Around eight months ago, I started a new blog in the marketing realm. When I first started out, my traffic was flat.
But around four months ago, I figured out a process that has allowed me to grow my traffic consistently—a process I could replicate. I am now at a point where I am adding about 20,000 new visitors each month.
Best of all, I’ve been doing it without spending a dollar on marketing.
The tactics I’ve been using will work for anyone. They work so well that the results I’m experiencing with my nutrition blog are even better, which is crazy since I don’t have a brand in that space and I don’t have many assets I can leverage to help it grow. (I’ll be updating you in a week on my journey to $100,000 monthly income).
So, how did I achieve those results, and how can you gain similar ones?
Collect emails
I’ve mentioned this in the past, but chances are you still aren’t collecting emails from your blog. Other than search traffic, it’s the most consistent form of traffic you can get.
Just look at NeilPatel.com. Here is the email traffic I’ve received over the last 30 days:
That’s not too bad, considering my list size is currently at 3,612.
So, how do you collect emails? The simplest ways are through page takeovers, interstitials, sliders, and bars. The beautiful news is you don’t have to be technical to use any of those features…you can just use Hello Bar, which is free.
In addition to using Hello Bar, you should consider using Thrive Leads, which allows you to offer bonus content.
For example, if I wrote a blog post on 11 marketing tips that will double your traffic, the bonus content could be two extra tips that weren’t mentioned in my post. In order for you to receive that bonus content, you would have to give me your email address.
Sure, this type of email collection takes a bit of time, but it will account for 50% of the emails you collect.
Once you have a list, every time you write, email to your list subscribers letting them know about your latest post. Here is the email template I use:
Subject: Title of your blog postHey,I just wanted to share with you the latest [Insert your blog name – and make this a link to your post] blog post. Let me know what you think.[Insert the title of your blog post – and make this a link to your blog post][Insert the first paragraph from your blog post][Insert the second paragraph from your blog post] Click to continue [make the “click to continue a link]Thanks.
[Insert your name].P.S. [Add a promotional message here]
Just in case the template is confusing, here is an example of a recent email I sent out, based on this template:
Hey,I just wanted to share with you the latest Quick Sprout blog post. Let me know what you think.Why You Need a Social Media Calendar and How to Create OneYou’ve heard of social media calendars before, but do you know what they are and how to use one?Chances are you don’t. And that’s okay… I didn’t either when I entered the realm of social media marketing. But once I learned about it and how to use it, it change how I marketed my businesses on the social web. [click to continue]Thanks,
Neil.P.S. If you want to see how I can help you grow your traffic and revenue, go here.
Write extremely detailed content
The average blog post on my NeilPatel.com blog ranges from 4,000 words on the low end to 8,000 words on the high end.
I know what you are thinking: that’s a lot of text. And it is.
On top of that, each post contains tons of screenshots and images. If you don’t have time to add images, you can always pay someone to do it—like I do.
But just look at my search traffic for the last eight months:
- September – 2,017 visitors
- October – 3,952 visitors
- November – 4,087 visitors
- December – 5,572 visitors
- January – 9,029 visitors
- February – 13,783 visitors (only 28 days in this month)
- March – 20,543 visitors
- April – 24,540 visitors (projected)
How have I been able to increase my search traffic on a consistent basis? Is it link building?
Nope!
It’s purely by writing extremely detailed content. This allows me to get ranked for thousands of long tail keywords that aren’t competitive.
If you are going to write content, consider writing extremely detailed content. Write something so detailed that people wouldn’t dare to copy you—that’s when you’ll know you have done a good job.
Building a fan base
Fan base? I know what you are thinking: why would anyone want to be your fan, right?
Well, you need to stop thinking that way. Everyone has fans.
How do you build a loyal following? You can start by trying to help everyone out. I know I’ve mentioned this in the past, but are you actually responding to each and every comment you receive on your blog?
Probably not…
And when your readers email you, are you taking the time to email them back? You should care about your readers and do whatever is in your power to help them out. And they will keep coming back.
Just look at Randy, who comments on every single NeilPatel.com blog post:
He continually comes back because I truly care to help him. And sometimes he helps me out by pointing out things I wasn’t familiar with.
Strike partnerships
Business development may not sound sexy, but it works well. There are already people in your space with whom you can potentially work because they are not your direct competitors.
For example, I just struck a deal with Cyberchimps, who provide WordPress themes. Some of their themes are paid, while others are free.
Together, we will be offering more marketing-friendly themes—not just from a code perspective but also from a design perspective. It will take six months for this deal to fully go live, but once it does, it will help me generate more traffic.
This partnership will allow them to attach “marketed by Neil Patel” links to the bottom of each of their themes. To ensure that I don’t get penalized by Google, the links will be “no-followed,” but they still should drive good referral traffic.
How did I get this deal? And, more importantly, how can you get a similar deal? Well, I emailed around 30 people in the space telling them that I have an idea that will help them grow their businesses faster.
Some people responded, while others didn’t. I got on the phone with those who responded and pitched my idea to them. I broke down how it would separate them from other theme providers, and I even explained the benefit to me.
Once I had all the conversations and a few people said yes, I decided with whom I wanted to work.
Write more often
I used to publish blog posts on NeilPatel.com once a week. Over time, I ramped it up to twice a week.
Here is my monthly traffic when I was posting once a week:
And here is the traffic after I started posting twice a week:
As you can see, the more frequently you post, the more search traffic you will receive, assuming your content is high in quality. My goal is to ramp up my personal blog to three posts a week as that will help me hit the 100,000 monthly visitor mark really fast. The only issue is finding the time…
Conclusion
Growing your blog traffic doesn’t have to be rocket science. Follow the steps above, and you too will be able to get more traffic.
Sure, your growth rate may not be as rapid as mine (as I am able to leverage my name to get certain deals done), but still—you should see more traffic.
If you had to pick just one thing to follow, consider writing long, detail content. What I learned by blogging on NeilPatel.com is that content that’s between 4,000 and 8,000 words does extremely well in search engines.
How else can you grow your blog traffic?
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