Getting traffic to your blog isn’t just for gaining an audience. It’s also for your SEO strategy. Without people reading your blog, the search engines may lower your ranking. There are a lot of ways to get traffic to your blog illegally, such as buying links or using sneaky redirects. You’ll be penalized when you try to get traffic in underhanded ways. Here are five effective ways to get blog traffic that won’t get you into trouble.

Connect With Other Bloggers

Partner with other bloggers to drive traffic to each other’s website. You’ll want to find ways to reach out their audience with your product or service, so you may need to be creative. Networking is one of the best ways to grow your readership.

Make Your Headlines Specific

Use keywords in your headings to let readers and search engines know what they’re going to be reading about. Most people won’t click on a headline that isn’t interesting, so be creative but avoid clickbait.

Share Your Best Links on Social Media

Engage with your audience on social media to share blogs and links. You have to find the balance between self-promotion and connecting with your audience, because you don’t want people to feel like you’re just promoting yourself.

Offer Freebies

Consumers like to get things, so find ways to offer free services, such as an Ebook or newsletter along with your blog. It can drive traffic, but make sure you’re getting quality traffic, not just quantity. The idea is to build an audience who you can convert to sales.

Go Viral

Viral marketing can be a great way to build a following quickly, but you should be prepared when you do it. Choose a great idea to grab the attention of a few influencers. Make sure your website is ready to handle the volume and to get your audience into your pipeline.