If you have been blogging for sometime you have probably noticed some traffic loss to your WordPress blog at some points in the year. Normally this is down to natural processes and not down to anything too severe, like the world has suddenly hates you, or loss of quality in your blog.
Seasonal traffic
Some blogs will be read more at certain times of the year more than others. Any blog that is hobby based tends to pick up traffic in December and January, but loses traffic in August to November. The reason for this, is that products are bought in December, and tested in January. The result is more traffic through the Christmas months and just after.
If you notice a dip in traffic in certain months of the year, and a rise during others, try and find out why. Once you have established the cause of the rise and falls, you can then capitalise on it. So if for example you find your blog is being read in December because it features a certain products, maybe write blogs reviewing them, and then in January write blogs offering beginners tips. This way you make full use of the seasonal trends.
Topical events
It is possible that you will see an increase in traffic if a current event occurs that has a connection to your blogs content. Many music bloggers saw huge traffic spikes when Michael Jackson died for example. Obviously as the events pass, so will the traffic.
The key here is to try and maximise your readership by posting related content to the event. Tread carefully with peoples sensibilities though, especially if the event involves a death or a tragedy.
If possible try and write about an event before it happens. Large sporting events could be a good one, as this will be ready to be pulled through on search engines once the event starts. If you already have content in place about the teams, predictions, and so on and so fourth, then you already have a foot on the ladder.
Posting frequency
Much of the advice about this topic is to post as much as you can. In actuality, the key is to post consistently. Too many posts and your posts will be lost in the ether, too few and people will lose interest. If you post daily, try and limit them to two to three a day maximum, and post no fewer than twice a week.
This way people have time to read, digest, share and comment on your posts, while not losing interest because you have not posted for a long time.
Shift in search rankings
Blogs are very SEO friendly, and can rate you high on search engines if optimised in the right way. Every so often however, search engines change their algorithms and this can cause a severe loss of traffic, as you no longer rank on page rankings.
Should this happen to you, don’t panic. Check you have not violated any Google rules as this may have caused your site to be pulled from the page rank. If you have not, then resubmit your site via Google Webmaster tools. This should result in traffic increasing to your site again.
Promotion
If you have taken your foot off the gas a little when it comes to highlighting your blogs, then you may find a decline in traffic follows. The way round this is easy, put your foot on the pedal and flaw it.
Keeping traffic is a priority if you are a blogger, and it is a source of income, so follow this article and maximise potential whenever you get the chance.
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September 6th, 2009 at 7:29 am
Another reason might be your blog being hacked (and traffic being diverted elsewhere). One widespread WordPress breach only redirected visitors elsewhere if they were coming from Google. Most bloggers would not recognize such a breach if they are usually only accessing their blog directly. A drop in traffic is a good indicator that something is actually wrong.