How I Grew My Blog Traffic Over 391% In One Month!

Before January:

After January:

Have I mentioned blogging is HARD?  Let me start off by saying, month one of this transformation included some basic things you SHOULD be doing as a blogger.   So if you’re doing the basic things, then move along until my trial and error stage is done. OR stick around and read what you already know, I may or may not be entertaining and you may even learn something new! Oh, and side note: this is just what I have been doing this past month, I am no blogger genius, but I am here to share with you everything I learn to make it easier for you because learning to blog successfully is not easy and shouldn’t be done alone.

Now when I say 391%,  I don’t mean 10 views to 1,000,000 views, but I did go from 500 views to 2,000 views and my goal was only 1,000 views. So I’m going to start with the obvious.

CONSISTENCY IS KEY.

If you are not blogging on a schedule and you’re just posting here and there whenever you have time, you might as well delete your page.  That’s a bit dramatic, but seriously, you NEEEEEED to make it a point to write blog post once a week and if you’re a little crazy, two post a week.  You want to really win, go for 3+.  I went from writing two blog post throughout December, to writing seven in January and that made a huge difference.  I have my blogger friends that hold me accountable, who have the same goals as me and that helps A TON.

DRIVE YOUR READERS TO YOUR BLOG.

Not instagram, twitter, facebook, youtube. YOUR WEBSITE. My biggest thing (well second, I’ll get to my biggest thing soon) that I did differently in January was posting my try on sessions on my blog site page, so instead of linking my liketoknow.it page, I was driving traffic to my actual website to shop.  You can click right here to see what I’m talking about.  You want to share a sale? Make a blog page about it and drive your readers THERE.  If you have the luxurious swipe up feature, only use it to link to your website if you’re trying to share something.

Now back to my biggest thing that I did differently, I’m sure you’re all curious about that.. PINTEREST. Did you hear me? PIN.TER.EST.  If you don’t have one, I need you to stop reading this blog post RIGHT now and go create a BUSINESS account.  I can’t stress this enough. Literally, I’m not kidding, are you still reading?! STAAAAAAAP.

Now pinterest is like a woman, this was probably the HARDEST social media page I’ve ever had to try to figure out.  I felt like I was trying to read it’s mind, but apparently I got some things right because I managed to go from 27 views to over 20,000 views in 30 days. Pinterest is a huge search engine people.  You go to pinterest to search for something, just like you go to google.  **Hint** “Spring fashion outfits”  Oh, you blog about that? Good, put it ON PINTEREST.  Now, I don’t know a whole lot about pinterest, I just know that it is the number one way to drive successful traffic to your blog.  Here’s the three things that I learned are the most important things about pinterest, and as I get through my trial and error stage, I’ll be sure to do a post about it.

1. Make Good Pins.

If your pins LOOK good, you will get more pins and clicks, and that is what pinterest traffic is all about.  Pinterest is not about how many views you can rack up in a month, it is about how many clicks you can get to your website! Honestly, some people have intriguing things that they blog about and I still won’t click on the image to read about it because their graphic’s aren’t that good.  If their graphics aren’t good, I automatically assume their content probably isn’t either.  That brings me to CATCHY BLOG POST TITLES. Seriously, if your title is boring, who the heck is going to want to read it?! Did mine today get you here???  Oh and DESCRIPTIONS, you want pinterest to show as many people as possible your pin, so you’ll need good SEO.  Ugh, yes, SEO AGAIN.  I’ll add some examples of my graphics that I make for my blog post under here.  I use the business version of canva and I am obsessed.

I keep all of my designs pretty similar so hopefully one day people will recognize them and just know it’s one of mine! I also make multiple pin designs for each blog post, so I can pin them at a later date.  I do this because it’s very possible that one design is going to get more pins than another and it keeps my blog post in constant circulation on pinterest!

2. Join Group Boards.

Honestly, get on pinterest and search “Group Boards to join on pinterest” and start asking to join.  This reaches more people that your pinterest following ever could, which leads me to the next thing..

and last but not least # 3 is to make you a tailwind account.  Tailwind allows you to schedule your pins so you’re not pinning the same pin 300 times in a row especially to the same group board (this makes it so much easier when you make different pin designs for blog post, too) and so that you don’t have to be on pinterest 24 hours a day, which the pinterest algorithm would love, but is unrealistic.  You can do your own research on that, and I’ll save the whole spill for another day.  There’s even tailwind tribes which allows you to show your pin to EVEN MORE PEOPLE = even more pins = even more page views.

I know. Mouth DROP.  That’s how I felt this past month trying to figure out how to grow my website, because HELLO, that should be EVERY bloggers number one focus.  Not instagram followers, youtube followers, facebook likes.  I’m talking, one subject notebook, 24 hour days, studying how to grow my website, honestly no one has time for that, but that’s why you have ME.  I’ll break down the studying for you and share everything that I learn in order to make you a more successful blogger. Sharing is caring and this business is not a competition to me.

One other thing I did to drive traffic was that I started sharing my blog post to my facebook account.  People know I do what I do now, so I have no shame sharing my work on there and I’ve surprisingly have had really good feedback.

Email LIST.  GROW IT. NEWSLETTER. MAKE IT.  If you aren’t worried about people subscribing to your blog, you should be.  This is important!!  I currently use mailchimp, because it’s free until like 1,000 people subscribe and then I’ll probably find a different one, but it’s definitely good for beginners!  There’s many ways to get people to subscribe to your blog.  The one thing I did in January was offering freebies for people to download.  It increased my email list over 300% just in January. But the most obvious way of all, TELL people to subscribe.  Post it in your stories on instagram, put it IN EVERY BLOG POST, have it pop up on your website. Talk about how important it is and what it means to you.  Now you don’t have to overwhelm your email list with every single thing you post on your blog, in fact, I just usually send out one newsletter a month covering all the things I did during that month, so in case any of my subscribers missed anything, they can access it there.

I’m personally overwhelmed reading that back, so I recommend to take it step by step. NOT ALL AT ONCE OR YOU WILL THROW YOUR COMPUTER ACROSS THE ROOM and probably drop kick a baby.  It’s okay to feel frustrated and overwhelmed, so just keep swimming people.

Let’s play this back.  Start posting blog post consistently and regularly.  I make sure that by the first of each new month I have AT LEAST one blog post already planned for each week in that month. That way I know I am at least going to post at the absolute bare minimum.  Then I go from there.  NEXT, PINTEREST.  Go make your pinterest account right now and start pinteresting how to work pinterest. WOAH. Pinterest. About. Pinterest.  Then when you kind of sort of have an idea about pinterest, pinterest about your group boards to join. Once you get in the habit of pinning a few post a day and figuring out how to work pinterest, transfer your energy into learning about tailwind.  And this is the part I am at.  It’s a new world for me, but I’m starting to figure it out, and I will absolutely keep you guys updated.

What’s “Perfect?”

Now I know it sounds like I was doing everything right, so I’m going to share some of the things I did that wasn’t good for me.  I was spending so much time on pinterest and trying to figure out how to grow my website that I got lost in responding back to comments on my instagram pictures.  I rant that this is important and I’m disappointed that it really took a turn for the worse this last month.  I stopped engaging in other peoples picture’s as well.  This takes so much time and I kind of blew it off.  I do not recommend this. This is a priority for sure, and you need to remember that.  Instagram kept blocking me and it really ticked me off, so it led to me completely blowing it off.

Y’all, again, I am still learning.  This is only the things that I did in January.  So, all of this is a new process for me.  I am in no way shape or form saying that I am an expert.  I just know from results that if you put in the effort in the kind of content you produce and the effort in learning how to promote the content you produce, then you will be headed in the direction to success.  Blogging is not a get rich quick scheme and by no means will you wake up tomorrow with 5,000,000 page views on your blog, but with effort and consistency, you will slowly climb and climb and progress is PROGRESS.  I wish each and every one of you good luck in your progress and as always, reach out to me if you need any help! If you’re not subscribed to my blog, click here to do so now! That way you’ll never miss an educational post that can potentially help you be a better blogger.  Spoiler Alert: I already have my “5 apps that I can’t live without as a blogger” post written and I’m working on the  “How to Create a Media Kit” one.  I’ll always be documenting my journey with you!

If you missed any of the blog post from January, I will list them below!

New Year Not New Me | Kolby Writes My Fashion Blog Post | What I Bought On My Blackout At Ulta | What I Wish I Would’ve Known Before Blogging | A Day In New Orleans | How To Pack Like A Pro | Southpoint Try On

L O V E,