We all want more traffic and social shares for the content we create on our sites. So how can we get them? Easy… create content that provides value and is something that people actually want to share!
Sounds easy enough right? Well… don't think it's that easy, but it is quite possible if you follow these simple steps.
I'm sure once you're done reading through this post, you might actually want to share it with your audience and social followers as well 🙂
Here's five quick and easy ways to start creating content that people will actually want to share.
Everyone Loves “How To” Posts with Examples
No matter what niche or industry you are in, people are always going to be searching for different ways to do things online.
Some of the most successful sites are based solely on showing people how to do stuff — just look at WikiHow for example… they are usually at the top of the search results whenever you are search for any “how to” type of article.
The same holds true for the world of blogging and online marketing. A great example of this can be seen on a post I wrote on SearchEngineJournal in October. I wanted to share seven different ways to explode social shares for your site… but I also went the extra mile and includes examples of each method (just like this post does) and how other sites are currently using them to get more shares on their site.
The end result? A killer article with over 3,490 social shares, which ended up being the 3rd most popular article on their site for the month!
Create an Infographic
As much as we all love some good stats and backing up our marketing ideas and blogging efforts with numbers… reading text based reports and getting overwhelmed with numbers and boring statistical jargon isn't going to be fun or memorable for anyone.
Thankfully we no longer have to look at boring data reports to get excited about the most recent Black Friday Sales numbers or how WordPress is continually growing in market size year after year — no, instead we can all benefit from this boring data through exciting infographics!
Infographics are awesome for a number of reasons… such as they are easy to glance through while still obtaining the data, visuals make it much easier to understand, they are fun to share and they also increase traffic, shares and backlinks to our sites.
A perfect example of this would be Top Web Hosting Infographic that was created by Blogging.org a while back. Based off the data from a 5,600+ blogger survey, all of the hosting companies were ranked in order. This not only provided a valuable resource for anyone looking to find a quality web host, but it was also a great way for top web hosting companies to promote where they were ranked as well (while also building links back to blogging.org).
Interview Industry Experts
No matter if you are building you first web site, starting an internet company or even trying to become a better parent or a professional singer… the advice from other industry or worldly known experts is something we all seek out. We all want to be better at something and when we can learn from those who are already successful at what we are trying to achieve, we simply eat it up!
This is something we often see in the online marketing and blogging space and perfect example of this is when top blogs interview other expert bloggers. For example, Ms. Ileane was recently interviewed on the hugely popular blog ShoutMeLoud.
The benefits here are all over the place — ShoutMeLoud got to create content for their site, Ileane got promotion on their site and both of there audiences were likely to read and share the content since it was valuable and a common interest.
By interviewing experts on your site, it's usually a safe bet that the expert will also share the content with their social outlet as well — further increasing your potential for more social shares (as they usually have a large and loyal online following).
Focus Your Content Around a Celebrity Figure
If you don't want to interview an expert within your space or you might think you are in a weird niche where there is no one to contact, you can always put a celebrity or famous person spin on your content.
A great way to do this is through the use of celebrity or motivational quotes.
On my blog I continually write about new ways to make money online and various things I've done over the years. Bill Gates has always been an inspiration of mine, and I knew he was to many others as well — so I thought it would be a great idea to look for some of Bill's top quotes online, turn them into images and then make a post about what Bill Gates taught me about business .
The post was a great success and resulted in over 400 social shares. How could you apply this same method to a blog post for your niche?
Make Your Content Extremely Easy to Share
The last point I want to cover is one of the most simple… yet so many blogs are still getting it wrong — which is to create engaging content and make it easy for people to share your blog content.
I still come across blogs all the time that create amazing content, but when I go to share the content, they don't have social sharing buttons on their page! The simple act of installing a social plugin to WordPress and adding a floating social bar or buttons at the top and bottom of your posts make a world of a difference. (Ileane has great social buttons placement on this site, right at the top and bottom of each post… and also on the main page in each post excerpt)
Ian Cleary has become a master a social media tools and he created a great post on how to improve social sharing by 97%, which covers some of these simple, yet so effective ways to increase engagement and sharing on your site. His post on social sharing already has over 2,000 shares in itself, so you know he's got some good tips on there!
How to Create Awesome Share Worthy Content
It's so easy for online marketing experts to say “create great content” and then let you be on your way…. however this is only half of the truth.
Yes, you need to create great content, but it also needs to be compelling to your audience, provide value (to both your audience and your business) but also make it easy to share and something worthy of being shared in the first place.
For best results, be sure to apply these same principles to your blog, while also matching your target audience and niche…. and last but not least, before going live with your latest blog post always ask yourself… “is this something you would want to share with your audience?”
Recommended Reading:
- The Complete Guide to Using Twitter Lists Like a Pro
- The Tao of Twitter, Revised and Expanded New Edition: Changing Your Life and Business 140 Characters at a Time
- Duct Tape Marketing Revised & Updated: The World's Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide
- How You Can Build Community on the Web and Optimize Toward Success
