One thing I know many bloggers struggle with is page views and growth. We all want to be bigger and better, see the readership grow, and stay relevant. But it can be hard when you feel you are stuck at a number. SEO can be daunting, but these small steps will help any blogger increase their website traffic.
I have learned a few tips and tricks in my years of blogging. I am always still learning and growing – shouldn’t we all? Sometimes we just don’t know where to go when trying to increase pageviews. I have found 3 key ways to help you grow your numbers.
Utilize Google Analytics Phone App
There is a HUGE difference between looking at your Google Analytics app on your computer versus your phone. On your phone you have graphs and information that is that much easier to see and take action on. Download the app NOW, I promise you will be happy! Once you do you will see that the Overview screen is different. You can see your traffic, your trends, how many readers are on your site at that moment.
My biggest tip to start with using the app is to scroll down and look at your Users by Time of Day. The darker boxes show your higher readership times and days, an invaluable tool! My readers are on my site Sundays and Mondays mostly. THESE are the times when you want to give your social media that extra *push* – pin a few more posts, post to Facebook, etc. Looking for what to post? Head over to “Behavior” on the app and you’ll see your top 5 posts right away. There’s your content! You can also try pushing out relevant content – if your top post is a DIY craft post another one during your peak times.
Tailwind is a GAME CHANGER
Tailwind has officially rocked my world. You can schedule up to 100 pins a month for free or go unlimited for a fee, which is what I opted to do. I pin anywhere from 50-70 pins per day of my own and other blogger content. I am part of several group boards relevant to my own Pinterest profile, so when I schedule one pin, I can schedule it out to 10 boards over the course of a couple of weeks, which means if I do that 20 times a day I am scheduling 200 pins.
SEO Is Key
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is insanely important to getting organic traffic. There are so many different components that play into getting on the first page of Google, but the most important is Keywords.
You can find your top keywords by heading over to the Google Search Console. If you haven’t added your site yet, you can add your site to Google Search Console by following my instructions here.
On the front page of the Search Console after selecting your site you will see a page has graphs. The top graph “Performance” has a clickable link that says “open report”. Click and scroll down – you will find ALL of your keywords. These are the words an phrases users search for on Google in order to find you.
Leveraging these keywords in your posts will help your traffic increase. For instance, if you find your top keywords are around “weight watchers”, start going through your posts that could be relevant and start adjusting your wording to skew toward that keyword.
Additionally you can create new keywords. Say you want to write a post about your dog. Think about what users would search for on Google for this post. Use those keywords in your title and first paragraph. Additionally you can use a service like SEMrush Keyword Magic Tool which will help you search, plan, and manage keywords.
Additionally you can use some of my favorite Plugins to help your traffic increase – these WordPress plugins are my tried and true must-haves.
