7 blog hacks that will help boost your traffic!

With the changes in Google’s and social media algorithms, blog traffic is no longer super easy to gain.

Ad revenue has become the fastest way to earn money via blogging.

And in order to apply to fancy ad networks, you do need to increase your page views.

The higher your page views, the better your chances of getting approved.

There are many things you can do to speed up the process of gaining traffic so that you can make money blogging.

I understand how hard it must be for new bloggers who are just starting their blogs.

There are so many resources about blogging available right now, and it can be difficult to know what to attempt to do first.

But if I had to narrow down my blogging advice to the three main tasks that really move the needle, here it is:

• Start a type of blog in a niche that you know will make money
• Do extensive keyword research and pick extremely low-competition keywords 
• Write good quality blog posts consistently

This is the fastest way to grow your blog, and once it grows and gains enough traffic, you can monetize it via multiple methods.

If you are new here and really want to understand the quickest way to start and grow a blog, please read these blog posts, and they will save you a lot of time.

• How to start a blog in 10 minutes – a step-by-step guide
• How to pick a profitable niche for your blog + free workbook
• 13 types of blogs that make money this year (updated)
• How to write good quality posts that rank on the front page of Google
• How to blog consistently even when you don’t have the time
• How to create a blog content plan for the whole year

In this post, I want to talk about a few strategies that you can use to fast-track your progress as a blogger.

Before I begin, might I suggest that you take my super deluxe free 5-day email course on growing your Blog Traffic?

This post includes affiliate links to products I truly (from the bottom of my heart) recommend, meaning at no extra cost to you, I may earn a small percentage which I will use to feed my sweet, adorable pooches.

How do I get 1000 visitors to my blog?

Please note getting your first 1000 visitors will take some time if you are relying on SEO.

If you have no experience blogging and are picking high-competition keywords, it will take a long time.

So, patience is indeed a virtue when it comes to blogging.

However, if you decide to use Pinterest to promote your blog posts, you can definitely speed up the process and start getting traffic within a few months.

The key to getting your first 1000 visitors is to write a lot of content when you first start your blog.

But if you have a family or a full-time job, this isn’t as easy as it sounds.

Because pumping out posts frequently isn’t very realistic for everyone.

There is a lot that goes into writing posts – and the research can be time-consuming. So here are a few blog hacks to help make your blogging process so much faster.

7 blog hacks to grow your traffic super fast

1. Understand who you are writing for

Do not write for everybody.

That’s the worst way to grow your traffic.

Narrow down your target audience and understand your blog niche. Once you do this, it becomes easier to attract an audience because they will all have similar interests.

For instance, if you have a food blog – ask yourself what kind of audience are you attracting.

• College students, who can cook meals within 20-30 minutes?
• Moms who are looking for tasty recipes for their kids?
• People, who want to become professional bakers?

Even though the blog is in 1 niche – Food, the target audience can vary.

Picking a niche and picking a target audience are two different ball games.

Once you know who you are writing for, writing good blog posts tailored to those people becomes effortless. People will start reading your posts till the end and be so hooked that they’ll keep reading your blog and never want to leave.

Implementing this one tactic will help you do two things:

• Garner a lot of pageviews
• Get people to subscribe to your newsletter so that they keep coming back to your blog!

If you are still struggling to identify your target audience, go back to step one and create a business plan for your blog. 

2. Aim for low-competition keywords

When I started writing for my Drawing BLOG, I looked for low-competition long-tail keywords with Keyword Difficulties between 0-3.

I picked keywords that had a low search volume – preferably around 0-10.

And then when I ranked for those, I’d increase it to 30 or 50.

Please note that these keywords need to be related to your niche as well.

Because this is a new blog with a Domain Authority of 1, I knew I had to be very deliberate with my keyword research.

You will get better results if you use a paid keyword tool like Keysearch (use KSDISC to get a 20% discount) than a free tool like Ubersuggest or Google Keyword Planner because the results are more accurate.

Don’t compromise on a keyword tool because when you get this step right, your blog posts will start ranking, and you will be able to gain traffic from Google (without having to rely on social media).

Once you pick a low-competition keyword, enter the keyword into Google Search and see all the domains that are ranking on the front page.

If there is even 1 domain on the front page results that have a similar domain authority to yours or is lower than yours – then there is a good chance that you can outrank them, and your ranking might replace theirs.

If you have a domain authority of 1, you can compete with bloggers who have a domain authority of 1-15.

You can use the free Ubersuggest chrome extension to help you with these stats.

There is a lot that goes into writing a blog post, but here are the main steps:

• Grabbing a low-competition keyword
• Checking the front page of the search results to see what is the domain authority of all the pages ranking
• Writing a blog post that covers everything a person would want to see for that keyword
• Constantly updating the post to help it make it to the front page and stay there

3. Write excellent blog posts

To write a post that actually ranks on the front page has taken me years to understand.

There is a fixed formula, and it isn’t hard once you understand all the steps that go into it.

I chose this keyword recently, “how to draw cartoon hair,” which had a search volume of 1.2K and an SEO difficulty of 15.

I spent one day writing this post, and within six days, it was ranking on the front page for “how to draw cartoon hair for beginners,” and within two months, it was ranking on the front page for keywords – “how to draw cartoon hair” and “draw cartoon hair.”

This is basically how the Google Search algorithm works.

They rank you for long-tail keywords.

It will be easier to start ranking if you’ve aimed for low-competition keywords because not many people are writing posts for those keywords. Then, with time and how people respond to your post, they will boost your rankings, and that same post will rank for multiple short-tail keywords.

This strategy isn’t hard to implement, and if you’re looking to understand how I do this, please check out my SEO and Keywords bundle which delves into this in detail.

4. Write more posts

I don’t like compromising on quality, but if you can create a schedule that works for you at the beginning of the month where you write about 8-10 posts per month, you can fast-track your progress.

This is because Google likes it when websites update their content regularly.

This says you are consistent and your brand is trying to stay relevant.

This will push you ahead of your competition.

I tried this experiment in August 2021 for my Mind Space Cafe, where I wrote eight long-form blog posts instead of the usual  3-4, which boosted my traffic almost immediately.

And my traffic in August went up by nearly 200%! The orange line is July traffic, and the Blue is August!

Don’t do this continuously if you’re not used to it as it could lead to blogging burnout. You can slowly increase it to 8-10 and if you are able to keep that up for 6 months, slowly increase it to 15-20.

The key is to build a sustainable habit that you can maintain.

To make things easier, please plan your content in advance. 

5. Focus on gaining backlinks

A backlink is when some other blog links back to your blog.

Okay, so why do we need backlinks?

If the blog linking to you is in your niche and has a higher domain authority than you, it helps grow your domain authority.

What does this do?

It helps tell Google that you are a trustworthy and reliable source of information. And your posts start ranking higher and higher on Google Search.

I purchased this eBook by Debbie Gartner about gaining backlinks a few months ago. And I started implementing only one tip from it (which doesn’t include guest posting or blogger outreach, it’s about using HARO) for my new Blog.

This is a relatively new blog in a very competitive niche.

Because of her ebook, I gained a new backlink from a well-established blog within no time at all.

This resulted in my domain authority climbing from 1 to 6 immediately.

When you start a new blog, it will take time for Google to trust you.

But you can speed up the process by building backlinks and growing domain authority so that Google realizes that you’re doing well and starts ranking you higher.

I feel this resource is by far one of the best I’ve acquired. Debbie does have a chapter on Guest posting, and she’s included multiple high-authority blogs in every niche that accept guest posts.

You can build these backlinks on your own without any blogger outreach!

A major mistake that most bloggers make is not trying to get backlinks. Please note that this accounts for at least 50% of how well your article ranks. She shares over 31 strategies and places to get high-quality backlinks.

Check out her eBook here.

I didn’t know most of these strategies myself.

So as an Intermediate blogger, I have learned a lot from this eBook!

6. Use Pinterest to double your traffic

In this post – Pinterest for Bloggers, I’ve explained how you can maximize your Pinterest game just by spending 10 minutes a day on it and no more.

Pinterest doesn’t work for all blog niches. It works for creative niches, most definitely.

So, if your blog is in the creative niche, Pinterest is definitely going to work for you.

Using a mix of both SEO and Pinterest will really help you get more blog traffic.

I only pin for about 5-10 minutes a day, and the results really show! I use the Pinterest Keyword tool – Pin Inspector to help me get the most popular keywords in Pinterest and it has really helped with my pin reach.

The statistics you see under each pin are in the last 30 days. 

I’ve included my pinning strategy in this post. 

7. Add opt-in forms to all your blog posts

Getting new people to your blog is hard.

That’s why if you can capture their email addresses when they hop onto your website, you can get them to visit your blog repeatedly.

There are many ways to increase your email list subscribers, but the best method is to add relevant opt-in forms and lead magnets to your blog posts. I explain how you build simple sales funnels using lead magnets in this post. 

Add more of them to your most popular blog posts. This will ensure that you’re capturing readers almost immediately.

This is one of the best ways to increase your blog traffic.

Every time you send a newsletter, you can direct traffic to your blog. Your email list will also help you make more product sales – it’s a win-win!

Conclusion

Make a list of tasks that actually help you gain more blog traffic and focus on those more if you’re short on time. Creating a timetable will help.

If you’re looking for a way to be more organized with your blog, you can pick up my free blog planner. 

If you’re starting your blog, then traffic is going to take some time to pick up.

Don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t happen immediately. It can take nine months just to start seeing a trickle of traffic. And 1-1.5 years to get over 10K pageviews.

If you have any questions, please leave a comment below!

A few posts to help you gain traffic:

• 33 blog traffic hacks that will take almost no time to implement!
• 7-holiday blog post ideas to skyrocket your traffic
• 13 proven strategies to decrease your bounce rate
• 13 free ways to market your blog and business
• How to use Pinterest in 2023 to get traffic after all the algorithm changes
• 17 killer ways to get tons of blog comments
• How to write consistently even when you have no time to blog