How I've reached 500+ monthly visitors to my blog and how to increase your blog traffic

Jan 26

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If you’ve started a money-making blog, you might be frustrated when you start trying to increase your blog’s traffic.

Recently, I hit a big milestone for my money-making blog: I reached over 500 monthly visitors.

Now, this isn’t a huge number. This roughly means I’m getting nearly 20 visitors per day to my blog. Both my unique visitors and visitors are around 500+ which means that over 30 minutes to two years, cookies are being collected from my visitors so that I can receive ample traffic to my blog.

Other bloggers have increased their blog traffic far beyond the 500+ marks, but it’s still a great milestone to hit for my personal business goals.

I’ve been working on my blog for about 6 months so I know increasing my blog traffic steadily can be a big accomplishment for a new blogger. Since my blog has increased its traffic so well, I started using Tailwind to automate my content and increase my readership even more. It’s helped me focus on other areas of my blog, as well as keep track of any of my content that’s going viral or at least performing better than others.

Since I know it can be difficult for a new blogger to acquire traffic, I’m offering 5 tips on how I was able to increase my blog traffic from 0 to 500 visitors a month.

If you’re a new blogger or business owner, there can be many reasons and ways you are trying to increase your website traffic. So to show you how I did it, here are a few of my tips on how I increased my blog traffic.

How to increase your blog traffic tip #1: Pinterest

I love Pinterest and it has been surprisingly easy to use as a business owner.

The best eye-opener I’ve received about Pinterest has been about how to use it as a search engine rather than a social media platform. Social media is all about engagement, comments, and likes. These engagements can be seen on Pinterest but it’s not its main use.

Pinterest is used for others to search for answers to their problems. If I want to learn how to increase my blog traffic, I could use Pinterest rather than Google to find tips and advice from other blogs rather than search through Google’s search engine.

Since I’ve learned about Pinterest’s search engine capabilities, I’ve had to relate similar SEO (search engine optimization) tactics to my pins, their titles, and their descriptions. It’s important to put keywords into your pins to create relateable and searchable content to reach the right type of users for your niche and target audience.

Recently, I’ve also been able to increase my blog’s traffic by using Tailwind. A lot of other bloggers have raved about Tailwind and how it’s helped increase their blog traffic. It’s a helpful tool especially when you use their optimized times for your Pinterest content. Otherwise, it’s another streamlining tool to help you spend less time pinning, and allow you time to focus on other areas of your business.

How to increase your blog traffic tip #2: Consistent Content

You’ll want to show your ideal client that you are active on your website. You must provide them with fairly consistent content to engage with.

Being consistent doesn’t mean you need to write content three times a week and publish your work at the same time every week.

For my content, I tend to write about 2-3 articles per week depending on my schedule. With each of these articles, I’m also creating content for Pinterest and my social media feeds. Not only does this provide content for my blog, but it also provides content for my social media. I can relate my content on my social media feeds that link back to my blog.

When I look through my content, I rely on CREATE Blog and Editorial Planner: Create Exceptional Content, Get More Done and Smash Through Your Blogging Goals to streamline and plan my content. You don’t need to have a thorough plan from the start but CREATE does give you the tools to create and follow a thorough and well thought out content management plan for your new blog.

I try to streamline my content together so I’m not bouncing from topic to topic unnecessarily. By creating a content editorial calendar, you’ll be able to create a plan of what you will be talking about and how to transition from one topic to the next without much trouble.

How to increase your blog traffic tip #3: Social Media

I’m not one to cover every social media platform for my business, and I don’t plan to make it so in the upcoming future.

I tend to focus on 2-3 social media platforms for my business. This allows me to relate more to my ideal clients for my business start-up, rather than spending my time trying to appeal to platforms where my clients are less likely to be associating with.

For example, I don’t tend to make a big fuss about Twitter. Twitter tends to be too quick for me to make connections and interact with others. So, instead, I tend to focus on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn to socialize with potential clients and brands that I admire. By focusing your talents on where you would like to connect to your clients, you are creating a much stronger relationship with them and your business strategy plans.

I try to use Tailwind’s feature for Instagram, since it allows me the chance to find and curate hashtags that will appeal the most to my target audience. Similar to Tailwind’s features with Pinterest, I’m able to schedule my posts beforehand and work on other aspects of my business that require more of my time.

The biggest aspect I’ve learned about social media, however, is that it is rather fleeting. Since the half-life of your content tends to be lower, it can be difficult to make an impact. That being said, it is still important to show you are active on social media to show others you are still pursuing your small business, even if it is not an everyday occurrence that you engage on your preferred social media platforms.

Related Content: 6 Well branded profiles on Instagram

How to increase your blog traffic tip #4: Web Design

I’ve undergone many different web design tactics throughout my start-up phase for my business.

Your web design does not have to be elaborate or all figured out at the beginning. Your web design is bound to evolve as you develop new aspects of your business. That being said, you should have consistency throughout your design.

When you first develop a responsive web design for your target audience, you will need to figure out what you are trying to lead your target audience towards. If you are trying to lead them towards your products or services, have a page for that and reference your skills for them to look into. If you are trying to capture their email for list generation, try to develop a landing page that entices them in or a few ways to opt-in with free content.

An effective web design will help you lead your ideal client to your offers and how you would like to engage with them. If you’re still trying to determine how your ideal client should interact with your small business, you should do a bit more research into what your ideal client is wanting and what they need the most help with their businesses or pursuits.

How to increase your blog traffic tip #5: Graphic Design

As a graphic designer, I think it’s crucial to have a graphic design plan in place for your blog or small business. Not only is it able to help you streamline many of your marketing strategies, but it’s also able to streamline your brand.

Employing graphic design into your brand strategy and message will help you come across how you want to with your clients and target audience. Graphic design, when instilled in a brand will help your brand message become clearer across multiple platforms, whether it be your website, Pinterest strategy, social media, and any other mediums or marketing avenues you pursue.

Creating a clear brand message will help with the assistance of a graphic designer. Not only will a graphic designer know how to develop a brand strategy that will be effective, they also know how to engage others with subliminal messaging and cues to trust and associate with your brand.

Take my brand as an example. I use a bright green, silver, and black for my colors to promote a feeling of loyalty, sophistication, and security to my ideal clients. Using a sans serif font throughout my text also proves that I am more modern and simplistic as well. Various aspects of your brand convey different messages to your clients without even realizing it. Graphic designers are there to show you why and how to use those techniques throughout your business to help you increase your sales and blog traffic.

Related Content: 5 Key Elements to Question when building your Personal Brand

It can be daunting, knowing you have so many hats to juggle while starting a business and trying to increase your blog’s traffic consistently and effectively.

This is why I wholly support helpful tools like, Tailwind and CREATE Blog and Editorial Planner: Create Exceptional Content, Get More Done and Smash Through Your Blogging Goals, because, in the end, they are created and used to allow you peace of mind. The not only streamline your creative and content marketing strategy, but they allow you to focus your time on other aspects that require more energy for your small business.

Want more tips on how to increase your blog’s traffic? Join my e-newsletter to hear about more marketing tips and ways to promote your business.

Caitlin Shogren