I’m so mad right now.
It’s hard to look beyond now when it comes to growing your blog. You try different strategies and you have to wait it out to see if it actually works or doesn’t.
I just peeked at my Google Analtyics and it ain’t pretty. And I know the exact reason why.
I’m doing less.
I’m posting less.
Pinning less.
Promoting less.
Ouch.
Writing that hurts.
My blog isn’t considered “new” anymore and now I’m schlepped off with the rest of the thousands of other blogs trying to get your attention.
And I’m mad at myself.
Yes, I’m a mom to twins that are three and a half and just want to play and go do an activity every day. Yes, I’m also a freelance writer and I’ve gotten 50% more work this month than the entire summer.
And yes, I lost my mo-jo and I’m having a hard time getting the motivation to actually write. But the funny thing is, I LOVE blogging. I LOVE writing on Twins Mommy and I LOVE connecting with my audience.
When I told my husband my stats, he told me,
It will grow. This time next year you’ll be sitting pretty.
Yes. He made me see the big picture of why I’m blogging in the first place.
Before you get into the nitty gritty of this post, if you’re reading this and don’t have a blog, but want to start one, I have an easy step-by-step tutorial on how to start a blog using SiteGround!
Thinking Day By Day Instead of Phase By Phase
I still get caught up in thinking about my blog day by day. Every day I’m focusing on content creation, newsletters, promoting, marketing, and the thousand other things I do for Twins Mommy.
Do you do that also?
For a lot of us it’s all about the numbers. And it makes sense. You need more traffic and more subscribers if you want to monetize your blog.
You need comments and shares to grow a loyal following. So, it’s no wonder that many of us start thinking about our blog’s status on a day to day basis.
Instead, we should be focusing on our blog as phases.
The first phase is growth. This is where all the planning and organization is set.
The second phase is monetization. This is where the marketing and funnels come into play.
The third phase is continuing both phases. This is where you strengthen your process.
Right now I’m still in phase one mostly, but I’m dipping my toe in phase two. Maybe I’m going at it a bit too fast?
It Takes Time to Grow Your Blog
Melyssa Griffin didn’t start making six figures a month from her blog three years ago. Pinch of Yum didn’t become the powerhouse food blog that is today when it first started.
So, why would you think your blog has to explode in four months – or, six months for me? It takes time to really grow your blog.
Don’t count on getting a pin to be viral or having one of your posts picked up by an influencer. If you’re ready to hunker down and grow your blog so that you’re sitting pretty this time next year, find out what I plan on doing.
1. Create Engaging Posts
One thing that comes easy for me is creating blog posts that are engaging. They have a lot of comments and shares. But, an engaging post is more than just writing a super long post that’s for your target audience.
You have to format your post correctly.
This means creating a lot of white space when you write. For some thing, reading online is not like reading the newspaper or your Game of Thrones book.
Your blog post needs to make it easy for your readers to actually read your post and not skim it (even though most of us do). To curb that, you can:
- Use subheadings – besides breaking up your post and making it easy for your readers to know what they are reading, it helps with SEO.
- Bold words and phrases – this helps keep your readers focused on the important things in your post.
- Use bullet and numbered lists – break your content with lists. It just makes it flow better.
- Use images – again, to break up your post and make it easier to read.
- Keep your paragraphs short – like one sentence short.
To make your blog post stand out and more engaging, start taking more time to find the perfect headline and hook for your post.
Your headline is suppose to make a user stop, become interested and click. Your hook is what will get a user to read the next sentence. And so on and so on.
What’s great about having your own blog is that you can practice all of this on your blog. It doesn’t matter how “bad” your posts are in the beginning; it just matters that you write consistently and learn the skills to write effectively.
For me, I started with creating two blog posts a week.
I decided to stop that around summer time, but because of my stats, I know this is hurting my blog. But, I don’t have time to write two GREAT blog posts.
I’d rather put out good stuff once a week then mediocre twice a week.
So, for now, if I can post twice a week I will. If not, I’ll stick to once a week.
2. Blog Comment
Sigh.
I’m so bad at this.
I LOVE visiting other blogs and reading their posts.
I have a list of 27 blogs I want to comment every week, but it just never seems to work out.
I have a lot of good intentions, but it takes dedicated time to read each blog post and give an insightful comment (not just a, hey, great post! I’m sharing it now, type of comment).
But, in order to really grow my blog I have to be invested in outreach and blog commenting is a form of outreach.
The more I comment on these blogs, the more traffic I’ll bring back to my blog and the bigger my following will be. It’s just a fact.
So, hopefully I can keep myself accountable and at least comment on 5 blogs a week.
3. Continue to Make Content Upgrades
Okay.
I haven’t made a content upgrade since July.
I’m relying on my lead magnet to grow my list. And even though it is helping me, I could do better. My stretch goal for this blog is to generate 10k subscribers in my first year.
So, far I’m not even close. I’m 8091 shy.
But, that’s just a stretch goal. I’m still growing my list, and content upgrades are by far the best strategy to grow your email list.
Why?
Because they are targeted.
A visitor reads a post on how how you’re growing your blog and there’s a freebie to grab a checklist to grow your blog. They are more likely to grab that freebie after reading a post about it.
But, my excuse is I have no time at the moment. I’m glad I have a lead magnet that’s high converting, however. My goal is to still create content upgrades and show my readers how to make it with MailChimp (crossing my fingers I get it done).
Is There Any Way to Speed This Up?
If I don’t have time to do all this to grow my blog, is there a way to speed this up? Probably, but it’s unlikely it’ll happen. You could get a backlink on a high authority website.
Or, a pin goes viral and suddenly you have 50,000 pageviews (and last month it barely reached 4,000 pageviews).
I’m sure there are other faster ways to generate more traffic to your blog, but those two are pretty fast in my opinion. For the rest of us mom bloggers, we must keep our head down and blog away!
Because in a year, we’ll be sittin’ pretty. And who doesn’t like to get all dolled up? 
Over to you – how do you keep up with blogging on your mom blog?