I've been planning to post about boosting your blog traffic, as it's something I've actually taken an interest in over the last month. I really made the effort to work on it, and as a result I did manage to double my traffic. Really, it wasn't that difficult - it was mostly just a case of working at it a bit more. I always knew traffic was something I needed to think about, but instead I pretty much ignored it, only keeping up here and there with the figures. This definitely isn't me saying blogging is all about the numbers... I know there's so much more to it than that, but it is nice to see how you're doing, and see when people are enjoying what you're posting! I just think of traffic like comments - a bit of feedback.
Since Christmas, I've made a few really simple changes, mostly just to see if it would actually make a difference. It was really nice to see everything did actually work! Here's how I did it.
Be on Google Analytics. All. The. Time.
Over the last month I've checked my analytics account every day. Sometimes, more than once. It can get a bit addictive, but it does spur me on to push things a bit more. I use it to set my goals for the month - how many users I'd like to reach, upping time spent on pages, that sort of thing. I recommended downloading the Google Analytics app in my last blogging related post... It's definitely easier to use for checking up on. Google Analytics is a BFF for really knowing what is and isn't working, and where to go from there.
Social Share. More Than Once.
To be honest, I got lazy with social sharing, even though I'm pretty sure of a lot of my traffic is at least influenced by social (tracking it completely can be difficult). I used to only ever share a blog on my social platforms once... Sometimes I'd even forget to share it at all. The horrors. These days I try to share blog posts at least 3 times, maybe more if it's a post I've got plenty to say about. I'll schedule these in throughout the week at different times to see when works best. I find mixing it up with different shots from the blog post and using varied text stops things from getting repetitive. I think you've just got to think about the times you've caught up on someones blog and read an older post you'd never heard about... It's not like everyone's on social media at the same time, so I think a few shares makes sense.
Be Useful.
I've gone through periods where I've just lobbed any old crap up on my blog. There wasn't any real purpose, and it was bugging me. I've worked recently on trying to make content useful - which may only be taking a slightly different angle on what you currently do... Instead of me just sharing an outfit with a jumper, I might now do 3 ways to wear a chunky knit. It's not like every post has to be groundbreaking stuff, but I do think it's nice to feel like you're being helpful to readers!
Work On That First Sentence.
Kind of following on from the last one, I think titles & first sentences are a biggie. They're usually the first bits someone will read in your blog post, so I think it's worth putting a bit of extra effort into how you start your post. I guess it's kind of like at primary school, where you couldn't just use 'once upon a time', and you had to think of something interesting instead. Lol. With Bloglovin' only showing that initial excerpt, I try to make my first sentence worth reading.
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Now, I'm not saying it's worth sacrificing quality over quantity, but if you have got time for extra content then it's worth squishing it in. I've gone from around 3 posts a week to 4... It's not something I'm religious about, but I have noticed it's made a difference. I thought I'd struggle to fit more time to blog in, but for 'extra' posts I tend to go for something that won't take too long. For me, that usually means easy imagery - probably something that involves flat lays only, rather than battling with my DSLR to take 50 pictures of myself with the top of my head cut off.
So there we go! I love doing this sort of post, although I'm not sure I'll do too many as I know there are already so many brilliant blogging tips & tricks posts out there - I just thought this one was relevant as it was something I'd actually tried out over January.
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