How to Grow Your Blog Over the Summer (5 Practical Tips)

It feels like winter just ended, yet, summer is right around the corner!

For many business owners and marketers, summer is the best time to connect with prospects and generate leads. More eyes on your content in the summer means more opportunities to boost sales and engagement at the end of the year when Black Friday and New Year's sales are the focal points of every brand imaginable.

Blogging is a fantastic way to build rapport with your audience and offer value, even if they are not ready to pull out their debit card. You can use your blog to captivate new visitors, grow your email list, and much more.

Let's explore a few eye-opening blogging statistics so you can see how content marketing impacts businesses across all industries.

• Companies that publish 16 or more monthly posts see 3.5x more traffic than blogs with 0-4 new posts.
• Research shows that when marketers blog consistently, they are 13x more likely to see a boost in revenue and engagement.
• 60% of marketers report that content marketing dramatically improves demand and leads.

Now that you know how blogging can contribute to growth, let's look at several practical tips that will help you enhance your content marketing strategy this summer.

Focus on Adding Value for Readers

The most important thing to remember when creating content for your website is to offer readers unique value. If your post isn't relevant or engaging, there's a good chance people will hit the back button instead of reading what you have to say.

In my experience, researching your target audience is the best way to add value to your blog. Take some time to think about the goals, pain points, interests, and needs of the people who are already active on your site.

Once you gather enough data, you can create customer profiles, also known as buyer personas, that summarize the different groups of people who frequent your blog. This information is a great way to develop interesting, relevant blog topics.

Another simple way to ensure your content continuously offers value is to ask readers for feedback. You could ask for suggestions for new posts or feedback on existing content. If you want to deliver value through your blog, don't hesitate to ask readers to share their thoughts.

Now, you can easily find ways to connect what readers want with your content and brand. It's time to start writing. Find a unique angle and use it to keep users engaged from the moment they make it to your blog landing page.

Consider User Intent When Choosing Keywords

Next, let's talk about choosing the right keywords for your blog posts. You may be surprised to learn that 70% of all online experiences start with a search engine. In a vast majority of cases, the search engine used is Google.

If you want to grow your blog over the summer, it's crucial to pick relevant keywords so you can rise through the SERPs and make it to the first page.

The more prominent your posts are on Google, the more traffic you'll see on your site.

But here's the thing; Google's algorithm heavily focuses on user intent. Simply put, user intent is why someone searches for a particular word or phrase. With this being said, choosing long-tail keywords that align with what your audience expects to find on your site is crucial to your success.

For example, a website owner looking to help new gardeners grow fruit and vegetables likely wouldn't put the entire weight of their search presence on a simple term like "grow seeds," Instead, they would hone in and choose detailed phrases like "How do I grow tomato plants from seed?"

Long-tail words usually have less competition, which means you have a better chance of ranking. These phrases also target users based on their intent. If someone specifically wants to grow tomato seeds, they can be sure your content will meet their expectations.

I suggest using Google's Keyword Planner to discover the right keywords for your industry and target audience.

Repurpose Your Content for Social Media

Repurposing new and existing blog posts can help you gain momentum on social media, which translates to more eyes on your website. Research shows that over half of marketers repurpose their content for social platforms.

In reality, every business can benefit from smartly repackaging blog posts for their audience on sites like Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.

The key to repurposing blog posts is to match the interests of your target audience. It's a good idea to review your on-site analytics so you can discover your most popular posts. I like to write down a list of our top 10 articles (in terms of traffic and engagement), so our team can understand what topics resonate with readers.

Repurposing also allows you to extend the life of your articles. Instead of writing a post and watching it collect dust, you can easily get 5 or more unique pieces of content from a single article.

Here are a few effective ways you can recycle your best content:

• Pull interesting statistics and create highly engaging infographics.
• Host an interactive webinar where viewers can ask questions and learn more about a trending topic on your site
• Share a short snippet and a link to your content to attract followers to your site.
• Create a video version of your blog post and upload it to YouTube.

Promoting your blog on these various channels will help you reach a wide audience, save time, and improve website traffic over the summer. It's also a practical way to keep users engaged, regardless of how they prefer to consume your content.

Partner with Like-Minded Brands

Partnering with like-minded content creators is another great way to grow your blog. This strategy, known as partnership marketing, can help boost brand awareness and website traffic.

First, you should find brands and individual creators that complement your content, products, and brand identity. For example, the owner of a pet supply store may decide to partner with an adoption agency in their area or a content creator that regularly discusses animals and pet products.

When you partner with brands with a similar target audience, it's easier to convince the reader to click from their site or channel to your blog. Imagine how hard it would be to promote a line of office equipment on a fashion and beauty blog, and it's easy to see how choosing an aligned audience is vital to forming meaningful, valuable partnerships.

It's also important to ensure your partners feel they're getting something from the deal. You could allow them to write guest posts on your site, work together on social media, or sometimes come to an arrangement where they are paid for promoting your brand. If you use the last strategy, make sure they disclose the partnership when they mention your company.

Overall, partnerships will help you quickly draw more traffic to your site, which is crucial for consistent growth during the busy summer months.

Grow Your Email List

Finally, growing your email list is vital to getting more eyes on your website through the summer and beyond. Think about it this way; how will you reach readers at the end of the year when sales are running hot?

If you can't let people know about new content or offers, they won't have a reason to return to your website. As a result, you could lose out on sales and traffic, despite all the work you put into creating great content.

Getting more email subscribers unlocks opportunities to build rapport, personalize offers, and improve engagement across all marketing channels.

I recommend showing relevant popups throughout your site that invite users to sign up. You can use lead magnets, which are exclusive offers or content awarded to subscribers, to incentivize users to join your list.

For example, you could create an "ultimate guide" that compiles some of your best posts around one topic. Users can sign up and download your guide, which will allow them to read it at any time.

You can also turn first-time visitors into customers by offering a discount to people who sign up. You've likely seen these kinds of offers when shopping online. Businesses will give customers a steep price cut on their first order or a special gift if they join their email list first.

Back to You

As you can see, there are plenty of great ways to grow your blog. The tips outlined today address the three major marketing channels; on-site content, email, and social media. If you apply these strategies to your brand this summer, you'll soon have plenty of visitors eagerly awaiting your next upload.