8 Tips to Explode Growth for Your New WordPress Blog

I have been asked a lot in the last few days how I have been able to grow this blog so much over the last 7 weeks since our official public launch on September 1st. We’ve achieved almost 500 Facebook page likes, a rapidly-growing facebook group for bloggers, a mailing list that is growing by 20-30 people on some days, more than 5,000 page views in the last month, and almost 600,000 monthly Pinterest viewers (that means that my content is getting exposed to that many people each month on Pinterest)! I was going to wait until the pilot for our 30 Day Hustler’s WordPress Blog Challenge was over at the end of this month to write this post, but I didn’t want to lose the momentum. So, it’s 1:30 am on a Thursday and here are some of my blog growth tips below.

Note that I didn’t mention some of the “tactics” I have been using to grow traffic specifically, because I will write some other posts to deep-dive into those things (like SEO with the Yoast plugin, Promoted pins, Facebook ads, Facebook group engagement, a complex Tailwind Pro pinning strategy leveraging Tailwind Tribes and Pinterest group boards, and more!) in another post soon.

WordPress Blog Growth Tips to Maximize Your Success

Tip #1: Follow the influencers in your niche

The best resource to learn new strategies for your blog is by studying the blog structure, content quality, content structure, and messaging tactics that high-income bloggers in your niche are using. These bloggers have already struggled to grow and learn best practices like you are right now. Plus, they have already spent the time and money to test the ideas you are thinking about. Why reinvent the wheel? Learn from the best.

Tip #2: Blog consistently

You don’t need to blog daily or even a few times a week to grow your blog and following or monetize. You just need to be consistent. Set a regular timeframe to come up with content ideas, write/edit your posts, and revisit existing evergreen content to refresh it. As long as people know when to expect to hear from you, they will stay engaged.

I keep a daily, weekly, and monthly blogging checklist to ensure that I continue to grow this blog and maintain the technical aspects of it.

Tip #3: Don’t skimp on branding, messaging or blog design/user experience

Imagine you are shopping online for a new dress to attend a special event. You use a shopping engine like Google or ShopStyle to find some options that you like and you click through to a few online stores that you may have never heard of or shopped at. You like the dress enough, but there is nothing memorable about the store name or branding, you can’t easily find any other dresses on their site (because they don’t recommend any other items that you may like at the bottom), and there is nothing special about their messaging. Will you likely return to their store? Will you remember the name of the store later when you need another dress? And if they trigger a pop up to open asking you for your email address, will you give it to them?

Well, this is kind of how your web visitors may feel if you present your blog as something that they should like, engage with and follow, just because you are you. Or just because you gave them a couple of helpful tips. This means that you need to consider what messaging is going to pull people in and get their buy-in. This also means making sure your posts make sense, are readable, and aren’t full of errors.

There is too much content online for you to not put your best foot forward to every visitor to WIN THEIR LOYALTY.

Tip #4: Study your analytics

From Day 1, you should review your stats across all of your web properties and channels — your blog, your email, and your social media, at least. To understand where to focus your efforts daily, you need to know where your current traffic is coming from, what content topics (which part of your niche) and content types (for example video vs text vs audio podcasts, etc) is most engaging for your audience, and what your goals are. Constantly evolve and implement new tactics to grow.

Tip #5: Be a key source of expert information at every stage of the buyer’s journey

To grow a loyal following, you must be a source of information at every stage of the buyer’s journey for your audience. That means: when they are aware they have a problem and are just looking for info; when they are researching what solution they should buy; and when they’ve made a decision and just need to decide where to buy. Be the information resource to them at all stages and they will buy from you.

Tip #6: Grow and cultivate your email list

The most valuable asset in your blogging business will be your email list. These are the people that will be your loyal followers, buyers, and supporters. Treat them (and their email addresses) like gold. Don’t send them the information they don’t need or that isn’t relevant to them. Give them information that no one gets — don’t just send them your latest posts. Continue to be a source of expert information (and whenever possible, be the first source of information in your niche), so that they know they are getting valuable exclusive content and should continue to follow you. Don’t give them a reason to go, give them a ton of reasons to stay!

Tip #7: It takes money to make money

I know for some new bloggers, they don’t have any other income. But, if this is going to be a business, you have to invest in it to grow. Nothing will happen if you don’t believe in your success enough to put your money where your mouth (and keyboard) is. And on top of that, if you don’t believe in your success enough to invest, why should your readers invest in you? Spend money on the tools and resources you need to grow. That doesn’t mean spend a ton of money out of the door, but save and budget some funds on courses and tools regularly. Ask experts what money they happily spend each month/year on their business and follow suit.

Tip #8: Make use of your blog structure/areas

Pay attention to all of the spaces on your website where your audience spends time and where their eyes wander. Always remember the ONE THING you want people to do most on your website and make that stand out! Be strategic in the content that you place in these areas, such as:

• Your area “above the fold” — this is the part of your home page and other pages that people see without scrolling (this is the prime real estate on your website).
• The sidebar — this is the area that most people will glance at before they start reading your content. Use this area to share key information you want them to see no matter where they came from.
• The footer — readers will often look here to see if there is any fine print that they should be aware of or any information that they didn’t see (some people may not look at this at all).
• The slider or hero banner — this is where your key call to action can be.
• Throughout your blog post — here is where you can upgrade people to take action related to the content that you know that they are interested in.

So those are my best blog growth tips at this stage in the game.

Thanks for reading and sharing,

P.S. Pop some comments or questions below for any specifics you want me to cover in another post.