How I grew my blog to 10,000 page views a month within 6 months of launching

When I first started blogging, I had no idea how to get people to read my blog. I knew that I needed to find a way to generate blog traffic, but I didn’t know where to start.

I launched my first blog – my travel blog – in early 2020. At first, I didn’t get much traction. I remember checking my traffic stats obsessively, and for the first few months, I barely had any views.

I was starting to get discouraged.

But I could see that other bloggers were getting a lot of blog traffic, and I was determined to figure out how they were doing it.

I did some research and discovered that there are certain things you can do to increase your chances of ranking high in Google search results.

So I made it my mission to learn how to gain more blog traffic and a few months later, I realised that people were actually reading my posts. And not only that, but they were coming back for more! 

At that time, the majority of my traffic was coming from social media. But I wanted to find a way to get more organic traffic from Google.

I discovered some simple tips and tricks that helped me to start ranking in Google search results. And as I went on, I ended up ranking higher… even on the first page of Google!

Roll on the middle of 2021 and I started my second blog. As I had learned from my previous blog, I implemented the same techniques and I quickly started to see results.

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As a result, I started getting more page views from Google alone. And within 6 months of launching my blog, I was getting 10,000 pageviews a month! For any new blogger out there reading this – that’s pretty decent traffic for a young blog!

Fast-forward to today, the blog in question has almost 25,000 page views a month – that’s less than a year after launching! 

If you’re looking to get more Google traffic to your blog or website, then keep reading. Here are the simple tips and tricks that helped me.

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How I grew my blog to 10000 page views

Choose a low competition blogging niche

After starting my blogging journey with a way too broad topic travel blog, I decided to switch my focus to a more specific niche: chronic illness travel.

A low competitive niche is a topic that not many people are blogging about. This means that there’s less competition for you in terms of search results. For example, with my first travel blog, I was competing with millions of other travel bloggers out there. But when I narrowed down to this niche, I made sure that it was something I was passionate about and that there were not too many blogs out there writing about it.

Read also: 101 Profitable Micro Niche Blog Ideas for 2022

How to choose the perfect niche

• First and foremost, while this may be an unpopular opinion, I believe you should have some passion about what you’re writing about. There is nothing worse than writing about something you have no interest in. That makes it hard work!
• Once you’ve got a general idea, it’s time to get specific. What angle can you take on your topic that will make your blog unique?
• Do some research on Google trends to see if there is interest in the topic you want to write about.
• Check out other blogs in your niche to see if there is room for another one.
• Use Keysearch to see if people are searching for the topics you want to write about.

Some popular and profitable niches include:

• Parenting
• Fashion
• Beauty
• Health and fitness
• Food
• DIY/home improvement
• Lifestyle
• Travel
• Personal finance

But how can you make your niche even more specific and unique?

• Parenting for single moms
• Fashion for curvy women
• Health and fitness for busy moms
• Food allergies
• DIY/home improvement on a budget
• Lifestyle for 20-somethings

You get the idea!

Post often with high quality articles

You may have heard that consistency is key. But what does that mean exactly?

Does it mean that you have to post on a Tuesday and Friday at 4pm every single week? Can you believe, I thought this was what I needed to do when I first started blogging?

Consistency means posting often – a few times a week if it’s possible for you – rather than posting a few articles and then nothing for weeks.

By posting often, you’re telling Google that your blog is active and updated regularly. This helps Google to index your content more frequently, which can lead to higher rankings in search results.

Now, this may seem like a no-brainer, but it’s also important to remember that Google is all about quality content.

When I first started blogging, I thought that as long as my posts were around 600 words, they would be good enough. My first post was not good at all! And after some time, I realised that most of my articles weren’t SEO optimised or even quality content.

So, while posting often is important, it’s also important to make sure your content is high quality. Aim for 1,500 – 2,000 words per blog post and make sure you’re including images, infographics and videos. You should concentrate on writing a really helpful post for your target audience.

Produce evergreen content

Evergreen content is the type of content that will remain relevant and useful long after it was first published. 

One great way to create evergreen content is to write about topics that are timeless and always in demand.

For example, if you’re a fashion blogger, you could create content about classic style tips that never go out of style. Or if you’re a food blogger, you could write about basic cooking techniques that can be used to make any dish.

If all your content is about the current fashion trends, you’ll need to keep updating the content or writing new articles to keep up with the current trends.

By creating content that has staying power, you’ll be able to attract new readers and keep them coming back for more. 

Treat your blog like a business

One of the biggest reasons I was able to grow my blog to 10000 page views a month is because I started to treat it like an actual business.

Reaching 10k pageviews is a pretty lofty goal but it’s definitely achievable, especially if you’re willing to treat your blog like a business.

That means setting some goals and putting together a plan to achieve them. It also means being professional in everything you do, from the way you write your blog posts to the way you interact with your readers. And it means making sure that your blog is always improving, so that it can attract more readers and generate more money.

I admit, I didn’t do this at first. The only thing I invested in when I started my first blog was self-hosting with Greengeeks and this turned out to be one of the best things I did for my blog.

But after a while, I started to see my blog as a business and began investing more time and money into it.

If you intend your blog to turn into a business and make you money, it’s imperative to invest in it. Invest time, money and resources into making your blog the best it can be.

Time

I would get up a couple of hours before work to get some writing done, as well as continuing after work. I would also spend most of my weekend working on my blog if I didn’t have anything else going on. Yes, I had to sacrifice some outings, but as with any business, blogging takes time to grow.

Money

I also began investing money into my blog, from paying for self hosing to taking online courses on blogging and social media marketing. Some of the best courses I’ve taken are:

• Stupid Simple SEO (check out the free masterclass first!)
• Affiliate Marketing Superstars (Leanne is my go to for all things affiliate marketing)
• Pinterest with El (Pinterest isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but it helps drive traffic to your site before you can start getting organic traffic)

I also invested in some tools, like an email list service and unique stock photos, which helped me to save time and grow my blog even further.

Resources

There are a lot of fantastic resources available for free on the internet, but there are also some that you have to pay for. I began to take advantage of both, from reading free eBooks on blogging to signing up for online courses.

When I started to invest more time, money and resources into my blog, I saw a significant increase in traffic and page views.

Learn SEO

One of the most important things I did to grow my blog was learn SEO.

If you’re not familiar with SEO, it stands for Search Engine Optimisation and it’s basically a way to make your website or blog more visible in search engine results pages.

The better your SEO, the higher you’ll rank in search engines and the more traffic you’ll get to your site.

There are a lot of different aspects to SEO but there are some simple things you can do to improve your SEO:

Use long tail keywords

A long tail keyword is a specific and targeted keyword phrase that is less competitive than a shorter, more general keyword.

For example, “men’s fashion” is a pretty general keyword with a lot of competition. But “men’s summer fashion trends” is a long tail keyword that is more specific and has less competition.

You can use long tail keywords in your blog posts to target specific searches.

Use keyword research tools

There are a lot of different keyword research tools available, both free and paid. I like to use Keysearch, which is one of the cheapest paid keyword research tools I’ve found with the most features. I also love Semrush but it’s a bit more expensive.

For a free tool, you can use Google Keyword Planner.

All of these keyword research tools allow you to find long tail keywords that you can use in your blog posts.

To find long tail keywords, simply enter a general keyword into the tool and it will give you a list of related keywords. You can then choose the ones that are most relevant to your blog post and use them in your content.

When carrying out keyword research, you must make sure that the user intent behind the keyword matches your content.

For example, if someone is searching for “men’s summer fashion trends” they are probably looking for a blog post about what the latest trends are. If your blog post is about how to style men’s summer fashion trends, you’re not going to rank as well for that keyword because your content doesn’t match the user intent.

Optimize your entire website for SEO

There are a few simple things you can do to optimize your website for SEO.

First, make sure your website is fast and responsive. Google favors websites that load quickly and are mobile-friendly. You can use tools like Google Page Speed Insights to check the speed of your website and get suggestions on how to improve it.

Second, make sure your website is secure. Google prefers websites that are https:// (secure) over those that are http:// (not secure). You can buy an SSL certificate from your web hosting company or a service like Cloudflare.

Third, make sure your website is well-designed and easy to use. Google also favors websites that are well-designed and easy to navigate. If your website is hard to use or doesn’t look good, people will be less likely to stay on it and Google will be less likely to rank it highly.

On-page SEO

On-page SEO is the process of optimising your website or blog for search engines. There are a lot of different factors that go into on-page SEO but there are some simple things you can do to improve your on-page SEO and start ranking higher in Google.

Use keyword-rich titles and meta descriptions – One of the most important things you can do for on-page SEO is to use keyword-rich titles and meta descriptions. Your title should be catchy and interesting but it should also include your target keyword. Your meta description should be a brief summary of your post which includes your target keyword.

Use internal links – Internal links are links from one page on your website to another page on your website. They help search engines crawl your website and they help improve your SEO. Use internal links in your blog posts to link to other relevant posts on your website. This will help Google understand what your website is about.

Use external links – External links are links from one website to another website. They help improve your SEO by showing Google that your website is credible and authoritative.

Use alt tags – An alt tag is a piece of code that describes an image. It’s important to use alt tags on your images because Google can’t read images. The alt tag allows Google to understand what the image is and how it relates to the rest of your content.

Off-page SEO

Off-page SEO is the process of optimising your website for things that are not on your website. The most important thing you can do for off-page SEO is to get quality backlinks. These are links from other websites to your website. Getting backlinks from high-quality websites helps improve your SEO because it shows Google that your website is credible and authoritative.

There are a few ways to get high-quality backlinks

One way is to guest post on other blogs. This involves writing a blog post for another blog in exchange for a link back to your website. Guest posts are a great way of getting your name out there and building your credibility as an expert in your field.

Another way is to create informative and shareable content on your website. This could be in the form of an infographic, a blog post or even just a simple image. If people find your content valuable and share it on their own website, you’ll get a backlink.

You can also reach out to other websites in your industry and ask for a link. This is called link building. The key to success with link building is to create relationships with other website owners and bloggers. Don’t just ask for a link, offer something in return (not payment – Google says it doesn’t like to see people paying for backlinks).

All of these things – website speed, security, design, on-page SEO, off-page SEO – are important factors in ranking higher. If you focus on these things, you’ll see a significant improvement in your website’s traffic.

Review Google Analytics and Google Search Console

It’s important to track your progress and see how your website is performing. Google Analytics and Google Search Console are two free tools that you can use to do this.

Google Analytics will show you how much traffic your website is getting, where it’s coming from and what people are doing on your website. This information is important because it allows you to see what’s working and what’s not.

Google Search Console will show you how your website is performing in Google search results. It will show you which keywords you’re ranking for and how many people are clicking on your website. This information is important because it allows you to see which keywords are working and which ones aren’t.

Both of these tools are free and they’re essential for any website owner who wants to grow their blog to 10000 page views or more.

Don’t rely on social media

Finally, don’t rely on social media for all of your traffic. Social media is a great way to promote your content and reach new people, but it should not be the only way.

Sure, Facebook groups and Pinterest group boards are great for getting your content in front of new people. But if you want to grow your blog to 10000 page views per month, or more, you need to focus on more than social media.

The reason you shouldn’t rely on social media is because you don’t own your account. If Facebook decides to change its algorithm, or if Twitter decides to ban you, you could lose all of your traffic overnight.

The best way to grow your blog is to focus on SEO and building a strong foundation for your website. If you do this, you’ll be able to weather any storm that social media might throw your way.

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Conclusion: How I grew my blog to 10,000 page views a month

Growing your blog to 10,000 page views a month is not an overnight process. It takes time, effort and dedication. But if you focus on the right things – all listed out above – it is possible to achieve this goal within 6 months.

Looking to start a blog but not sure where to start? Check out my free email course which will walk you through the process of setting up your blog step-by-step (the right way!).

If you want to grow your blog even more, check out some of these posts:

• 25 Irresistible Opt In Freebies to Grow Your Mailing List
• Write for a Digital Nomad Blog: How to Stand Out From The Competition
• Amateur Blogging: 13 Mistakes Amateur Bloggers Make (and how to fix them)
• Blog Launch Checklist: What To Do Before Launching A Blog
• How to Promote Your Blog For Free: 13 Easy Ways to Increase Traffic

How is your blog traffic? Do you struggle to gain organic traffic to your site? Let me know in the comments below!