Whether you just started your blog or you’ve been plugging away for years, there are always thing you can do to improve your blog.
If you’ve been stuck in a blogging rut and feel like you’re doing the same things day after day, this post is for you. Here are 10 things you can do right now to improve your blog.
Update Your “About” Page
Change your domain on your about page to www.yourwebsite.com/yourcity-blogger. Most about pages default to www.yourwebsite.com/about, but by adding in your city and the word “blogger,” you will rank better in Google. Brands (and individuals!) will often search “Atlanta bloggers, “Nashville bloggers,” etc, so this is an easy way to rank better for that term!
While you’re on that page, read through it and see what you can add or change. My about page gives readers an introduction about me and why I started my blog. It clearly states my blog’s purpose and I link to popular posts on my blog.
Most new readers – if they like what they’ve read – will head to your about page sooner than later. Make it good!
Figure Out Your “Why”
How are you serving your audience? Oftentimes, bloggers start a blog and figure that will just write about their day-to-day life, whether that’s their career, their family, their travels, etc. However, unless you get a ton of traffic, it’s really hard to make money this way. You have to ask yourself how you will SERVE your readers.
“How to” articles are a great place to start. If you’re a mommy blogger, for example, don’t write an article on how YOU potty trained your two-year-old, but instead change it to “Potty Train Your Toddler in Three Easy Steps,” or something similar.
Over time, you will discover more and more what your audience wants from you. In the mean time, keep your “why” in the back of your mind when writing posts.
Install the Yoast SEO Plugin
The Yoast SEO plugin makes it extremely easy to optimize your posts for SEO. Go to “Plugins” on your WordPress dashboard and select “Add new.” Then, search Yoast SEO and click Install.
Once installed, you’ll notice at the bottom of ever post (in WordPress) is a “Yoast SEO” box. Here, you can input your keyword and the plugin will let you know how well that post is optimized for that specific keyword. Not only that, but it will also give you suggestions to improve your SEO.
Oh, and this plugin is completely free!!
Grow Your Email List
Your email list is worth $1-$2 per subscriber per month, if done right. If you have 10,000 email subscribers, you should expect to make $10,000-$20,000 per month just from your email list! This alone shows how important it is to have a dedicated group of readers and followers.
Here are three ways to grow your email list now >>
I just increased my email list by 1,000 subscribers by running a Facebook Ad to this landing page. I use MailerLite for my email services and create all of my landing pages through them. MailerLite is a great email service and they are free up to 1,000 subscribers.
You can sign up for MailerLite here!
Learn Pinterest
A huge amount of my traffic comes from Pinterest. The algorithm is constantly changing, but a few things will always remain the same:
- Images need to be clear, colorful and have a clickable title (these templates are proven to be high-converting)
- You should join as many group boards as possible. Sign up below for 25 group boards accepting contributors:
- You need to pin daily and often
I recommend the pin-scheduling tool Tailwind to save you gobs of time. I load up my queue twice a month and it takes about 15 minutes each time.
If you’re struggling with getting traffic from Pinterest, you need to check out Pinterest Presence. This is by far the best course on the market for learning Pinterest. If you want more pageviews, applying the strategies in Pinterest Presence will get you them!
Update Old Posts
Head over to Google Analytics and take a look at your top 10 blog posts. One by one, go through and update them. You can:
- Add in affiliate links
- Lengthen the copy
- Create a new image for the post
- Create a freebie for that post to get newsletter subscribers, and more.
Then, re-promote that post. I recommend updating one old post per week!
Be Genuine and Relatable
Yes, you need to be serving your audience. But, are you doing so in a genuine and relatable way? I get it that everyone wants to make money blogging, and trust me when I say this – we all can!! There are so many ways to make money blogging and if you stick with it, you will start to see some results. However, helping your readers is ultimately the most important aspect of blogging.
Respond to comments, answer your emails and messages, interact with readers on Facebook and Twitter.
Invest in a Blogging Course
I’ve purchased quite a few blogging courses over the years, and I can definitely say all of them were worth the money. I always always learn a few new strategies at the very least, and I’m more motivated than ever to get my blog in gear since I just spent money on it, ha.
My very favorite blogging courses are:
Now, please keep in mind you by no means have to purchase blogging courses in order to be successful. They can, however, speed up your progress or save you tons of time spent Googling things. A lot of courses these days also have private Facebook groups which are priceless. Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing has an incredible FB group that I’m so happy to be a part of! It’s really fun to connect with like-minded people daily!
Create a Freebie
Does your blog have a freebie to get newsletter subscribers? If not, you need to start brainstorming a general freebie that you can promote on a good amount of blog posts. Then, start creating new freebies for your posts that get high traffic.
For example – I have two “main” freebies – How to Start a Profitable Blog and The Complete Guide to Side Hustles for Moms. Both of these can be found throughout many of my blog posts.
However, I have a few posts that do well where those freebies wouldn’t quite fit. So, I created new ones! Check out this post and this one to see what those freebies are.
Run an Ad
My traffic went from 30,000 views a month to 100,000+! Want to know my secret?! I ran a few Facebook Ads! Now, I spent a good chunk of money to get that traffic so I will be slowing down this month, but an ad is a great way to get new eyes onto your site!
I recommend starting with $5-$10 a day. For your campaign, select “Traffic” and then go from there. Let the ad run for 2-3 days. If you’re spending less than $0.50 per click, I’d keep letting the ad run. If you’re spending more than that, consider stopping the ad, changing the copy, changing the image, or changing your desired audience. There is SO. MUCH. testing involved when it comes to Facebook ads, but you’ve got to be willing to try it if you want to see results.
I talk a ton about my successes and failures with Facebook ads in my newsletter. Make sure to subscribe here if you want to stay in the loop!
What tips do you have to immediately improve your blog? Share in the comments below!
Interesting idea on changing the domain on your about page. Since I’m brand new to self-hosted blogging, these tips are all very helpful. And I love yoast! (Autocorrect wanted to change that to “I love toast” which wouldn’t be untrue.)
Sarah – these are fantastic tips! I’m currently working on updating some old posts. But I definitely could spend some more time on my e-mail list. Per your suggestion, I’m also going to try out an Ad or two. I haven’t done that yet. I also love Yoast! It’s been a blogging SEO dream. 🙂 Thanks for the post and tips!