Search for “how to beforehand your blog,” and you’ll spot hundreds of strategies.

But not each of them work. Believe us—we’ve tried them.

These are the 7 that person worked for us.

People are much apt to stock contented with unsocial insights. Data, experiences, opinions—anything they can’t find elsewhere.

Here’s an illustration that illustrates this. In 2015, our main selling officer, Tim Soulo, wrote a guide to strategical writing connected his idiosyncratic blog. He crammed everything helium knew and thought helium created a masterpiece.

Yet, erstwhile helium asked selling influencer Rand Fishkin to tweet the post, this was however Rand responded:

A fewer years later, Rand retweeted our post connected podcast advertising without immoderate prompting:

What was the difference? 

In Tim’s post, helium rehashed the aforesaid proposal from different articles connected the topic. No uncertainty it was useful, but thing was unique. In the second nonfiction by our Rebekah Bek, everything was solely based connected experience. 

I’m not going to simply conscionable archer you to make “unique content.” You indispensable person heard it a 100 times by now. So alternatively than repeating the aforesaid aged advice, I urge gathering stock triggers instead. 

Coined by prof Jonah Berger successful his book, “Contagious,” stock triggers are intelligence principles that marque radical privation to stock something. They are:

1. Social currency – People stock things that marque them look bully to others.
2. Triggers – People stock things that are apical of mind.
3. Emotion – People request to consciousness thing to stock something.
4. Public – People thin to imitate others’ behaviour if they tin spot oregon observe it.
5. Practical value – People similar to walk on practical, utile information.
6. Stories – People don’t conscionable stock information—they stock stories too.

Here’s however to enactment them into enactment (you’ll privation to incorporated astatine slightest 1 or two):

1. Make your contented practical – Create thing the scholar tin usage close away. For example, our suite of escaped tools generates a batch of links and shares.
2. Make your contented opinionated – Give the scholar thing caller to deliberation about. Tim’s rant connected email outreach and our station connected podcast advertizing are immoderate examples of opinionated content.
3. Evoke emotion – People utilized to stock Upworthy articles due to the fact that those made them consciousness awe, surprise, and happiness. Appealing to these emotions—alongside antagonistic ones similar choler and sadness—can compel radical to share more. 
4. Make your contented visual – Visual contented makes consuming contented easier, frankincense expanding the likelihood that idiosyncratic volition share it. 
5. Make your contented newsworthy – Journalists and bloggers are perpetually connected the lookout for stories to cover. Data is 1 benignant of story. So if you person unsocial information to share, make a portion of contented astir it. 
6. Tell a story – Humans emotion telling and sharing stories. A bully communicative that captures people’s attraction tin pb to much shares.
7. Include what different radical are sharing – If radical are sharing and linking due to the fact that of definite reasons successful competing pages, we tin presume that those reasons are important to that topic.

For the last tip, here’s however you tin find retired why people are linking:

• Go to Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer
• Search for a taxable you’re penning about
• Look astatine the SERP overview
• Find a akin nonfiction with tons of referring domains
• Click connected the fig successful the Backlinks column
• Skim the Anchor and people URL file for commonalities

For example, if we analyse this station connected the cleanable kettlebell swing, we spot that radical are linking due to the fact that of the benefits:

It’s thing we tin see adding to our content. 

Learn more: What Is Link Bait? 7 Successful Examples 

You privation postulation from Google. But if you’re caller to the game, galore topics are retired of your reach—at slightest for now. They’re excessively competitive, and you’re outgunned by websites with much resources. 

But what if I archer you that you tin find topics that are casual to fertile for? Here’s how:

1. Go to Ahrefs’ Content Explorer
2. Search for a applicable word (e.g., “beards”)
3. Add a Referring domains filter to max. 10
4. Add a Page traffic filter to min. 500
5. Add a Domain Rating filter to max. 30

Since backlinks are an important ranking factor, pages that still get tons of hunt postulation without plentifulness of backlinks should beryllium comparatively casual to rank for. 

In this example, you’ll spot >2,000 pages that get >500 hunt postulation a period with less than 10 referring domains. 

Click connected immoderate nonfiction and past connected the Organic keywords tab to spot what keywords they’re ranking for.

If you’re moving a blog astir beards, you tin people the aforesaid topics too.

Learn more: How to Find Low-Competition Keywords for SEO 

If you’ve published an astonishing portion of content, wherefore not amusement it to radical successful your niche who person a ample audience?

It’s wherefore Tim reached retired to Rand. In integer marketing, we telephone this “outreach.” 

The cardinal to palmy outreach is to inquire yourself this question each clip you’re astir to nonstop a new email:

Why would anyone attraction astir immoderate I say?

There are 2 beardown outreach reasons:

1. You mentioned that idiosyncratic (or their work) successful your article. 
2. Your nonfiction has thing groundbreaking that this idiosyncratic doesn’t cognize astir but is genuinely funny in.

The second crushed is wherefore strategy #1 works. There’s nary instrumentality to getting apical radical successful your tract to beforehand you. You person to bash notable work.

This is besides wherefore whenever we nonstop outreach emails to promote our content, we absorption connected pitching the article—not a sneaky petition to tweet it. 

Assuming you’ve created thing noteworthy, here’s however you tin find radical to perchance scope out to:

1. Go to Ahrefs’ Content Explorer
2. Search for your topic
3. Click connected the Authors tab

These 100 radical person written galore articles connected your topic, truthful it’s tenable to presume they’re interested. Find their emails, scope retired to them, and stock your unsocial insights.

Learn more: Blogger Outreach: How to Do It astatine Scale (Without Feeling Like a Jerk) 

Here’s different beardown crushed you tin usage for your outreach: You noticed someone’s blog station is declining successful traffic, truthful you connection to assistance update it. 

In fact, this was what Irina Maltseva, the erstwhile caput of selling astatine Hunter, did:

Why does this work? Four reasons:

1. It is important to update older content—you don’t privation outdated information, and updated contented helps boost hunt traffic.
2. Keeping way and updating aged contented are burdensome tasks. By offering to update aged content, you’re offering to instrumentality it disconnected their hands.
3. While guest blogging is simply a morganatic mode to thrust traffic, you’re oftentimes “guessing” the benignant of topics they’re funny in. But you don’t request to conjecture if you’re updating their aged content. 
4. They’re much than apt to let you to nexus backmost to your tract and/or your content. 

Here’s however you tin find contented that’s declining successful traffic:

1. Go to Ahrefs’ Content Explorer
2. Search for your topic
3. Set the Trends dropdown to Last year

From here, you’ll privation to eyeball the database and look retired for pages with declining leafage traffic:

Click connected the nonfiction to spot the Page traffic illustration successful detail:

Looks similar this peculiar nonfiction has suffered a drastic driblet successful traffic. If you’re successful this niche, you tin scope retired to the exertion and spot if they’ll beryllium funny successful updating the post. If they are, suggest doing the enactment for them—it’ll sweeten the ask.

Learn more: Republishing Content: How to Update Old Blog Posts for SEO 

There is simply a subreddit for astir anything. That includes your niche too. There’s nary uncertainty that Reddit is simply a large spot to beforehand your content. Do it right, and it whitethorn adjacent pb to a hug of death.

But fto maine propulsion a wrench successful your plans. Redditors hate advertising and marketing. If your contented smells similar self-promotion, they volition not hesitate to propulsion you out.

So you can’t conscionable waltz in, driblet a link, and hold for the flood of traffic.

Reddit, however, does emotion utile content. So to resoluteness this conundrum, you tin stock a barebones mentation of your content. Strip everything out, particularly your interior and outer links. Leave lone a nexus backmost to the archetypal astatine the bottommost of your Reddit post, truthful anyone who’s funny tin cheque it out. 

Here’s an example of it successful the wild:

We person a video connected blog station templates you tin swipe. But did you cognize that it was primitively a blog post?

Not everyone wants to read. Some privation to ticker videos. By turning your articles into videos, you tin perchance scope a caller acceptable of audience.

You’ve already created the contented anyway. Why not instrumentality vantage of it and springiness it a caller lease on life?

Let’s beryllium honest, though. Repurposing is hard work. It’s 1 happening to say, “Turn your blog station into a video,” and different to actually do it. So if you’re going down this path, you’ll person to prioritize. 

One mode to bash this is to absorption connected topics that radical are already searching for connected YouTube. That way, your repurposed videos tin make hunt postulation too.

Here’s however to find these topics:

1. Go to Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer
2. Select YouTube
3. Enter a fewer applicable keywords
4. Go to the Matching terms report

Look done the database to spot if determination are immoderate topics wherever you already person existing blog content. Those are the topics you should repurpose. 

For example, this was however we decided to repurpose our nonfiction connected influencer marketing:

Learn more: The Complete Guide to Content Repurposing 

Most radical who are looking for ways to beforehand their blogs are really looking for escaped promotion strategies. They don’t privation to wage for promotion due to the fact that they deliberation they person nary fund for it. 

But what they don’t recognize is that, successful reality, nary blog promotion method is free. While it whitethorn not outgo upfront cash, it takes time. And clip is money. Even the richest idiosyncratic successful the satellite cannot buy time.

So you really do have the fund to beforehand your contented with ads due to the fact that they escaped up your precious time—time that could beryllium amended spent elsewhere. 

At Ahrefs, we tally ads for each our recently published content. Facebook ads are our go-to:

If you find Facebook ads excessively analyzable oregon excessively expensive, don’t hide that determination are different platforms you tin trial too. For example, we besides tally ads on Quora:

And Twitter:

Learn more: PPC Marketing: Beginner’s Guide to Pay-Per-Click Ads 

Final thoughts

Ryan Holiday writes successful “Perennial Seller”:

Creating much enactment is 1 of the astir effectual selling techniques of all. 

If you’ve published an astonishing nonfiction and got tons of success, the champion happening you tin bash to beforehand your blog further is to people different astonishing portion of content. 

A accordant output of large enactment is the instauration down each your blog promotion strategies. It supercharges everything. 

Any questions oregon comments? Let maine cognize on Twitter.