Hello and welcome to my August update. Note – this post is focussed on my progress as a blogger – if you are here for the crochet please visit the craft projects section of my blog!
It feels like I have been able to make some real progress this month as I was on holiday from my full time day job for a week or so. I will include my stats for August compared to July at the bottom of the post. But the key headline is that traffic to my site has more than tripled in the month. Here is how I did it:
Actions taken to drive blog traffic
Write new, relevant content – One post I wrote early in the month grabbed the attention out there on Pinterest and I had two or three very exciting days where traffic to my site increased. This also had a lasting impact as I acquired new followers on Pinterest. As I had more time available this month I was able to write a new free pattern which again drove additional traffic to my site. There are lots of actions you can take to drive traffic but having solid content makes it all so much easier.
I used the power of Pinterest – I use Tailwind to manage this for me but also pin manually from my daily commute. I am an affiliate for Tailwind so if you click on links on my blog to explore Tailwind that could generate a small payment to me at no additional cost to you. However, that is not why I am recommending this tool. Tailwind is a great way to maintain regular pinning, especially if, like me, you work full time and have to cram all your blogging into the weekends and evenings. The reason I recommend it is simple. I could not do without it.
I started with the free version but I now pay for a higher level of membership. I am a member of five active tribes within Tailwind. These are groups of people who are pinning in the same interest groups. I post every new pin I write to the relevant tribe which then means that other tribe members see it and if I am lucky they add it to their scheduled pins. Some of the members of the tribe have many more followers than I do so if I am lucky and one of my pins is selected by a tribe member with a big following it can really help!
Every Sunday I get my Tailwind schedule loaded up with my own pins and pins from other members of the tribes I belong to. I can schedule pins for a couple of weeks or more but generally only set up one week at a time. My Pinterest following is growing steadily. This drives much of the traffic to my blog, and I am sure that this is in no small part down to Tailwind.
I Got started on Instagram – (with the assistance of my children!). August was my first month on Instagram. I found it really easy to find like minded people on this platform. I also found it much easier to share work in progress quickly. The format is based more heavily on images and there is no click through option so you only need a photo of your work and a few lines of text.
You need to set up a business account which gives you access to insights and stats on how your posts are doing. This also enables you to include a link to your blog on your profile page. You get information on how many profile visits you have had in the last seven days. Those are important because those visits have been to the page that has your blog link and could have driven traffic.
You get an immediate response when you put new material up which is lovely and you can ask for views/opinions which can be helpful. I haven’t explored the ‘story’ side of Instagram yet. It is on my do list because I understand you can set up links to your blog from your story. I can see my blog traffic increase when I gain new followers and put up new content.
Invested more time in Facebook – I had a Facebook account but hadn’t really had chance to use it. This month I started to get involved in blogger support groups. If you search for groups in your niche to join on Facebook they will all have their own set of rules you need to follow. Find groups that fit your needs that have rules you can buy into and put in an application. It really is worth while spending time on this. There is so much support and help out there and you will find you can help others too which keeps it all going. I started working on Facebook late in the month so didn’t see much impact as of yet. I plan to spend a lot more time on Facebook in September.
So that has been my month! Here is the impact.
Blog Progress Report – August 18
- Pinterest followers – 770 (up 67 this month
- Instagram followers – 313 (up 313 this month!)
- AdSense clicks – 11 (up 5 this month)
- AdSense income to date – £1.59 (down £0.23 this month after one really well paid click in July!)
- Amazon affiliate income – 0
- Shareasale income – 0 (Tailwind affiliate links)
- Subscribers – 14 (an increase of 11 :-))
- Etsy listings – 10
- Etsy sales – 0
- Page views – 2,178 (up 1,588 this month!)
I am delighted with progress but worried that it has been a blip that will be hard to maintain…. tune in next month to find out. Happy blogging!
Annie 🙂
Darcey says
Congratulations on increasing your traffic. That is something I struggle with. Do you ever get anything from your Amazon affiliate links. That is something I’m struggling with. I’ve done so many links and I’d hate for them to close my account just to try again later and have to redo all those links. Good luck with building your blog following.
Annie says
Hi Darcey, no not so far. Nothing at all from Amazon. I don’t know whether that is just me or whether everyone struggles. I do try to leave it on a search that I would like or that I think my readers might like. I haven’t tried reviewing and recommending the products I use yet.
Emma says
Always interesting to read about progress on blogs!