Building a blog and keeping up with your editorial calendar (if you aren’t using one, you should) is only half of the story; the other half is getting it in front of future readers and learning about, and then applying, the little tricks that will help you get more and more readers, but of the right kind – those who will stay longer and return for more.
Assuming that your content is good enough (all the tricks and “secrets revealed” in the world won’t help you increase your audience if your content sucks), you can proceed to the next stage armed with the tips below. Just remember, reading about “how to do…” isn’t the same as actually doing it; and you can’t decide whether a technique works for you before you’ve tried it – so read this post, and ACT upon it!

Be everywhere and in every format!

Being everywhere means: major blogs (by guest posting and commenting on others’ posts), a major social media (Facebook and Twitter, or if your audience hangs on Pinterest or Tumblr, explore them too), different formats (images/infographics, videos, podcasts).
Why do you need to be everywhere? Because you, as a blogger, are building your brand, i.e. your name in the blogosphere, and an average person will need to see your name and your face 6-7 times before he or she really “registers” you in their mind. Guest posting on major blogs, for example, will get you exposed to many of the readers they share; also, people who follow these blogs on social networks will have a chance to see your posts and your tweets or shares, if you start interacting with them directly and not only through your posts on those blogs.

In short, maximize your exposure, and time it well: your Twitter activity should increase right after a post on an authority blog goes live, and if you can manage it, it would be great if you could time the publishing of your posts on several blogs around the same time (within a few days altogether).

Using different formats will increase your reach in another way: some people prefer to watch videos and presentations, others like to download podcasts and to listen to them on their way to work. Explore all these possibilities, you can find some fantastic audience in the places you perhaps haven’t thought of before.

Get subscribers

Easier said than done, yes, but you can change a thing or two in the way you’re doing it now, and see a drastic increase in your blog’s subscribers list:

• Don’t just put the “subscribe now” box. Use that space to tell your readers what’s in it for them, what kind of information you are going to share with them, what they will be able to learn from you, why you are better than those sleazy marketers who try to sell them stuff few times a week;
• Let them know that you have special subscriber-only content (if you don’t, make any); if they are getting the same info as anyone else who visits your blog, why should they subscribe?

If you’re new, admit it; if you’re not, take advantage of it

Do you really expect that your readers can’t tell if you’re a newbie? Don’t go after something you’re not; if you’re new, target the audience that is in the same place as you - beginners, you can create great relationships this way. There is the audience for almost anything you can think of, and for all experience levels, so don’t shoot too high before you’re able to deal with it. Everyone had to start once, and you’re no exception.
If you have some experience in your niche, then use it to prove your point or to show your mistakes for your audience to learn from; there are too many impersonal blogs out there, don’t be one of them. People love to see some real life examples, and will relate to them more easily.
In short, be real. In everything you do.