Ę

Start rocking your reputation!

DOWNLOAD MY FREE 31-PAGE EBOOK, GET ACCESS TO THE PRIVATE FACEBOOK GROUP, + RECEIVE EMAILS WITH HYPE-FREE ADVICE TO HELP YOU GROW

The 3 Best Tips For Growing Your Blog Traffic

  |   Blog Income Report, Blogging Tips   |   116 Comments

The 3 best tips for growing your blog traffic + readership, no matter what niche you're in!

 

What is it called when you go to publish your blog traffic + income report and instead you end up writing blog traffic tips for 2 days?

 

I’d like to say epicness, but we’re all friends here so I think I can admit that the truth is closer to Blogger’s guilt + procrastination. 😀

 

Anyyyway. Moving along. What I came here to show you is how my blog traffic has grown over the last 10 months, and, more importantly, how you can achieve the same thing for your blog.

 

Enter Exhibit A, a screenshot of Olyvia.co growth over the past 10 months since launch:

 

 

 

How did I get here? What practical tips (+ 1 Mission Possible challenge) do I have for you so that you can do the same?

 

Your answers await, my friends:

 

THE 3 BEST TIPS FOR GROWING YOUR BLOG TRAFFIC

 

1. LIBERALLY LINK TO OTHERS’ CONTENT

 

Do you see what happened to the graph above in late January/early February of this year?  My pageview plateau transitioned into a mountain, and I started getting thousands of new visitors.

 

But…why? What changed?

 

One reason: it was at that precise time that I started writing posts prominently featuring OTHERS.

 

First, I invited 13 people on the blog for an “expert customer tips” roundup post (that, naturally, included links back to their websites + blogs).

 

Then I featured several different people’s offline marketing ideas (again, with links).

 

Then I wrote this post linking to 9 excellent Facebook groups + their owners and this 4,000+ word Ultimate Pinterest Guide that linked to 16 fellow bloggers + entrepreneurs.

 

The reason all this helped boost my traffic is two-fold:

 

1) The fabulous people featured are thrilled to get the exposure — and in return almost always make it a point to share it with their audiences.

 

2) The other fabulous people reading appreciate the additional resources + examples they’re getting, which makes the post more valuable to them…and consequently more share-able.

 

Now, some of you may get scared about sending people off to check out others (especially if they’re in a similar niche).

 

But you know what I say? I say don’t be. 

 

When you are willing to give people the information or inspiration they’re looking for, you’re not undermining yourself, girls — you’re establishing yourself as a leader.

 

That authority is crucial in growing your blog.

 

YOUR CHIEF OLYVIA CHALLENGE: Write at least ONE blog post in the next month that highlights + links to a minimum of 8 other bloggers while also providing extra-valuable info for your readers.

 

(No ‘Weekly Roundup’ posts allowed, people. We’re going to infinity + beyond here!)

 

Unless it’s a group contributor post where they’ve sent you the info you’re featuring, remember to tag them when you go to share the post on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, etc. (You gotta let them know that you’ve been lovin’ on them!)

 

If you come back and tell me the details of your results (did you get more views? more comments? more social shares?), I will feature you + your post on the blog. For seriousness.

 

 

2. DELIVER THE FULL FAT VERSION OF YOUR PERSONALITY

 

Getting more eyes on your blog is one thing, but once they’re there you have a whole other Chipotle burrito to tackle.

 

You MUST give them something that makes them want to come back.

 

Now is the time where most experts would tell you all about the importance of high quality content, lengthy posts, and the usual yadda. And while I don’t disagree with that at all (if your posts average 200 words, you’re not blogging, girls — you’re jotting notes), I’ve noticed something about successful blogging that goes wayyyy beyond mere content.

 

It’s your star power.

 

I’ve been on a Food Network binge as of late, so ride with me for a moment:

 

When you tune in to one of the FN cooking shows, you don’t go just to learn a tip or look at mouthwatering food, right?

 

(If that were the case they could put any old chef up there and walk you methodically through a million proven cooking techniques + dishes.)

 

No, you go to the Food Network channel to have an experience — not only with the food, but with the people making it.

 

Think about the people who have been massive Food Network stars:

 

Giada. Alton. Emeril. Rachael. Guy. 

 

What do they have in common behind their popularity?

 

They have big + engaging personalities, strong opinions, and a unique personal style.

 

That is what “star power” is all about. And it’s what every blogger must learn if they want to earn the privilege of a following.

 

A low fat, hold-the-sprinkles blog will only get you lost among all the other decadent flavors out there.

 

Resist the urge to be bland AT. ALL. COSTS.

 

You can add some (memorable) deliciousness to your blog posts by…

 

1. Generously sprinkling in a random silly, nerdy, witty, sarcastic, bold, sassy, saucy, or (insert your humor/personality style here) comment. See these posts from Nikki Elledge Brown, The Branded Solopreneur, and byRegina.

 

2. Telling humorous, intriguing, or heartfelt stories (real or imagined). See these posts by Intergeek, Dishwasher Required, and Bloomology.

 

3. Peppering them with your own complementary, helpful, fun, evocative, behind-the-scenes, or stunning on-brand imagery (photos or simple graphics). See these posts by Heartmade Blog and byRegina (she’s too good, sorry not sorry).

 

4. Referring to your readers by an informal, friendly name, e.g. “babes,” “friends,” “gals,” “homies,” “folks,” “gents,” etc.

 

5. Taking a firm, well-defended stand on something controversial, e.g. “Why cats should never be de-clawed,” “You should never use grocery store herbs again,” or “Why pop-ups don’t belong on your website

 

 

3. FOLLOW THE 30/70 RULE OF POST PROMOTION

 

You’ve never officially heard of this rule (because I just officially made it up — bam!), but I’m convinced it’s a thing.

 

Here’s how it goes:

 

Of the time you spend on the content for your blog, 30% of it should dedicated to the actual creation (writing, recording, etc).

 

The other 70% should be making sure it gets in front of as many eyes as possible.

 

Too many times we do the opposite:

 

We spend a week writing the perfect post, hit publish, share it once on Twitter, Pin it once on Pinterest, and then we’re scrambling off to the next thing.

 

(Meanwhile we’re mortified, nauseous, or infuriated over the fact that — once again — the same 100 people viewed our post and the same 3 shared it. (Oh don’t EVEN tell me you don’t know what I’m talking about!))

 

I know a lot of lady bloggers don’t like to hear it because it feels uncomfortable, but intentional marketing IS necessary to grow your blog. Repeat after me:

 

Promotion is your best blogging friend.

Promotion is your best blogging friend.

Promotion is your best blogging friend.

 

Need help to get you started? You got it:

 

1. Tweet out your post at least 3x on the day it goes live, and retweet 2-4 others who share the post

 

2. Schedule a tweet to go out the following day, a few days later, at 1 week, 2 weeks, etc — and continue to retweet others who are sharing

 

3. On the day it goes live post at least once on your Facebook Page, but consider posting once in the AM and once in the PM (at least 1 should be a direct link, the other can be an image with link in the status box)

 

4. Post in ALL relevant Facebook groups (when allowed) and blog promotion threads

 

5. Pin it up to 2x on the day it goes live (several hours + pins apart) on your most popular boards, then reschedule pins for all other relevant personal + group boards to post every 2-3 days apart

 

6. Share on Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn, and any other social sites you use

 

7. List it in link parties throughout the week

 

8. Post the link in at least 2 separate places in an email to your list

 

 

Now, let’s get on to this month’s actual blog income and traffic report, yes? Yes.

 

grow_blog_trafficCTT

 

OLYVIA.CO BLOG TRAFFIC REPORT

 

Olyvia.co Pageviews for April:  13,731 (+6,360 from February)

Olyvia.co Users for April: 7,174 (+3,148 from February)

 


Top 3 pages viewed this month:

 

 

9 of the BEST Facebook Groups for Women Bloggers, Freelancers, + Entrepreneurs 10 Offline Marketing Ideas for Introvert Bloggers + Business Owners How to get more followers and repins on Pinterest: the Ultimate (hype-free!) Guide that will tell you everything you need to know to build a popular Pinterest account

(Click image to visit the post.)

 

 

Top 5 traffic sources this month:

 

Screenshot 2022-04-27 09.43.02

 

 

Top Pin driving visitors to Olyvia.co:

 

How To Delight Your Customers and Clients | 13 of today's thriving business women share their best tips on how you can look like a pro and make people love your business!

(Click image to visit the Pin.)

 

 

Top post of all time:

 

22+ of the best free stock photo websites for your blog and business. (Regularly updated!)

(Click image to visit the post.)

 

 

OLYVIA.CO BLOG INCOME REPORT

 

As I’ve mentioned in past income reports, the figures below are what I made through “passive income” on this blog, not my other client work and services.

 

Last month’s earnings are as follows:

 

BlogHer Ads -   $13.03  (last month: $6.26)

Sovrn Ads -  $2.82  ($2.62)

Amazon Associates (from the Resources page)  -  $0.20  ($2.19)

Creative Market (from the Resources page + pins on Pinterest) - $3.40  ($4.60)

Tailwind (from the sidebar + tweets) - $17.98  ($0)

Freshbooks (from the Resources page) - $5.00  ($0)

 

GROSS EARNINGS:  $42.43

 

 

EMAIL LIST STATS

 

737 classy people have chosen to receive The Olyvia List™:

 

email_list_growth_marchapril

 

+ SOCIAL MEDIA STATS

 

Twitter:  2,503  (+ 265 from last month)

Pinterest:  1,221  (+ 307)

Facebook:  491  (+94)

Instagram:  235  (+ 30)

 

 

What have you found to be most effective in getting readers to your blog?

 

Erika Madden

(Chief Olyvia)

 

 

Macaron photo Š antinolo (fotolia)

 

The free 21 day ecourse that creates pro online impressions for business owners!
  • I love your posts, Erika! Even though I’m supposed to be working on one of my own at the moment, I couldn’t resist reading yours and I’m glad I did. I’m going to take you up on the challenge to write a post that helps others + promotes other bloggers. I’ve found it is a little difficult to name drop (per se) during a craft tutorial so I’ve taken to sharing what is inspiring me each week in my newsletter. Must. Think. Of. A. Better. Way. In good news for the other bloggers, those are my most clicked links from my newsletter. 🙂 (not very shareable for me, though) On a total side note, I love how you mentioned Regina twice. I would have done the same thing. 🙂 Have a great day!
    p.s. great stats, by the way! 🙂

    • Jennie, have you considered doing a craft tutorial roundup post? It could be very similar to what you’re sharing in your newsletter, but instead you could have a theme like, “The Top 20 _________ Tutorials For Scrapbookers/Painters/________.” You could even expand it a bit and do roundup posts on the best marketing/packaging/customer service posts for handmade/Etsy sellers. Another simple idea is to write a post like “10 of the Most Popular DIY Sewing Tutorials on Pinterest” and link to those pins which are most successful for you!

      I don’t know if any of those stand out to you, but perhaps they will trigger an idea. 🙂 (Thank you for your kind words also — you are so encouraging!!)

  • I think linking to others is a great way to generate traffic and engagement. Anytime someone has linked to me, I alway drop by and visit and comment on their site. I also think that commenting is a great way to grow you site’s traffic and build community. I’ll definitely be working on linking to other more in my posts, because sharing caring after all! Thanks so much for sharing all of this awesome info!

    • Tenns that is a great suggestion! Commenting is huge. I know it’s how I’ve built so many of my relationships online. Thank you for that!

  • I love your challenge! I’ve been meaning to do some sort of feature post like you and Dre are so good at doing but have yet to do one. Since you’re suggesting, I’m taking it on!

    I couldn’t agree with you more on promotion. It’s not icky. How else are people going to know about your fabulous content?!

    The personality one is a tough one for many, including me. What if we don’t have big personalities to begin with? I don’t want to be fake but I also don’t want to be bland like you said. It’s a tough line. I have always admired people who could write like Ash Ambirge or Dre Beltrami, but even though I used to swear worse than a truck driver in real life, it feels uncomfortable for me to do it online. Ahhhhh!

    • Oh I think you’d be brilliant at a feature post, Marianne! I really hope you do one + tell me about the results for you. Your Pinterest post was also so smart; I’d be interested to hear if that stood out for you in any way in terms of traffic or social shares.

      Conveying personality on a blog IS tough. I truthfully think it’s the #1 thing most bloggers struggle with (myself included). I don’t have what one would consider a big personality either, Marianne, but here’s what I think: it’s not about how naturally boisterous, extroverted, or “larger than life” we are, it’s about taking what we DO have and transmitting it so clearly that it appears big. (By bringing in certain words, aside comments, or short stories that reveal silly quirks about us, or our geeky side, or our irreverent wit, or our shameless obsessions, or WHATEVER.)

      One thing I didn’t mention above, but what Nikki Elledge Brown is particular good at in her posts, is the power of emphasizing words to transmit personality and our conversational speech. Using all capitals, bold text, italics, drawing out words with extra letters and even smiley/frowny faces in just the right places can be HUGE in helping people get a sense that they’re connecting with a real person and not reading some dry, boring report.

      Earlier on when I was trying to get accustomed to “using my voice” I would just go through my posts after I’d written them and pick out words to bold + italicize + capitalize that I felt would give a closer sense to casual conversation. 🙂

      • Yes I do that too Erika! I always go back and add bold, italics and uppercase to emphasize. I guess that’s part of your voice. I do tend to write like i talk so i guess that’s my voice, I think i’d just like to figure out a way to make it stand out more, draw attention or something. But you’ve given me things to think about so i really appreciate your reply.

        Thanks for the boost of confidence on the feature post. Yes, I have done little ones here and there, mostly showcases of other blogs or bloggers as examples (like your own Pinterest post) but I like what you did with the “delighting your customers” post where you send questions directly to the bloggers themselves.

        That’s what I am going to get out this month. Thanks for the kick in the butt! 😉

  • Erika, this post was so crazy helpful! Self promoting is something I don’t feel like I have a great grasp on yet, so seeing it broken down with some steps and frequency when it comes to what to promote, how, & when was exactly what I needed. Also, the reminder that it’s necessary and not somehow icky was great.

    And for the record, you should have seen the almost-disastrous-moment when I was scrolling through your post soaking up the wisdom, saw a link to bloomology, and almost did a delighted spit take. Thank you SO much for the mention - you made my day!

    • LOL You’re the best, Michelle. It’s my pleasure — you have TOTALLY ROCKED your blog. 🙂

      (Oh, and you’re welcome for the “promotion is not icky” reminder. It takes awhile to start getting comfortable with it, but if you practice, it becomes more natural!)

  • What a great post Erika! And I am tickled to death that you shared one of my posts! Thank you for that. 🙂 Sometimes (often) when I’m writing I’m afraid my rather robust personality is, uh, shining through a bit too much and I pull back. Maybe I shouldn’t? I need to just forget that my mother and mother-in-law might read my blog LOL!!

    The 30/70 writing/promoting split is a real eye-opener for me. Yes, I need to keep creating content but who is going to see it if no one knows about it? I think you are so right about spending a lot of time making sure people actually see the content. From there, it’s all on me to make sure people want to stay, but we have to get them there first! I’m still struggling with understanding the way the etiquette of tweeting and retweeting works. And Pinterest? Oh my god I know it’s important but I do NOT even understand about repinning your own stuff. It’s on my never-ending list of stuff to learn.

    I’m interested in linking to other blogs but I feel shy about it. How crazy is that? I’m like the opposite of shy. I’m not nervous about it diverting traffic away from my site. I need to come up with a good post that features the homemaker and/or mom bloggers who have influenced me. Brainstorming session: Commence.

    Thanks for the thought-provoking (as always) post!

    • Ohhhhhh Jenny, no no no no NO! DON’T pull back, don’t bottle it up, don’t sanitize it, PUH-leaze. Your humor is a gold mine, I am telling you straight up. I know it’s SO scary to be totally ourselves on our blog for fear of who’s reading or what they’ll think, but oh my gosh. It will just hold you back. I would hate to see that from you especially, since you have such a “robust” (LOL love that you used that word) personality that instantly attracts + engages people.

      Also I just have to say…Twitter is nuts. I thought I finally had it all figured out about 2.3 weeks ago, but then they sent me an email about setting up Twitter cards and I lost it.

      You’ll get there. Just retweet what stands out to you that you really your audience to see, reply to tweets, and you’ll be OK. 🙂

      Please send me a message or a blog comment or whatever if you do write a post like that! I want to be sure I don’t miss it.

  • Awesome post, Erika!

    I disagree with the 30/70 rule though…I try to stand by the 20/80 rule! You’re right though, promotion is actually more important the content creation - it’s doing the promotion that will separate people from success and failure.

    Good job on the continual - and suddenly hockey-sticking - traffic growth!

    Luke
    Intergeek

    EDIT: OH! And linking out to other people (thanks for linking to me) actually helps your SEO too. If you’re linking to useful resources on authoritative sites that your readers will like, Google will see that you’re a more trustworthy site than one that just tries to keep all ‘link juice’ (HA! haven’t used that word in a few years) to itself.

    • Luke, 20/80??? Are you NUTS? That’s just getting all spammy-like, yo. (Joking!)

      Your point about SEO is excellent, thank you for pointing that out. And also for using the link juice term. Way to resurrect some good ole industry jargon! 😀

      Thanks for stopping by — and supersuper thank you for your engaging writing on your blog. It’s nice to read something that makes me laugh rather than puts me to sleep. 😮

  • Julie Harris

    Another brilliantly epic post! I am 100% agree with you, “Promotion is your best blogging friend.” I believe that in order to become a leader in your nice or an expert, you need to share expert resources and that doesn’t always have to come from you. I trust other bloggers and businesses who are really aware of what else is out there and not afraid to acknowledge the brilliance of others. Knowing that by supporting other quality professionals, you are only making yourself look that much better too. 1, everyone loves their hard work being recognized. 2, it shows that you really know what you’re talking about. And 3, it takes some of the stress off us when it comes to constantly cranking out new content.

    I’ve said it again and again, but WE are our brands and we need to OWN IT! Just like the awesome ladies you listed above (Regina, Dre, and Nikki) it’s the blogger we fall in love with so no matter what they share, we trust them and will want to share it. Their personalities make me feel like I know them personally and if I ran into them at Starbucks it would be like meeting up with an old seriously entertaining friend. (Although if I ran into any of those ladies at Starbucks I’d totally be blog-struck and say something stupid like “I love you, I’m you biggest fan, can we get dinner” and embarrass myself haha) They are all so authentically 100% them, in everything they do. I hope to someday be as recognizable as they are when others come in contact with my content.

    Thanks for all your wonderful action steps to getting our content noticed!

    • Julie your comment is beautiful as always. Thank you for taking the time to write out such excellent, thoughtful observations! It always lifts my spirits to see somebody as dedicated and classy as you are!!!

      And the blog-struck stupidness that would ensue when meeting those fine ladies — or just about anybody else I follow along with online? OH YEAH. Mortification waiting to happen. 😀 😀

  • Way to rock the email list! Great resource for building traffic.

    • I am THERE!!! (I’ve never been known to pass up salted caramel anything, hahaha.)

  • Great posts! After 5 YEARS I decided to start treating my blog like a business (finally!) and have seen more growth in the last 2 months then I have in 5 years! I’ve implanted a few of these tips but can’t wait to implement more of them. Thanks for sharing! 😀

    xoxo
    Allison
    http://www.livelaughwonder.com

    • Your blog is FAB Allison! So cheery; I just adore it. (In fact I’m scheduling some pins from it as we speak!) Thank you for commenting!

      • Aw shoot, thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for stopping by! 😀 I’m excited to add your blog to my blog list which I look over every morning over my morning cup ‘coffee. 🙂

  • Great tips! I’m definitely going to do a roundup post like you’re suggesting by reaching out and asking some people a specific question that relates to particular topic. Love that idea! Question on the tweets…I do tweet out my new blog post 3x the day it goes live and I schedule a followup tweet 1 month later. I am going to add another tweet at the 1 week mark. I post 4-5 days a week, so if I tweet a new blog post 3x on a day + 1-2 old tweets, is that too much self promotion? I’ve heard you should share 80% of other people’s content (or news stories, whatever) and only 20% of your own so it’s not too spammy, but not sure how to balance that with also sharing my new content + keeping old content alive! Hope that makes sense! 🙂

    • This is such a great question, Vicky. For you I might try posting the new blog posts only 2x on the day it goes live, and then try to limit the old blog post shares to no more than 2x/day. Since you post so often you have a lot of content to share, which is fabulous!, but it could get overwhelming. My other thought is that you could identify which posts are more important for you to promote (your “epic” content) and follow the posting schedule I outlined, while continuing to be less promotional about the posts which are not as significant (ie: weekend reads) OR are time-sensitive. (They could be shared several times up front, and then the month or so later (with time-sensitive posts not being shared at all)).

      I don’t think this will be too spammy IF you’re also filling up your other tweets with others’ content/news (the 80/20 rule you mentioned is smart to follow) and of course also personally interacting with others! Does that make sense? 🙂 Let me know if not!

      Thanks for your comment!

  • Deana Ward

    Oh my gosh Erika! I didn’t have time for a full on blog post this week so what I’ve been working on this afternoon is an audio post: Month In Review for April. In it, I mentioned you (and others) as a teachers I’m learning from these days. THEN I popped over here to grab your link (and of course couldn’t NOT read your latest article) and saw this assignment. I’m not sure if I’m following it exactly, but what a co-inky-dink! Thanks for showing us the way through this online marketing jungle:) xoxo

  • Fabulous post, Erika! So helpful.

  • I started an interview series that really boosted my traffic because they would share their unique interview with their audience. I need to pick this up again as I haven’t done it in about a year!

  • Hi Erika! I just LOVE all of your posts! I too have been struggling with getting my content noticed, I feel like I produce good quality posts but very few people are actually seeing my work 🙁

    Thank you for this wonderfully informative post, I’m going to put everything you’ve posted here into practice! Link up posts are posts that I love the most because the contain loads of different posts talking about a similar thing. Now I just need to create my own!

    x

    THANK YOU!

    Roxy

    http://www.citygirlsearching.com/blog/

  • Wonderland Boudoir

    Erika! LOVED This post! I had to email it several friends because you just took me to #CHURCH today! LOVE!

    http://www.WonderlandBoudoir.com/blog

  • Oh man . . . this is one of those websites I am going to spend hours reading!!! Thank you for sharing new information and ideas. So many posts on this topic all say the same thing, but I’m leaving (but subscribed and pinned a bunch of things to read when I have time soon) with a few new things to implement today. Thank you so much! 🙂

    • I appreciate this comment so much Jennifer. Thank you!!

  • Erika, can I just tell you how amazing you are! I’m embracing the challenge and I have a fantastic idea that I hope to get you involved with 🙂 I tend to include others in my posts here and there but I plan on featuring them after being inspired by this wonderful post.

    I also LOVE the 30/70 rule. It’s so true that promotion is the absolute key to blog growth. Although, sometimes self promotion can sometimes feel icky and awkward for an introvert like me. But, the strategy you laid out is totally do-able and amazing. Thank you so much for your transparency and this epic post!

    • Ooo, I’d love to hear your idea Sara! 😀

      As a fellow introvert, I know just how icky and awkward promotion can feel. It’s not fun. I’ve made it my life mission to find ways to do it without getting too freaked out. Haha.

  • Aimee

    Hi Erika, I would love some tips on my blog! I started following you and now I can’t stop reading all your stuff! I also love your Pinterest and Twitter accounts. 🙂 I’m definitely going to try to link out to other bloggers more often and also try to promote my posts more on social media. How do you feel about boosting posts on Facebook and do you think it works? Please take a look at my blog here: http://readysethappy.com

    • Thanks for your comment and question, Aimee. 🙂 First, as it concerns Facebook boosting, my honest experience is that it is not that helpful considering the amount of money being spent. I recently spent $6 to boost a post and it only received a few more clicks and likes. To me that is not a valuable return on my investment!

      What I have heard is helpful, if you have the budget for it, is to run Facebook Ads that look like a post but lead to a free gift or free webinar in exchange for an email address. (So you can build your email list.) I did this many months ago and had a positive experience.

      If you’re just looking to get more people seeing and reading your blog posts, for you I’d recommend joining some blogger-focused Facebook groups like SITS Girls (mentioned in this post: http://olyvia.co/9-smart-facebook-groups-for-women-entrepreneurs-freelancers-bloggers/ ) and pampering your Pinterest account — perhaps with a mix of Promoted Pins thrown in there: http://olyvia.co/how-to-get-pinterest-followers-and-repins/.

      Your blog topics are so perfect for Pinterest, and I think they would do fabulously well there.

      Two tips I have for your blog are:

      1. Create some sort of free gift (cheat sheet, short e-book, video tips, recipes, etc) people can get in exchange for signing up for your email list, make a great image for it, and put that in your sidebar above your opt-in form.

      2. Add more of your own photos to your recipe posts (people can’t get enough of step by step pictures)!

      Hope that helps, Aimee! I appreciate you reading the blog. 🙂

  • Astrid

    Hi Erika! I have just come across you and have found your advice really really helpful! I have recently started a new blog at http://www.darlingbudsofmay.com.au and I would love to get your feedback on it! I have a plan to connect to social media and share my posts through that but I would love to hear your thoughts on what else I could do. I really love your 70/30 rule, that was an eye opener for me, and so useful to know! Thanks so much for all your valuable info!

    • Hi Astrid! I’m so sorry it’s taken me this long to respond to your comment. I just looked at your blog and it is really lovely — great job!

      What I would love to see on your blog is a more revealing About Page. 🙂 I would add a photo of you and perhaps a few examples of your work (your event concepts ‘brought to life’). That would help more visitors connect with you + trust you.

      The other suggestion I have is to consider removing your “splash page” and letting people go directly to the website when they visit your URL. It does look very pretty, but it is an unnecessary click for people — and generally the more clicks people have to take to get somewhere on your site, the less they proceed. I think you’d see a jump in viewers if you removed that page.

      I hope that helps! Keep up the fabulous work; it really does look so nice, and your logo is SO sweet. 🙂

      • Astrid

        Thanks so much Erika, that advice is invaluable! I really appreciate you taking the time to have a look and provide your advice! 🙂

  • Thank you for telling people to use their own original voice, humor, sass, and personality-staying safe never helped anyone. I am definitely learning to make sure I retweet and share on Facebook multiple times instead of once. I’ve also learned that it helps to look up Facebook community pages and company pages and share a little bit about your blog and the link to your blog post you think they would be interested in. It helps to branch yourself out, and if they like or share it, you get more readers!

  • Oh wow! The 70/30 post promotion rule just blew my mind. I’ve been doing the exact opposite just like in your example.
    I love linking to others and introducing my readers to fabulous people, I think I will accept your challenge!
    Now I’m off to read your Ultimate Pinterest Guide. 🙂

  • Mommy Maleta

    Hi Erika Thanks for sharing the actual numbers on how often you promote your posts. I have improved in this area by using coschedule, but am not promoting as often as you suggest. So I am going to increase my tweets etc. and see how it goes. I would love it if you could review my site and leave a couple specific tips on ways I can improve. Thanks so much. You can find me at http://www.mommymaleta.com

    • Hi Laura! Your blog is so neat — I am geeking out over the unique approach you’re taken with the maleta and exploring the world. It is a lot of fun!

      My feedback is this:

      1. Create some sort of “gift” or freebie in exchange for someone signing up for your email list, then add a nice image of that above your signup form. This will encourage more people to join your list!

      2. Clean up your sidebar a bit by removing any unnecessary badges. I would keep the most important 2 (or at most 3) and take off the rest. (If you still want to promote those places/indicate your affiliation with them, you could add them to a different page, or create a new page to feature them.) This will make your blog look more streamlined, focused, and professional. 🙂

      I hope that helps! Thank you so much for your comment.

      • Mommy Maleta

        Thanks so much Erika! Plans have already begun to offer a subscriber freebie. I’m hoping to get that up in the next couple weeks. And I did not think about the badges, but I will work on sidebar clean up. Thanks so much for your advice! I really appreciate it.

  • This was my first time visiting and I’m now in love. The biggest epiphany moment for me was number 1 “liberally link to others content”. I have lots of roundup type post ideas and I usually end up talking myself out of them when the thought of having to ask permission for photos comes to mind.

    I’m gratefully accept your challenge to get that blog post written and published within the next month.

    While that’s in progress I’ll be poking around your blog for some more epic inspiration.

  • This is really helpful thank you! I am a new blogger (only been blogging exactly 1 month tomorrow!) and I have 1,258 page views for the month and 958 sessions. I am wondering if this is good for 1 month of blogging? Will consistency just continue to help my blog grow moving forward?

    • Hi Stephanie. 🙂 Yes, those numbers are great for your 1st month! Congrats to you! To keep your blog moving forward, yes, consistency is huge. Also, creating those epic posts like you mentioned in your latest blog update is going to help your blog move ahead faster and further. People love quality and substance: if you can give them that, you’ll stand out in a big way…and give people a reason to come back for more + share your stuff.

      I love the gorgeous, pinnable images you’ve made for your posts — that will help you a lot in getting traffic from Pinterest. (Which is the perfect social platform for your brand.)

      • Thanks Erika for the thoughtful reply! I wrote a post this morning of what I have learned in my first month of blogging. I think creating the beautiful graphics is a major contributor. My main source of traffic at the moment is twitter but Pinterest is second, and I can see it’s potential to be my biggest source of traffic in the near future. I love your blog! Today, with my lessons from 1 month of blogging, I have hit my highest traffic day ALREADY and its only 1pm PST! 🙂 I can see this continuing to grow and flourish in the near future. 😀

  • The Geek Circle

    Thanks, this really helped, and my traffic ROCKETED! Last month I had 140 views and this month I had about 320!!! Thanks! My Blog: http://thegeekcircle.blogspot.co.uk/

  • I just found your blog and I’m HOOKED! Will be editing my editorial calendar for June to include some crazy awesome referral-based posts to spread the love to others’ amazing content. Great tips, Erika! (And great name - LOL!)

    cominguprosestheblog.com

    • Ahhhh girl, first, YES, LOVE the name 😉 — and second, I just finished reading your engagement story and am woo’d beyond words. So magical. Those photos are priceless!

  • Jenn Bagley

    This is so awesome! I love this! I love your blog! I want to try the link thing and get back to you! I also started following you on Instagram! bowsandfringe.com

    • Thanks so much, Jenn! Do let me know how the linking worked. 🙂

  • Stephanie Robbins

    Great post! Sharing with my affiliates and plan on using with my own blog! Thank you. You officially have a new follower 🙂

  • Great tips, but I was hesitating about all these effort, I’m not a fan of promoting my content, yet I like writing and I’ve been hating spending time on promotion, it’s not something that I love to do, when I look to others for example Leo Babauta, I’m a huge fan of him, he doesn’t even have shares buttons, no pictures, no promotion, yet he’s on the top on blogs, people are doing the promotion for him! I was thinking that it really doesn’t take all of this efforts! don’t you think so?

  • adriana nudo

    I cannot thank you enough for this post! I scroll endlessly throughout the day reading articles on how to growing my blog/traffic but no ones article I’ve read is as detailed as yours! Would you mind checking out my blog and letting me know any tips you have for me? Thanks so much for this!!!!
    Adriana : )

    • Thanks for stopping by and leaving such a sweet comment, Adriana. 🙂 Here are a few tips for you:

      1. Put a profile photo + unique welcome message at the top of your sidebar to help people connect with you as the blog author.

      2. Move your Pin feed in the sidebar down and your blog archive posts closer to the top.

      3. Create a freebie to give away as a ‘thank you’ for people signing up for your email list, then make a cool image for it and place it right above your signup form.

      You’re doing a great job! Here’s to more blog growth!

  • Thank you so much for this post! I found it through a fellow blogger at thirteenthoughts.com, and it is SO helpful. For whatever reason, I’m dreading joining Twitter, but I have a feeling it will be pretty crucial to promoting my blog! I might just have to bite the bullet and tweet…

    Thank you for the great tips and for being so honest and open about traffic, income, and some other topics many bloggers avoid.

    • Hi Cori! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment. I want to tell you I love your blog! Twitter is very helpful, you’re right, but if you want my honest opinion — it’s not necessary for all bloggers. In fact, for you, I think you could totally get by without it. Your niche with the beauty, fitness, and food is PER-fect for IG (which you are totally rocking BTW — I’m in love with all of your photos), Pinterest, and YouTube (if you’d be into that).

      I wrote this post on boosting your Pinterest presence here if you want to take a look: http://olyvia.co/how-to-get-pinterest-followers-and-repins/ You might find some tips to help you grow and see more benefit out of it. 🙂 (And then you can feel even more justified in avoiding Twitter, haha!)

      • HI Erika! Thank you so, so much for the great feedack and for checking out my blogs and photos. Means a lot! Let’s hope that Twitter’s not necessary, but I might just crumble one day and try it out. I don’t see myself being consistent with it at all, but who knows. I’ve always had something against Twitter! Thank you for the support and encouragement with my photos — I’ll definitely check out your Pinterest article as well. Stay in touch!

  • Elle Linton

    Hey Olyvia! What a great post 🙂 I blog over at http://www.keepitsimpelle.com and would love any tips you have! I recently started posting my traffic and income reports mostly as a means of me keeping a tab on what is working well / not working so well!

    I just organised a photography workshop for bloggers and enthusiasts and am keen to fill it up, but it’s my first time marketing an event all on my own! This is my first visit to your blog btw so no idea yet if you have tips on that kinda thing 🙂

    Anyway, I’ll go have a nose around and see what I find x

    • Hi Elle! Oh man, I’m SO sorry I didn’t catch this comment earlier. I just checked out your photography workshop and I love what you want to do! It looks super valuable — if I were in London I’d (seriously) want to attend. I have a DSLR that I can do basic stuff with, but wow, I am such a novice. 😀

      I’m not sure if you still need help, but I have a few ideas to help you promote it + fill it up using online methods.

      1. Create a few simple, beautiful, consistent graphics for the workshop that you can share regularly on Twitter and Instagram — and any other social network you might use on a personal basis. (I recommend Canva for that kind of thing, but if you’re comfortable with Photoshop/Illustrator/etc, then def use that.)

      2. Email and, if you use Facebook, message your local friends and acquaintances a personal note letting them know about what you’re doing. Invite them to come along (you might want to offer good friends a free or reduced price) + pass the word along to others they know who might be interested in that sort of thing.

      3. Create a FB Event and invite everyone who you think could make it/might have even a slight interest in it.

      4. Take some gorgeous ‘behind the scenes’ photos of your preparations for the workshop and post them heavily on Instagram and with each post include all the details about it. Be sure to use local London tags.

      Best wishes to you with the event!

  • Love this post and the blogging advice in general on here!
    I’m still fairly new (with this blog…don’t ask how many others I’ve tried) and have TONS of blog content ideas. I’m still getting used to promoting my work but I’m determined. I will definitely do more posts linking to other bloggers. I’ve done a couple but not sure where to take them from there - I’ve read before that I should let the bloggers I mention know “hey I mentioned your post here” with a link but I wonder if that’s salesy or annoying.
    Of all of this I think I have the whole conveying personality thing down…just gotta work on the rest 🙂

    • The tactic I like a little better than the “hey I mentioned your post here” approach is to instead share the post on social media + then tag some of the bloggers you featured. So, on Facebook for instance, you could do a little intro blurb to the post as you would normally, then you can add on a paragraph where you say, “Thanks so much to @blogger1name, @blogger2name, etc., for the fab content/advice/etc. featured in this post!” That way the person will be notified and can feel free to check it out or not (and they almost always will, as we all want to know what’s being said about us). From there, most people go ahead and promote the post on their own networks as a ‘thank you.’

      I hope that helps a little! Good luck with this blog. 😉 It def does take some getting used to when it comes to self-promotion!

  • Felicity Littlefair

    Great post Erika! Love the point about linking to other people content. Just a quick questions regarding this, do you usually ask permission first or at least tell them you are going to do this? Or do you just go ahead and link/share etc and hope hey see it?

    • Good question, Felicity! Since you’re just posting a link to their blog you don’t need to seek permission, though you could definitely write them in advance if you wish and let them know you’re doing a post featuring _____ and will be linking to them because you find their blog/website sooo fabulous. 🙂 That helps build a relationship with them and make them more aware of you and your blog.

      But it’s definitely not necessary. You can simply tag them on social media so they get a notification, which will lead them to checking out your post. (A simple way to do this would be to put in the headline of your post, then add on: “…featuring @blogger1name, @blogger2name, and @blogger3name!”)

      Another way to do a collaborative post would be to email people in advance asking for a simple tip, then compile the answers in a post. This way the bloggers would be more involved in the process and be even more likely to promote it on their own social networks when it’s published. 🙂

      Hope that helps!

  • ratherbeeating

    Great post! I recently realized the roundup posts were pretty lazy of me. Glad to see my suspicions validated, but also glad to have some great suggestions for improvement. Starting on step 1 today! Love this blog.

    • Thank you so so so much. I’d love to hear how the changes you make affect your blog traffic!

  • Question - I would love to do posts like this that feature great ideas from other bloggers (with links back to their sites of course) but am worried about all the things you hear out there about having to get their permission first. Personally I think a link back to a post is enough, since blogging is all about sharing, but I’m not so sure, I’ve heard some crazy stories. What are your thoughts? For writing posts like the ones you mentioned, did you get permission from all the bloggers to feature their work, or do you think just linking to them and then letting them know after you’ve published via social is enough?

    • Hi Melissa! Thanks so much for your comment. I’ll definitely take a look at your blog. 🙂 I wanted to reply quickly with the answer to your first question, however.

      If you’re just providing links to others’ blogs (ie: ‘The 10 Greatest Design Tutorials Of All Time’ and then listing, 1, 2, 3, etc.) then getting permission is not necessary — as you’re not using or repeating anything that belongs to them. This advice also applies if you give a brief summary in your own words of what the post is about, and provide only a quote (properly attributed, of course) of a single sentence or two that they used in their post.

      What you cannot do is substantially repeat their content or pull images from their blog without permission. So, if you copied several paragraphs (or more) of their article or reposted their images without asking, that could land you in big trouble.

      You can see that what I did in the Facebook roundup post http://olyvia.co/9-smart-facebook-groups-for-women-entrepreneurs-freelancers-bloggers/ and Pinterest post http://olyvia.co/how-to-get-pinterest-followers-and-repins/ didn’t require permission because I was providing information about the bloggers and/or community owners, I wasn’t copying or republishing their content. I also used screenshots to provide a graphic representation rather than their direct images. 🙂 Does that make sense? Let me know if not!

      I will take a look at your blog soon (hopefully later today) and leave another comment for you. Thank you so much for your patience!

    • Okay, I just went through your website Melissa and first of all, I have to tell you: job well done, lady. You are doing SO many things right and I love it. In fact, I immediately recognized you from pins on Pinterest, which is an epic thing. I’ve referred to your Adobe Illustrator clipping mask tutorial a few times in fact! I love your content.

      Here are a few suggestions to help you use your site to gain more clients:

      1. Create some huge, epic resource posts that define your brand and establish its usefulness for people — my friend Regina of http://byregina.com calls them flagship or cornerstone posts. This kind of post — or series of posts — should be an in-depth (typically over 2,000 words), insanely valuable guide to helping your ideal client accomplish something substantial with their blog or business. This kind of post might have a free downloadable worksheet, and/or lots of helpful graphics, and/or supplemental video(s), etc. An example of a flagship post on my blog is the Pinterest post I pointed to earlier: http://olyvia.co/how-to-get-pinterest-followers-and-repins/ as well as the series of posts that start here: http://olyvia.co/how-do-i-get-my-business-noticed-online/. On Regina’s site, a good example of this kind of post is her Launch a Blog on a Budget piece: http://byregina.com/launch-a-blog-on-a-budget/

      I’d aim to try to release one of these posts every few months if you can. Then, I’d supplement in between with some more in-depth, extra valuable content that helps build up your reputation as a competent brand designer (e.g. Photoshop tutorials that are beautifully illustrated), surprises people with amazing freebies or premium content for free, and so on. The more you can provide unique information and substantial help that people in your target audience are really looking for, the more opportunity you will have to draw people to your business offerings.

      2. Put more emphasis on growing your email list. I love that you have an opt-in box in your sidebar. To make it even more effective for you my suggestion is that you create a gorgeous graphic that shows exactly what kind of design downloads people will get in return for signing up (the more tangible you can make it look, the better). You may also want to remove the last name field in your form to encourage more sign ups (the less personal info people have to supply, the better subscription boxes perform).

      Also, you should consider including an opt-in area at the end of each blog post so you can capture more people who come across your articles.

      Your email list will serve as an important funnel to help your blog visitors become acquainted to you, to trust you, and, eventually, to hire you.

      Hope that helps a bit! 🙂

      • Ahh this is so helpful Erika, thank you. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about using my newsletter game, so I’m definitely going to take the time to put some thought and planning into getting more subscribers.

        And thank you so much! The fact that you recognize my pins means the world to me - I work so hard to make them attractive and pin-worthy. My clipping mask tutorial is one of my most popular!

        I love the idea of cornerstone posts - I’ll spend some time this week brainstorming some potential ideas. It sounds like a lot of work to get done, but definitely worth it if they prove as valuable as you mentioned! And I love the idea of providing such useful continuous content to my readers.

        Thank you so much for all your help! It’s honestly so great to find a successful blogger like yourself who is actually willing to help others out like this on a one-on-one basis. Thank you!!

  • I am definitely taking on board the idea about featuring other people in my posts! Just a quick question though: how do I let them know they’re in it?? Thanks!

    • Hey Anisha — so sorry I didn’t see this sooner. To answer your question, you can either email them all or you could tag them on Twitter/Facebook/Google+. I’ve had people do both for me and I appreciate it either way. FWIW, I usually tend to see my email more than my social media notifications (b/c I get so many notifications, a tag might get lost). Thanks for your comment. 🙂

  • Kiera Grant

    Love your post! It really has helped me a lot. While I have not started my blog yet I am a newbie lol. I am obsessed with blogs and the blogging world and was always a negative nancy on the it thinking I could never really do it because I didnt know where to start. When I first became obsessed with blogging it began with “The Perfect Man” movie with HIlary Duff. She blogged, it was really her only safe zone in the life of traveling every few months, and she used her experiences for the best. Honestly I used to be shy never one to comment on things or speak up, I disliked expressing myself and I really didnt know who I was. I’m now a mom of 3, I’ve been through so much including helping so many people with my experiences in life and a lot of my friends make it a point to tell me everyday how I inspire them. I would love to inspire others and thought… hmm let me get back to my blogging plans. I went to start a couple months ago and stopped from fear of not being successful in my blogging or hardly getting noticed or even where to begin! You broke it down and made it easier to understand! Thank you so much 😀 your amazing!

    • Kiera your comment means the world to me. I completely understand where you’re coming from. Back in the day when I started blogging I felt the exact same way. I thought it was impossible to succeed. :p Obviously my mindset has changed A WHOLE LOT since then. Haha. I’m really glad that you are moving forward with it, despite your fears. It IS possible and I know you can do it. <3

  • Amazing post! I just found your blog and I already love it! It’s so well written with lots of examples and helpful advice! It’s literally all the content I need.

    http://empoweredinternetwomen.blogspot.com.au/

  • This is informational because writing a 200-word blog post isn’t considered blogging true. Maybe that’s good enough a few years back, but now 1,500 words isn’t even enough. I try to increase the length of my blog posts but at the same time I am keeping my own personality instead of writing a research paper. That’s different, and I know a lot of bloggers like to read unique style.

  • Mariam

    Hello Erika,

    This is such great advice for bloggers and I 100% agree. Thank you for sharing!

    Mariam
    http://www.laurelsanddash.com

  • Blossom Onunekwu

    Honestly don’t remember if I posted here before or not, but if I did, here’s my sharing my love once more. Phenomenal writing style and tips to match! I love how you managed to slide in some of the posts you’ve written as examples, pretty sneaky but clever. Now I need a notebook to write all this down or my brain will explode.

    http://www.blossomthecreativist.com

    • Blossom, thank you so much. 🙂 I’m really glad you liked the post. Thanks for taking the time to encourage me today!

  • OMG Erika. You are a freaking life saver. I’ve been searching and searching trying to find out more ways to drive traffic to my blog because lately my page views have been decreasing. THIS is GOLD and I took a screen shot of a ton of things in this post so I can always use it (kind of like my cheat sheet hehe). Every blogger needs to read this post!

  • Thank you for the excellent, detailed, actionable post! This is from several months back but I’m going to take your challenge and work on a post that links to others. I’ve had difficulty thus far finding other blogs in my niche (tech) but have made this one of my goals to find more.

    If you have a few minutes I would LOVE some constructive feedback on my site. I feel like it’s blah but don’t know how to spice it up. Maybe I need to get off my free theme…

    Thanks again and looking forward to reading more of your posts!

    • Hey Amy! Thank you so much for taking the time to read my post and leave a comment. 🙂 I’d be thrilled to give you a few thoughts about your site — my feedback is below.

      M big question is, who is your target market or ideal reader? As a first time viewer of your blog, my initial impression is that it is has a very corporate and somewhat masculine feel. Is that who you are wanting to serve with your blog? The other thing I notice is that it feels generic (in that your personality or unique perspective isn’t obvious to me). A few things I think could really improve this for you are:

      1) A “livelier” blog header/logo graphic with a more descriptive, targeted tagline. You want your “German Pearls” name to come across strong in your visual branding to help your readers make the connection to your brand’s purpose + remember you. This is super key; it will do the most in helping you “spice things up” and stand out online. You may want to try designing something new on Canva, or look into hiring someone who can give you a really solid brand look.

      2) More compelling blog graphics that reflect the tastes, emotions, or ambitions of your ideal reader. For free stock photos I have a long list of nice sites here: http://olyvia.co/risking-your-business-for-beautiful-free-photos/. If you can afford to purchase stock photos, I really love Stocksy, Creative Market, or Fotolia.

      3) More color and customization with your website design. If you are thinking of looking at a premium theme (which does help, for sure), I really like those that I list on my Resources page: http://olyvia.co/resources/. For DIY design tips + tutorials, check out Marianne of Design Your Own Lovely Blog: http://designyourownblog.com/ or Susannah of Garnishing Co: http://garnishing.co/. For free icons and other graphic elements, check out http://graphicburger.com/.

      Another thing you might consider is starting an email list with a service like Mailchimp or ConvertKit, developing a free gift to give away in exchange for someone signing up, and putting subscription forms in your sidebar, at the top of the website (if you get a theme that allows it), at the bottom of your blog posts, etc. This will help you grow your community and run a more successful business in the long term!

      I hope some of those tips help you, Amy. 🙂 I also have a free 21 day email course that I don’t know if you’ve checked out yet, but it has some tips + homework in there that I think you’d find helpful, too! You can read more about it here: http://olyvia.co/the-brand-impressions-detox/

      • Erika,
        I can’t thank you enough for taking the time to look at my site and offering such helpful feedback and have to agree with all of your observations.

        I struggle with identifying my target audience, especially their gender, and it comes across on my site. I’ve tried to stay middle of the road so the site would be suitable for both men and women. Is that possible? Or maybe I should just pick a direction and forge ahead on one path. This needs to be a priority for me right now…

        My reserved (left-brained) personality also shines (or doesn’t shine) through on the site. 🙂 Great observation and this is something I’ll need to constantly work on.

        Also, it’s funny you mention an email list. I have one set up with subscription options on the site but you’re not the first to recommend that so maybe it’s not prominent enough. I’ve added a subscription option to my sidebar.

        I can’t wait to check out your email course. I think I will really be able to benefit from it. Thank you again for taking the time with me.
        -Amy

  • Earlanda

    This post was awesome, Erika. The information you included it very useful and I will be sure to bookmark your blog. !
    -xo Ebony Arlanda
    justarlanda.com

  • OH girl! Screenshotted, pinned, notes scribbled down, this post is so so helpful! Thank you so much for sharing!

  • Victor Chinoo

    Well, I am a new guy blogger browsing around for ideas. I found your article very useful. Keep it coming. Thanks a bunch.

  • Roxanne Bradnick

    Know this is an oldish post, but ‘evergreen’ enough to add value any year/month/time! As a freelance copywriter, I have always focused way more on client content than my own. Self-promotion is hard enough, but finding time and inspiration to focus on working ON my business rather than IN it is even harder. Finally getting my work blog started again (the one I started in 2007… that survived a hack slash rebuild last year) and now working on getting it where I want it to be. Aside from feeling like the proverbial old dog trying to learn new tricks, it has been a lot of fun. My goals/plan of action is to treat my own blog like a client - put in the hours, give it the attention it deserves and set deadlines just as I would with any other project!

    Glad I found your blog and looking forward to learning as I continue my adventures of rebuilding and growing my little slice of the web. 🙂

  • Clarissa

    I love this post! Thanks for these tips.
    My site is ClarissaExplainsItAll.net and I would love for you to check it out and see if you have any helpful tips for me. Thank you!

  • Austin Iuliano

    Finally! someone who is preaching what I have known all along. I have known for a while linking to other peoples content is important. To many people are afraid of “losing the seo juice” and that is just balarky. I can’t wait to link to this article in a new one. Thank you!

  • What great insights. I had not considered the importance of promotion vs. content creation as I try to balance my time.

    I will be giving your approach a shot in my next post.

  • Suzi Whitford

    You put such an awesome spin on these tips! I have also noticed that linking to others and building them up helps generate traffic. There are way more readers than bloggers.. so bloggers helping bloggers is what we should do! 🙂 Get ready to get some link backs, I loved this article. Thanks for making me giggle too! <3

  • Late to the boat on this one, but I actually clicked a link that Helene from Helene In Between linked us to. Saying you had great graphics. These are all great tips! I find it hard to find the time to do the twitter stuff, and still trying to figure out how to schedule stuff to help me out…Going to try some of these out. I know it’s late to the game, but want to go take a look at my blog? http://www.foxysdomesticside.blogspot.com

  • Ah. I see what you did there in step 2. 😛 This is fantastic advice. So much of which seems obvious once you read it but having the steps spelled out is so great. 🙂

  • Becoming Wellthy

    Found this post through Pinterest (ironically after we commented together this morning on Blogs + Biz BFF’s)! I am curious about your thoughts on writing a post featuring other bloggers? I would love to talk about the people who have inspired me to be where I am right now, but I am super new (1 month of blogging) so should I wait until I actually have more page views or just do it?

    • I think that’s an excellent idea! My advice is to just do it. This can help you begin building connections, and you never know what might come of it. 🙂

  • Claudia Ghandi Cole

    Hey there!! A little late to the party, however from a new blogger this was so helpful.. Im still trying to get a hang of all things blog, but plan to make the big switch over at the start of the next month (trying to get more people than just college friends and my mom ha )and this has given me the extra fuel to really get the ball rolling.. I know the challenge was ages ago, however Im gonna give it a go!!!

  • Erika, I absolutely loved this post and how you shared one tip that you don’t hear about very often and that’s being your true self! I included your post in a roundup and featured you on my blog. 🙂

    https://beautifuldawndesigns.net/increase-blog-traffic/

  • I shared it on pinterest! What a wonderful post! It was really helpful, thank yoy so much! I use free photo packs to get traffic through my blog!

  • I never really realised how important linking to other blogs was for page views! I’ll be giving it a go!
    http://www.theprintedparade.com

  • Nancy

    I’m reading ALL of your posts!! just so you know 😉 awesome content, really clear and useful!

  • Laura

    This is the absolute best post on a subject I’ve read about a bajillion posts about. Thank you so much!!! It’s so rare to find truly helpful posts where you walk away with a serious to-do list, and this one totally nailed it. I cannot wait to put all your tips into practice!

  • This is a great discussion. Bloggers who have this as their business are in the people to people business. We need to have others connected and engaged in order to spread our messages and content to the world. Connecting will give you the insight of what needs to be improved on and how well your message came across. But we do need to remember that it is not all about us. Share and share alike.

  • Kris Dean

    This is ALL so helpful!!! Thank you for all the insight. I feel like there’s so much I need to go back and read it again. 😀

  • Zipporah Monique

    This post is amazing and so insightful! Iv’e been blogging since January and would love to grow my traffic! This definitely helped! Thank you!

  • You did great, and I know I was part of that traffic. You have very good info for others to follow. Way to Go!

  • Loving the “share the love” tip - I get some fab ideas for improving my blog from other bloggers, and actually implement them quite often! CHIEF OLYVIA CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.

    Thanks for the tips, Erika.

    Coming soon.

    NK
    http://www.diywptips.com

  • Vivian

    I had definitely not thought about linking to other helpful material from fellow bloggers. Will definitely be paying more attention to that as I curate a few posts for my ‘Teal Notes’ blog launch.

    Thanks a bunch Olyvia 🙂

  • check out my personal portfolio. I make a lot of free graphic design resources that help people showcase their branding work in a professional setting - https://www.anthonyboyd.graphics