Last February, I took the plunge to self-host my blog, which meant I had to start from scratch –Β be it traffic, PA, DA, Alexa rank etc. After 8 years and 800K views (a lot of which came from organic traffic), I felt a little bit disheartened to start from 0. But then, a few days back my blog hit 20,000 views. My current DA is 27 and PA 38. The rise is slow, but I am getting there.
As I moved to a new domain just before April last year, I leveraged A to Z April ChallengeΒ (a blog hop challenge where you write on every day except Sundays in the month of April) to build my links and gain traffic. And let me tell you, it was a brilliant idea. It helped me gain my Alexa rank back and also my new domain was linked by several bloggers on their blog posts. But the best part of participating in any blog hop challenge is the opportunity to read amazing blogposts and connect with different bloggers.
Β ShalzmojoΒ has already done an excellent job at explaining April A to Z Challenge and presented wonderful tips to nail it like a pro.Β There are a few more things I would like to share.
Social media sharing buttons
Make sure that all the buttons like Twitter, Pinterest, Google plus are visible and easily accessible to the reader. Please do not forget to configure the twitter button with your twitter handle. I feel very disappointed when I am not able to share a well-written post with the author’s twitter handle.
You can use Shareaholic to configure all your social media buttons. It also provides the total number of shares and analytics on different platforms.
Create ‘Tall Pins’ for Pinterest
Pinterest is slowing becoming my biggest source of traffic. I didn’t realize its potential until September last year. But trust me, Pinterest can drive a lot of traffic to your blogposts.
Make sure you include at least one Pinterest friendly image so that it can be shared in different groups or boards on Pinterest.
My Pinterest stats are steadily on the rise. I started with less than a thousand monthly views on Pinterest in September 2017, but as of today, it has increased to 500,000. This, in turn, brings regular traffic to my blog.
Canva is my go-to site to create all sorts of Pinterest images, including the one on this post. You can either use your own images or download free stock pictures from sites like pixabayΒ Checkout Shailaja’s guide for beginners.
Commenting
Blogging isn’t just about publishing pretty pictures or writing posts, it is about creating and being a part of the community too. I value engagement even more than traffic. I love it when people leave comments, share their own stories or tips and tricks that worked for them, even their own blog links. And in turn, I love reading different blogposts and sometimes even leave long comments that itself can turn into a mini blogpost.Β
Commenting is a great way to build a community. Especially in blog hops which are built on the idea to visit as many blogs as possible and interact with the blogger.
a) Remember the two Golden rules: Leave meaningful comments and Don’t be rude (even if you do not agree with the writer)
b) If you are participating in A to Z Challenge, it is acceptable to leave your blog link as a part of your comments, as it makes it easier for the blogger to visit your blog.
I always keep the below format handy to be added to my comment.
Visiting from A to Z
<a href=”blog link”>Name of the blog or blog post</a>
c) I would also suggest to turn off CAPTCHA or other validations for the month of April. As most participants will be busy visiting numerous blogs, it is better to make the commenting process easy and uninterrupted.
You can find all my April A to Z Challenge Posts here:
A to Z Challenge 2014 – 2017
One of the posts is about how all my life I have been attacked by Ducks and Geese
I hope you found theseΒ blogging tips to gain traffic helpful. Do let me know if you have done this challenge before and how you deal with the massive amount of reading. π
This post has been written forΒ #WisdomWednesdayΒ withΒ ShalzmojoΒ &Β SlimExpectationsΒ
Love your succinct tips but alas I still donβt get it . What is DA and PA ? How does one really promote posts on Pinterest?
I am giving the A to Z a miss this year as I am trying to wrap my head around nailing my blog perfectly this year .
Somehow doing everything you suggest takes a lot of TIME and it is hard to do nothing but blog the whole day.
I think what you failed to add was IT knowledge . Unless you are tech savvy, you cannot just make the numbers
I might be giving it a miss this year too as I won’t be able to invest so much time. Pinterest doesn’t take as much time as I thought it would have. The trick is to find numerous group boards, which initially take some time π I do agree that IT knowledge comes in handy, but these days numerous articles are available online that lucidly explain about metrics and analytics. π
Great post and all good points on what should one do to make the blog easy to maneuver. I agree A to Z helps but this year, I am giving it a pass. I will be out traveling so I better enjoy that π
Pinterest β I have to try that. I started created pin friendly images but I am not sure how to then spread the word on the platform and how will traffic really come. Slightly confused but will try.
Ok, Raj, I am pretty clueless. What is PA and DA and Alexa? I am sure people who read this will think I am a bug living under a rock, but what the heck? I am clueless!
I found out that having a twitter account is a must for the AtoZ challenge. I dont have one. Do you think I should create one? I am not into social media.
Help out a sis here! π
Not to worry… I am myself learning about these stuffsπ. PA is page authority and DA is domain authority – both are moz ranks and determine your search engine ranking, it determines the likelihood of your page appearing in google search. Moz.com will provide all the information you need.
As for twitter, it’s a personal choice but having twitter makes it easier for other bloggers to share your post with your handle in the tweet. I would suggest create one. You might get hooked π
ok
I have noticed that you don’t have a domain of your own so PA and DA won’t apply to your blog. But please do have all your sharing buttons in place π
Right. Thank you Raj for helping out. Really appreciate.
Message me if you have any more questions. Would be happy to help. π
I will. π
You have stressed on the points perfectly. Agree blogging isnt just about publishing beautiful images or content, its about networking, getting to know your fellow bloggers and leaving behind meaningul comments. I loved your tips on pinterest. this is an area I have been working, and need more improvement.
Loved your tips on the challenge especially for the shareholics Raj- so many peeps forget about them and they do take the mickey out of sharing for me too! And yes the commenting should be made easy β I cant tell you how frustrated I became after a while with the sign ins- I stopped visiting those blogs finally!
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