10 Things You Can do To Grow Your Blog This Week

I looked at my blog content calendar that I had just created for the month of MAY, going by that, I’m supposed to write on unique quotes to encourage you when you’ve hit rock bottom. However, as I opened my laptop to write, Another topic came into my mind.- How to grow your blog. Now, I’m not one to be spontaneous with her actions, but I just couldn’t help this one.

I sent out newsletters to my email subscribers last night and some of the replies I’ve gotten are from people who want to learn how to grow their blog. So when this spontaneous thought set in, I validated it based on the requests I got.

I have been teaching people for many years how to blog and I’ve done this without monetizing, until recently when I realized I spend so much gathering knowledge, then give it all out for free. There’s no harm in doing that but I’m at a point in my blogging career where I can wholeheartedly say I know this blogging business. I’m currently working on an E-book for bloggers and hoping to create a course or two on blogging. If you want to be the first to know when I do, simply sign up below.

How to grow your blog

So how do you grow your blog? it’s no rocket science but it’s no walk-in-the-park either. Growing your blog takes hard work, commitment and knowledge.

However, instead of waiting until you gather all there is to know about blogging, you can start from somewhere and this post is just what you need.

Check out your Analytics

To find a solution to a problem, it’s always best to find out the “cause” and that’s exactly what checking out your analytics does.

So what is analytics?

Analytics is the discovery, interpretation, and communication of meaningful patterns in data. It also entails applying data patterns towards effective decision making. … Organizations may apply analytics to business data to describe, predict, and improve business performance.

Wikipedia.org

There are various ways to measure your blog analytics. If your site is hosted on WordPress, you can check out your blog’s statistics via Jetpack. But my favourite tool, which so happens to be the best analytic tool for websites is Google Analytics.

If you haven’t set up your google analytics, check out this video for a detailed tutorial on how to do so.

On google analytics, you can measure data such as audience demography, interests, age, location.

You can also monitor your best performing posts and the source of your blog’s traffic. This way, you have a fair idea of what you are doing right or wrong and how to keep up or desist respectively.

Edit, Optimize & Update Old Blog Posts

One way to keep a content evergreen is by regularly updating them. Google’s algorithm frowns at stale content. Definitely, a post you wrote on how to get rid of pimples two years ago won’t be as relevant in 2020. The reason is because new products and methods of skincare come up everyday and unless you keep updating that post, it would go into oblivion on SERPs.

As part of my blogging process, I update high performing blog posts every 3-6 months.

Updating an old post is easier than creating a new one and hence sometimes when I feel blank with new post ideas, I go read through, edit and update old posts. Fun fact is while at it, I get new post ideas.

Tips for updating old blog posts.

1. Draw a list of old posts you’ll like to edit.
2. Carry out keyword research using research tools like Keywoordtool.io, google keyword planner or Moz planner tool.
3. Add more content where necessary
4. Update post title to be more SEO friendly
5. Restructure headers
6. Optimize post for search engines
7. Promote on social media

Carry out a domain overview using Semrush

Semrush is one of the best tools out there and the best part is, they offer freemium services. You have 10 clicks to use for free per day on Semrush.

Simply go to semrush.com, on the right dashboard, find domain overview. Click and put in your website URL. Semrush will draw up your blog insights.

Reply to comments

Engagement is a two-way thing. If your blog readers leave comments, try to reply them. That way they know you care and will be encouraged to drop new comments.

Work on Site speed

When your site speed is slow, you can lose out on readers as no one has time to wait three minutes for a blog post to open. A simple way to get this done is by carrying out a site speed test using page speed insights by Google to check your site speed.

After showing your results, they also proffer suggestions on ways you can increase site speed and have a faster loading time. Sometimes it can be something as simple as clearing cache. To do this, I use the W3 Plugin or installing an AMP plugin.

My site speed is average at the moment, I’ve carried out a page speed test and I’ll work on making it better later this week.

Send out newsletter

Building relationships with your readers should never be ignored. I failed to do this for years and I have regrets till date. However, I’m doing better. Every Tuesdays and Fridays, I sent out new and relevant newsletters to my email subscribers. I put images and links to recent posts on the blog and to be honest, you will see the hike in your blog’s traffic.

Subscribe to my blog below.

General Maintenance

Don’t stop at updating old blog posts, also update plugins and even your Php version which is more technical, so I advise you contact your web designer or your host support to help you out. Don’t forget to also check for broken links.

Write & publish a new blog post

When last did you put up a new blog post? Well here’s your chance now. Write a new post, edit, set up for SEO, publish and promote. If you are finding it difficult to come up with post ideas, a good place to start is by reading these blog posts below.

BlogTober 2019: 31 Days Of Blog Post Ideas

How & Where To Find Blogging Inspiration

5 Free Post Title Generators Tools For Bloggers

Create a free or paid service

A great way on how to grow your blog is by offering a service. The service can either be paid or free.

Types of services you can offer.

1. Digital products: e.g templates
2. E-books
3. Teach a course
4. Offer a consultation.

Guest blogging

Most bloggers miss out on the benefits of guest blogging. When I began my blogging career, I was looking for ways on how to grow my blog. One way I tried out that was efficient was guest blogging on popular websites.

Benefits of guest blogging

1. Increases your blog’s traffic
2. Improves your domain authority scores
3. Help you build a content writing portfolio
4. Improves your writing
5. Increase in brand exposure

Luckily, this blog is currently open to guest bloggers.

If interested, please send an email to info@giftcollins.com stating that you are applying to guest blog.

Other Posts You’ll love

1. How To Stop Self Sabotaging
2. 10 Interesting Books To Read While Practising Social Distancing
3. 5 Ways To Elevate Your Life In 2020
4. 31 Days of Blog Post Ideas
5. 20 Small Ways To Be Happy During These Trying Times

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