Last updated on August 1st, 2018 at 06:39 pm
How to promote your blog if you really want to grow it. You’ve written an awesome blog post, now you’re trying to figure how to promote your blog. I have to admit, when I started this blog, I waited for way too long to start promoting it.
I waited 7 months before I started actually promoting my blog. Why?
Well, I guess I was like most new bloggers. I thought that as long as I was providing helpful content that helps people, then eventually people would find me.
The truth is that it doesn’t matter how great your content is, you’re going to have to take the time to get off your own blog and promote it. I know what you’re thinking, how do I promote a blog when I have no clue how to get started?
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Being An Entrepreneur Is Challenging
If you’re anything like I am then you don’t have an entrepreneur bone in your body. See, I’ve always been an employee and I never had to figure things out on my own.
Someone was always telling me what to do and how to do it. So when I decided to walk away from the post office and chase my entrepreneurial dreams, I made a ton of blogging mistakes.
No one told me that I was going to have to learn how to do everything. Sure you can outsource some of your blogging tasks, but the truth is that if you want to create a successful blog, you’re going to have to be the jack or Jackie of all trades.
No one is going to hold your hand and tell you what to do. Those days are gone when you become an entrepreneur.
Now, this doesn’t mean that you can’t invest in a blogging course. In fact, when I started this blog, I invested in the Elite Blog Academy.
I didn’t want to make the same mistakes that I made in the past of jumping from one shiny object to another. I need a roadmap that showed me how to actually build a business from my blog.
Are You Ready to Work?
Blogging is one of the most challenging and rewarding things that I have ever done. See, I get to share my WordPress and blogging tutorials with you.
Yes, I get to share them with my WordPress freelance clients as well. But the truth is that I enjoy working on my blog a lot more than I do for my freelancing clients.
I had no clue that when I was creating my freelancing business, all I was doing was creating a JOB. I still answer to clients and have deadlines to meet.
I’ve had my blog for a little over a year now and have worked harder on my blog than I do my freelancing business. The truth is that I wouldn’t change it for the world.
I love waking up every morning to get close to my goal of walking away from my WordPress freelancing business.
Chances are you started your blog so you can walk away from your 9-5. Even if you don’t want to walk away from your job, I have no doubt that you want to treat your blog as a side hustle and earn money from home.
Well, I am going to share some blog promotion tips that will help you get started driving traffic to your blog.
How to Promote Your Blog for Growth
You’ve probably done what I did when I started focusing on getting more traffic to my blog. You opened up your browser and you went to Google and typed in “how do I increase my blog traffic” or “how do I grow my blog.”
We all do it, some of us do it more than others. The truth is that there are several different ways to drive traffic to your blog. After all, we all know that without traffic, you’ll never be able to create a profitable blog.
I am going to share what I am doing to drive traffic to my blog. While my blog growth hasn’t been as fast as I would like it to be.
But the truth is that it takes most successful bloggers years to grow their blog into a successful online empire. Anyone who tells you that it won’t take hard work and time to grow your blog is most likely just trying to sell you something.
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t invest in blogging courses or online education. I’m a huge fan of buying online courses to help me grow my online business. If you’re completely new then you migh want to invest in the Elite Blog Academy, to help you understand the process of turning your blog into a business.
They are only open once a year, but you can sign up for the waiting list to be notified when they open their doors.
After all, you can’t always do everything for free. I am just saying make sure that you do your due diligence before investing in any type of course online.
Choose 2-3 Traffic Strategies to Start With
You’ve probably heard other bloggers say that you need to be on forums, Quora, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, guest blogging and etc if you want your blog to grow.
While it is true that all those things can possibly help you grow your blog. The truth is that trying to do everything is just going to exhaust you and you won’t see any results.
If you’re like me, you don’t get to work on your blog 24/7. You have other obligations that need your attention. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just work on your blog full-time from day one?
I still have freelancing clients that need me to do work. Right now, my freelancing gig is what puts food on the table, so I can’t ignore my clients.
That’s why I now focus on 2-3 traffic methods and then continue to do those on a daily basis.
Which Traffic Strategies Should You Use?
It’s so easy to jump on board when someone says that they are getting a ton of traffic from one specific traffic strategy. After all, if it works for them then it should work for us.
Wrong!
Just because something works for someone doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to work for you. So what do you do?
Quick Story
I had picked up the Ultimate Genius Blogger Toolkit and in one of the courses, it talked about creating a blog series to get blog traffic. This technique had taken a blogger up to 18,000 pageviews per month.
So you know what? I tested it out for myself. After all, I had read so many people say that if you want more blog traffic, you need to increase your blog traffic. Read a blog post from Neil Patel blog post on growing your blog to 100,000 visits a month in 1.5 years for some tips.
I figured what the heck do I have to lose other than a lot of time. But you know what I already spend a lot of time on my blog.
My blog series ran in December where I released a new blog post for 11 days straight to see if I could increase my blog traffic.
As of today as I write this blog post, I can definitely see how it has helped me increase my blog traffic.
Before I wrote the blog series, I was stuck on 3,000 page views per month. No matter what I did, I just couldn’t get over that hump. Now at the time of this writing last month in February I ended the month with 5,000 page views.
So yes it was worth my time to create that blog series.
The take away is that you can’t just take other people’s word for it. You’re going to have to test it out for yourself. That’s the only way that you will know if it will work for you or not.
Don’t Be Scared of Failure
Most people wouldn’t test these things out because it takes a lot of work to run an 11-day blogging series on your blog. You have to write the content, create the social media images, proofread everything and then promote the content.
Related: Case Study How to Write A Blog Series and My Results
I worked my ass off in December, and I think I wrote over 50,000 words that month. (I have never written that many words in my entire life)
When I started my blog series I had no clue if it was going to be a success. My fears could have stopped me from writing the series.
But you never know how it will impact your blog unless you are willing to try it. If you fail, it doesn’t matter. At least you now know that it doesn’t work for you because you tested it out. You just didn’t take someone else’s word for it.
Always Test Things Out
Don’t ever just take other people’s word for it blindly. Be willing to invest some time to see if that particular blog promotion method works for you. As long as you have Google Analytics installed, you will be able to see if that method is actually working for you.
Of course, make sure that you give that promotional method some time to work. You can’t expect to start using Quora for one week and then see a flood of traffic.
Sometimes it can take months to see the results from a specific traffic strategy. This doesn’t mean that it’s not working, it just means that it takes consistency to start working.
Related: How to Grow A Blog What I’m Focusing On My Second Year
Don’t Be Afraid to Miss Out
It’s so easy to read about a new traffic strategy that promises us overnight results. Maybe there’s a new Pinterest strategy or a Facebook strategy that promises you overnight results.
You’ve been consistent with your current promotional strategies, but you don’t want to miss the new traffic method. You drop everything and focus on that new traffic strategy.
I’ve done this so many times in the past. I mean who doesn’t want to get instant overnight results. Especially, when that blogger makes it sound so simple.
The truth is that it probably took that blogger months or years to figure things out. But now that it’s working for them and they are seeing tons of traffic, they created a brand new product that hypes how easy it is to get traffic.
I’m not saying that you can’t get traffic from Pinterest and Facebook.
It’s just impossible to really learn several social media platforms at once. At least it is for me, I have to really focus on a specific platform before moving on to something else.
Maybe I am missing out on Facebook traffic? Who knows, maybe I am.
That’s okay with me and if you don’t want to be overwhelmed with all the different promotional strategies, you have to be okay with it as well. It doesn’t matter if you’re missing out on some traffic because you’re not trying to learn everything at once.
You can always learn that other traffic strategy once you get an understanding of the traffic strategies you’re focusing on.
Drop What Isn’t Working
Once you start using a new traffic strategy for your blog, give it some time. How much time?
Well, that’s totally up to you. Personally, I like to give my blog promotion techniques some time to work. After all, it takes a while to actually start seeing results.
You don’t want to walk away from your new traffic strategy too soon.
Give it time and then after checking your blog growth traffic metrics, if you don’t see any results, then drop it like a bad habit.
How to Check in Google Analytics
Let me run you through the process of how I check to see if I am actually getting any traffic from my new promotional methods.
Log into your Google Analytics account and go to:
Acquisition >> All Traffic >> Referrals
This will bring up all the websites that are sending you traffic. Let’s say that you wrote a guest post on someone’s blog.
Since I love guest posting, I love seeing if the blog that I guest post actually brings me traffic and subscribers.
I haven’t guest posted on these two sites in a while, but when I check my Google Analytics, those guest posts continue to bring me traffic.
No, it’s not thousands of visitors. But this is residual traffic and I haven’t guest posted on these blogs for a couple months now.
My guest posts continue to work for me even though I am not guest posting.Β While all the traffic that I get from Vishwajeet’s blog isn’t necessarily from my blog post.
I do spend time commenting on his blog. So don’t underestimate the power of commenting to drive traffic to your blog.
Checking Your Social Media Traffic
Maybe you’re not guest posting and you’re focused on learning the ins and outs of Pinterest. You would go to:
Aquisition >> Social >> Overview
This will bring up all your traffic from the social media channels. You will be able to see if your Pinterest efforts are paying off.
Of course, you can dig deeper and see which pins are driving the most traffic. But I won’t be going into this with this blog post.
I just wanted to give you an idea of how to use Google Analytics to see if your blog promotion strategies are working.
Once you find something that works, go all out and keep working it and learning how to use it. Eventually, before you know it you will be creating your own online course that teaches people how to do something.
Oh and there’s nothing wrong with packaging up what you learn through your case studies and selling it. After all, you’ve taken the time to do the legwork and find out what works.
You can’t always give everything away for free π
Consistency Is the Key
Whether you’re trying to build muscle or become a better writer. You’re going to have to stay consistent and keep practicing and honing your skills.
The more you do it, the better you will become. Nothing happens overnight.
For instance, when I started my blog, I had no clue what Pinterest was. All I knew was that other bloggers were saying that it was a goldmine for bloggers.
Well, I created my Pinterest business account and verified my blog using Yoast SEO. It took me forever to figure things out. I still have to learn.
At times I almost quit because I wasn’t getting any results. Until my friend, Tiffany Griffin told me that it takes time to start seeing traffic from Pinterest.
Guess what, Pinterest is now my biggest traffic referer than any other social media channel. It’s still not as much as some other blogger’s traffic. But I am glad that I didn’t give up on it.
Related: My Pinterest is Not Working Back to The Drawing Board
One Step At A Time
Growing my blog has been a lot of work. It’s a work in progress and I continue putting one foot in front of the other to turn it into the successful business that allows me to walk away from my freelancing gig.
Everyone starts from scratch. Some of us start without any prior marketing knowledge so we have to learn everything as we go along.
Every blogger has their own struggles. For some, the blog promotion is the challenge. Other bloggers struggle with the techie aspects of blogging.
Maybe you’re one of the lucky ones who doesn’t struggle with anything?
If you know how to work with WordPress and know about the promotion. Then all you need to do is give it some time for your blog to grow. Unless you’re willing to pay for traffic it takes time to grow a blog.
Especially, if you’re using content marketing as the way to grow your blog. It takes a while for your SEO to kick in and for Google to start taking notice of your blog.
Final Take Away
Whatever you do, keep chasing your blogging dreams. As long as you stay consistent and keep putting one foot in front of the other, I have no doubt that you will one day reach your goals.
Find other successful bloggers and start making friends with them. It’s so easy to want to hide behind our computers and hide from others.
Blogging is hard work when you’re first starting out, and your blogging friends will make it a lot easier. Before you start reaching out to other bloggers, make sure that you’re using a WordPress Gravatar and not blogging with the mystery man.
No one trusts bloggers who are not willing to show their pearly whites on their blog. Remember, you’re trying to build online relationships.
This means that you need to let people into your lives and tell them a little bit about who you are and what you do.
The important thing to remember is that it takes time to grow a blog. It is not going to happen overnight. If you’re just starting your blog then you need to work on your patience because it isn’t going to grow overnight.
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Learning how to promote your blog takes time. You can’t expect to get flooded with blog traffic the minute you hit publish. How long did it take you before you found the 2-3 traffic strategies that are actually helping you grow your blog?
Let me know, I’d love to hear how long it took you to actually find your blogging mojo π
Thanks for the encouragement to keep going & not give up when it doesn’t work for you the way you heard it’s working for a superstar blogger. Another post you wrote helped me, too, and you mentioned it again here. I had never paid much attention to which social media outlet sent me the most traffic, but after reading your other post, I found out that it is Twitter, by far. So I will concentrate more effort there. I’m not getting anything from Pinterest, so that might be the one I drop like a bad habit. π
Hi Jeanine,
Glad to hear that Twitter is working out for you. It doesn’t seem to do much for me.
As for Pinterest, it does take time to get it to work. But you’re right, you need to focus on what’s actually working for your blog.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and comment.
Have a great day π
Susan
Hey Susan!
Building blog traffic is one of the most important parts of successful blogging. It does take time and effort to reach your goals with the traffic.
One of the most important keys is to be super consistent with the work. Also, you want to track your progress so you can learn what is working best for you. Tracking is such an important part of faster blog traffic growth.
You don’t want to work on your blog traffic blindly. You want to make sure every little bit of work you put in for blog traffic is really worth it!
Thank you for sharing your tips on this topic!
Keep up the great work!
Have a nice weekend! π
Hey Freddy,
Getting traffic is definitely a process and does take time. You definitely need to see what’s actually working and what isn’t.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and comment.
Have a great day π
Susan
Hi Susan,
Great tips on this subject.
We can’t start a blog and go all willy nilly with it. All of the components from writing content to commenting on other blogs need to be consistent.
It is so important to remember that it will take time. Make friends with others from pro bloggers to the “little guy” and as long as you keep at it, your blog will grow.
-Donna
You definitely have to be a jack of all trades if you want to have a successful blog. It can be stressful at times, but at other times, I find it kind of cool to think about all of the different skills I’ve learned over the years. Imagine putting all of that on a resume!
I think that people often overlook just how important consistency is. It’s consistency that has brought me the success that I’ve received with my blog. No, it’s not always easy, or fun. You don’t always get the results you want either. However, consistency is so important if you’re going to achieve success. For me, it’s been critical.
As always, you share the most honest and detailed posts. I really enjoy reading your stuff, Susan!
p.s. I’m glad that your guest posts are still bringing you some traffic. π
Hi Donna,
You’re definitely right, consistency is what works to grow a blog.
It does take a while to see results, but as long as you stay the course, you’ll see the results.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and comment.
Have a great day π
Susan
Hi Tiffany,
You’re right, consistency is what has been growing my blog. That’s one of the things that I didn’t have in the past, I threw in the towel way too early.
With this blog, I’ve been consistently working on it every day. Like you, it’s critical for me to stay the course as well. It isn’t always fun, but I’m glad that I enjoy the process.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and comment.
Hope you have a wonderful day π
Susan
Hi Susan,
When I started blogging, I was used to being told what to do to. It was a real eye opener when I realized it was all on me now. I was happy about being my own boss but didn’t know how much work would be involved.
I also had the same mindset. I thought if I had great content, I’d have no problem making money but all along I should have been promoting my blog.
These are awesome tips that you’ve shared and the advice you gave about focusing on 2-3 traffic methods is on point. We can try to be everywhere but that becomes overwhelming at some point.
Congratulations on your jump in pageviews. How was it like posting for 11 days straight? Wow, I tip my hat off to you ma’am. I don’t know if I could do that. For one, my carpal tunnel would flare up big time. π
Thanks for putting this post together. I love how you tell it like it is, which is how it should be done. π
Hope you’re having a great week!
Cori
Hi Cori,
It was a lot of work publishing content for 11 days straight. Thank goodness it doesn’t really take me that long to write content. Plus I always batch my content so I had it ready a month in advance.
I don’t think I would’ve been able to do it had my content not been prepared in advance.
I am having a great week, thanks for taking the time to stop by.
Have a great evening π
Susan
What a fantastic post, Susan! I first discovered your blog via a Facebook post in a group we’re both in, and I’ve spent the last hour or so watching your Youtube videos. Your videos and blog posts a virtual blogging university.
Personally, I’ve found more success on Facebook than Twitter or any of the other social media sites. I do a lot of writing about Facebook on my blog so I guess it’s just a natural fit.
Thanks so much for sharing your expertise with us.
Rick
Hi Rick,
I am glad that you are finding my blog and YouTube channel helpful.
To tell you the truth, I don’t know that much about Facebook. When I am ready to start learning it, I’ll definitely have to head to your blog to start learning about it.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and comment.
Have a great day π
Susan
My pleasure, Susan. Have a wonderful weekend!
Hi Susan,
I love this because you focus heavily on mindset with a strong dose of practical tips.
I deeply feared failing and missing out – 2 fears you note – early in my blogging career. Promoting would be a waste anything, as I’d fail….I believed this to my core. Then I feared missing out on fast moving traffic driving techniques, deviated from fundamentals and just when traffic grew for me through some strategies, I bailed. What a dingbat.
I find it easier to do 2-3 things – guest posting, genuine blog commenting – as core actions then toss in Quora and Warrior Forum and some live videos.
Smashing post buddy.
Ryan
Hey Ryan,
You are the king of guest posting and so glad that you’re getting great success from it. Although, I know that you’ve done hundreds, it didn’t happen overnight.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by.
Have a great weekend π
Susan
I’ve had this post sitting on my browser for a couple of weeks, waiting for the time to comment; ugh! lol
Promotion is important to growing one’s blog and traffic, that’s for sure. Back in the day, my blog was ranked in the top 75K in the world… now I’m nowhere close to that because of all the Google changes over the years. I wish I’d thought about promotion way before that happened, because it proves that when we rely too much on trying to get Google to like us that we’re a slave to that system instead of doing the work ourselves.
Hi Mitch,
Wow, 75k in the world, that’s awesome. I totally know what you mean about relying too much on Google.
I did that back in the day and it wasn’t pretty when they had an algorithm update. This time around, I am doing things differently.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and comment.
Have a great day π
Susan
Hi Susan,
I find very meaningful information here. great tips for promoting blog because Building a blog traffic is one of the most important parts of successful blogging. It does take time and effort to reach your goals with the traffic.
Hi Rajesh,
You’re right, traffic is extremely important if you want to create a profitable blog.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and comment.
Have a great day π
Susan