WordPress blogs are a dime a dozen these days. Hence, it’s important to stand out. Blogs need to be optimized so that they generate more views.

Here are 12 ways to maximize a WordPress blog’s views.

1. Use Editorial Calendars to Stick to a Timetable

When someone reads your content or enjoys your blogs, they will get into the habit of reading them. And this means they’ll have a general idea of when your content is posted. That’s why so many YouTubers get into the habit of posting on specific days. Whether or not they follow that timetable is beside the point. However, the timetable isn’t just for user engagement; it’s also to help you stick to a schedule. Using an editorial calendar can help you post relevant blogs on specific dates. This may not seem like it will come in handy, but it has helped me stay on track for years.

Weekly planner graphic.

2. Make Sure Your Content Is Comprehensive

Don’t go for shortcuts or easy ways to score on content. Make sure that your writing is comprehensive. If you delve in to a topic, then it should be a deep dive, not just a surface-level analysis. Not only do longer blog posts rank well on Google, but they also rank better with users. You can hire a provider of professional blog writing services to generate long and engaging content for your business. This is not to say that you should just ramble on. Going in-depth about a topic usually helps you find a more interested audience. Longer articles that are broken up into specific sections can help your audience find what they’re looking for. For instance, if you publish a 2000-word article on fixing your car, it will most likely offer solutions on a wide variety of car problems. It is more likely to have what most average folks are looking for to fix their engine.

3. Make Sure Readability Scores Are High

There are two things to keep in mind here. Don’t use overly flowery language and keep the sentences short. Don’t go for run-on sentences and keep them to below 20 words. This makes the content much more trendy and readable. It’s easy to get carried away in the heat of the moment, but it’s also very important to condense your thoughts to deliver them effectively. Notice if your thoughts are going haywire, and then break them up in to specific parts. Make sure that your point is communicated clearly and concisely. Use readable fonts and smaller headlines. Use specific keywords in your writing so that you can grab the attention of the reader. Always use a grammar checker to improve your readability score. If you make too many grammatical mistakes, it undermines your authority and turns people away. You and I may have left websites because we’ve found too many spelling and grammatical errors. It’s only human nature to observe someone fumbling when they deliver a thought and thinking “nope.”

Book with leaf as a bookmark.

4. Focus On Headlines for Instant Interest

Generating great headlines is important for user engagement. When you see the headline on a newspaper, you can make a decision to read on. The same thing has been working on readers of all types of content in books and magazines for centuries. Hence, you need to focus on building an interesting headline for your content so that it’s always trending. There are a few things to take care of besides generating interest. The title and headlines should say exactly what the article contains. They should also include keywords that help the article trend on searching engines.

5. Use Internal Links Frequently

While it’s always important to think of new engaging content, it also helps to signal to your old posts occasionally. Hence, internal linking in your blog is very important. Internal links can help your SEO ratings as well. It helps Google understand the context between different articles on your blog. Then, it uses this information to improve your content’s ranking. These internal links can help you increase page views and reduce the bounce rate on different pages. Hence, you should make it a habit to internally link to your older articles. This way, even if someone is just browsing through your website, they may find something they will enjoy reading in-depth.

6. Focus On Backlinks

Backlinking to your content from an external website can help boost the SEO ratings. You rankings on Google can significantly improve if you focus on backlinking. You can reach out to influencers and reputable bloggers to tell them about your content, or you can write guest posts for other websites. This will drive more traffic to your blog because it will generate interest about who you are.

Laptop open with a coffee mug on the left.

7. Make Your Content Visually Appealing with Charts and Graphics

Adding images and charts to your blog will always make it more appealing than a boring, old and picture-less post. People prefer images to words, since images have more detail and appeal. Hence, you should always couple headings and titles with striking images. If you’re writing an informative article, taking some data and making a pie chart out of it will communicate it better. If you’re writing a post about a tutorial, then it may serve you well to outline the steps in image form. And if you’re creating a listicle, then accompanying each heading with a title will help generate more interest. Just like how headings and titles help people find the part of the content they’re looking for, so do images. And they’re doubly effective since they’re much easier to decipher than words are. One look at an image and you can guess what the content is about. However, words may require several seconds longer. Hence, images and graphics will capture the attention of the audience much quicker and convey information faster.

8. Use Videos to Boost Your Content’s Interest Level

Video is the most engaging content on the internet right now. We can’t deny it. People like watching films more than reading books. And they like watching videos more than they like reading posts. Hence, if you can couple your posts with videos, you shouldn’t let that opportunity go. However, video hosting on the WordPress platform will take up a lot of resources and affect loading times. So instead, you should upload your videos to YouTube and link them to your blogs. This will not take up a lot of resources, and ensure that the video buffers quickly. You could even use video streaming sites like Vimeo, especially if you make artistic videos. However, there’s really no beating YouTube. Use your videos to your advantage by generating screenshots from them as well. Video generated screenshots make for very rich content.

9. User Generated Content Is a Goldmine

User generated content is basically the result of user activity. If you post something on your blog and it tends to the point that your users love it, you should post more. My favorite example for this is Apple. First it was a computer company, and now most of its revenue comes from the iPhone. Hence, you need to pivot to the content or products that your customers love. And you need to forget about the things that you want to promote, especially at the expense of engagement. Users are more likely to return to your website and purchase your services and products if they find what they like. While most content on your website will get the same attention, some of it may just blow up. You need to take advantage of that and capitalize on it.

10. Declutter Your Website for Better Navigation

No one wants to visit a website that is cluttered. That’s just the nature of human beings. If you’ve ever walked in to a crowded office or room, you just don’t want to stay. This is because it’s harder to navigate a cluttered environment. To declutter your WordPress blog, or to keep it decluttered, you need to invest in a good theme. You shouldn’t cheap out and go for a free theme, but look for a premium one. It should be one that fits the theme of your blog, and offers minimalistic ways to navigate your website.

If you run a blog on hiking or mountaineering or physical activity, then you should opt for one that looks traditional. If you run a blog that offers financial advice, then a sleek theme with professional-looking designs is the best option. And if you run a beauty blog or a self care channel, then colorful layouts and bright colors is the way to go. Another thing to take care of is choosing a theme for function over fashion. This helps to put priorities in order. Don’t just go for a theme because it looks good. Make sure that it doesn’t make the content unobtrusive. What I mean by that is, the search option, the category tabs, and the blog posts shouldn’t become hidden. It should always look like everything is within reach on every page. That may be a lot to ask, but decluttering can add a lot of charm to your website.

Website page open on a laptop.

11. Optimize Page Loading Times

Waiting for websites to lead can be a major pain. Some users will leave your website before it even loads. Think about it, you do it too. That’s because you want the instant gratification of not waiting for a site when you click on it. This is why everybody left Internet Explorer for Chrome and Firefox. And this is why the bounce rate on many sites is huge. Fixing this is quite instrumental to your blog’s success. Search engines like Google which are responsible for the majority of new visitors, take loading times in to account. Hence, if you want to increase the reach of your blog, then you have to optimize the loading times. TO make sure that your website loads faster, you need to use caching regularly. You should also optimize your images for certain dimensions. This will help those images load faster. Another great tip to shorten loading times is to cut down on bloat. If you can do without a video or a graphic, then just get rid of it.

12. Don’t Neglect Email Lists

A lot of beginners in this business neglect the importance of email lists. Realize that most of the people visiting your site for the first time will never return; almost 70%. Instead of focusing on short term conversion, you should focus on building an email list. This will help interested visitors receive relevant content. Not only will it help you gain long term conversions to your site, but it will remind forgetful readers as well. The trick is to get them in to a habit of reading your blog so that they will instinctually visit it when the time comes. You don’t have to forcefully reel them in, but reminding them definitely helps get long term conversions. Another great thing about the emailing list is that it’s cost efficient and helps you capitalize on your entire audience. These tips will definitely help you get better ratings on search engines and help you retain your core audience. Use these tips to their full potential to generate an organic audience for your content.