The Money Mustache Community
General Discussion => Throw Down the Gauntlet => Topic started by: vivek440 on May 09, 2015, 08:30:57 PM
-
I was debating - whether I should post this here or in the post - FIRE forum. Why post - FIRE forum? Because I am doing this only for fun and adventure and I know, I am taking out time for this because I am FI (Financially Independent). If I was not FI, I would be right now busy earning and saving !!! So I see it more as a post - FIRE adventure !!!
But after reading posts in the both the forums, I felt the thread is more suitable for this forum.
Here I intent to keep track of my progress and things I am doing to increase the readership. I haven't intentionally attached a timeline to this goal yet as I don't have a plan in mind to achieve this goal. Once I have more clarity, I will put some timelines as well.
I would love to team up with folks who are sailing in the same boat. We all can use this thread to share the progress with each other and exchange things that we are doing to increase the readership.
I would also love to create a mastermind group with people who are in similar situation - Have very few visitors like me and are serious to increase their blog's readership. Let me know, if somebody is interested in this master mind group.
Enough of blah blah.... Now let's focus on the goal :-)
Current status
In the month of May, I have received 35 visitors till now. Average is 35/9 = 4 (Approx) per day
Current challenges
1) Almost no visitors :-)
2) The few visitors that I get, are not engaging with the blog. They are not commenting nor subscribing to the blog. Either the content is boring or the look/feel of the blog is boring or god knows :-)
Coming week focus area
1) Brainstorm and identify things that can be done to increase the readership and try to come up with a plan
For now, that's it! Through this thread, I will love to connect with people who have similar goals! Cheers!
-
I also have a blog/website (see my signature) with a small but growing pageview count. I track the numbers monthly.
Here are my monthly views for this year:
January: 296
February: 557
March: 564 (I didn't post at all in March so the numbers reflect this)
April: 833
Currently what works for me the best is just posting regularly. I'm quite busy right now so I make sure to do a weekly post, but haven't been doing anything other than that. Eventually I'll worry about actively trying to get more visitors. But for now I just want to build up my content and keep the rest of my life on track.
I also have an associated Facebook page, which makes it a lot easier to share my posts with my friends and them to share with their friends. I have a dozen or so FB followers who I don't know personally, so this feels like a small success.
As far as commenters I don't get a lot - I think for most blogs most people just lurk and don't comment. So if you see a heavily commented upon blog they have tons of visitors. I'm not sure what the stats are but I bet it's around 1 in 100 people comment; maybe worse than that.
So I'm open to discussing these things and want to follow this thread and I did follow your blog, but it won't be a high priority for me at the moment.
If you want tips from an amateur the main one is to post regularly before you really start trying to get an audience. When I look at your blog and see that big gap between posts I'm less likely to follow or keep checking back. I can provide more comments (if you want them) at another time.
-
Hi Vivek,
Took a quick look through your blog and have a couple of thoughts. There is a disconnect between the homepage image and the tagline of your site just above it. It says "Adventures of an Indian Couple" and you mention you are in your 30's but the picture is of a very white older gentlemen. Now it might just be the sun? but for me it is a disconnect. In the FI and personal finance space, people want personal. The only thing that will make you stand out and be memorable is YOU. You write about a trip to India, but there are no pictures or anything to leave an impression or get people curious to read it. Your about page reads like a bio but there is nothing in it that would make people want to follow YOUR journey.
If you need to find stock images to spice your posts up and you are not comfortable using your own images, there are lots of great free options. Pixabay is probably the best I have come across. I am in the process of going back through over 100 posts and adding pictures. Don't wait till you are at the point I am! It seems like creative use of images and white spaces and less text (unless you are telling a super compelling story) are what make people stick around long enough to read these days.
Good luck :)
-
If you need to find stock images to spice your posts up and you are not comfortable using your own images, there are lots of great free options. Pixabay is probably the best I have come across. I am in the process of going back through over 100 posts and adding pictures. Don't wait till you are at the point I am! It seems like creative use of images and white spaces and less text (unless you are telling a super compelling story) are what make people stick around long enough to read these days.
Good luck :)
Thanks for the free image tip. I definitely need more pictures for my site and was wondering where I should start looking. You've reduced my research time.
-
I am posting because i am interested in the same goal for a future project.
-
If you need to find stock images to spice your posts up and you are not comfortable using your own images, there are lots of great free options. Pixabay is probably the best I have come across. I am in the process of going back through over 100 posts and adding pictures. Don't wait till you are at the point I am! It seems like creative use of images and white spaces and less text (unless you are telling a super compelling story) are what make people stick around long enough to read these days.
Good luck :)
Thanks for the free image tip. I definitely need more pictures for my site and was wondering where I should start looking. You've reduced my research time.
No Problem! here is a list post with some other great options:https://blog.bufferapp.com/free-image-sources-list (https://blog.bufferapp.com/free-image-sources-list) I still have found that for my blog, Pixabay has the most relevent pictures, but you never know.
Also - if your theme isn't mobile responsive the JETPACK wordpress plug-in is a LIFE SAVER it basically adds a bunch of functions and utilities that are on the wordpress.com platform and make them usable by wordpress.org sites. There is a really good function for tracking visitors and site data but THE BEST part is an option that takes any theme you are running and strips it to a basic mobile responsive website. These days if your site isn't mobile responsive you are loosing more then 1/2 your potential visitors. I was in the process of starting to look for a new theme and rebuild my site from scratch just to make it mobile responsive. It would have taken hundreds of hours for me to learn how to do or some big $$. This solution is free and buys me more time to figure out what I want to do. Google also just announced last month that they are taking mobile responsiveness into account for their google search rankings. So if your site isn't responsive you are hooped. You can plug your site into goole's test page here to see if they consider it mobile friendly: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/ (https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/)
I'm pretty much learning everything as I go, so more then happy to share resources/feedback and ideas!
-
OP - I read some more of your blog. I find the "he" "she" third person voice of the blog creates a lot of distance. You aren't really sure who is posting or what perspective you are getting. I'd create two different poster and each use your own voice and name. It seems like you are missing out on what could make your blog really unique which is to have both of you posting and sharing in your own style (and you will appeal to double the readers too)
-
This is a topic I'm definitely interested in - I've been pretty down on my blog lately for a lot of complicated reasons. One of which is that I've been at a steady low level of traffic for ages and ages. I've been at it for 2 1/2 years and average maybe 30 page views a day. I guess I'm not a person you should be taking advice from on increasing traffic, so I won't give any ;-) But I keep thinking I must be missing something...
-
I also have a blog/website (see my signature) with a small but growing pageview count. I track the numbers monthly.
Here are my monthly views for this year:
January: 296
February: 557
March: 564 (I didn't post at all in March so the numbers reflect this)
April: 833
Thank you for sharing your blog's statistics. You are way ahead than me :-) In last 1 year, have the numbers been increasing for you? Atleast in last 3 months that seems to be the case!
Currently what works for me the best is just posting regularly. I'm quite busy right now so I make sure to do a weekly post, but haven't been doing anything other than that. Eventually I'll worry about actively trying to get more visitors. But for now I just want to build up my content and keep the rest of my life on track.
I also have an associated Facebook page, which makes it a lot easier to share my posts with my friends and them to share with their friends. I have a dozen or so FB followers who I don't know personally, so this feels like a small success.
As far as commenters I don't get a lot - I think for most blogs most people just lurk and don't comment. So if you see a heavily commented upon blog they have tons of visitors. I'm not sure what the stats are but I bet it's around 1 in 100 people comment; maybe worse than that.
I follow blogs where 400-500 comments seems to be the norm :-) But yes I agree, people generally don't comment. Will be interesting to know, generally what is the ratio > you mentioned 1 in 100, I think it would be worse! But personally I think comments play a important role in the blogs success. First time readers infer how active the blog's community is.
So I'm open to discussing these things and want to follow this thread and I did follow your blog, but it won't be a high priority for me at the moment.
Thank you for following my blog!
If you want tips from an amateur the main one is to post regularly before you really start trying to get an audience. When I look at your blog and see that big gap between posts I'm less likely to follow or keep checking back. I can provide more comments (if you want them) at another time.
It is a vicious circle - You are motivated to write when you have a big audience but audience will only come when you have quality content!
Yes yes I will definitely love to get more comments from you (whenever you get some time) !
Best wishes for your blog...
-
Hi Vivek,
Took a quick look through your blog and have a couple of thoughts. There is a disconnect between the homepage image and the tagline of your site just above it. It says "Adventures of an Indian Couple" and you mention you are in your 30's but the picture is of a very white older gentlemen. Now it might just be the sun? but for me it is a disconnect. In the FI and personal finance space, people want personal. The only thing that will make you stand out and be memorable is YOU. You write about a trip to India, but there are no pictures or anything to leave an impression or get people curious to read it.
Thank you for sharing all this useful feedback. I will try to incorporate whatever I can. I absolutely agree that I need to have more photos in my blog!
Your about page reads like a bio but there is nothing in it that would make people want to follow YOUR journey.
This is something that we realized - We are working on the bio and will soon publish the updated one!
If you need to find stock images to spice your posts up and you are not comfortable using your own images, there are lots of great free options. Pixabay is probably the best I have come across. I am in the process of going back through over 100 posts and adding pictures. Don't wait till you are at the point I am! It seems like creative use of images and white spaces and less text (unless you are telling a super compelling story) are what make people stick around long enough to read these days.
Thank you for sharing the website! I am sure, I am going to use it big time :-)
I am a little surprised to know that you are adding pictures in your old posts!! Do your old posts also get lot of visits?
How big is your blog? Approx. monthly visits that you get? I noticed that you have been maintaining the blog since June 2010.... That's a long period! You must have learned a lot through the journey!!!
-
OP - I read some more of your blog. I find the "he" "she" third person voice of the blog creates a lot of distance. You aren't really sure who is posting or what perspective you are getting. I'd create two different poster and each use your own voice and name. It seems like you are missing out on what could make your blog really unique which is to have both of you posting and sharing in your own style (and you will appeal to double the readers too)
:-) That's called bang on target!
We realized this - Not sure if you noticed but in the latest post, we haven't used "he"/"she". When we started the blog, we thought that "he"/"she" will bring the cool factor and will make the blog stand out - One of the ways through which we were trying to be different!
But after few posts, we realized that writing using "he"/"she" was limiting our creativity and for the readers as well, it was making the content difficult to comprehend.
We are in the process of making this change in the previous posts as well!!
-
This is a topic I'm definitely interested in - I've been pretty down on my blog lately for a lot of complicated reasons. One of which is that I've been at a steady low level of traffic for ages and ages. I've been at it for 2 1/2 years and average maybe 30 page views a day. I guess I'm not a person you should be taking advice from on increasing traffic, so I won't give any ;-) But I keep thinking I must be missing something...
Welcome to the gang - Let's help each other and take our numbers to new height :-)
What is your blog url? Will love to go through it! What marketing have you been doing to get these 30 page views a day?
-
Welcome to the gang - Let's help each other and take our numbers to new height :-)
What is your blog url? Will love to go through it! What marketing have you been doing to get these 30 page views a day?
It's a live music blog... http://www.concertmanic.com. I'm not looking to make money off the site, but I'd really like it to feel like worthwhile time spent. Spending 2-3 hours writing something that so few people read is depressing. The last post got 56 views; that sounds good until you find out that someone retweeted the link to over a million followers! I mean, what does it take to get some click-throughs?
I haven't done any paid marketing since it's a hobby site and not a moneymaker (although it could reap $$ benefits if I keep getting free concert tickets). It's all organic traffic - I tag the subjects of each article on Twitter and Facebook in the hopes they'll be shared, plus I have some people who follow the blog directly or follow my blog page on Facebook. And I get quite a bit of search engine traffic. And scattered stuff elsewhere (forums, people sharing links on other websites, Youtube, etc.). My traffic is surprisingly world-wide considering that I write about a local music scene - 15 visitors from 9 countries today, for example.
I tried adding a recommended-concert calendar on the home page in the hopes that local people would stop by to check it semi-frequently, but it hasn't made a difference that I can detect.
-
Thank you for sharing the website! I am sure, I am going to use it big time :-)
I am a little surprised to know that you are adding pictures in your old posts!! Do your old posts also get lot of visits?
How big is your blog? Approx. monthly visits that you get? I noticed that you have been maintaining the blog since June 2010.... That's a long period! You must have learned a lot through the journey!!!
My old posts get almost all my traffic, I started late 2010 and wrote almost all of my posts in 2011/2012 and a few in 2013 and then pretty much nothing for the past two years. I was working at a super stressful job with insane hours and just didn't feel compelled to write. I have done basic upkeep. I was still earning a bit of ad revenue and selling some copies of my books (despite no marketing at all) but it is 3 maybe 4 out of my 100 posts which get 95% of my traffic. So those are the areas I will be focusing on for new digital products/e-books and possibly some coaching or courses.
When I started writing, longer posts with texts were okay, but it seems like over all the shift is to shorter, snappier posts for the time crunched (especially in my field) so I do think it is worth adding pictures. I don't remember the stats either but it is something in the hundreds of times as far as being more effective. As I go through them I am updating, making sure all the links work, seeing how I can recycle update and consolidate the work I have done into new formats I'm at 132 posts. At the very least all of my old posts that I am keeping will have a headline picture, a new headline and be more broken up shorter paragraphs lists whenever possible, more white space.
My total hits is 630250 which is about 10500 a month on average. It has fallen dramatically since my all time high of posting regularly which was 28500 a month. Right now it is about 12,000. So my goal is to get it up to at least where it was in 2013.
The thing to realize is it takes a LONG time to get started. Most of your hits come from old posts what have targeted keywords people are looking for in search results, it takes a while to build up enough momentum to be noticeable. Many people fail because they quite to soon before they have that critical mass. It took me 20 MONTHS of sitting around 4-5000 then suddenly I hit that critical mass and the next month jumped up to 19,000 and was steadily climbing, so it does take time.
I highly recommend checking out Jon Morrow's workhttp://boostblogtraffic.com/ (http://boostblogtraffic.com/) I have learned the most useful things from him - that dude knows his field.
-
Vivek, in response to your prior questions - I didn't bother posting 2014 numbers as I was barely working on my website during most of that year.
For comments on your blog how picky do you want me to be? I'm an amateur editor and am good at noticing little details. And of course a lot of it comes down to personal preferences.
I don't want you to feel insulted if I make a lot of suggestions. It's a great thing to work on any creative project. I don't want to come across as discouraging, as that's not my intent at all.
Also I can comment in an email or PM if you'd prefer.
But for now here are a few things I notice on your About page (and you can tell me if this is too much feedback):
- I'd remove the main picture on this page if you are able. It's large to scroll through and not necessary on that page. (I'm not a fan of big title pictures in general.)
- You have a mismatched singular vs plural situations. In the second sentence:
"The only thing unusual about us is that we didn’t want to spend our whole life working in..." I believe it should be "lives". It's a small thing but grating to people who notice that type of thing.
- I wouldn't use the word "illiterates". It sounds insulting.
- it's repetitive to have "FI means" and then "definition of FI..." at the end.
I'm picking on the About page as I've heard it's one of the most read. I hope this is helpful. You're free to pick apart my website if you want.
-
Welcome to the gang - Let's help each other and take our numbers to new height :-)
What is your blog url? Will love to go through it! What marketing have you been doing to get these 30 page views a day?
I can very well understand your feeling !
Stay tuned on this thread and I am sure, you will learn a lot - Kestra and swick have been sharing wealth of information !
Wish you all the success and huge amount of traffic! Good luck!
-
When I started writing, longer posts with texts were okay, but it seems like over all the shift is to shorter, snappier posts for the time crunched (especially in my field)
This is something we have also been debating. My wife feels that post should be short as people don't have time to read long posts! I feel the other way round. It seems I have been able to convince my wife and we have decided to prefer long posts!
You may want to read this - http://www.problogger.net/archives/2015/05/11/3-content-tweaks-to-increase-your-blog-traffic-without-spending-a-penny-2/
<Copied from the url>
Create Longer and More In-Depth Blog Content
Another way to attract much more traffic to your blog content, and generate more social shares, is to write longer, in-depth and epic content. I know these have become buzzwords, but let me quantify this for you so that it’s easier to understand.
Research after research confirms that search engines love longer content. Kevan Lee discussed the ideal content length in this truly epic post on the Buffer blog. Neil Patel has also discussed the ideal length of blog posts in detail on his blog.
There’s clear consensus that posts longer than 2000 words rank much higher than say 1200-1500 word posts. And this study by SerpIQ provides further proof of this fact.
It might be different in your field but just thought of sharing it with you. You might find it useful.
My total hits is 630250 which is about 10500 a month on average. It has fallen dramatically since my all time high of posting regularly which was 28500 a month. Right now it is about 12,000. So my goal is to get it up to at least where it was in 2013.
Wow.... impressive stats!
I highly recommend checking out Jon Morrow's workhttp://boostblogtraffic.com/ (http://boostblogtraffic.com/) I have learned the most useful things from him - that dude knows his field.
Thank you for sharing the link! I have subscribed the blog!!!
-
Hi Vivek,
That is some good info and I generally agree with it, Longer posts are in general better - if you have AMAZING, TIGHT content. The danger is if you can't hold a readers interest in a longer post, they'll probably never come back. I have two pretty distinct readers so I try to cater to both. The longer more "theory" driven posts for educators and quick tips and easily digestible and immediately actionable posts for parents, or for when teachers just want some ideas.
What I have discovered is a lot of stuff was too long - even for long posts, so I divided it up further into "series" I'm not sure I like that compromise, I have already done the work for most of these so I am probably going to use them as a bases for info products and go into them even deeper - flesh out the theory or concepts with lots of activities and printable resources.
Eventually what I would like to do is to have very short, super sharable posts, long post and fill the "middle" with a podcast.
The thing is - you don't have to have all short or all long posts, do some split testing and see what works best for your readers :) I would suggest writing the exact same post two different ways and sending the links to friends and family( and us interent strangers who don't know you) and polling.
I'm enjoying the thread though, neat to see everyone's thoughts!
-
I'm one who has a really hard time reading long posts, especially if they are walls of text. I completely agree - you have to be a good writer with a really interesting story and/or distinctive voice for me to bother with a long post.
So generally I try to keep mine shorter, with quite a bit of white space/subheadings. I've also been experimenting with a question/answer format especially for the more boring subjects. It allows me to make it a bit more interesting/informal.
I'm also aiming for a younger audience who I believe prefer shorter pieces. I'm sure there are many others who prefer lengthier posts.
Like Swick says, just play around with it and see what works.
-
I agree with Kestra. I think a lot of the decisions come down to knowing why you are writing and who are you writing for. Is your goal to make money? Is it to reach as many people as possible? Is it to have an "Online Journal" for friends and family? Honestly, if you are doing it for any reason other then personal satisfaction you should have a business plan.
The big thing is that many blogs that "make money" are not personal passions, it is a niche market that someone has analyzed and decided to treat like a business and it is more "work" then "fun" There are of course outliers, like MMM who made it in a space many don't, because of his unique voice, market timing and void of information. But for every MMM blog there are thousands that fade off into oblivion without being a blip on anyone's radar.
As far as big walls of text and readability, while longer posts rank better, it is a FACT that attention spans are shorter now then ever before in HISTORY. That is why pretty pictures, catchy subheads and white space are so important. If you can get the eye to slow down long enough to be intrigued by a picture or snappy title - if a reader goes, hmm that meets MY need/desire/pain point they will read more. Also, then general public has approx. a 4th grade average reading level. It would probably be higher for someone interested in an FI blog, but something to keep in mine if you are writing for mass appeal.
-
Length-wise, I have noticed that my two most-shared pieces on Facebook are longer than my typical posts (1500-2000 words instead of the usual 1000 or so). And the piece that was BY FAR the longest one I ever wrote (closing in on 5000 words) did quite well (#6 most views IIRC) and was also shared by a staff writer for the New York Times on Twitter who had been assigned to review the same event (basically saying "I didn't get enough column inches to really do it justice, read this piece if you want a fuller picture"). But I'm not sure if it was the length that did it, or just that people were more interested in the (presumably more interesting) events that spurred me to write more.
I *feel* like my typical 1000-word articles are too long... not that I am padding them, but that I am innately too wordy. But maybe that's a lack of confidence that it's worth taking five whole minutes to read something I wrote. :-/
-
For comments on your blog how picky do you want me to be? I'm an amateur editor and am good at noticing little details. And of course a lot of it comes down to personal preferences.
I don't want you to feel insulted if I make a lot of suggestions. It's a great thing to work on any creative project. I don't want to come across as discouraging, as that's not my intent at all.
:-)
Thank you for being so thoughtful ! But don't worry about me - Be absolutely blunt with your feedback. The whole purpose of starting this thread is to get feedback from experienced bloggers like you.
Also I can comment in an email or PM if you'd prefer.
I would suggest to publish your comments on this thread only. It will benefit other readers as well!
But for now here are a few things I notice on your About page (and you can tell me if this is too much feedback):
- I'd remove the main picture on this page if you are able. It's large to scroll through and not necessary on that page. (I'm not a fan of big title pictures in general.)
- You have a mismatched singular vs plural situations. In the second sentence:
"The only thing unusual about us is that we didn’t want to spend our whole life working in..." I believe it should be "lives". It's a small thing but grating to people who notice that type of thing.
- I wouldn't use the word "illiterates". It sounds insulting.
- it's repetitive to have "FI means" and then "definition of FI..." at the end.
I'm picking on the About page as I've heard it's one of the most read. I hope this is helpful. You're free to pick apart my website if you want.
Thanks for such a thorough reading and your detailed feedback. We will incorporate the required changes asap. Just want to point out on the usage of 'our life' in the sentence. That was intentional as me and my wife- 'we' share our 'life' together. Gramatically also, it is acceptable to use 'our life' when two people our talking about their life together.
Really appreciate all the time and energy that you are putting in to share this feedback! I owe you a treat :-)
-
The thing is - you don't have to have all short or all long posts, ........
I'm enjoying the thread though, neat to see everyone's thoughts!
Hi Sheena (swick) ,
The recent debate that I had with my wife was around a draft post (Not yet published) which was quite long. My wife was thinking of publishing it in 2 parts just to avoid long post. My suggestion was to publish the whole post in one go. Otherwise my view is that posts should not be made long just for the sake of making it long. The length of the post should be what the content demands!
I am also enjoying this thread a lot :-) These days after returning from office, the first thing that I do is CHECK THIS THREAD!
-
I'm one who has a really hard time reading long posts, especially if they are walls of text. I completely agree - you have to be a good writer with a really interesting story and/or distinctive voice for me to bother with a long post.
So generally I try to keep mine shorter, with quite a bit of white space/subheadings. I've also been experimenting with a question/answer format especially for the more boring subjects. It allows me to make it a bit more interesting/informal.
I'm also aiming for a younger audience who I believe prefer shorter pieces. I'm sure there are many others who prefer lengthier posts.
Personally I prefer reading long in depth posts (The assumption is that they are well written) - For short content I use other channels - facebook, newspaper/magazine articles etc. I primarily read blogs to read people who are not *so called experts* and to get in depth insights!
I know every reader is different :-)
-
Honestly, if you are doing it for any reason other then personal satisfaction you should have a business plan.
Very well said.... Every blogger should realize and act on this !!!
PS: I just now noticed that your signature has this line - Tangerine Orange Code: 13898399S1. What is it? I did a quick google search and ended up with your posts on MMM forum :-)
-
Honestly, if you are doing it for any reason other then personal satisfaction you should have a business plan.
Very well said.... Every blogger should realize and act on this !!!
PS: I just now noticed that your signature has this line - Tangerine Orange Code: 13898399S1. What is it? I did a quick google search and ended up with your posts on MMM forum :-)
Tangerine is the new name for ING bank which is now owned by Scotia. It's just my referral link. I have used them for years and been quite happy. Now that is a whole 'nother discussion we could have...what are everyone's strategies for monetizing their blogs?
-
Tangerine is the new name for ING bank which is now owned by Scotia. It's just my referral link. I have used them for years and been quite happy. Now that is a whole 'nother discussion we could have...what are everyone's strategies for monetizing their blogs?
I actually have no plan to monetize my website directly as that would be antithetical to the intent of my business. I can hardly advise people to spend their money carefully and then have third party ads on my site encouraging people to buy random things.
Which gives me an opportunity to explain my actual plan:
The website is just a sideline to generate some web traffic, build my reputation, and lure potential clients. My main business model that I'm working towards is a money coaching business. I will make money from providing direct client services, teaching classes, etc.
So yes, traffic is good. But I won't be putting up ads unless something comes up that I can recommend wholeheartedly to the majority of my visitors.
-
That totally makes sense, coaching has the potential to be very lucrative. That is the model I am moving towards, since I do so much offline - but in the meantime, I don't have a problem using ads and recommending resources through amazon or my side bar that I use, and pointing to my own products.
I did have to actually speak to someone at google on the phone to convince them that "Hydroponics and grow lights" were not really well targeted to my blogs audience, despite having "growing" in the name :)
One idea I have been tossing around is offer my services on (a company that you charge under 10 bucks for small projects) do the quick work and turn them into blog posts for free content. Basically it would be customized ideas for activities/games/lessons for parents on a specific topic they want to teach their kids or problems they are having. Based on the kids ages/interests and learning styles. I just don't know if it is worth it for them to take such a large cut, when I could be doing email/telephone consulting right from my site and charge a lot more, but would take longer to build. It might be a good starting place. I do like the idea of reusing content - 1/2 of my issue is I come at it from a educational/teaching perspective which is great, but I don't have kids of my own so figuring out exactly what parents want can be hit or miss.
-
16th May 2015 (End of week 1) - Progress update
Focus areas
General maintenance of the blog - Created logo, changed the cover photo (As pointed out by Swick, the earlier photo appeared to be an old person) etc.
Content creation - Several posts content creation in progress, About us page is being revamped etc. Our target is to publish 1 post per week.
Efforts to publicize the blog
Till we don’t have enough content in the blog, we have decided to go a little slow in this area. For now, the only effort that we are putting in is that we have become active on couple of forums
Visitor statistics
Most recent week’s total visitors: 76 (Daily average: 13)
May 2015 month total visitors: 167 (Daily average: 10 - Daily average is 10 and the target is 100….. Way to go !!! )
Attached is how the weekly visitor graph looks. Please don’t pay any attention to the numbers before May as we were hardly spending any time on the blog.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to Swick & Kestra (These are their MMM forum names) for going through my blog and for sharing insightful feedback!!!
-
I'm just replying so I can read further suggestions that pop up on here. I've got an idea for a blog and I've thinking about starting it but I haven't done anything yet so some of this might be useful to me.
-
I started my blog nearly 2 weeks ago and I've gotten 54 visitors to date which equals to 4 visitors a day too!
I'm on the same path as you (trying to get 100 visitors a day) so this post is really interesting! I've only told about 3 people about my blog since I find it super embarrassing but I've been advertising it on pinterest and instagram
My blog's www.elisuperoffbeattravel.com in case anyone's interested!
-
I've only told about 3 people about my blog since I find it super embarrassing but I've been advertising it on pinterest and instagram
Why do you find it embarrassing? You should be proud of it !!!!
-
My blog's www.elisuperoffbeattravel.com in case anyone's interested!
Took a look - I love the concept! If anything I want MORE details! The Gingerline in London sounds like an AMAZING experience - and honestly, one I probabaly wouldn't have come across if I was just checking out regular travel blogs.
Couple of thoughts for you - Headlines - you use "cool" and "offbeat" a lot. I would use "offbeat" in the tag line and mix up the punch words again (especially if it in in your blog name.) If you use any word too many times it looses impact. There is also potential to talk about different aspects of your different locations in different posts. For example, you could do a whole post on "Awesome Bathrooms you never knew existed!"
I do wish you had an about page though, you have me curious!
Edited to add: It would also be neat if you have text links for the places you mention that link to either the place's homepage or a google address/map. It would make anyone who wants to follow in your foot-steps have an easier time getting more information. Search engines love links - just make sure they are set to open in a new window so people don't wander away from your site too fast!
-
My blog's www.elisuperoffbeattravel.com in case anyone's interested!
Took a look - I love the concept! If anything I want MORE details! The Gingerline in London sounds like an AMAZING experience - and honestly, one I probabaly wouldn't have come across if I was just checking out regular travel blogs.
Couple of thoughts for you - Headlines - you use "cool" and "offbeat" a lot. I would use "offbeat" in the tag line and mix up the punch words again (especially if it in in your blog name.) If you use any word too many times it looses impact. There is also potential to talk about different aspects of your different locations in different posts. For example, you could do a whole post on "Awesome Bathrooms you never knew existed!"
I do wish you had an about page though, you have me curious!
Edited to add: It would also be neat if you have text links for the places you mention that link to either the place's homepage or a google address/map. It would make anyone who wants to follow in your foot-steps have an easier time getting more information. Search engines love links - just make sure they are set to open in a new window so people don't wander away from your site too fast!
Awesome thanks so much for the feedback!
Currently I'm back tracking through all the holidays I've gone to over the last few years which is why they're in list form. Plus I love lists! That's the only reason I visit blogs myself. But I guess when I run out of things to write about I can start writing about individual things I've been to? Or would that not be as interesting?
I use cool and offbeat to differentiate between my posts. Offbeat is more weird and not very touristy whereas with my cool posts you can pretty much all find all the places on tripadvisor. How would you rephrase one of my titles? I guess when I start doing posts about individual places the titles will vary widely. haha I don't know that many cool toilets I'm afraid but I will keep a look out! but yeah I get your point :)
I have an about page but its not incorporated into my blog due to the theme I chose (Cubic theme on wordpress). I'll look into it though! But since you're curious I was born and raised in London but have been lucky enough to have lived in Shanghai nearly 2 years. I'm currently in malaysia travelling to thailand and then korea for the next few months before returning back to london to settle down ;)
Ok once I finish my 10th post *phew* I'll go back and add all the links! Thanks so much for your feedback again :)
I've only told about 3 people about my blog since I find it super embarrassing but I've been advertising it on pinterest and instagram
Why do you find it embarrassing? You should be proud of it !!!!
I'm just a super awkward person haha
-
If you want tips from an amateur the main one is to post regularly before you really start trying to get an audience.
+1 on this. If I check a blog for the first time, and the latest post happens to be more than a month ago, there's a risk I'm not coming to that blog ever again. I want to be fed articles on a regular basis, for me to be interested :)
Good luck to everyone trying to spread the word of the mustachian way through their blogs :)
-
If you want tips from an amateur the main one is to post regularly before you really start trying to get an audience.
+1 on this. If I check a blog for the first time, and the latest post happens to be more than a month ago, there's a risk I'm not coming to that blog ever again. I want to be fed articles on a regular basis, for me to be interested :)
Good luck to everyone trying to spread the word of the mustachian way through their blogs :)
I've definitely seen an improvement in my search rankings with every post I post!
-
This is a great thread. its good to see others going through the same growing pains as I am. I plan on generating traffic on my blog by creating awesome posts for like-minded people. And contributing to other member blogs by commenting and just being involved in the community.
Its tough for sure and takes work but you got to do what you got to do. A few days ago i had my highest hits in one day and it was 167. That was the day though that I sent out the link to a bunch of other real estate investors i know asking for opinions. If you know of other people in the same niche as you, that are doing what you want to do, ask them for advice on how they did it and recommendations. Most people are totally willing to help.
-
... I've definitely seen an improvement in my search rankings with every post I post!
How do I go about finding my blog's search ranking?
-
http://www.alexa.com (http://www.alexa.com) Alexa is the fastest way to track your page ranking.
-
Thanks for that Alexa link Swick! That's a handy piece of information for sure!
I'm going to take part in this challenge in the hopes of raising my daily views as well - My wife and I's blog isn't very old but we have put a good effort into posting regularly. We were at 2x per week posting, but I think we're going to scale that back to 1x per week - some of our content/topics are focused on woodworking or crafts and simply can't be finished in 3 days while working. So we'll see how 1x per week goes and add in additional weekly posts as we see fit.
I'll post my visitor stats when I get home and can log in to look at them
I'd love some comments/critiques if anyone is willing to take the time - I can't get better without knowing where I'm falling short: www.living-simply.com
Here's hoping those of us not quite there yet, are pulling 100+ visitors per day shortly!
-
Thanks for that Alexa link Swick! That's a handy piece of information for sure!
I'm going to take part in this challenge in the hopes of raising my daily views as well - My wife and I's blog isn't very old but we have put a good effort into posting regularly. We were at 2x per week posting, but I think we're going to scale that back to 1x per week - some of our content/topics are focused on woodworking or crafts and simply can't be finished in 3 days while working. So we'll see how 1x per week goes and add in additional weekly posts as we see fit.
I'll post my visitor stats when I get home and can log in to look at them
I'd love some comments/critiques if anyone is willing to take the time - I can't get better without knowing where I'm falling short: www.living-simply.com
Here's hoping those of us not quite there yet, are pulling 100+ visitors per day shortly!
Please darken the font. The main text/paragraph for sure, to black, and probably the green a bit as well.
-
... I plan on generating traffic on my blog by... contributing to other member blogs by commenting and just being involved in the community...
In my experience, this is key. Frequent and meaty comments on other like-themed blogs has definitely helped me get viewership traction.
-
Kestra - thanks for the tips! I'll incorporate your advice and see how it looks!
-
Having a good blog week, the post I posted on Sunday has gotten almost 250 views already (even though I forgot to post it to Twitter). The downside is that I have no idea why this one got a lot of traffic as opposed to some other ones. It looks like they're mostly coming from Facebook.
-
... I've definitely seen an improvement in my search rankings with every post I post!
How do I go about finding my blog's search ranking?
Oh I'm on wordpress.com so it just tells me how many referrals to my site are from search engines. I went from 0 to 1 or 2 per day yaay ha
I didn't post anything last week as I'm back in Shanghai (interwebs is super slow and you need VPN for everything) so I'm back down to 3 visitors a day argh. The week before I had 45 visitors and the week before that I had 62 visitors though so I feel I could make progress with a bit more effort
-
Some of us are putting up number of "views per day" and some of us are putting up number of "visitors per day." My particular stats package shows me views, not visitors. Are those of you using the term "visitors" really meaning that? If so, how are you getting those numbers?
-
Some of us are putting up number of "views per day" and some of us are putting up number of "visitors per day." My particular stats package shows me views, not visitors. Are those of you using the term "visitors" really meaning that? If so, how are you getting those numbers?
If you use wordpress.com as a host they have a stats page already built in telling you the number of views, visitors, country, what they clicked on etc.
However since I've switched to google analytics (and bluehost) it's been giving me COMPLETELY different numbers (e.g. number of users on google analytics yesterday was 44 and the number of visitors on wordpress was just 7! No idea which one to trust :()
-
Just started our blog in June and are still working out the bugs. I'm sure we will be debugging for quite some time modifying an existing theme. It's been a lot of work but Mr. LC and I have been enjoying the process and we do work well together.
Still trying to interpret visit statistics as Google analytics and Wordpress numbers are so different. I'm sure we will figure it out in time. Meanwhile we will continue developing content that fits the mission of the blog. Good luck to all of us!
-
**update** June was my first full month of having the blog and i got just under 4k page views. I posted all my blog stats and blog income on my last post actually. I am very proud of that number to start but it has not been easy for sure. Hopefully I can continue the progress. I created a twitter, pinterest and facebook account and have been trying to get as many followers/friends as possible to promote. I also had a guest post on another bloggers blog who posts similar interest that I do and that helped a bit.
I agree that wordpress stats and google stats are different some days but at the end of the month it is almost the same. At least for me it was. My new best page view day was 300 in one day now and it was from that guest post I did.
-
**update** June was my first full month of having the blog and i got just under 4k page views. I posted all my blog stats and blog income on my last post actually. I am very proud of that number to start but it has not been easy for sure. Hopefully I can continue the progress. I created a twitter, pinterest and facebook account and have been trying to get as many followers/friends as possible to promote. I also had a guest post on another bloggers blog who posts similar interest that I do and that helped a bit.
I agree that wordpress stats and google stats are different some days but at the end of the month it is almost the same. At least for me it was. My new best page view day was 300 in one day now and it was from that guest post I did.
You are doing great!
-
**update** June was my first full month of having the blog and i got just under 4k page views. I posted all my blog stats and blog income on my last post actually. I am very proud of that number to start but it has not been easy for sure. Hopefully I can continue the progress. I created a twitter, pinterest and facebook account and have been trying to get as many followers/friends as possible to promote. I also had a guest post on another bloggers blog who posts similar interest that I do and that helped a bit.
I agree that wordpress stats and google stats are different some days but at the end of the month it is almost the same. At least for me it was. My new best page view day was 300 in one day now and it was from that guest post I did.
Wow! That is so awesome! well done :) also love your progress post! i never thought about adding random people on fb! how did you decide who to add though?
-
Thanks elisuper and Mrs. LC. Ive been busting my butt this month so far too and im definitely going to beat all my numbers from June.
As far as the facebook question, I joined a bunch of real estate facebook groups because that is how Im going to reach FIRE and mostly what I write about. Then i just started adding everyone from those groups. A lot of people dont accept but thats okay because a lot do accept. After a few hundred friends I started getting a bunch of friend request so that really helped. Im literally over 1000 facebook friends already. Kind of crazy.
-
1000 friends. Wow that is amazing! Feel free to send them our way! We are slowly building readership. It takes time. There's a ton of stuff we want to write about but we need to balance our time and be sure to meet other life goals along the way.
-
Thanks elisuper and Mrs. LC. Ive been busting my butt this month so far too and im definitely going to beat all my numbers from June.
As far as the facebook question, I joined a bunch of real estate facebook groups because that is how Im going to reach FIRE and mostly what I write about. Then i just started adding everyone from those groups. A lot of people dont accept but thats okay because a lot do accept. After a few hundred friends I started getting a bunch of friend request so that really helped. Im literally over 1000 facebook friends already. Kind of crazy.
Thanks cash flow diaries! I'd be lost without you! I tried guest blogging but only got 30 visitors from it (compared to the 1000plus additional likes he got on his facebook page) but I joined some groups yesterday with over 20k people, posted a new blog post I just did, and I got over 100 new visitors in a few hours!
The problem is that I haven't converted any clicks on google so far :(
-
A lot of great information on this thread! I'm currently averaging 1 or 2 views a day on my blog, but I haven't had the time to put much effort in the last few months. I'm hoping to get back to my weekly postings in the fall.
-
I started a blog a few months back and while it's hard to commit to writing regularly, I've decided to put more effort into the content and get things moving. I'm really not promoting it anywhere and nor will I. If it grows organically, so be it, but for me, it's helping me be accountable to my fire goals.
I had 18 visitors yesterday. Big time blogger now!
-
1000 friends. Wow that is amazing! Feel free to send them our way! We are slowly building readership. It takes time. There's a ton of stuff we want to write about but we need to balance our time and be sure to meet other life goals along the way.
Hey Mrs LC. I was just perusing your blog and I was going to leave a comment, but the wordpress login didn't seem to work for me. I tried the login from my usual spot and it worked fine. So you may have an issue there, but I'll try again later.
-
1000 friends. Wow that is amazing! Feel free to send them our way! We are slowly building readership. It takes time. There's a ton of stuff we want to write about but we need to balance our time and be sure to meet other life goals along the way.
Hey Mrs LC. I was just perusing your blog and I was going to leave a comment, but the wordpress login didn't seem to work for me. I tried the login from my usual spot and it worked fine. So you may have an issue there, but I'll try again later.
Thanks for the heads up. Having Mr. LC (the IT guy!) take a look at it.
-
Thanks elisuper and Mrs. LC. Ive been busting my butt this month so far too and im definitely going to beat all my numbers from June.
As far as the facebook question, I joined a bunch of real estate facebook groups because that is how Im going to reach FIRE and mostly what I write about. Then i just started adding everyone from those groups. A lot of people dont accept but thats okay because a lot do accept. After a few hundred friends I started getting a bunch of friend request so that really helped. Im literally over 1000 facebook friends already. Kind of crazy.
What plugin do you use for the e-mail signup splash page that shows up after a couple of minutes? I have been wanting to do that for a while, but hadn't found a program I liked yet.
Here is my contribution. I have been working on www.DIYMetalFabrication.com (http://www.DIYMetalFabrication.com) for 2 years now and am finally starting to get some pretty good traffic. I attached a snip of my traffic stats to this post for your viewing pleasure.
I have to agree with the tips to post quality content consistently. My goal for this year is to post once a week, and I have been pretty good about it for the last couple of months. It has made a noticeable difference in my volume of traffic.
A tip that I have found to come up with more posts is to write down your post idea THE MOMENT you come up with it. If I wait even 10 minutes, I will usually forget it and be kicking myself. Installing the wordpress app on my phone has helped a lot with this also. You never know when inspiration will hit (with me it is usually riding in the car (as a passenger or stopped obviously...) or on the crapper) and it is nice to have a way to record those thoughts that can be turned into a full post later.
Comments come with more views. In the two years my website has been up and over 37k+ views, I have only had 4 comments total (not including my replies).
Vivek - one thing I noticed while reading your blog is that you might look into using the summary function on wordpress. For example your current post about the kids toys is pretty long and I had to scroll for a while before I got to your next post. With the summary function, it will show your title, a picture, and everything in your post up until the ----MORE---- function (a button you can click to add to your post in the writing tools) that you would need to add to your post. This way the viewers can scroll through the posts and click on the ones they want to read. I have mine set up this way to show the first paragraph or so (though I am in no way suggesting that it is the right way to do it, just my preferred way).
-
Elisuper, I couldn't figure out how to comment on your blog. Do I have to be signed up for facebook or google+ or something and hit those buttons? I wanted to ask a question about the courses for foreigners that you mention ("Are they given in English or Korean?") but I couldn't figure out how.
Nice looking blog, by the way. Lots of pictures. Yay.
-
OOBER,
For the subscribe pop up, im using 2 plugins, one is called "Popups - WordPress Popup" which does the pop up, then im using "MailPoet" to create the form that goes into the pop up. I really like it so far.
As far as comments go, I really started getting more comments when I installed the commentLuv plugin. This allows other bloggers to post thier last article on the comment so it its a lot more enticing to comment. Most of the comments come from other bloggers from what Ive noticed, not just on my blog, but other peoples blogs also. You really need to get yourself out there and known with the other bloggers. Its like a community almost.
And yes quality content is key. It takes me anywhere from 2 to 5 hours to write my posts and I try and make them really good. People seem to really like my posts so far. Its just a matter of continuing to come up with new content. I do exactly what you do, I write down my idea the second it comes to me so i wont forget.
I got my most page views ever for one day yesterday and it was 391. Most of it came from social media and I spent a bunch of time yesterday posting on facebook and twitter.
The cool thing is I just do it while im at my day job so its not a big deal for me but it does take up time.
-
I use SumoMe for the hello bar and the side bar pop-up and it's really helped boost email subscribers.
-
Vivek - one thing I noticed while reading your blog is that you might look into using the summary function on wordpress. For example your current post about the kids toys is pretty long and I had to scroll for a while before I got to your next post. With the summary function, it will show your title, a picture, and everything in your post up until the ----MORE---- function (a button you can click to add to your post in the writing tools) that you would need to add to your post. This way the viewers can scroll through the posts and click on the ones they want to read. I have mine set up this way to show the first paragraph or so (though I am in no way suggesting that it is the right way to do it, just my preferred way).
Hi OOBER
Indeed a very useful suggestion… I will soon implement it! Thanks for visiting my blog and for sharing this feedback :-)
-
Elisuper, I couldn't figure out how to comment on your blog. Do I have to be signed up for facebook or google+ or something and hit those buttons? I wanted to ask a question about the courses for foreigners that you mention ("Are they given in English or Korean?") but I couldn't figure out how.
Nice looking blog, by the way. Lots of pictures. Yay.
Sorry Gerad I just saw this post! Oh thats weird I thought you just needed to type in your name and email address to comment? Oh and you can only comment when you click into the article (not on the homepage)! Please let me know if that's not the case :(
But in answer to your question.. The classes are all in english (either the teacher knows english or they hire in a translator) :)
That's my post popular blog most by far! I had 3,666 views the day I posted it! If only I could come up with more ideas like that..
-
OOBER,
For the subscribe pop up, im using 2 plugins, one is called "Popups - WordPress Popup" which does the pop up, then im using "MailPoet" to create the form that goes into the pop up. I really like it so far.
Thanks for this CashFlow. I already downloaded it and have implemented it. Right now I have it so the popup shows after 60 seconds. Instead of MailPoet, I am using the Jetpack subscribe shortcode since I was already using Jetpack.
I hope it will help increase subscriptions. I currently have it in two different areas on each page, but have yet to have very many people sign up.
-
OOBER,
For the subscribe pop up, im using 2 plugins, one is called "Popups - WordPress Popup" which does the pop up, then im using "MailPoet" to create the form that goes into the pop up. I really like it so far.
Thanks for this CashFlow. I already downloaded it and have implemented it. Right now I have it so the popup shows after 60 seconds. Instead of MailPoet, I am using the Jetpack subscribe shortcode since I was already using Jetpack.
I hope it will help increase subscriptions. I currently have it in two different areas on each page, but have yet to have very many people sign up.
Cool, yeah I have mine for 60 seconds also. I think that is a good number because if someone stays for 60 seconds, then they probably have at least some interest in your blog. I dont like pop ups that happen right away, it doesnt even give you time to see what is on the blog or if you even like it or not.
I was using jetpack also but changed it to mail poet because I wanted to have a custom newsletter and subscription page sent rather then the default jet pack one. I couldnt figure out how to modify it the way I wanted it to look.
-
Following - still kicking around the idea of a blog - maybe - maybe not:)
I used to write articles on a Forum and I kind of miss that.
-
Following - still kicking around the idea of a blog - maybe - maybe not:)
I used to write articles on a Forum and I kind of miss that.
You definitely have to enjoy doing it or else it isn't worth it. I can't speak for everybody else, but I spend A LOT of time working on/around/within my blog. I take notes in totally random places of ideas that I can implement next time I am at my computer. I love doing it though, so it isn't really 'work' in the traditional sense.
Cashflow,
Thanks again for the tips. I got to talking to another buddy that does a lot of online stuff and he also recommended CommentLuv. So long story short I have implemented it and hopefully it helps.
With the MailPoet vs Jetpack vs Aweber vs ConstantContact vs MailChimp vs AutoResponder vs IContact debate, my friend mentioned something that I hadn't previously thought of. If you get a lot of signups with one service, you can't necessarily just move to another mailing service. You would have to have all of your subscribers re opt-in upon switching to the new company. So one would have to make sure they pick the 'right' service in the beginning so they can stick with it later on. Has anybody had experience with this?
Sorry for the hi-jack Vivek.
-
Yeah you are right oober. I dont think there is an easy way.
I know for me, i was using jetpack and actually had 3 subscribers sign up before I switched to Mail Poet and to this day, those 3 are still getting the email newsletter from jetpack. I looked into converting them but could not find an answer so I just left it running.
I think the only way is for them to opt out and hope they opt back in using the new form. For me its not a big deal since its only 3 subscribers and i switched it very early from when I first created the blog but I could see how this would be a huge problem for someone switching it late in the game.
-
That is awesome ghsebldr. Glad you are picking it back up. Posting every day is definitely a lot. I read an article that said the best days to post are on Mondays and Thursdays so that is what I started doing about a month ago and it seems to be working out okay for me. 2 posts a week is not a lot but it does take time to write good posts.
Good luck
-
This is a really useful thread with some interesting ideas, thank you.
If anyone feels like critiqueing my blog, I would be grateful.
I vary between three and 41 views per day. My posts are SHORT compared with ldngths discussed here.
I am going to look at all the blogs linked to here.
-
OOBER,
For the subscribe pop up, im using 2 plugins, one is called "Popups - WordPress Popup" which does the pop up, then im using "MailPoet" to create the form that goes into the pop up. I really like it so far.
Thanks for this CashFlow. I already downloaded it and have implemented it. Right now I have it so the popup shows after 60 seconds. Instead of MailPoet, I am using the Jetpack subscribe shortcode since I was already using Jetpack.
I hope it will help increase subscriptions. I currently have it in two different areas on each page, but have yet to have very many people sign up.
So, the WordPress popup mentioned above worked well for a while. I got 6 Jetpack signups within the last month by doing nothing other than adding a popup shadowbox.
Since I knew it worked, I decided to get my MailChimp account up and running. Come to find out, I would have had to go to the 'pro' version of the popup app to make it show my MailChimp. Instead of doing that I asked some friends and did some searching. I ended up installing the 'SumoMe' plugin which is pretty cool. The basic stuff is free which is all I need at this point. Sumo me was also really easy to connect to MailChimp and Google Analytics.
In SumoMe, it has applications within it for a shadowbox, popup, welcome page/signup screen, and a bunch of other analytics tools. The I set the shadowbox to show up on all pages except the home page. I didn't want it to annoy new readers and ask for their e-mail before they ever even clicked on an article. I also have a small popup box in the bottom right corner that shows up once a user scrolls 60% down any page.
I selected MailChimp because it is free for up to 2,000 e-mails a month. The initial setup I must admit has been more difficult than I thought. Probably because I am new at this, but I found it hard to figure out what I was supposed to set up first and in what order. I am starting to get the hang of it now after a couple of hours of messing with it and my blog.
I can import my current Jetpack users into MailChimp, but I think it will re-send a confirmation e-mail to have them opt-in again. I haven't tried it yet though.
Vivek - Have you gotten any increase in readership yet? Your last post on your blog was June 5th almost 3 months ago. You need to get some more posts cooking if you want to get more readers. Readers don't magically appear, you have to provide something of value for people to want to come.
-
Vivek - Have you gotten any increase in readership yet? Your last post on your blog was June 5th almost 3 months ago. You need to get some more posts cooking if you want to get more readers. Readers don't magically appear, you have to provide something of value for people to want to come.
I know Oober...... I haven't posted anything on the blog since ages :-( With so many interesting things happening in life, I am not investing any time on it currently.
I think I will be very irregular on my blog till I am continuing with my full time corporate job. I will be leaving the job in 6-9 months to start the much awaited life exploration :-) I envision that I will be very active on my blog then!
PS: I am enjoying all the views being exchanged by others on this thread :-)
-
Following.
-
Okay quick update on my blog. August was my 3rd full month of blogging and here are the page views since the beginning.
1st month: 4k page views
2nd month: 7k page views
3rd month: 20k page views
I got super lucky in August though because a huge blog/finance site called Penny Hoarder featured one of my blog posts on their facebook page and they have over 1 million fans. So that day alone i got 9k views. I was so ecstatic that day. All I could do was keep refreshing my stats and watching it go up. It was amazing! So if it wasnt for that, I probably would have had just under 10k for my 3rd month which i personally am really impressed with.
Who knows what will happen in September but it will probably be around 10k im thinking, maybe a little less.
-
You are all doing so well. Mine is a bloglet by comparison.
-
Hi! I'm updating this thread mostly to plug my recent blog changes (as I feel this is an acceptable place to do so), and also because I actually got over 100 views 2 out of the 3 days right after I posted about my new topic (and shared this info on my personal FB page and on this forum in my journal thread and on one other forum) so that is a big deal for me.
Because of my real life events I've stumbled on to an unusual and fairly universally interesting combination of topics: online/long distance relationships, quickly progressing relationships, moving a long distance for the relationship, moving to a northern community (Yellowknife, Northwest Territories), living in the north. Plus my usual minimalism and other random topics.
Here is the first post where I write about what is currently happening in my life:
http://www.livelikeyou.ca/a-big-life-change-awaits/ (http://www.livelikeyou.ca/a-big-life-change-awaits/)
The bit of success makes me definitely want to continue with the blogging. So continuing to write a couple times a week is a priority for me. Hopefully I'll be able to reach the 100 hit mark consistently eventually.
-
I too just started a blog passivekonnoisseur.com and am not doing so well on the visitors a day. I get a few but I am advertising (something I want to stop doing as soon as there is a steady stream) I think backlinks are important so if anybody would like to share links on their site I will put them on mine.
I am averaging 4 visitors a day.
-
Not sure if these have been mentioned, but here's a few resources I really recommend:
General blogging advice
-problogger
-copyblogger
-studiopress blog (for Genesis specific tips)
General framework
-Self hosted Wordpress installation. If you want a blog you can monetize, it's the standard for a reason.
-Genesis by Studiopress. All. Day. Long.
Social media
-Tailwind (pinterest)
-Buffer (full suite of SM integration)
but always remember - social media is SOCIAL. People want interaction. Esp on FB, Twitter - far less on Pint, IG. Can't speak to the other platforms; don't use.
Scheduling
-CoSchedule (also has Social Media sharing component - EXCELLENT for calendar management within WP.)
Lists/Email
-SumoMe (great email gathering tools)
-MailChimp. Intuitive, attractive, roust but expensive. Larger lists are hundreds a month.
-
I think I'm game for jumping in the ring. I've been blogging since around 2005, just for fun. My traffic peaked around 2000 a month, until last November when Google yanked one of my main articles from their search results from a bogus DMCA complaint (I freaking hate Adobe..)
Anyway, since then, my traffic's been about half that, maybe 1000 hits a month. I've started posting regularly in the last month or two, and I'm thinking my main problem is lack of feedback from readers. The people that visit seem to enjoy it... but very few comment or reshare. I'm currently linking my posts to Twitter and my facebook author page. I also recently set up my Google Analytics and Adsense accounts, and have started watching those. I'm comfortable with the layout, and I'm getting stuff in place.
I have very eclectic interests, and I cover a lot of areas with my writing. Cycling, computers, writing, music, theology, frugality (of course). I'm thinking I'm going to need to narrow my focus somewhat in order to reach a target audience.
I want to make the blog better, add more content, and basically figure out what my core audience is, so I can tailor content to that. I want to publish more fiction novels as well, so I'm keeping that in mind.
If anybody wants to see what I've got and tell me (honestly) what they think, go to www.jeffhendricks.net
-
Love this topic! Very inspiring. I can't commit to the full NaNoWriMo challenge but I will try to write every day and see what I can come up with.
-
For those of you looking for more comments, make sure you install the commentLuv plugin. It basically allows other bloggers to link their post from their blog when they comment generating a back link. I know that the comments on my blog definitely went up after installing that. I mean grant it most of my comments are from other bloggers probably just wanting to link back to their site, it doesn't bother me, they are still reading the article and giving feedback plus it enhances the blog experience with other readers.
-
I have a facebook page about Iceland that has been slowly gaining likes. So take a look if you want and invite your friends. If anyone got tips to increase likes please share.
www.facebook.com/icelandhotspots
-
Congratulations on your growth. I also have a blog but don't have even close to the amount of visitors you do. Hope to get there someday. I have neglected to post recently as we are currently purchasing our next rental property and have been busy with that. I'm sure once we have the keys, I'll have lots of inspiration for various income property related posts.
www.mindfulmoneymatters.com
-
Vivek - Have you gotten any increase in readership yet? Your last post on your blog was June 5th almost 3 months ago. You need to get some more posts cooking if you want to get more readers. Readers don't magically appear, you have to provide something of value for people to want to come.
I know Oober...... I haven't posted anything on the blog since ages :-( With so many interesting things happening in life, I am not investing any time on it currently.
I think I will be very irregular on my blog till I am continuing with my full time corporate job. I will be leaving the job in 6-9 months to start the much awaited life exploration :-) I envision that I will be very active on my blog then!
PS: I am enjoying all the views being exchanged by others on this thread :-)
6 months and no posts. Vivek, post something...anything. A good post with pictures only takes an hour or so if you just sit down and do it. Don't wait, do it now. If you wait until your "life exploration" then suddenly post a bunch of stuff, I think you will quickly realize that you haven't yet built up a reputation or reader base and won't get as many views as you would like.
I am subscribed to CashFlowDiaries newsletter and he posts something just about every week if not more often, which is the way to go. I am not quite there yet, but try to do at least 1-2 posts per month.
SumoME and Mailchimp have been doing well, getting about 30 subscriptions since my last post. The subscriptions and repeat readers have seemed to increase traffic. I am just shy of 5k views per month up from around 2k per month in January. The free tools in MailChimp allow me to make some pretty professional looking newsletter emails even with my limited marketing talent. Sign up for my newsletters to see the free SumoME and Mailchimp apps in action, I haven't paid a dime for either (still using their basic free services as of this post).
Profits from Adsense and Amazon are getting close to being able to cover my hosting and domain expenses. For some reason it seems that the posts that describe how to fix a specific product get a lot more hits and conversions than my more general fabrication/DIY posts. I think this is because the keywords for the name brand products tend to bring in more search engine hits. Just a thought for you guys to consider while making your posts.
The important part is to GET STARTED and do/post something CONSISTENTLY.
-
I've been searching for this thread for weeks.
Got my traffic consistently to 100 users a day over the last month. Thanks to getting featured on the wonderful monevator.com and other blogs putting me in their blogroll.
Don't be afraid to ask for others to put you on their list or to include you on their blog.
I'm trying to blog 2-3 times a week. I love it and it's such a release.