You’ve got the website, logo, and blog designed for your company. Congrats! The more you update your website with top SEO keywords, the higher you show up in Google’s search algorithm.

Now comes the next step — you’ve written some articles or had freelancers write them for you, and you’ve posted them. You are waiting eagerly for those hits, comments, shares — but you aren’t seeing them and it’s been months.

How can you get more eyes on your company’s website and blog?

There are a few things you can do, such as hiring a marketing expert or freelancer to do this part for you. A lot of startups and small businesses don’t account for this in their yearly budget, though.

You can start doing that next year with an updated yearly business marketing plan. But what about right now?

You can do a few things that will boost your website’s hits.

Create better content. Do some research, and post articles that people in your market are really interested in. Look at trends and other successful blogs in your field.

Think about the audience first, give them helpful tips, and create a dialogue. Don’t try to gimmick them, they are smarter than that.

Along with better articles, you need to create the best headlines. Headlines are what your reader actually clicks on, so don’t underestimate the power of a great headline. Whether they come from social media or Google, they need the incentive to click.

Images — bright, colorful, exciting images (with alt text) will attract more people to your blog.

Think mobile first. Desktop use is plummeting — make sure you are using the best servers/domains/designs to optimize your blog’s speed and mobile orientation.

Start posting about it everywhere. Will you annoy some of your neighbors and friends on Facebook and Twitter? Sure, but who cares?

Post the links to articles on your own personal social media, as well as your company’s social media. You could also ask your supportive family and friends to post them on their social media, too!

Create promotions inside of your blog. Words like “giveaway,” “coupons,” and “sale” often show up higher on Google because people are constantly looking for the best deal. You could have a coupon code specifically for readers of your blog.

Show your customers your blog. This is huge — the customers that have found you through other means can now become repeat customers and gain an actual relationship with you and your company. Put that blog link all over your shop, business cards, T-shirts, mugs, etc.

Join blog groups. These can be found on Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, and in your community. The more you learn from other people, the more it will benefit you.

There are even some groups that have weekly blog shares where you can swap comments/shares/likes. Do not, however, be fake in your comments or insensitive or political — people will start banning you quick.

These are obviously just a few of the many things you can do to jump-start your blog hits and social media following.

Remember — the most important part of your blog is that it should be authentic. Put yourself and your story into it. Readers love to know the person behind each and every tip you share or insight you have.