Traffic Finally Beginning to Pick Up!

byJoAnnT-18

173 followers

6 years ago

Sometimes progress can be slow.

I've never been active on social media, therefore I did not have a following. The only social media platform I used was FaceBook (FB), and that was only to keep up with family. I frequently hit the like button, but rarely made a comment. I probably had not made 4 post in the 7 years I've had an account. Not a great basis for growing an online business!

SEO

I dug into SEO, using Yoast SEO plug in. It is a comfortable environment for me. I am able to focus on doing all the things it suggested and score 100% green check marks. I'm a retired CPA and graduated college with honors, so that is right up my line. i can do that sort of thing all day and be happy.....and poor.

My content is good. In my Bird Watching Made Easy blog, I provide my readers with information a bird watcher, especially a beginner, will find of value. For example, one blog topic is: What are the 4 basic needs of wild birds and how they can give you a Backyard Bird Watching Fast Start. Of course, "Backyard Bird Watching Fast Start" was the blog title. I also used low hanging keyword fruit.

SEO Is Not Enough (for me)

However SEO alone is not making any progress that I can see. I was getting no audience except my daughter.

I need exceiptional SEO, great content, and more!

Social Media

I dove into social media with both feet posting to:

• personal FB account,
• business FB account (Bird Watching Made Easy),
• FB Group I created (Backyard Bird Watching Crew),
• Personal G+,
• Business G+,
• Twitter,
• Pinterest,
• Tumblr and
• Instagram.

All but the personal FB account are brand new. Very little effect. I did have activity from fellow WA affiliates, but very little more.

I started buying FB boosts. They would get me some clicks through to the blog, but no comments. I felt like I was throwing money away. However, I had some blogs that I wanted to have Amazon links when I published them, so I applied and started inserting the links.

Traffic

I finally got some traffic this week!! A blog I boosted through FB has produced some traffic. Out of 3,500 views in 7 days. the "Hummingbird HummZinger Fancy Feeder Review" got not only page likes and a few page clicks, but also 44 FB shares so far. There were a few clicks through to Amazon, but no purchases yet. This is a huge step forward for me!

The short description on the post mentioned that the fancy shimmers in the sun, and doesn't leak or spill. Also, read why Cornell Labs says it is the kind of hummingbird feeder to have. The cover picture was a beautiful (public doman) hummingbird in flight. It seems my target audience loved it.

Page Followers & Group Members Increase

In addition, the following of my FB blog page went from 25 to almost 200 in 2 days, and it is still growing. It took me that long to figure out I could invite people who liked a post to like/follow my blog FB page! Instant response from my audience, I mean in minutes people were following me.

My FB group has gone from 3 members (my son, my daughter and me) to 25. Still small, but making at least some progress.

Publish Bird Pictures (better than money)

I am a member of a number of FB bird watching groups. I got the idea to invite the members of these multiple groups to submit bird pictures for future articles. I posted an invitation on all of the groups to submit pictures of Orioles for the Behavior of Orioles blog I am writing.

I've gotten some responses, but I think I will get more the next time I request pictures of a specific bird for a blog. After all, they will have seen their fellow members pictures published, complete with credit for the photographer and a mention of their FB Group.

These groups don't allow selling on the group sites. However, by offering to publish their pictures, some of the multiple groups' members are finding out about the Bird Watching Made Easy blog. The opportunity to publish their beautiful bird pictures is more important than money to this interest group. I'm right there with them, but my pictures are not as good as theirs.

Hopefully, I'll be using less public domain and CC pictures in the future!

No Sales, But Encouraged

OK, so I still have no sales. At least there have been clicks through to Amazon this week.

I am feeling encouraged. I have a following! If I can write good content about something they want, and give them a link to buy it, I just may be on my way to a monitized blog.

Be Encouraged, 1 Blog Can Turn The Tide

I hope that others who read about this trail I have been treading through will be encouraged too. One thing can make a difference. Last week I had 25 followers of my FB blog page, and 3 members to my FB group. A week later, I have close to 200 FB blog followers and 25 FB froup members. A number of these people are clicking through to my actual blog!