30 Day Blogging Challenge
In August 2019, I did a 30 day blogging challenge with the goal of generating blog traffic of 1000 unique visitors……from a blog that normally did 30 to 50 visitors a month. Read about my challenge, my learnings and my results in the blog posts below.
1.) I launched by 30 Blog Challenge and state the goal…….GENERATE BLOG TRAFFIC. I had a few other thoughts and goals as well. Read about it here
2.) One of my first issues, being the vain guy that I am, was how to get pretty pictures. How can you generate amazing blog traffic without pretty pictures? Right? I did a little research and getting quality pictures for free or low cost really isn’t that difficult. Read about it here
3.) Ok, they aren’t all gems. I had a very quick post of random thoughts and updates. I first start to realize that this isn’t going to be the snap I naively thought it would be as traffic seems to be avoiding my blog. Don’t read about it here
4.) I talk about my efforts at getting mentioned in the media (very loosely defined). I think success here depends on the subject matter of your blog. You aren’t going to have a lot of opportunities to get mentioned in the press if your blog is only about Napoleon’s choice of shoes. On the other hand, there are a lot of opportunities to get your blog noticed if you talking about fashion, food and relationships (the three “F”s of entertainment). Who knows? Even with the low probability, just one mention could be the breakout moment for driving traffic to your blog. Read about my efforts here
5.) Everything I’m reading suggests that SEO is best, easiest and longest lasting way to generate blog traffic. I’ve picked up a few simple tricks any blogger can do. Pick up a few tricks of your own here
6.) Everyone thinks that SEM, aka Search Engine Marketing, aka advertising, aka Google Adwords is going to drive so much blog traffic that is might break the internet and just happen to give you your first million dollar month. I’ve only explored Adwords. I’ve found it easy to set up and execute but be prepared to wait. Read about me setting up my first ad here
7.) Search Engine Marketing (SEM) apparently can take a little longer to get launched than advertised. Once you place the ad, walk away and leave your phone behind. Blog traffic will come…….just not in the first 60 minutes or so. Read about my impatience here
8.) After only a weekend of Adwords, I don’t think I’m an expert, but I’ve picked up a few good tips for the novice on how to use SEM to grow your traffic. Read about my first three tips here
9.) Does it matter when you post, as in day of week and/or time of day? Does it matter when you share on your social media platforms? Yes and Yes. There are peak times of engagement and it varies depending on the platform and on your subject matter. Pick up a few of my learnings here
10.) I suffer from a geographic bias. I don’t necessarily think that everyone who reads my blog is going to be just like me but I tend to forget about the rest of the world. Looking at my blog traffic stats though, I was reminded to consider people far beyond my native North America. Read about my new friends in Ghana here
11.) My blog isn’t about making money but a lot of bloggers are only thinking about driving blogging traffic so that they can generate some blogging income. I figured that the challenge would not be complete without some effort to generate some income. I was successful but it may take a few more months before my blogging income can buy a stamp.
12.) Search Engine Marketing SEM really started growing my blog traffic. My Ghanaian visitors taught me to look at the rest of the world, so I opened up my Adwords region to include India (and several other wonderful places)…….AND OH BOY DID IT WORK. Indian visitors outpaced all other regions combined. Adwords spend on a click from India is also significantly less expensive than clicks in North America. If your blog is not geographically based or biased, definitely consider blog readers world wide. Read about my success in India here
13.) Only one day left and I learned so much. I tried to capture a lot of my learning here as well as make one more final desperate plea for a couple hundred more visitors.
14.) The 30 Day Blog Challenge is over. I generated a lot of traffic…..I drove my average blogging traffic up by more than a factor of 20. The Google spiders also seemed to have reevaluated my blog. There is definitely something to this challenge. While I’m going to back off a bit from the challenge, I am definitely going to continue and think I can grow my blog traffic by another factor of 20 by the end of the year. See my 30 day update here and I’ll post additional updates occasionally to see if I’m able to maintain and growth this high level of traffic.
Follow My Blog
Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.
Marketing Bites 