If you are a new blogger trying to build a name in the niche, you will find yourself feeling extremely frustrated, because you will put in a lot of hours and a lot of hard work into creating your best posts yet, only to witness that they are making very little impact, with very little traffic and shares across social media. The problem is usually not with the content itself, or your writing, but with your ability to get your blog in front of the readers, because they might not even know about it.

Simply posting as often as you can or waiting for time to pass so that enough people hear about your blog is just not good enough, which is why I have put together this article containing practical and applicable tips that will help you get your content in front a wider audience and turn them into your regular readers. Keep on reading to find out how.

Focus on Influencer Marketing

These days, most marketing approaches have lost their mojo, because people are becoming more resilient to traditional ads and campaigns. Instead, they are turning toward people who can provide them with, if not completely objective, but at least real and genuine advice about something. They are turning towards influencers, which results into influencers getting tons of traffic and their audience hanging onto every post they write.

Naturally, this means you need to get on the radar of popular influencers in your niche and persuade them to contribute to your article through comments. But, it’s not as simple as sending them an email and asking them, because they probably receive thousands of such requests each day. The following steps will help you stand out from the pack.

Do All the Necessary Research

Identifying influencers in your niche can be an arduous task, because unless you are working in a niche that is extremely specific, there will be hundreds or thousands of different blogs on the same topic, and sifting through all of those and deciding which ones are the most influential is next to impossible.

But, there is no shortage of brilliant tools which can help you discover influencers in your industry. Apps like BuzzSu­­­mo and Ahrefs Content Explorer can assist you in identifying your influencers by tracking the total number of social media shares across a given time period.

Image source: Buzzsumo.com

Image source: Ahrefs.com

Whereas BuzzSumo and Ahrefs will use the number of social media shares to assist you in finding influencers, tools like Followerwonk and BuzzStream Discovery will provide you with Twitter bios of your industry’s influencers and valuable statistical data you can use to narrow down your search.

Image source: Followerwonk

Image source: Buzzstream

Reaching out and Making a Connection

Before reaching out to influencers, I recommend following them on social media, as well as through their blogs or websites, by leaving likes and comments. This way, you are getting on their radar, and they might even remember you when you send them an outreach email.

When sending out that first email, make sure to remember a couple of things. First of all, try and think of a subject line which will capture their attention and get them to open your email. Subjects which sport the best open rates (between 60% and 87%) are usually very direct and describe the content they will find inside.

Avoid stuff like “last minute offer”, “free (insert word here)”, or anything of the sort, because it will quickly result in your email being deleted or categorized as spam.

Keep in mind that the first three emails you send out are your best shot of getting in touch with your influencer (35, 30, and 21% respectively). After that, the percentage drops significantly. For more details, check out the detailed infographic included below.

Image Source: https://yourescapefrom9to5.com/blogger-outreach-marketing-email-infographic

Create a Killer Post           

Since you are a blogger, it is safe to assume your writing chops are at least decent, and focus on some other aspects which can mean the difference between a serviceable and a brilliant blog post. Always aim to make your content more readable. This involves breaking it down into sections using bullet points, subheadings, and lists.

Also, don’t shy away from using multiple types of media to solidify your point. This includes not only images and screen shots illustrating all the necessary steps, but also videos, podcasts, and above all, infographics.

Finally, make those comments you received from your influencers presented in a clean and visually pleasing way. They not only provide your readers with actionable advice from real experts, but they also improve your rating and reputation. It’s simple: if they see someone with that sort of influence in the niche getting behind you, they will start to think of you as an expert, as well, or least as a reputable source of information they can rely on in the future.

Promote, Promote, Promote!

While having one post may not seem like much, you can get a lot out of it, provided that you work actively on promoting it, at least one month after it has been published. Don’t be lazy and post using same words and images for each social network. Create a custom post for each, try out different angles, and even use influencers’ quotes, along with their names tagged, to persuade the readers to click on the link to your post.

Also, notify your influencers that the post containing their comment has been published and provide them with a link. If they like the post, they will not hesitate to share it with their readers, thus exposing you to a whole new legion of followers.

All these actions take time, which is why I recommend using Buffer, Hootsuite or Postcron to schedule all of your posts.

Now It’s Your Turn!

Now that you have read these tips and tricks, waste no time and put them into practice today! Identify and reach out to influencers, turn in your best work, promote it with social media and maintain good relationships with your influencers, and you will be on your way. Let me know about the results in the comment section below.