Happy Birthday to my blog.

I’ve now officially been blogging for almost two years.

*Time sure flies*

I bought my domain and signed up for hosting on August 12th, 2018, but I didn’t start publishing blog posts until early September that same year. 

It took me a couple of weeks to prepare and put the content and MYSELF out there.

But boy oh boy am I glad I did. 

Starting an online business is the best thing I’ve ever done for myself.

In this post, I’ll share with you the exact steps I took to get over 200K monthly page views in my very first year blogging. 

 

 

Related reads:

• Pinterest Traffic Avalanche Review: My Honest Opinion
• How To Start A Blog For Beginners – A Step By Step Guide 
• Why I Started A Blog As An Introvert & How You Can Too

 

 

Why I Started A Blog

I started this blog on a whim, but a really good whim.

It was a late summer’s eve in August almost two years ago, when I came across a few pins titled something like “How To Start A Blog”, “How To Make Money Online”, “How To Become Your Own Boss” and I was immediately drawn into a whole new online world, that I’d never before stepped foot into.

Hold the phone – I’m going to be completely transparent and say that I did, in fact, buy my own domain name at age 11 with a little help from my dear old uncle. Yes, it was a Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen fansite. I was hooked. But I was also hooked on HTML and getting the text to slide onto the screen from the side. I was a bit of a nerd. And no, it, unfortunately, does not still exist (I don’t even remember the name…).

Anyway.

The online business realm was completely new to me and I was intrigued. 

I was at a point in my life where I was feeling stuck, lost, and confused as to where I would go and what I would do next.

I knew I was meant to have an abundantly creative life.

I wanted to build and create something extraordinary for myself. 

An online business seemed to be the answer, and it was. 

You can read more about my story here if you want. 

 

 

How I Grew My Blog So Quickly

I was super determined from the very moment I signed up for hosting to make this thing work out for me. 

I was ready to make blogging my full-time gig and I was prepared to do the work needed.

There hasn’t been a day where I have not sat down to work on my blog since I bought my domain. 

I scheduled the time to work on it on my calendar and I’ve followed through every time.

I’ve just continued to take action every single day. 

Taking some kind of action (even if it’s just for 5 minutes) compounds over time. Improving your online business by 1% every day for a year – well you can do the math. 

If you want to know the real secret behind growing my online business so quickly?

The easy answer is…

• I planned ahead
• Showed up
• … and took action. 

 

 

Do you want proof?

You got it.

A snippet from my Google Analytics for the past month (July – August 2019) ????????Super exciting! 

 

 

Busy bee? Pin this article for later. 

 

 

The Courses I Took

Full disclosure – I invested whenever I had the means to do so. 

Money speeds things up, that’s just the way the world works. 

If you have money to spend, I suggest enrolling in a good quality blogging or online business course, so you can learn the bulletproof strategies from the very beginning. That way, you won’t have to repeat any unnecessary mistakes.

 

Tip: Make sure you’re learning from someone who has the results to back it up. For example, if you’re considering buying a “How To Create Your First Digital Product” course, be sure to enroll in a course where the teacher actually has a successful digital product to show for. 

 

Below is a list of the courses that I took to increase my blog traffic tremendously. 

I highly recommend learning from someone who has the results you want in your life.  

The creators of these courses certainly have that. 

 

1. Pinterest Traffic Avalanche

This is my go-to Pinterest marketing course. I even wrote an in-depth review of this course here. 

Pinterest Traffic Avalanche is an affordable course created by full-time bloggers, Lauren McManus and Alex Nerney from Createandgo.

They generate 500.000 views from Pinterest (not counting Google SEO) on a monthly basis so they KNOW what they’re talking about.

Learn more about this course here. 

 

2. Six-Figure Blogger

Six-Figure Blogger is an online course that is also created by Alex and Lauren from Createandgo.

In this course, they teach you the step-by-step process on how to create and sell your first digital product, focusing on e-books and e-courses.

This is the course I took when I was deep in product creation mode with my first digital product, Dream Morning. 

The information is valuable, trustworthy but more importantly, completely actionable. 

I know this course isn’t solely about generating more traffic to your blog, but they do talk about traffic strategies in this course that I found to be super valuable.

Plus, you get to familiarize yourself with the steps you need to take when you’re ready to scale your online business and create your own digital products. 

Do what Alex and Lauren say and you’ll be on your way to a six-figure blogger status. 

Learn more about this course here. 

 

3. Stupid Simple SEO

This is where I am at right now in my business. I’m learning all and everything there is about the jungle that is Google SEO. 

By design, Google SEO has not been my focus in my first year blogging. 

I decided to focus and master Pinterest first, and then move on to SEO. 

Stupid Simple SEO is a course tailored for bloggers looking to up their SEO game. Created by SEO guru, Mike Pearson. 

I’m so excited to see the results this course will give me. I’ve gone through it once and I am going over it again a second time to implement everything.

Learn more about this course here. 

 

 

My Course: Dreamer To Blogger

I recently launched my brand new blogging course, Dreamer To Blogger.

I’ve gathered everything I have learned about online marketing, blogging, and mindset over the years. 

I’m sharing my best tactics and strategies in this course.

And it’s not just your ordinary blogging course.

It’s a blogging course that speaks directly to introverts and dreamers like you and me.

Since starting my blog, I’ve dealt with a huge case of imposter syndrome.

I was so scared to put myself out there for over a year and I had to overcome some serious mindset shifts to get to where I am with my blog today.

Dreamer To Blogger will teach you everything you need to know about blogging, getting your first visitors, making money online and go into depth on mindset and dealing with the fear of putting yourself out there on the World Wide Web.

If you’re an introvert, feeling called to start your own blog, I have a feeling my course would be the perfect fit with for you. 🙂

Trust me. 

If I can do it, so can you.

I am certainly no unicorn. ✨

If you want to learn more about my course Dreamer To Blogger you can hop on over here.

 

 

My Strategies For Getting 200.000 Views A Month

The strategies below have been the main methods that have sparked the growth of blog traffic in the last year. 

Hopefully, you’ll get a few solid takeaways that you can implement in your own business. 

 

Valuable Content > Followers

I focused on creating valuable content rather than being focused on getting fans or followers. 

If your content ain’t amazing, ain’t nobody coming back. (????????You can quote me on this one)

Writing epic and valuable content that my readers actually want to read through from beginning to end has been one of my key strategies all along.

Or, it’s what I hope and aim for at least. 

 

 

One Traffic Source At A Time

I focused on one traffic source at a time.

You can’t do it all at once, and building authority online takes time. 

I started out with Pinterest and implemented everything I learned from Pinterest Traffic Avalanche. 

I paid attention to which pins were getting the most attention, which descriptions, hashtags that had an effect, and which did not. 

Group boards were amazing at the beginning of my Pinterest journey, and I believe joining group boards was what kick-started my traffic. 

However, I got too eager and I ended up joining way too many boards. This resulted in my engagement rate declining.

I changed this up by only joining good quality group boards with less than 100 collaborators and with higher engagement. 

I did everything I could to master the Pinterest platform, and I’ve now hopped onto SEO train and excited to see what kind of effect that will have on my traffic in the future.

Note I’m still pursuing Pinterest, I’m only adding in the new strategies taught in Stupid Simple SEO course.

 

 

Consistency Is Key

I’ve been consistent with publishing a new blog post every week since the very beginning. 

I’ve published one post every Sunday for a whole year, and I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.

There were even times when I posted twice in one week, but I’ve since then decided it’s better to deliver high-quality blog posts that are compatible with Google SEO and keep my readers engaged for longer. 

I want you to stick around, girl. 

 

 

Growing My Email List

I love spoiling my email subscribers. ❤️

They are my people and I make sure to send them a dose of inspiration and motivation every week.  

I’ve grown my email subscribers to over 5000 in a little over a year.

Growing my email list is one of my top priorities in my online business and it drives good amount of traffic to my blog as well.

I highly and warmly recommend ConvertKit as an email service. It’s intuitive to use and their customer service support is off the charts good.

You can try ConvertKit for free here. 

Not on my list yet? You can join here! I’d love to have you onboard in the dreamer community.

 

 

It’s All About The Readers

It’s always been about serving my community, my readers and dreamers.

It’s all for them – that’s why I do what I do. 

Of course, it’s fun to have amazing traffic, but if people don’t come back or like what I post – what’s the point? 

It’s all about my readers. 

 

 

Amazing Things Take Time

Blogging is not a get-rich-quick scheme.

It takes time and persistence. 

I had patience, I continued to show up every day, and was consistent with everything I did in my online business.

I learned fast, but slowly. 

 

 

Showing Up As Me

Before the summer, all you would see on this blog were photos of my back, and my face was nowhere to be found. 

I had some major mindset struggles when it came to putting myself out there, on the world wide web.

I overcame these fears this year and decided to just show up as myself, and hope that my readers would appreciate it, like me and resonate with me. 

And they did.

Since I stepped out of my comfort zone, the girl behind the blog became the girl on the blog and I’m so thankful I took this next step.

My readers are so important to me and I know I personally wouldn’t want to return to a blog where I couldn’t connect with or know anything about the girl behind it.

So, I showed up as me, and since then my traffic has spiked. 

 

 

Strong Pin Design

I have to confess, I am a complete Canva nut. 

I never thought I’d be one to dive into graphic design, but I love creating new pins for my blog posts. 

I am constantly switching up my design to see what works best. 

I sometimes create 5 different pins for one blog post.

Different people resonate (and click) different styled pins.

 

 

I Did My Best To Come Up With Clickable Titles

…without being clickbaity about it. 

I still sometimes struggle to come up with catchy titles for my blog posts, but I try my very best.

It’s super important – you want people clicking on your stuff. 

A great tool for testing the “clickable-ness” (is that even a word?) of your headlines is The Headline Analyzer by Coschedule. 

 

 

Other Tips To Increase Traffic To Your Blog

Here a few other tips for increasing blog traffic, organically. 

• Join Tailwind.
  • Tailwind is an amazing tool if you want to take a deeper dive into your Pinterest analytics, schedule your pins (so that you can pin them in your sleep) and take advantage of their traffic-boosting Tailwind Tribes.
  • Tailwind Tribes can be really effective for beginner bloggers who are just starting out and want to increase blog traffic more quickly. 
• Join high-quality group boards on Pinterest.
  • You can apply to join my group board, Dream Life if you want. 
• Focus on your strategy for Google and Pinterest SEO.
  • Look over your board and pin descriptions and the hashtags you use.
  • What is working and what is not?
• Invest whenever possible.
• Write valuable content with a purpose and that solves a problem your reader has. 
• Increase site speed
  • Check your current speed here.
  • No one likes a slow site 🙂

 

 

Before You Go

I hope you’ve found this article on how I got to over 200,000 monthly page views to my blog in my very first year of blogging helpful and that you’re ready to implement one or two of the strategies into your business.

Before you go, I invite you to join my FREE Start Your Dream Blog challenge for introverts and dreamers. 

It will teach you everything you need to know to get started with blogging.

Join below!