So you’ve started a blog via my START A DIY BLOG free course, right?
{If you haven’t, just click here and set things up first – then come back here and learn how to gain traffic!}
And you’ve learned all about Monetizing Your Blog at this post here, right?
Now that you’re all caught up, let’s get into the knitty (heh) gritty on just how I’ve gone from zero to over 300,000 monthly pageviews in less than a year!
–I’ll apologize right here for such a lengthy, wordy post. But it’s chock full of important info. So grab a warm beverage and settle in! —
First you’ll need to know what I mean by pageviews. Those of you who are seasoned bloggers, be patient with me while I go over some basics. For all of you that are already lost by all this – fret not!
Pageviews = the number of web pages loaded in a day, week, or month. So if I have 300k pageviews in a month, that doesn’t mean I have 300k readers. That means 300k web pages within my website were viewed this month. That could be any number of human people looking at multiple pages within my site.
Pageviews are also a BIG deal as far as reporting what kind of traffic your blog is getting, and will be the #1 question you are asked by colleagues, brands, and ad networks. Pageviews are the big cheese.
Basically, this tutorial will be teaching you how to increase the pageviews your blog is getting.
In turn, this will most likely result in more social media follows, and more engagement on your blog. But those are articles for another time.
Today is all about increasing traffic on your blog and getting those pageview numbers up!
The 3 Easy Steps to Gain REAL Traffic on your Blog:
1. Spread the Word
This can take MANY shapes – but generally speaking, I’m talking about sharing your blog posts on social media.
I see the most traffic from Pinterest, by a long shot. Like most of my traffic is from Pinterest. It’s really quite amazing how much this one website does for my blog. (more on that in a moment)
I also share my posts on Instagram, Facebook, and through an email service to those that have subscribed to my Newsletter (called Mad Mimi – on my income reports you’ll see this as a $42 monthly expense).
On the same day I publish a post I am sure to share the post to all of these social networks. I try to stagger the posts being that they are all similar among these pages, so that if Suzy follows me on Facebook and Instagram, she doesn’t see the exact same thing at the same time.
It’s really important to post regularly to these accounts, so that your followers or subscribers don’t leave your page. If you don’t have regular content, people are more likely to forget about or unfollow you. You want to constantly be reminding them about you and your blog – even if you repost other’s work or an inspirational post!
Like that time I reposted an inspirational photo on Instagram and tagged the maker – good exposure for her, and great content for me!
I often see something on Pinterest that catches my eye and I’ll share it on my Facebook page. It’s hard to keep up with posting once (or even more than once) per day and all of it being original content (meaning I created it). So it is encouraged to share other bloggers’ work – and it helps you by keeping a more active account. Get it?
2. Harness the Pinterest Power
As I briefly mentioned above, Pinterest is the reason I get the traffic that I do. I would be nowhere without Pinterest. (Anybody know the CEO so I can send him a fruit basket?)
My blog really took off when I started to understand how to use Pinterest as a professional.
Because professionally pinning for your blog is VERY different than the user/consumer side of Pinterest. Yes, it looks the same and it works the same – but your motives are different.
Basically there were 2 keys to my Pinterest success (also there are whole blogs that focus on this topic, but I’ll give you what worked for me).
A) Pin images tailored just for Pinterest
So when I share my new hat pattern (for example) on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter – I use my hero image (or the main image that I’ve chosen to “sell” the post). I don’t crop it differently or otherwise change it specifically for those social media accounts. I post this same picture (or one like it) to all accounts:
When I move to post my hat pattern to Pinterest, I use photoshop (you could use Picmonkey or another service like it) to create a unique image fitting certain criteria proven to be more effective at getting attention on Pinterest.
My Pin for this hat looks like this: -& yes, that’s all one image!-
All of my pins have:
- a long, vertical orientation (I stick to about a 4 x 10 ratio usually)
- multiple images
- the title of the post or pattern
- clear, well lit images
- bright, eye catching color and fonts (make sure it’s easy to read)
- Verbiage expressing that my crochet pattern is free (and if I have a video tutorial to go along, I add that too)
It’s really very easy once you start practicing this system – but until you start pinning these types of images, your pins probably won’t go as far.
Here’s a screenshot of my current Pinterest board – or scroll through all of my original pins HERE (it would also be wicked sweet if you’d follow me. Just sayin’).
B) Join Pinterest Group Boards
Now that you have great, eye catching pins you need to pin them to group boards.
This is the big kahuna, you guys. This is everything.
CLICK HERE to see a Pinterest group board.
You can see that on this example, the board has 15.1k followers. When you are added as a contributor to a group board, you can pin your own original pins to this board and potentially reach those 15k people. They are a whole bunch of folks who probably would have never otherwise seen your content – and you didn’t have to work for months to build up that many followers to reach that many people.
So, how do you get in this game?
Basically you need to request to join these boards by sending a message to the creator of the board. You can find that account by looking for the first on the list of contributors (those round pictures toward the top). The creator of this particular example is the Cream of the Crop Crochet blog!
Pinterest will allow you to send them a message – you just need to be following that person and the board you want access to before sending the message.
Just introduce yourself and briefly state what your blog is about and that you would love to be added as a contributor.
I find group boards in my niches by using a site called pingroupie.com
This site is basically a directory of Pinterest group boards and you can search by keyword or title. So search words in your niche and find those group boards!
Now, you won’t be added to every group board you find and send a message to. I still have a couple of dozen group boards with requests sent months ago. So this is a bummer – but go ahead and send messages to every board that fits your niche (what your blog is about) and any accepts are a huge step toward success!
Just be sure that once you are added you read the description of the board carefully (up top) – most boards have rules about what types of pins you can post and how often you can contribute. Be sure to follow these rules so you aren’t booted off the board for bad behavior!
3. The Giveaway Game
One of my big jumpstarts as far as growing a social media following (which later translates into visitors on my blog) was doing a giveaway.
I went to my local Joann Fabrics (before I started working with any brands) and used coupons to buy a few balls of yarn, a nice set of Clover Amour crochet hooks, and a desktop OttLite. Some coveted items that I knew would get the attention of the folks in the Facebook crochet groups I belong to.
Like Pinterest, there are groups on Facebook for all different kinds of hobbies/interests. I belong to about a dozen crochet groups (just request to be added – I found them by using the search for groups feature) and I always post my new free patterns to these groups.
But what really helped my traffic, was posting my giveaway to these groups. This giveaway technique doesn’t work so well on Pinterest because pins live on forever and keep recirculating. On Facebook, posts are more time sensitive. Which works well for giveaways.
Put together your giveaway, take a nice photo, and share share share! Now be sure that a requirement for entry is to actually visit your blog, or sign up for the newsletter, and “liking” your blog’s Facebook page.
This ensures that the people entering your giveaway will actually look at your blog, if only for a moment. Looking at your blog = pageviews, which is what we are really after, right? Ideally, a good number of these people will stick around and continue to follow your blog.
I went from a couple of hundred Facebook likes to over 4k Facebook likes with my first giveaway (pictured above) when my blog was just 3 months old. A lot of those folks still follow my blog now.
And now that I work with several brands, I incorporate giveaways into big projects and host some sort of giveaway every few months at least with no out of pocket cost (brands sponsor giveaways often, like the one pictured here).
This regularity helps those folks who “just want free stuff” to stick around too and hopefully find something on your blog to enjoy other than a giveaway.
Final thoughts: Every blog is different. So don’t expect growth exactly like mine just by following these steps. Along with all of these techniques, a lot of sweat, time, and tears went into getting my blog where it is today.
But I hope that these tips can help you get your blog train rolling!
Or inspire you to start your blog (be sure to follow my easy tutorial HERE!) now that you have some doable ways to grow it into a profitable business.
How do you circulate your blog posts and gain traffic? Keep the suggestions coming in the comments section below!
Charmaine says
Great post, I am starting my blog, thanks to you! Baby steps, but we all start somewhere! Thank you for sharing your expertise and your time!
Kimberley Bryant says
Do you actually sell the crochet products you create or just offer the patterns & video tutorials? Is this another element one could do on a blog (selling their physical product), or do you need another platform like Etsy to do that?
Ashleigh says
You would need something like Etsy. Unless your blog is set up through an ecommerce platform like Shopify or Big Cartel. Personally I don’t sell anything I make, it’s not worth the time for me 🙂
Mary says
Thanks so much for these posts! I’m still in the process of getting my blog ready, but this post helped a lot to figure out a game plan.
I’m just curious. Where did you go to design your logo? A lot of the sites I’ve looked at to help generate one have been kind of blah. Did you use a site or just do it on your own through photo shop? It’s super cute!
Ashleigh says
Thanks! I had a web designer overhaul my blog and branding a few months ago. I went through Laura at Pixel Me Designs – she’s great!
Shep says
Great post Ashleigh! Very clear and concise, just the kind of reading I like. Thank you so much.
Rose says
Hi Ashleigh, you’re a huge blessing to me right now.
Thanks for all the amazing and honest tips. I have to ask, to feature another designer on your blog or Facebook page, do you need to ask their permission?
Ashleigh says
Hi Rose! Thanks so much, I’m happy I can help you. Most designers/bloggers are fine with you sharing their content as long as you give them credit, after all exposure is what all bloggers are after 😉 But it doesn’t hurt to send over a quick email to ask permission if you aren’t sure!
Rose says
Thank you. Very much!
Maria says
Thank you for this post! I’ve started my blog just recently and my number one priority is to get those followers (as well as build my site)! Great advice about Pinterest – I’m slowly finding my way around the site and trying to transfer my creative skills to the computer to create great looking pins like yours! Thanks again for the post and happy new year!
Jessica says
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
The pinterest group boards is everything! I just couldn’t figure out how to reach people when I only have 100 followers at the time. Such great advice.
Thank you for inspiring me to set some goals for myself for 2017. Not that being a stay at home mom isn’t challenging, but I am so excited to have career goals again!
Very very happy I stumbled across your first post about starting up a blog!
Ashleigh says
So glad I could help ya, Jessica! I agree – being a SAHM has it’s own set of challenges… but I need to stretch the muscles in my brain for my own personal health and wellness 😉
Jess | MakeAndDoCrew.com says
Hey Ashleigh! What an awesome, comprehensive resource you’ve put together! I’m curious about how you do giveaways. Are you using a certain tool like Rafflecopter to run them? I’m not sure how else to verify that people subscribe, etc, but from what I can tell, Rafflecopter is really pretty expensive. I’d love to hear how you handle giveaways!
Ashleigh says
Hey friend! *waves* Yeah, I use Rafflecopter – but I use the free version. Because I’m cheap. So there are limited options for entries but it does include email signups and facebook visits. Then if I had an additional entry option outside what that free version allows, I’ll add those entries in manually. I would just run the giveaways through social media, but they’re such great traffic boosters! Hope this helps.
Alex says
Thanks so much for all of these great tips!!