Blog Traffic Report Slow And Steady Is The Name of The Game

Last updated on March 4th, 2018 at 09:20 am

Another blog traffic report that reveals what I’ve been doing to grow my blog. As you know, I started this blog so I can walk away from my WordPress freelancing business and move more towards a passive income lifestyle. It’s been a lot of work, but I really enjoy writing these posts and giving you an inside peek of what I’ve been working on.

February, has been a busy, busy month for me. Of course, I’ve been spending the time on the regular blogging tasks, such as batch writing. I’ve also started creating my first digital product and dealing with Pinterest errors.

I already have some Kindle eBooks that I sell on Amazon, if you haven’t checked those out, you can check them out here.

My New Product

Yes, I’ve started creating a new product. As my email list continues to grow, I keep getting a bunch of emails and requests so I figure that it was time to create my first small product.

After that one is completed, I will be starting on my WordPress product. I’ve gotten so many requests from people to help them start their own blog. But the truth is that I no longer offer WordPress freelancing services on my blog.

As you know, I am in the process of moving away from freelancing because I am tired of trading hours for dollars. That’s why you won’t find my WordPress freelancing services on my blog.

However, with so many people reaching out to me and sending me email requests, I think that it’s about time that I create my own WordPress course. So I will be starting to work on that in the next couple of months.

Third Party Hosting for Products

Before I started creating my product, I sat down to decide where I’ll be hosting my product. There’s so many choices like Thinkific and Teachable, which are two of the most popular that I read about.

Well, I decided not to do that. Instead I registered a brand new domain and decided to host my own products myself on a membership site.

Why?

Well, for one I kind of like the convenience of full control over my own products. Plus, I don’t really want to worry about having to pay monthly fees to host my products.

Yes, I had to pay for my own domain and buy the membership plugins. But the truth is that I already had access to Digital Access Pass. I had picked it up awhile back and still have access to it.

So besides working on my blog and my freelancing gig, I’ve been secretly working on my own product. It’s definitely a challenge juggling everything, but hey, that’s the life of an entrepreneur.

You have to know which tasks are important and focus on those that are going to give you the best ROI.

When Is The Right Time to Create A Product?

Most people will tell you that you shouldn’t create a product until you have an email list. That’s totally true, while I still have a small email list, it is continuing to grow.

I started writing my Kindle eBooks before I had a list at all. If I would’ve waited until I had a following, I wouldn’t have anything at all to sell on my blog.

The cool thing is that I know that my product will do good because I’ve had people asking me for it. Plus, I will now have something to offer people when they do sign up for my email list.

You Get to Decide

In blogging, it’s so easy to let other people decide for you. There’s people who tell you that you should do this or you should do that. The truth is that blogging is a journey.

We all learn by doing. That’s really the only way that you will learn what actually works for your blog or what doesn’t. If you try something and it doesn’t work, then so what.

It’s not the end of the world. At least you had the guts to try it. So if you have a small email list, ask them what they need help with. Then go out there and do everything that you can to learn it and create your product.

After all, if they’ve been asking you questions and sending you emails about something. Isn’t it time that you got paid for your knowledge and expertise? I think so!

Pinterest Troubles

Yes, I’ve been experiencing some Pinterest issues with my blog. When someone tries to Pin something from my blog, they get an error that says “Sorry something went wrong on our end, please try again.”

At first I thought it was the social sharing plugin that I am using. So I contacted the developer and they said it wasn’t on their end that it’s Pinterest.

So after contacting my hosting account I contacted Pinterest. It’s been crazy on what they are telling me.

I’ve finally contacted Greyson Bell from IMark Interactive to help me out. It’s actually a pretty common problem and this is what Greyson told me.

Thanks. Your SSL is good, the server is pushing the site to HTTPS, but the Pinterest bot just can’t scrape your data. We see this a lot and most of the time it’s on Pinterest to fix it. That is unless you have bot blocking in your htaccess file and that isn’t whitelisted Pinterest

So needless to say that it’s been kind of like a merry go round trying to get this sorted out. I am still in the process of getting this fixed, it’s just nice to know that it’s NOT on my end.

Thanks for Letting Me Know

I only found out about this issue because my friend Freddy from Internet Marketing Blog 101 made me aware of it. Just wanted to say thanks to Freddy and anyone else who has told me about the issue, I totally appreciate it. Whenever I publish a brand new post and pin to Pinterest, I am always logged in.

Everything works fine if I am logged into my account. I’ve pinned from my blog like a visitor in the past, but never experienced this issue. I’m not really sure how long I’ve been experiencing it.

So if you’ve tried to pin from my site and see that Pinterest error, just know that I am in cohoots with Pinterest to get it figured out. I’m just not sure how long it will take?

Anway

As a blogger, we deal with all kinds of errors and blocks. However, we can’t let that stop us from moving forward and reaching our goals. So while my Pinterest problems make me crazy, life goes on.

My Blog Traffic Report

Now that you know what I’ve been working on and what’s driving me crazy, it’s time to get into my blog traffic update for the month of February.

This month, I’ve been really diving into learning how to get blog traffic from Pinterest.

Why?

Well, because it’s the best way to drive traffic to my blog. It hasn’t been very easy for me, but it’s been the one strategy that has actually worked that is helping me build my traffic and my subscriber list.

This year, I’ve decided to stop doing what wasn’t working and focus on what is working to help me grow my blog. That’s the only way that I’ll ever be able to walk away from my WordPress freelancing gig.

My First 5,000 Page Views Ever

Finally, I hit my first 5,000 page views with my blog. I know what you’re thinking, page views don’t matter. But the truth is that if you’re not getting your blog in front of people, then you decrease your chances of people subscribing to your email list, buying your products and services and buying from your affiliate links.

You need to get your blog in front of people. But you want to make sure that you’re getting your blog in front of the right people. If you want your blog to survive, you need to learn how to drive traffic to it.

Google Analytics

The one thing about Pinterest traffic is that it has a high bounce rate. Think of Pinterest as drive by traffic. Most of them are not going to stay very long.

That’s why you need to make sure that you have a lead magnet on all your blog posts. This increases the chance of someone landing on your blog and subscribing to your email list.

If you’re focusing on Pinterest traffic, don’t worry too much about your bounce rate. Chances are it’s going to be a little on the high side. As long as your traffic is converting, that’s really all that matters. (just my opinion)

Email Subscribers

This month I had 45 people subscribe to my email list. This is an area that I definitely need to put more focus on. Once I get done with this huge freelancing project, I plan on focusing more on growing my email list.

It’s time to get serious about growing my email list.

Where Is My Blog Traffic Coming From?

Right now, most of my blog traffic is coming from Pinterest and Google. I love it that you can rank for keywords in both Google and Pinterest at the same time.

The cool thing about Pinterest is that the traffic does come a little bit faster than Google traffic. Although don’t expect a flood of traffic right away from Pinterest if you’re brand new.

It has taken me a while to learn how to drive Pinterest traffic. Although, I do have to admit that I really didn’t start learning how to use Pinterest until January of this year.

In the past, all I did was set up pins in Tailwind and let them ride. That didn’t give me any of the results that I wanted.

That’s why I’ve decided to really dig into Pinterest and learn how to use it effectively. After a month of just digging in and really learning it, I am happy with the results I am seeing.

I’m still nowhere near 100,000 page views, but I can finally start seeing my blog traffic increase. Here’s a screenshot of what my Pinterest traffic growth looks like from January.

As you can see, I haven’t had any major blowout on traffic from Pinterest. My Pinterest experience has been slow and steady growth.

I know that you’re used to seeing all those traffic reports that say you can get traffic literally overnight on Pinterest. That’s never been my case.

What I’ve noticed on Pinterest is that some niches grow faster than others on Pinterest. But I totally think it’s possible for virtually any niche to do good on Pinterest as long as you take the time to learn the platform and work it.

Tailwind Tribes

I personally love Tailwind Tribes and in my opinion, they are easier to join than Pinterest groups. Although when you do join them, you have to make sure that people are actually sharing your content.

If they’re not, then you definitely need to leave them. When you first start using Tribes, you won’t know which ones are worth it and which ones aren’t.

I recommend joining a few and then sharing other people’s pins and submitting some of yours. After a few days, go back in and see if people are actually sharing your pins.

While I don’t usually leave the group right away, I usually give it a few weeks. Thank goodness I have the Unlimited Tribes PowerUp plan, which allows me to share as many pins per month as I want.

Related: How to Use Pinterest for Traffic

If you’re still not using Tailwind to help you grow your blog, you can sign up here for your 30 day trial.

Google Traffic

While most of my traffic is coming from Pinterest at the moment, I am learning how to optimize my blog posts for both Pinterest and Google.

Which is awesome, because I don’t ever want to be in a position where all my traffic comes from just one traffic source. We all know that’s never a good situation to be in.

So while my organic traffic from Google is climbing, it is a slow process. But that’s the one thing that I’ve learned in blogging, nothing happens overnight. (not for me at least)

So it’s all still a learning experience and I am getting better. But I am constantly working on improving my traffic strategies and it definitely hasn’t been easy.

Focusing More

The one thing that I have to say that is helping me grow my blog is the fact that I am focusing more on the tasks that are actually helping. When I first started this blog, I was trying to be everywhere.

I was never able to get over 3,000 page views at all last year. I’m not say that you should be on Pinterest.

What I Am Saying

Sit down and take a look at your Google Analytics. Where is most of your traffic coming from?

Is there a social media channel that is driving the most traffic to your blog? If so, then is there a way that you can spend more time on it and really get to learn it.

You can’t expect to just use an automated scheduler to help you grow your blog traffic. You really need to take the time to know that social media platform.

Yes, it’s going to take some time, but that is what is helping me grow this blog. I put all my other social media platforms on the backburner and focus on Pinterest.

Once I master Pinterest, then I’ll move on to another social media platform. I know that everyone says that you should be everywhere, but the truth is that just didn’t work for me.

I’ve still got a lot to learn about Pinterest, but overall, I am pretty happy with the results I’ve been getting in just a little over a month.

Here are the numbers from November so you can compare them to December.

February Blog Growth Numbers

• Email Subscribers (new opt-ins for the month): 45
• Overall List Size: 242
• Twitter Followers: 1290
• Facebook Followers: 44
• YouTube Subscribers: 104
• Pinterest Followers: 676
• Page Views: 5,586

I included my January blog growth numbers, this will make it easier for you to see how my blog grew. Of course, if you want to see all my blog growth reports, you can see them here.

January Blog Growth Numbers

• Email Subscribers (new opt-ins for the month): 27
• Overall List Size: 205
• Twitter Followers: 1266
• Facebook Followers: 41
• YouTube Subscribers: 92
• Pinterest Followers: 605
• Page Views: 4,960

Slow and Steady Growth

As you can see, I’ve experienced slow and steady growth. While I’d love to see faster the growth, the truth is that it just doesn’t happen like that for most bloggers.

It takes consistent daily action to grow a blog. My biggest take away from this blog post is to choose 2-3 traffic strategies that actually help you grow your blog. Use those traffic strategies each and everyday.

Learn everything that you can about them and implement them daily. Before long, you’ll start to see some traffic growth and not only that, but you’ll have people subscribing to your email lists and your blog will be making money.

Once you start to understand and feel confident about those traffic strategies, you can start implementing some more. Just don’t make the mistake of trying to do everything all at once at the beginning.

It just doesn’t work that way. (at least not for me)

Not Seeing Any Growth?

Well maybe it’s time to start investing in some online blogging education. If you’re trying to build a business out of your blog, then you’re going to have to continue educating yourself on a regular basis.

I make it a point to invest in my education on a regular basis. As a matter of fact, when I started this blog, I invested in the Elite Blog Academy.

I’ve started blogs in the past, but the biggest issue I had was turning them into an actual profitable business. I didn’t want to make the same mistake with this blog.

Do your due diligence and find the right course that resonates with you. In the meantime, grab this Build Your Blog Bootcamp which will help you get on the right track to building a profitable blog.

Final Take Away

There are always going to be people who tell you that you should be doing this or that. While it’s nice to have blogging friends who try to give you advice.

In the end, you have to decide what’s best for your blog. If their advice is legit and you believe it will benefit you, then take their advice and do it.

If not, then stay the course and do what’s right for your blog. You are the only one who knows what’s actually working and what’s the next best thing for your blog.

Don’t be bullied or intimidated into thinking that if you don’t do this or that, your blog won’t grow. The truth is that it takes a while for a blog to grow. Listen to this awesome podcast for some inspiration on growing a blog. It will shed the truth about what it takes to grow a blog.

Don’t be scared to try something new. You also can’t be scared of FOMO (fear of missing out). If you’re serious about growing your blog and learning how to drive traffic to it, you just have to experiment and see what works and what doesn’t.

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Do you work on your blog on a daily basis? Are you focusing on the traffic strategies that are actually working to grow your blog? If so, which traffic strategies are the ones that are responsible for growing your blog? I’d love to hear what’s working for you.