an existing video.

It is only skippable after 5 seconds of play.

The bidding mechanism is cost-per-view (CPV).

Trueview video discovery

As the name suggests this ad type is displayed on the right-hand side of a YouTube search results page.

So the ads show based on the search query that was made.

Shopping – Trueview

While watching a video you might have seen a display of products on the right-hand side of the video.

These are referred to as the Trueview shopping ads.

A great option if you offer products for sale.

Bumpers Ads

Sometimes while watching a video you’ll get a notification that an ad is coming up and you don’t have the option to skip it.

These ads are called bumper ads and only last 6 seconds.

They are also non-skippable ads which makes them different from the Trueview In-stream ads.

In order to set up these ads, you’ll need to log into your Google Ads account to get started.

25. Display Ads

On the topic of the Google Ads account, another set of ads that you can access while there are display ads.

These use a platform called the Google Display Network or GDN.

The method of targeting the GDN is by audience, keywords or placement.

What makes it different from paid search is that the bidding is by CPM or cost per thousand impressions.

One other key difference is that images are mainly used to display across a potential of 2 million websites.

26. Guest Podcasting

Back to the topic of other people’s audience is the fact that you can decide to be a guest on someone’s podcast show.

Of course, it all depends on who you want as a potential follower.

To get on other people’s podcasts can be a straightforward affair. Do the research of which shows you want to be on.

Do some podcast outreach or head over to Matchmaker FM to find your perfect match.

27. Podcast Sponsorship

If you are too shy to be on a show or it doesn’t make sense then you also have the option to sponsor someone else’s show.

There is the option to approach the show directly or you can use an existing advertising platform.

Here’s a shortlist of podcast advertising platforms.

  • Podcast Addict
  • Google Ads
  • Overcast
  • Pocket Casts
  • Podbay
  • Spotify
  • Podnews

28. Udemy

Have you ever thought of creating a short course and putting it on a course marketplace?

What makes a place like Udemy different is that you can use it to build authority.

So, instead of publishing your premium or signature course here use it as a way to market your brand by publishing an entry-level course.

29. Coursera

Are you an expert, educator or professional? If yes, then you may prefer to use Coursera to launch your entry-level course.

While anyone can become a course creator on Udemy, the Coursera platform is reserved for a higher calibre individual.

Also, Coursera has Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) from well-known universities.

30. Skillshare

You may find that the Udemy platform with over 300 million students is not suitable for your type of course.

When compared with Udemy, the Skillshare platform, with 8 million students, offer courses that are more focused on creatives and entrepreneurs.

So, spend some time evaluating both before making a final choice.

31. Quora

Have you created an account on Quora yet?

One of the best ways to capture the attention of potential blog followers is just when they are asking a question.

This is exactly what the Quora platform encourages.

What’s surprising is how easy it is to gain traction when you answer questions.

screenshot of Quora Stats - 12 months branded

Find the questions with the most followers that relate to your brand and answer those questions.

32. Facebook Lives

Did you know that a great way to increase visibility on your Facebook Business Page is by doing Lives?

I ran a test last summer for 30 days and the results were very interesting.

screenshot of FB Live Reach on Biz Page - branded

I decided to go live on my Facebook Page over a 4-6 week period using SteamYard and my reach was unbelievable.

33. Collaboration

Have you ever seen the phrase ‘self-made millionaire’? Each time I see this phrase it makes me cringe because it is not possible to become successful on your own.

This is why collaborating with peers in your industry or niche makes a lot of sense.

“A rising tide moves all boats”, so when you decide to collaborate with someone else everybody wins.

34. Speaker (paid or free)

In the last 12 months, I had the opportunity to be a speaker at three different events.

Being a speaker means that you get a chance to promote your brand and business.

Your potential blog followers will become aware of the existence of your brand and how you can solve their problem.

35. Sponsor an Athlete

If your business is in the health and wellness niche a clever way to advertise your brand or business is by sponsoring an athlete.

What this does is help that athlete, the sports club and you achieve goals.

Remember your potential followers are very likely into sports themselves.

36. Host a Giveaway

Another clever way to get more blog followers is to host a giveaway.

Of course, it would be important for you to have high-quality swag or gifts that your potential followers would enjoy.

Spend some time brainstorming what you can give away as well as how often you can do this to increase your brand awareness.

37. Sponsor a Charity Event

If you are one of my regular readers you’ll know that my charitable cause is raising awareness to help reduce illiteracy among women.

No matter what charity you support it is important to think of ways that you can raise awareness of your brand through your preferred charity.

For example, breast cancer awareness month normally occurs in October.

So if this is what you support, use the month of October to sponsor events around breast cancer awareness.

38. SponsorPitch

There are a host of other opportunities where you can sponsor events and organisations.

Thanks to the folks at SponsorPitch the hassle of finding these sponsorship opportunities have been made super easy.

Just sign up to become a member and get access to all the properties looking for sponsorship.

39. Yahoo Power Listing

If you have a brand supporting a local area then you’ll be excited to know that the Yahoo Power Listing is just for you.

Basically, you have the opportunity to list your business or brand in one or several local directories.

Simply head over to this link to learn more.

40. Become a Bestselling Author

There are a ton of courses available online teaching you how to become a bestselling author using Amazon KDP.

The benefit of your book becoming a bestseller is that it will help you to build authority in your niche.

It can take between a few weeks to months to achieve this goal.

One such course is the one offered by Ana which you can find here.

41. Forums

Do you remember the days when forums were popular?

Before social media became popular one of the best places to ask questions was a forum.

While these are still thriving communities it is a good idea for you to find the ones where your potential blog followers hang out.

This way you can not only build your authority by answering their questions.

You can also use it to promote your brand or blog.

42. Lead Magnets

One bonus way to get new followers to your blog on a regular basis is by offering lead magnets.

These can be promoted on your Instagram account very beautifully to your Instagram followers.

A lead magnet can be any type of content that will encourage your follower to experience a quick win.

For example, free tools like a social media audit table, budget spreadsheet or diet tracker.

An easy way to deliver it is via your email service provider like ConvertKit.

After signing up, your blog visitors will then become blog subscribers.

43. Email Signature

Yet another free cool way to get more blog followers is by promoting your new blog post on your email signature.

Of course, having links to all your social sites included in your email signature are just as important.

This area is considered great real estate to promote your top posts and social sites.

photo of a notebook next to a plate with chocolate biscuits and hot chocolate

Summary

It is crazy to think that there are so many ways to get more blog followers yet so many newbies continue to struggle.

Yes, it does require some thinking outside of the social media box to get the word out about your blog.

However, it is very doable if you remember to create a marketing strategy.

Remember that it is important to include a mix of free and paid promotional options.

Here’s that list of those 41 ways again:

  1. Pinterest
  2. Twitter
  3. Instagram feed
  4. IG Stories
  5. Reels
  6. Influencer marketing
  7. FB Profile
  8. Business Page – FB
  9. Facebook Group
  10. FB Threads
  11. LinkedIn Post
  12. On-page SEO
  13. Off-page SEO
  14. Guest posting
  15. Sponsored posts
  16. PR Outreach
  17. Other people’s FB Groups
  18. Facebook Ads
  19. Promoted pins
  20. Instagram Ads
  21. Google Ads (paid search)
  22. YouTube Channel
  23. Brand Sponsorship (YouTube)
  24. Video Ads
  25. Display Ads
  26. Guest podcasting
  27. Podcast sponsorships
  28. Udemy
  29. Coursera
  30. Skillshare
  31. Quora
  32. Facebook lives
  33. Collaboration
  34. Speaker
  35. Sponsor an athlete
  36. Host a giveaway
  37. Charity sponsorship
  38. SponsorPitch
  39. Yahoo Power Listing
  40. Bestselling author
  41. Forums

While this list is not exhaustive, it can certainly help you to find clever ways to get more blog followers.

What has been your experience when it comes to growing your blog readers? Let me know in the comments.

Announcements

Have you subscribed to this podcast yet? If yes, did you remember to leave a 5-star review?

Your positive review of this podcast is vital to keeping it alive and running for the next 12 – 24 months so please leave a positive 5-star review for us on iTunesSpotify or any of your favourite podcast players.

Getting your first 10,000 blog followers will not happen overnight unless you use paid traffic.

The big downside of using ads is that you’ll need to have a monthly budget to keep it switched on.

I started this blog in 2017 because I had a burden on my heart to reduce women illiteracy globally.

Because this is a huge undertaking I have decided to help 1,000 women over the next 10 years to become wildly successful in their online business through simplified marketing strategies.

That way we can build a strong business network of women who can donate 1% of their profit and together we can help reduce women illiteracy worldwide.

Would you like to be part of this movement? Shoot me an email using alvern (at) successunscrambled (dot) com.

Please include attribution to SuccessUnscrambled.com with this graphic.

Get More Blog Followers Infographic

18 thoughts on “How to Get More Blog Followers [41 Unbelievable Ways]”

  1. It is always good to gain more followers. So good of you to share all these handy hints and tips, thank you x

  2. Wow such a great post with a ton of information. While some following is nice, it’s important to not lose sight of the reasons we started blogging. And realize that when people unfollow that’s ok too.

    • Di, you are right, sometimes you can get caught up by focusing on the wrong things.

  3. Thanks for yet another helpful blog post! Very detailed and comprehensive. I’m currently already monetizing my blog and social media channels with affiliate links, sponsored posts and related freelance services.

  4. Wow, that’s a lot of useful information. As someone who is still building my blog, I am happy to know that I am already using a number of these to my advantage. I appreciate that it takes time and as my blog grows I might begin to utilise more of these techniques. Thanks

  5. Driving traffic into a blog is a lot of work, really. When I started blogging in 2008, it seemed a lot easier. Nowadays, the competition for traffic is just crazy.

    I used to use write and publish, you know?

    Thanks for your tips. I learned so much.

  6. There definitely are plenty of ways to attract people to your blog, you’ve just got to be willing to put in the time and effort – which I personally have my ups and downs with! 😂The first 20 are my probably my preferred methods, and the most common ones that I hear people use as well. I’ve never even heard of a few that you mentioned on here, which is quite interesting!

    • Indya, it is probably the reason why small business owners find it difficult to generate awareness and reach for their brand.

Comments are closed.

Steal My Simple

Client Attraction Guide

Pop your details below and I'll send you 41 Proven Methods to get 1,000 leads to your offer lightning fast every month on autopilot

Find Out How I Can Help You Get More Leads to Your Offers

Skip to content