Have you built a website for your professional work or your business? Crafting an online presence isn’t just about promoting yourself or your brand — some of the best entrepreneurs and creators make themselves indispensable to visitors by turning their sites into resources. These WordPress.com Business websites demonstrate how to offer value through your content.
Establish your expertise in your industry
Position yourself as a reputable source in your field, whether it’s raised bed gardening, vegetarian cooking, or tiny house construction. At Inspired by Marvin, the blog of the Marvin family of window and door brands, the manufacturer shares home and interior inspiration and design profiles that help establish the brand’s vision. The blog also has a “how-to” category targeted to general consumers and potential Marvin customers — these posts give accessible, expert advice on construction industry topics, like window condensation and replacement.
Share your knowledge with readers without expecting anything in return. Become a go-to resource, especially for specialized topics. And don’t forget to link to other well-respected sources — you’ll build trust this way and improve your SEO, too.
Publish timely posts that showcase your products
Share relevant content while highlighting your products or services. At 40 Weeks of Chic, upscale maternity brand A Pea in the Pod publishes inspirational blog posts tied to the season — think spring must-haves and summer sneak peeks. The company’s blog is stylish and tightly curated — reflecting its clothing line — but also functional: posts link directly to merchandise in A Pea in the Pod’s online store.
Inspire your customers and showcase what you’ve got. Then, make it easy for them to purchase your goods. With access to plugins — including WooCommerce — WordPress.com Business subscribers have access to more eCommerce options and can build the online store of their dreams.
Provide educational opportunities like classes and workshops
Are you a master knitter? Did you recently publish a memoir and have a thing or two to share with aspiring authors? Use your website to promote services like classes and workshops. On his website, woodworker Brian Holcombe includes a “Learn” tab in his main menu with links to classes and resources, like his one-on-one lessons on using hand tools. Brian’s site is an all-in-one hub to showcase his craftsmanship, sell his products, and publicize his services.
Simple Payments is also available to WordPress.com Premium subscribers.
Offer ways for your readers to go deeper — teach them! Get started immediately by adding Simple Payments buttons to your site, which makes it easy for potential students and clients to register for a class or book a session with you.
When offering takeaways, be practical and personal
If your site is a personal space — a place to capture your musings or document family memories — publishing practical tips may not be your goal. But if you’d like to be a resource in your niche, it’s best to offer useful information in every post. Riselle, the Sint Maarten-based blogger at The Traveling Island Girl, has built an archive of destination guides, travel tips, and hotel and airline reviews — content that informs her readers. But she also includes more personal posts into the mix and lets her personality shine, which creates a nice balance.
As a resource, aim to be informative, but remember that simply presenting facts and details isn’t enough — you need to be memorable so people return to your site for your own unique spin on things. Show us the real you.
Inspired by these WordPress.com Business websites? Upgrade to the WordPress.com Business plan to install plugins and themes, use advanced SEO and marketing tools, sell your work, integrate Google Analytics, and much more.
Thanks for this post, I’m a relatively new blogger and appreciate all the tips. What is your number one suggestion for getting more visitors to your site?
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I don’t think I can single out one recommendation, as growing your site traffic with a real, loyal following takes a lot of effort over a long period of time. I personally recommend focusing on making fewer but more meaningful, relevant connections with readers over time (I’m not interested in quick shortcuts, blind reciprocration, and automatic follows). Phoebe at Little Grey Box offered some nice tips on growth and engagement in our interview: https://wordpress.com/discover-wordpress/2018/02/20/little-grey-box-interview/
That said, in general, here are resources for growing your blog, traffic, and readership:
A free ebook on growing your traffic and building your blog: https://wordpress.com/dailypost/postaday/ebook-grow-traffic/ (There are three common formats there that you can download.)
A free email course in which we send you daily emails for 10 days on the topics of branding and growth: https://wordpress.com/dailypost/blogging-university/#branding-growth
A list of previous posts on The Daily Post that covers traffic, growth, finding your audience, social media, and more: https://wordpress.com/dailypost/category/traffic-growth/
Thanks!
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That’s really helpful advice! I too agree that “quick fix” solutions are not the way to go. Reaching out to people and networking should help, though. 🙂 and by networking, I mean be kind and genuine… and actually try to connect with people. Don’t just interact for the sake of followers. Be genuinely interested in what other people write and say 🙂
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Very useful information. I am currently in the process of discovering what I have to offer in terms of my blog. Right now, I am leaning heavily toward storytelling, which I see is a niche of its own, but the more popular storytelling blogs are, indeed, ones that offer unique knowledge via storytelling. Thanks for the tips and suggestions.
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useful article!
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Very helpful — thank you.
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Good info! Thank you.
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Great stuff Cheri – you always put together really valuable posts yourself!
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Thanks for the feedback! Glad this was helpful.
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Cool Cheri! Really like this! I have a blog I just started!
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Thank you for the very informative post. I have been studying various themes as I have been considering moving my financial planning web page over to WordPress. Your timing was perfect. Thanks again.
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Hi Cheri, what an awesome and inspiring post. Thank you for all your information here. I have looked up and am now following along with most of the blogs you mentioned here. I loved the illustrations you used, and I learned so much. Since reading your story, I created a Facebook page for my blog; I also made some great changes and additions to my blog and have also register for the Blogging Meetup so I can participate in the Community Chats. I find blogging can feel insular sometimes, and so helpful to build a blogging community and connect and learn from one another. I also have an idea now from your post about adding classes and am inspired to work more on my portfolio. A Pea In The Pod is such an awesome name, and helped me realize my store name can be different from my blog name. Thank you so much for your encouragement and thoughtful advice.
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Awesome — glad that this has inspired you!
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This is really great info! Thanks!
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I’m a new (and Italian) blogger, thanks for your suggestions, they are very precious 🙂
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This is a really informative blog, simple and effective. I think putting examples is a really good idea also. I’m very new at this, and will definitely be taking some of these tips on board.
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This is really helpful for my website, thank you.
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Very informative post! I’m currently undergoing a blog reboot, and all of this is very helpful. Thank you.
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Thank you for this! 🙂
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I found this very useful — thank you.
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Lovely.
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Awesome👍👍
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Great post, extremely helpful🙌🏻
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Excellent article! =)
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Helpful post.
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Absolutely inspirational!
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Thanks! I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately!
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Great info indeed and many thanks.
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Thanks for the post. I’m a new blogger and currently trying to learn as much as possible and your post helped me a lot! Thanks again!! 🙂
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