Can I be honest with you? Blogging is hard. In fact, it’s probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done. To be your own boss requires more dedication and perseverance than most people realize, especially when you’re still a one woman show. Not to mention, the industry is changing at a pace I don’t think anyone’s ever seen before. It sometimes can feel like we’re living in an Instagram world these days, with many girls abandoning their own platforms for the high returns and popularity of social media. Call me old school, but I still absolutely believe it’s possible to grow your blog in 2018. Don’t believe me? Keep reading on for some of my best tips + a free blog post checklist, just for you!
Oh, and did I mention I actually believe it’s possible to grow your blog in 2018 at a stronger, faster rate than your Instagram account?
Oh, and did I mention I actually believe it’s possible to grow your blog in 2018 at a stronger, faster rate than your Instagram account?I won’t argue that a strong Instagram profile is almost a necessity these days when it comes to working with brands, but I’m still a believer in the power of blogging and having a personal platform. That and, as much as I love social media, I’ve always been more into creating longer form content over here on the blog, where I can share a full story with y’all, rather than just a snapshot.
That’s why today I want to share with you 10 actionable ways to grow your blog in 2018. These are strategies I’m personally utilizing this year to grow my platform, and I hope they provide you with some new insight and ideas on how to grow your blog in 2018, too!
Don’t forget to download my free Blog Post Checklist! I’m giving away a ton of my best actionable SEO & photography tips for growing your blog, one post at a time.
How to Grow Your Blog in 2018 (+ a Free Blog Post Checklist!)
1. Perform an SEO Audit on Your Blog
I’ll be the first to admit, I’ve long neglected search optimization as a part of my blogging strategy. For some reason, getting found on Google never really stuck out to me as a good way to grow your blog…until recently. With the Instagram algorithm a perpetual mystery at this point, I’ve taken to upping the SEO of my blog and focusing on driving more organic search views to my pages rather than the majority coming from social media. Social media is a great tool, but there’s a lot of potential with SEO — especially since not a lot of people want to take the time to actually learn it!
Make sure you download my Blog Post Checklist for a few of my favorite, simple SEO tricks that you should be implementing on every post blog post to maximize your traffic.
I’m planning on writing a full-fledged post on everything I’ve learned about SEO at some point, but the first place you can start is by doing an audit of your site. I personally like the service Ahrefs, which gives you a detailed breakdown of the performance of your site, the keywords you rank for, and how to improve your SEO overall. The price is a bit steep, but there are free options out there too if you’re just dipping your toes in SEO! This is definitely the first step I’d recommend taking to grow your blog in 2018. Getting major site issues out of the way will only help you in the long run.
2. Write Long-Form Content
First of all, writing long-form content is a great way to boost your SEO rankings for individual blog posts. Statistically, the pages/posts with the highest rankings in Google often are 1000 words or more. Sound scary? I promise it’s not, even though I totally thought so when I first found this out! (You can imagine my reaction when I learned that the sweet spot for blog posts is actually between 2000-3000 words 😂).
Here’s the thing though. Aside from the SEO value, writing long-form posts forces you to create content that is actually USEFUL for your readers. I could have taken the photos in this post and written up a quick 300 word blog on the outfit I’m wearing and called it a day. It would have been easy. Hell, it would have been more pleasant too, because I’ve been staying up late to work on this post every night this week. But, in the words of the great Albus Dumbledore, “We must choose between what is easy, and what is right.”
Create value, and you WILL get noticed.
3. Get Involved in Your Local Blogger Scene
I think a lot of people forget to take advantage of wherever they live as an opportunity to grow their online presence. If you live in a big city, start meeting up with other blogger babes, brands, and PR companies ASAP. Network your a$$ off! If you don’t live somewhere with a huge blogger community, take advantage of the opportunity to be a big fish in a small pond, so to speak. Cover some local events, feature local businesses, and pitch your favorite brands in the area. This is a great way to grow your blog in 2018 by gaining exposure and reaching a new audience that could prove to be very valuable and long lasting down the line.
4. Write Better Blog Post Headlines
The saying goes that, 80 percent of people read the headline, but only 20 percent will read the copy. Are you writing compelling headlines for your blog posts? Why should people click and read what you’ve written? If I had titled this post “Mad for Plaid with Love Your Melon” or something cute like that, would you have clicked through and kept reading? A great way to get your feet wet with writing better headlines is to use Coschedule’s headline analyzer. All you have to do is plug your headline into the box, and out will pop a rating, along with some suggestions for improvement. So simple, and yet SO worth it!
5. Improve Your Photography
Like it or not, photography is everything these days — and it’s not just important to grow your Instagram, but also to grow your blog in 2018, too. With the legitimacy of this industry rapidly improving and more and more bloggers going full-time with their platforms, great imagery is an essential to appear qualified nowadays. The bar is definitely getting higher, but don’t freak out! (P.S. I’ve included some photography tips in my Blog Post Checklist for your reference, too!)
Invest in a camera (I recommend this DSLR for beginners), an Adobe Lightroom subscription, a few amazing presets, plus the plan to hunker down for a weekend or two to teach yourself how to capture some great photos (or improve your already existing photography skills).
P.S. Let me know if you guys want to see some photography tips! I’ve been thinking about doing a post on this for forever, but I want to know if there’s interest first.
6. Do Keyword Research
Here’s another SEO tip for ya (can you tell I’ve been doing some reading? 😏). Do your keyword research! When you write a blog post, one of your goals should be for it to ultimately rank in Google searches for different keywords. Find a keyword tool that works for you, and check out the competitiveness of different keywords before you start writing. Long-tail keywords (keywords that are phrases, rather than just a word or two) are like gold for bloggers, because it’s much easier to rank for these. I’ll do a whole post on keyword research if you guys would like, but definitely look into it if you don’t know what I’m talking about so you can give it a try! It’ll help with SEO and making sure your blog posts get some organic views from Google.
P.S. Need help with keyword research? Intimidated by all the SEO talk? Email me at hhabeck1@gmail.com.
7. Promote the Sh*t Out of Your Blog Posts
Okay, this might sound obvious BUT…guys, you need to promote the sh*t out of your blog posts! I myself haven’t been the best at this in the past, but it’s really starting to bite me in the butt these days.
Ever published what you’re sure will be an epic blog post, just to hear nothing but *crickets*? ‘Cause same.
It sucks when you put so much time and effort into something that barely anyone ends up seeing. I think this is part of the reason bloggers have relied so heavily on Instagram in the past (it was much easier to get views/new followers in the early days, before all the algorithm changes). That being said, take advantage of your amazing writing skills and longer form storytelling. Share your new posts on all your social media platforms. And please, don’t just share it once and move on with your life. Schedule re-shares of the post over the next few months, and make sure you’re constantly updating and publicizing your archives, too. Old posts shouldn’t be collecting dust!
That’s one of the beautiful things about blogs compared to social media. They have a MUCH longer lifespan. Someone may stumble upon a post of yours from years ago, bringing new traffic to your post and a potential new long-term follower if you get them hooked. That Instagram post you published though? It’s pretty much dead after a few weeks, unless someone’s really stalkin’ your feed.
8. Build Your Newsletter List
Another great way to drive views to your blog is by growing your mailing list. I haven’t put a ton of effort into this, but just by adding opt-ins (free downloads — like checklists, resources, & guides [like my free Blog Post Checklist] that can only be accessed by subscribing to my newsletter) to my most popular posts, I’ve already built a pretty sizable collection of emails. This list, along with your blog, is the only platform you actually own. That’s important.
9. Stop Spending so Much Time on Instagram
Unpopular opinion, I know. BUT…
I just read a post in a blogger group from a girl who admitted she was spending at least FOUR HOURS A DAY on Instagram, posting and engaging with followers/potential followers.
I get it, believe me. We all want to be seen. We all want to grow our followings. Instagram is a big deal for brands right now, and follower count can sometimes seem like the end all be all when it comes to booking paid jobs. It just scares me when I hear bloggers talking about devoting a huge portion of their days to simply engaging on a platform that they 1) do not own, and 2) have no control over the algorithm of. Imagine how much more (or more thorough) content you could create if you devoted even just half of those hours to your blog?
I absolutely understand everyone’s businesses are different, and I respect that we all have different strategies. For some girls, Instagram is their bread and butter. All I’m saying is, be mindful of how much time you’re giving to just one social media platform. It’s a pretty saturated space, so don’t be afraid to think outside the box and try to get noticed somewhere else (like your blog)!
10. Post Less
Okay, one more unpopular opinion for you…
Five or ten years ago, most successful bloggers were updating their sites 5-7 times per week. Many still do, especially if it’s their full-time job, and/or they have a team of people working for them and helping them to create content. That’s great. I love knowing that with some of my favorite blogs, I can go back every few days and read a new post.
That being said, for many of us this is impossible. Or, maybe it’s possible, but the quality of our work really suffers as we try to keep up with our demanding editorial calendars. I absolutely agree that consistency is key when building a blog. But? If you’re someone who’s publishing 3, 4 , 5, or 6 times per week, I would challenge you to take a look at your most recent pieces of content. Are you writing long-form, in depth articles at least every few posts? Do you have the time optimize every article and to promote all of your new content equally before moving onto your next draft?
I’ve always tried to keep up with a posting schedule that isn’t really realistic given my lifestyle. Right now though, I’m deciding to focus on creating high-quality, useful content. I’ll of course publish as often as I can keep up with on a consistent basis, but I’m not doing the super short, fluffy pieces that just get lost in the shuffle after a few weeks of social media promotion. I’d rather spend more time working on an article that is packed with information and that is really optimized to be discovered by users even after the initial rush from promoting it on social media.
But hey, that’s just me.
What are you doing to grow your blog in 2018? Are there any tips that I didn’t cover? Let me know, so I can add them in to this post + my blog post checklist and make them even better (with credit to you, of course)!
