Warning: Undefined variable $author_details in H:\root\home\webdesignsplus-001\www\site1\resources\wp-content\themes\clearpath_wp\functions.php on line 233
Let’s start with a clear answer: no, social media is not essential for blogging success. Social media can promote your blog and expand your reach, but it is not the only way to attract a larger audience to your website. Here’s how you can grow your blog without relying on social media.
Do you want to watch this article? Here’s the video episode:
Before we discuss organic methods for growing your blog, let’s consider the pros and cons of using social media as a promotional tool.
Pros and Cons of Social Media for Blog Promotion
Many people believe that social media is necessary for a successful blog due to several advantages. Social media platforms have large, built-in audiences. By creating and maintaining a profile, you can reach a segment of this audience, ideally one that closely matches your target audience. Social media allows you to showcase your expertise in a space filled with potential readers.
However, there are downsides to social media. It can be a significant distraction and time sink. You might log in to post or respond to a comment but end up doom-scrolling. This can make the cons quickly outweigh the pros. Another drawback is that your social media audience remains on those platforms, rather than your website. Ideally, you want your audience on your blog to maintain control over communication.
How to Grow a Blog Without Social Media
1. Make SEO a Priority
If you don’t want to use social media, focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to attract organic traffic from search engines. SEO should be your top priority for blog growth. Here’s how to do that:
Get Clear on Your Target Audience
First, you want to have a very clear picture of who exactly you are trying to reach. This helps guide your content creation and the words you use throughout your website. When your target reader reaches your site, they should know they are in the right place. Additionally, it helps search engines know when to recommend your website. Being clear on your audience not only helps you but also helps the reader and search engines.
To get clear on your target audience, create a marketing persona. A marketing persona is an outline of a fictional person that matches the reader you’re trying to attract. This forces you to think of a very detailed person you want to attract, helping you get a clear idea of who you are targeting.
Make On-Page Optimizations
To make it easier for search engines to recommend your blog articles, you want to make on-page optimizations to each post. These optimizations are essentially small tweaks that make it easier for search engines to understand what the article is about. You don’t need to do all of them, but the more you do, the easier it will be for search engines to understand the content and recommend it for the appropriate search queries.
Some of these optimizations include adding a keyword to critical page areas, adding a meta description, and creating an optimized URL. We have a full guide that outlines all of the on-page optimizations you want to make, and there’s even a cheat sheet you can download for future reference.
Add Internal Links
If you’ve looked into SEO at all, you’ve probably heard about how important links are. Links are important, especially external links from credible sources. The best links are earned organically and are extremely difficult to acquire.
There are other types of links that can help, though. Internal links are very simple, and though they are nowhere near as important as external links, they are still beneficial and worth adding. Internal links, when done correctly, help both your readers and search engines navigate your website. They make it easier to understand what content is relevant and where to go next.
Any time you create a blog post, go through the article and whenever there is text related to another post you have, create a link to the article using the most relevant text phrase. Then, go through all of your existing blogs and add links to the new article where there are relevant references. As your blog grows, this can become quite challenging. I have a shortcut in our internal linking guide. View the guide below if you want to learn more about internal linking.
Leverage Digital Marketing Coaching
Navigating SEO can be challenging, and there’s no shame in seeking expert guidance. ClearPath Online offers digital marketing coaching to provide you with personalized SEO advice tailored to your specific needs. Additionally, you’ll gain access to an interactive digital marketing planner to help you stay organized and focused between coaching sessions. This combination of expert coaching and practical planning tools ensures you can efficiently optimize your blog for better search engine performance.
2. Create an Email List
While you’re growing your audience on your blog, you want to make sure you can stay in contact with these people. Creating an email list is the best way to do this. A blog lets you talk to a group, but an email list lets you connect on a deeper, more personal level.
Most people aren’t interested in joining a newsletter. To get people on your email list, you need to have a “lead magnet.” You need to offer something of value in exchange for an email address. This can be a template, a cheat sheet, an e-book, or even an online course.
Once people join your list to get the free valuable asset, don’t stop there. Continue to offer them value. That doesn’t mean each email should have a free download, but be aware of the limited time everyone has. Make sure each email has valuable content that is worth the quick read.
3. Post Regularly
Instead of using your time and energy to create social posts, use that time to focus on your blog. Create regular blog articles so your readers and the search engines know when to check for the next new article.
You want to be consistent, which doesn’t have to be the same as frequent. Choose a frequency that you can be consistent with. Chances are it won’t be daily, and that’s okay! Weekly is a great goal to shoot for, but even that won’t work for every content creator. If monthly is the most you can commit to, then choose monthly and stick with it. You can also post every other week.
In addition to posting new articles, make sure you keep your articles updated. “Evergreen” content refers to blog articles that are long-lasting and always relevant. Those articles still need updates from time to time. Make sure your frequency allows you to create new content as well as update existing evergreen content.
When I first started my blog, I posted weekly. Since I batched my content creation, this worked well for me. After over a year of weekly posts, I started having some articles that needed updating. That is when I started struggling with my content calendar. I ended up adjusting my frequency. Instead of posting weekly, I now post every other week. I also update two articles per month. This allows me to stay consistent while also keeping my content current.
Expand Your Reach Without Social Media
The best part about using social media is that it allows you to promote your content on a platform that expands your reach. While that is useful, social media is not the only way to expand your reach.
Podcasting
One way to help your blog reach a larger audience is to start a podcast. A blog article can be repurposed as a podcast episode. Using a service such as BuzzSprout, you can upload one podcast episode and have it syndicated to over a dozen podcast providers, all with their own audience of listeners.
YouTube
Similar to podcasting, your blog articles can be repurposed as YouTube videos. As the second most used search engine, YouTube can expose your content to a broader audience.
Ads
Paying for ads is always one way to amplify your voice. Ads are not a route I use or recommend. The problem is when you stop paying for the ads, the traffic stops. It is only a short-term value. I prefer to spend my time organically growing my site. But it is worth mentioning that this is an option if you have more money than time.
Use Social Media How You Want
The big takeaway here is that you should use social media however you’d like. It isn’t a requirement, it’s an option.
It doesn’t hurt to set up profiles on various social media platforms. That way, if someone searches for you there, they can figure out where to find you. For example, you can make an Instagram profile, put your profile picture, describe what your blog is about, and then put your website URL. You don’t have to say, “Hey, I don’t use this platform, but find me here.” All of that is implied. It will be clear that you don’t regularly use the platform, but they can see that they found the right company and access your website. Essentially, you just use social media as a business card.
Another option is to use one or two social media networks, not all of them. Honestly, I always recommend this. It is too time-consuming to have a presence on every social media platform. This can also be helpful if there are one or two platforms that you enjoy using. If there’s one you really enjoy and want to have a presence there, then by all means use that one social media platform.
If you do decide to leverage social media, do it on your own terms. Post at whatever frequency works for you. Be consistent with your blog, but don’t worry about it on your social channels.
In Summary
Growing a blog without social media is entirely possible by prioritizing SEO, building an email list, and posting regularly. Additionally, expanding your reach through podcasting and YouTube. Remember, social media is an option, not a necessity, and you can use it as much or as little as you prefer to complement your other efforts.
Do you want to listen to this article? Here’s the podcast episode: