So you're writing your heart out. Fingers cracked and bleeding. Eyes bleary, blood-shot. On the verge of caffeine poisoning. Your reward: Three people have read your blog. Another five have noticed your Twitter post. No one clicked onto your website. Nobody has commented or shared. What!!!!! Obviously that's not how to build traffic.

To help you out, let me show how to build traffic; that is, how to get more people to read, like and share your posts. And as importantly, to get more to your website. After all, that's a primary objective of the whole writing thing if you're selling a product or service.

The short answer to how to build traffic to your website or blog:

You need the right content. Sent to the right people. On the right media.

The long answer to how to build traffic to your website or blog :

To reach the people you want (and who will be interested in what you have to say), you need to know who they are. Where they are. And what they're interested in. Your Audience is?To create the right content for the right people in the right place, you should start with a Content Marketing Strategy.

Your content marketing strategy will help you define your customers and where you are most likely to find them. Identify your competition and evaluate your strengths and weaknesses via-a-vis your competitors. Review what you have posted, who has received it and what else you should be writing about. This process will allow you to evaluate everything necessary to develop and publish posts meaningful to those you want to reach. And, that's how you build traffic.

If you are not sure how to develop a Content Marketing Strategy, we offer a worksheet to help you set forth everything needed. Please send us an email requesting a copy. It will be sent without any cost or obligation.

Down to the nuts and boltsIt, all begins with right content for the right prospects

Like good advertising, your "content" needs to get attention, arouse interest, create desire and lead to action. Presented below are five ways to create the interest you need to draw people into your posts.

1: Write articles that are relevant and valuable to your readers.

Quality articles may be ranked higher in search results. (I say "may be" because there are never any guarantees in ranking.) Make sure your articles address the needs of your readers, and that readers can find all of the information they need in one spot. This is the most effective means for increasing traffic to a website: offering people content they cannot obtain elsewhere, or at least, not to the level of quality that you are offering. If you use sources, provide a link to the other sites or resources. That's helpful in making it easy for the readers to obtain all the information.

2: Invite experts to write posts on your site

There are many experts in your industry or business category that can offer valuable information to your prospects/customers. But the guest posting should be created especially for your readers. That way not only can you share it with your audience but with the guest writers as well. These guest posters probably have thousands of followers and readers that can be introduced to your services, posts and blogs. These new readers can be sent back to your site, where you'll have additional terrific content to share with them. And, the guest poster will meet your followers. Win-win.

3: Produce or utilize others' how-to videos

What do your customers want to learn how to do? Dye their hair pink? Take better portrait photos? Make dinner their kids will eat? Hang a picture or add a new door? Scare off a bear? Figure out some problems that lend themselves to how-to videos.

You can launch your own series on YouTube or you can share an existing series of how-to videos. A client of mine has a home improvement store and shares already-made DIY videos as well as those he makes for his customers and prospects.

If you can't create the videos yourself, hire a company that can assist you produce a high-quality video. Remember, the quality reflects on the quality of your company.

4: Q&A series

Q&A sessions are inherently interesting, and they're a great vehicle to show off what you know. You can use webinars or whatever tool is most comfortable for you.

Q&As don't just encourage engagement; they're also a strong traffic builder because they're easy for your fans and network to promote. And that's important for getting your networks network to share.

Plus, they will give you the opportunity to collect topics for future content based on what's being asked and answered. When you write about your audience's questions, you'll be writing the type of content that gets shared - the type of content that attracts traffic.

5: Expand the possibilities. Increase your visibility.

Explore the possibilities of finding traffic in the offline world. (You know, the part of your life that isn't Facebook or Twitter.)

Attend in-person conferences where you can meet new people in your industry, as well as potential clients or customers.

If you're products/services are for business-to-business markets, pitch articles to trade journals and business newspapers. They are always anxious to publish informative articles and don't have the staff to get it all done. I've published many articles for clients in trade publications. It's a very inexpensive to increase visibility, establish "expert" status and expand your possibilities.

I hope you have found this article helpful. You may have heard it all before, but it's really important to practice good content. If you want a worksheet to create your Content Marketing Strategy, email me at rsollish@themarketinggarage.com. We will send you one for FREE with no obligation. Please visit our website to learn more about how we can help you grow your business and to review our work and services.