How to Improve Blog Traffic for Free: Get 1,000+ Hits Quickly

By: | December 31, 2017 | Tags: , , |

How to improve blog traffic, 11 free tips

Are you looking to improve blog traffic in 2018?

This post will show you such effective blog traffic generation tips, you’ll be able to generate hundreds, yes, even thousands, of page views to your blog posts when you implement them.

This post examines my top 12 best-performing posts of 2017 so you can make a checklist of free, proven blogging tips.

However, the analysis in this post will focus on how my article wound up on the first page of Google within hours of publication. That was the day I received 1,007 page views to my blog.

How did I improve blog traffic generation methods in 2017?

This post will explain using screenshots so you can replicate my methods.

Tomorrow starts a new year. Do you make new year’s resolutions? Is one of them to improve your blog traffic?

We’re hours away from 2018. Bring on the traffic!

Year-End Results

The posts are listed in order from highest-performing blog post to the 10th-highest performing blog post of 2017.

Top Ten Blog Posts

  1. How Bloggers Like YOU Are Getting Paid $120 to $1,200+, Even Without Doing Any Work Note: The post was written only five weeks before the year ended and is already my best-performing post of all time. Page views are generally low during the time between Thanksgiving and New Years. During what should have been the quietest time of the year, the post generated more than four thousand page views in five weeks. Note: The post was written by a guest author.
  2. 18 Facebook Groups You Need to Join Today Note: Readers resonated with the post to such an extent, I turned it into a downloadable ebook. If you’re interested in having the links to 18 Facebook groups which allow daily self-promotion, you will see the place to request the ebook at the end of the post.
  3. How to Easily Make Money by Promoting Your Blog at Niume I use to rank for my Niume article, so I received thousands of page views from search engines. There was low competition for readers since there weren’t too many articles about Niume out there considering Niume was a relatively new site. When subsequent posts about Niume came out, some of them linked to my article as a source. For that reason, my article held the #1 spot at Google for the keyword term Niume. Unfortunately, this revenue-sharing website folded in October. While I expected my traffic to a post about a now-defunct site would stop, the opposite happened. Initially, when the site announced its impending closure, interest in Niume renewed and my Niume article experienced improved blog traffic. Note: The post was written in October of 2016. Why it is this important to note? The article had more time to pick up page views than some of my other posts.
  4. 123 of the Best Free Blogging Tools that Will Save You Time Blogging (2017 Update) I am so glad people found my tool list helpful.
  5. How to Get Paid in Affiliate Marketing Whether or Not You Make a Sale Note: The post was written by a guest author on December 30, 2016. Like entry #3, the article had additional time to generate page views in contrast to posts which were only recently published.
  6. How to Never Run Out of Blog Post Ideas: 45 Experts Share Secrets The post received thousands of social shares. At the time of this writing, my article is the third most-shared post for the keyword term “blog post ideas” according to Buzzsumo.com. Note: The post was an expert interview consisting of over 7,000 words.
  7. How to Get Your Blog on the First Page of Google for Free Seemingly within hours, the post went viral. “Viral” is defined as abnormally high page views. On November 12, within hours of publishing, my blog received 1,007 page views in just that one day, and yours can too if you follow the tips in the “Analysis” section.

improve blog traffic

8. 11 Free SEO Tips That Will Make You See More Traffic I find it interesting this post beat #10 for the year which offered 13 free keyword tools. I assume this article received more page views since it offered both free SEO tools as well as free SEO methods whereas #10 just offered free keyword tools.

9. $997 “Done-For-You” Christmas Giveaway For 1 Lucky Reader & $2,000+ More for 10+ Other Readers [Very Time Sensitive] Page views are usually low the last two weeks of December due to the holiday season. Although the post was recently published and published on December 17 within the last two weeks of the year, it was my 9th best-performing post of 2017. Note: the post was written by a guest author.

10. 13 Best Free Tools You Need to Improve Your Long Tail Keywords People still find this keyword tool list valuable. I frequently offer the post to users of Quora.com when they ask how to find low competition, high volume keywords.

Conclusions: This is a well-rounded view of the posts my readers found valuable this year. They include SEO, technology, monetization, and social media tips which are what you can expect to see on my site.

Honorable Mentions

11. How to Quickly Boost Blog Traffic from StumbleUpon, 7 Ways I am including Honorable Mentions because I wanted to show my Facebook article wasn’t my only popular social media post this year. (My How to See a 10x Growth in Your Blog Traffic Now with Flipboard article came in at #13.)

12. 47 Unusual but Effective Free Blogger Tricks You Will Love I’m so glad the post was well-received. I was moved by the overwhelming response. I do know I was particularly proud of the post when I wrote it and am glad it performed so well.

Interesting Misses 

I predicted the following posts would perform better than they did:

This Is the Article You Need to Grow Your Website Traffic to 100,000 a Month Everything was in place: a killer graphic, a high-scoring headline according to the CoSchedule Headline Analyzer, and a post that filled a need for bloggers: how to generate 100,000 page views a month. I am shocked it underperformed.

Starting a Profitable Blog: 90 Ways You Can Be Successful Did you notice 40% of the posts in my top ten were about how to make money? I actually conducted an experiment by publishing the post. I heard that long posts and posts about money do well on Flipboard. When my guest author wrote and offered me a monster list post about making money, I couldn’t believe my good fortune. The results: The post did perform well on Flipboard but received underwhelming page views on average.

Analysis: What Made The Top 12 Posts Receive High Page Views?

Important: If you know what factors made these posts successful, you will have an action plan to improve blog traffic.

1. The posts resonated with readers because they filled a need.

Based on this data, I can conclude that my readers need posts that offer them:

free tips #7, #8, #10, #12

money-making tips #1, #3, #5, #9

easy tips #1 and #3

time-saving tips #4 and #11

Don’t just take it from me that the post How to Get Your Blog on the First Page of Google for Free resonated with readers. Consider this comment from one of those readers:

From Stefan Alexander:

This is an amazing case study. It just proves that authority websites who have great content published on their blogs have a good chance of ranking without any link building. Also, the focus on keyword research is a great as well. Although the traffic coming from a long tail keyword such as “how to get on Google first page guaranteed” is really low, I believe this page will also rank for other longtail keywords that you haven’t planned for. Usually, Google Search Console reveals some awesome keywords that aren’t at all targeted, but the algorithm is smart enough to show your page on that. I’d love to read an update on how many keywords this post ranks in the top 10 for in a couple of weeks.

2. There was little competition on the internet for readers. Yes, SEO matters. How can you know if there is competition for readers? Keyword tools will tell you, and the good news: these 13 keyword tools are free to use.

3. Link building mattered. Since How to Get Your Blog on the First Page of Google for Free appeared on Google in the #1 spot within hours, I asked Peter Nyiri, the guest author, if he linked to the post knowing this could help explain that phenomenon. He answered, “Yes, I did link to it from my own post: https://yourexpireddomains.com/website-on-the-first-page-of-google-guaranteed.

Improve Blog Traffic

The screenshot shows Peter’s guest post in the #1 spot on Google’s Page 1. Note: This is my article. The SEO title is different from the post’s headline.

Best-performing posts #2, #3, #8, and #12 were also linked to by other bloggers.

4. Promotion on social media sites helped. Look at Peter’s reaction to his post How to Get Your Blog on the First Page of Google for Free going viral:

“But you are not done with your traffic yet. I just posted it on the NicheHacks Mastermind group and the Boost Your Blog group, both on Facebook.”

Look again at the screenshot showing the page views for the day:

Do you see that I received triple-digit page views from both Facebook and Flipboard that day? Do not neglect the power of social media.

5. Domain Authority affected the outcomes. Peter continued his explanation of how the post could land on Page 1 within hours of publication: “If your blog didn’t have a DA of 48, it would have taken longer.”

When Peter heard I’d be blogging about the success of his post, he added, “You can add the data to your post that I tried this strategy on my DA 15 domain with other keywords and it took 3 days to index and then the post was slowly rising from Page 2 towards Page 1.”

6. Comments matter: I heard that Google prefers to give visibility to blogs with many comments. Why? It shows Google that the post is a quality post since the readers are engaged. When speaking about how his post landed on Google’s Page 1, Peter agreed: “I also tried the same keyword on my site, but it didn’t get very far because it is a fairly competitive subject and I get no comments like your posts do.”

An interesting question: Do page views lead to comments or do comments lead to page views? Comments lead to page views coming from search engines; they show Google you have an active blog.

7. Your niche matters: Peter explained, “The other reason why it did better on your blog is due to your blog subject – Mostly Blogging – is a lot more relevant to “How To Get Your Blog On The First Page Of Google,” I worded it to match “blogging”. Posts on your own subject always rank better.”

8. Urgency is important. Did you notice the last three words of the headline of #9 are “very time sensitive?”

The Facebook post, which came in at #2, told people to join the groups “today.”

9. Outreach helps. I sent the post recommending the 123 tools to the tool makers and asked them to share it out. Many of them retweeted my post on Twitter.

10. Giveaways are effective People love giveaways. The fact that there are 138 comments on  $997 “Done-For-You” Christmas Giveaway For 1 Lucky Reader & $2,000+ More for 10+ Other Readers [Very Time Sensitive] is a testament to this.

11. Dare to be different. My #12 best-performing post offered “unusual” blogging tips. People couldn’t find these tips on other blogging tips sites. I recall the post was linked to by a high-ranking blog.

This is what you need to do if you want to improve blog traffic in 2018.

Wrapping Up

In conclusion, I hope you enjoyed taking this trip down memory lane by revisiting my best-performing posts of 2017.
If you use the tips listed under “Analysis,” you will have a checklist so you, too, can improve blog traffic in 2018.
Readers, please share so other bloggers looking to improve blog traffic in 2018 have this checklist.
How did your posts perform in 2017? Were you shocked by your results or did your posts perform as you expected? I look forward to reading your results in the comments section.
  1. Ryoma Sakamoto.Japan

    Japan is New Year ‘s Eve today.
    Last year was a great year for you, and I know you’ll have an even better one this year.
    Ryoma.

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Ryoma,
      I appreciate you coming by to offer me warm wishes for the new year. I greatly appreciate your support of my blog throughout the year here and on Twitter. I wish you a successful new year as well.
      Janice

  2. Swadhin Agrawal

    Hi Janice,
    Feels great to be commenting on your blog on the last day of the year.

    Lovely sum up of tips to get more blog traffic. Yes Facebook groups do help in increasing engagement and pageviews fast.

    Janice, as a reader and a friend, can I suggest you something?

    I see so many ads and you have 3 subscription boxes at the bottom. Aren’t they creating a mess and hampering user experience on the blog?

    See, as far as industry standards and what has worked for me, it is always ideal to keep one call to action for each page of the website. 3 email boxes might rather confuse and get far less conversions leave alone the page load time that has increased due to loading these.

    Best regards,
    -Swadhin

    • Janice Wald

      HI Swadhin,
      Great to see you. Thanks for coming by on the last day of the year. I appreciate your visit and your comments.
      As far as your suggestion: I found the problem and corrected it. Right now, there is only one optin box under this post.offering a PDF.
      However, I do have a question: Most of my tips overlap. My SEO tips are blogging tips; my social media tips are blogging tips, etc. If I check off more than one category, there’ll be more than one optin box. I agree with you that there should only be one. What do you recommend?

      Thanks for your help, your readership, and your friendship.
      Janice

    • Janice Wald

      Thanks John! Happy new year! Thanks so much for your support year round.
      Janice

      • Anil Agarwal

        Great topic and nice ideas Janice.

        Both blog comments and link building do matter. Especially blog comments and guest posts as they go hand in hand with each other in building links as well as relationships with other bloggers in your niche.

        If you want to get more traffic to your sites, diversify your traffic sources instead of solely depending upon Google or Yahoo or Bing. That’s where guest posting and blog comments come into play as they can help you network with others.

        Great share!

  3. Peter Nyiri

    Wow, Janice, you really gave me a lot of exposure…

    And I must say that I have learned a lot since I published that post…

    I am really ready for a 2018 that will rock my existence.

    I am experimenting with sales funnels that are based on relationship and engagement.

    I want to get my blog income to 5 figures so that I can quit my job and I can do what I want to.

    Wish you the best for 2018!

    • Janice Wald

      My pleasure Peter! Today’s reflection on your experiment is getting traffic to your article since I linked to it. As I just told another reader, you pulled off quite a feat with your experiment. Congratulations again on your success. I look forward to furthering collaboration in 2018.
      Janice

  4. Jeanette S. Hall

    Janice,

    Anything has to be better than 2017 for me personally. Broke my left hip on Dec. 9th resulting in surgery and compression sores on my heels while at the hospital. From there spent time in a rehab center learning to get used to my new joint. At least while there I made one decent friend!

    Husband is waiting to see what my body will decide to do for the upcoming year. He thinks the other hip will go. My bet is on dental problems (since I still have all my original teeth excluding 4 wisdom teeth that where removed while in junior high school)!

    Wish you another happy and successful year for 2018!

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Jeanette,
      Today is definitely a day we reflect. I’m just sorry you are reflecting on a disappointing 2017. Well, things can only get better! Thanks for coming by today as I reflect on 2017. I appreciate the kind words and warm wishes.
      Janice

  5. Nicole

    Great tips Janice! It’s always interesting to look back over the year to see what works and what doesn’t. Especially when you provide such helpful tips as well. Happy new year to you!

    • Janice Wald

      Happy New Year to you Nicole! Thanks for coming by today. I appreciate the compliments and the comments. I look forward to “seeing” you next year.
      Janice

  6. Melinda Mitchell

    BBFFJ, you always amaze me with your analytics!!
    And how well you perform does NOT shock me!!
    Happy New Year!
    BBFFM

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Chachel and Chachel’s Cookie Monster Gravatar,
      Yes, it worked just fine. I look forward to our connection this year.
      Janice

  7. Emmanuel Ekanem

    Hi Janice,

    Been a while I came in here, so happy we all made it into 2018. Your post is full of insights, great content.

    And big shout out to all the guest Authors that made that list.

    Something big is coming this year Janice.
    See you later.

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Emmanuel,
      Thanks for commenting on my year-end reflection post.
      Now you have me curious. What “big” thing is coming this year?
      A clue? A hint? Thanks for coming by.
      I’m also happy we made it into 2018! Thank you for your compliments on my articles.
      Janice

      • Emmanuel Ekanem

        Hehehehe ,no clue for now Janice. It will come up like a surprise.

        So let’s wait up.talk to you later .

  8. Moss Clement

    Hi Janice,

    Great information as always, which is why I keep coming back for more. The stats and analysis are undeniable proof that you did amazingly well in 2017.

    In fact, it’s a good ideas to always look back and measure and analyze to figure out what worked pretty well and what didn’t so as to know the best way forward.

    2018 is still young, we look forward to a more remarkable year ahead.

    Thanks for sharing Janice.

    • Janice Wald

      What kind words! They mean a great deal coming from you!
      Happy New Year Moss. Thanks for coming by today.
      Janice

  9. Dexter Roona

    Hi Janice, Happy New Year, Niume seems to have closed down, you may want to look to Steemit instead
    Regards Dexter

    SHARED TO sTUMBLE AND fLIPBOARD

  10. Anthony Rufrano

    Really very nice sharing as New year Gift.i will join you..keep it up

    • Janice Wald

      Welcome Debbie! Thanks for checking out my blog! Make yourself at home =).
      Janice

  11. Emma

    I was looking for some tips as I focus on growing my blog this year then came across your blog. Thanks. Some great tips. I’ll be sure to come back often to teach myself. p.s. Susie sent me.

  12. Phil

    Dropping by from Susie’s blog. Some great tips here, especially if you’re looking to monetize your blog. I just write mine for fun, and an occasional freebie now and then. Still,this is some good stuff to know.

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Phil,
      Thanks for letting me know where you found my post. Thanks for the kind words about my article and for your comments.
      Janice

    • Janice Wald

      Thank you. I’m glad you liked my post about how to improve blog traffic.
      Janice

  13. Tom Tollen

    Some Sites Teach to use tool for Traffic but it is not Real Traffic. Organic traffic good for any site and blog. in your post, you Providing Ideas for organic Traffic. I appreciate your post.

    • Janice Wald

      Thanks Tom! I appreciate your comments. This was my year-end post reflecting on what worked for me last year. Where did you find my article? I always wonder. Thanks for writing.
      Janice

  14. Alice Stirrat

    That is most difficult to increase Traffic on blog or site. but after read your post i will try on our site. nice sharing Janice Wald.

  15. Abdul Kadir

    Another great way that I found to be helpful for getting huge traffic is from free classified ads site. There are 1000 of free classified site. We can just make a banner of our blog and we can get started Advertising. Believe me it brings lot of traffic to my blog in less time. To make your Advertising easier we have listed 100+ free classified ads site on one of our blog which is https://joinkadir.com

  16. Pingback: Why You Need to Aggressively Branch Out to Get Blogging Help: 20 Tips - Trick Fi
  17. Ash Samadi

    Hey Janice

    That is most difficult to increase Traffic on blog or site. but after read your post i will try on our site.

  18. Ash Samadi

    Hey Janice

    That is most difficult to increase Traffic on blog or site. but after read your post i will try on our site.

  19. Pingback: 15 Secrets of Success Shared by a Professional Blogger
  20. Pingback: How I Built A Blog That Paid For Itself

Would you like to share your thoughts?

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Instagram
Pinterest
fb-share-icon
LinkedIn
Share
%d bloggers like this: