5 Things You Can Do to Grow Your Blog Very Quickly

Note: Some links in this post contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you make a purchase. That’s actually one of the ways you make money blogging! Thanks for supporting my blogging dreams! 🙂

So you’re a new blogger or you’re a blogger that has been writing for a couple of years but you don’t know what the next step is to get that momentum going for your blog.

All you want are for people to come to your website, leave a comment or two, sign up for your email list and maybe buy a $100 product or click on an affiliate link, but that’s totally not your main intention.

I get it..you don’t want much yet you are not even hitting these simple goals after months or even years of consistent work.

I hear ya!

Sometimes we can do everything the ‘experts’ tell us to do and we still fall short of our expectations.

Even though I’ve had an online freelancing business for a few years, I’ve only just started my blogging business, Blogging Freedom in October of 2015.

Since then I’ve had what I’d consider a reasonable amount of success:

• 3 Facebook groups with over 3500 members and the admin of another one with nearly 4500 members
• I’ve created viral freebies that has added almost 1000 subscribers to my email list just in February and have built an email list of over 2000 subscribers
• I made over $500 in total product sales from my blog last month
• I’ve done my first webinar, launched a small product and made a little over $400.
• I’ve established myself as an online authority in my niche
• I’ve grown tremendously in my online visibility
• I’ve helped dozens of talented bloggers and have even gotten the opportunity to collaborate with a few
• I’ve launched a membership site
• I’ve gotten my first coaching client
• I’ve done 3 challenges and 3 webinars..I’ve even done a couple of Periscopes!

In short, I have created a reasonable amount of visibility and have create large online communities without paying for Facebook ads.

While I did spend a couple hundred dollars on Facebook ads over the past 8 months, I didn’t even do it right because I barely got any leads/subscribers from them so I don’t even count it as a part of my strategy.

What I’ve done is fairly simple and can be replicated by anyone no matter what your budget is because I did this on a shoestring budget while working full time.

So what did I do to grow my blog exponentially over the last 8 months?

Start a Facebook Group

Yes guys! In December of last year I launched my very first Facebook group, Blog Promo Community and it was the best thing I could have done for my blog.

I’ve sold courses, coaching, and established visibility in my group that now has around 3,000 members.

And I totally expect to have 5000-6000 people by the end of the year.

This group was also monumental in building my email list… and I didn’t have to pay a dime for any of these members.

So many people are afraid of starting their own group that they let that fear stop them from acting.

My advice to you is to do it…do it like today!

No seriously, go get on Facebook right now and start your own group.

Could you imagine a year from now having a group of 5000 Facebook fans all looking up to you as an expert or leader in your blogging niche? Well, it’s totally possible, but only if you get started today.

And let me tell you, you’re going to make mistakes, you’re going to struggle..but that’s how you learn!

Just get over the fact that you’re going to suck at everything you try for the first time and jump head in.

Also, download my free Facebook group checklists. 🙂

Do a Facebook Challenge

Want to know how to get members into your group? You do a Facebook challenge.

What’s a Facebook challenge? It’s basically a challenge with a group of people but hosted on Facebook.

Some people host their challenge in their groups (I suggest you do this) by posting a post every day during the challenge with a prompt for the participants to follow.

So for example, I did a blogging challenge and it was simply us bloggers blogging every day for a month.

I created a simple landing page that I connected to my Aweber email list. When people signed up they received an email with a link to my Facebook group and instructed to join.

I also gave them links to the rules of the challenge. I had a daily prompt in the Facebook challenge where everyone was to post their daily blog post.

It was so simple but I was able to meet so many people online and really engage with my audience..oh yea and I got my first 300 or so members from it too!

After about 300-350 members, my Facebook group grew organically to what it is today.

Get Real Serious About Pinterest

You already know that Pinterest is the game changer for website traffic. It’s just a matter of sitting down and learning how to market your blog on Pinterest.

I have to admit, I didn’t get serious about website traffic until about a month ago because I was so focused on building my email list.

I didn’t need website traffic because people were buying from me by being in my Facebook group and by being on my email list.

However, setting up automated sources of traffic can help create passive income and is an important part of my strategy for the end of the year.

I’ve just started promoting on Pinterest over the past month or so and I already have around 100 daily views just from Pinterest.

Here are some of the things that I’ve done:

• Joined over 20 groups boards. Use pingroupie to find boards in your niche.
• Signed up for Tailwind and scheduled 3-4 posts per day
• Promoted my group board in my Facebook group and added over 200 followers in just a couple of weeks.

I know big bloggers like Melyssa Griffin accredit much of their success to Pinterest traffic and I’m looking to tap into that super magical traffic juice myself!

Start Doing Live Video

I know you’re scared! I was too and still am, but live video is such an amazing way to connect with people online. There is simply no substitute for talking with a person face-to-face.

Start with one medium and work to master it. This could be Periscope, Facebook live or webinars.

The best way to get your first followers is to join a Facebook group that helps you get followers on that particular platform.

Periscope – Join the Periscope Perigirls Facebook group (sorry guys, women only!)

Facebook Live – Facebook Live for Newbies

Webinar – Anything Amy Porterfield – she is the expert in the field.

As far as video equipment is an iPhone camera and natural sunlight!

Seriously, that’s all you need so don’t let money be an excuse to why you won’t do this.

Just think of live streaming as a way to talk to a dear old friend.

Commit to video streaming a certain amount each week and stay consistent like you do with blogging.

Promote Daily in Facebook Promo Groups

This is my secret weapon for quick traffic.

As you can probably tell, I love marketing on Facebook. It’s so simple and there are so many people on Facebook that I personally believe it’s the best social media platform to master for any blog.

Okay..so back to my secret weapon for fast website traffic: promoting in Facebook groups.

There are tons of Facebook groups that are solely for promotion and there’s nothing wrong with using them.

Get my personal list of Facebook groups to promote in here.

Once you get about 10-20 Facebook promo groups, create a spreadsheet or use mine by signing up in the box above.

Plan out which blog post you’re going to promote daily. Don’t be afraid to use the same blog posts but do promote a different one each day.

If you’re new, write about 10-20 blog posts over the course of a month so that you can have enough material to promote.

All you have to do is promote a blog post daily (or 5x per week) in the designated threads in these Facebook groups and voila! Traffic and comments will flood your blog.

However, you do need to participate and comment back on these blog posts.

Make sure that you have ways for people to sign up for your email list weaved throughout your blog posts.

Use Convertkit to place a box like the one below on each of your blog posts.

This is a great strategy to use to build an audience for the first 6 months which is what you should be focusing on if you’re a new blogger.

Conclusion

If you focus on at least one of these strategies you will see steady growth in your blog; whether that be in comments, email subscribers, page views, authority in your niche, or all of these combined!

My name is Amanda and I'm a biz coach for creative entrepreneurs who want to build an authentic business that they love. I'll help you get clear on your purpose, values, mindset, and business strategies that'll help you create a business that offers you true freedom not a "I work 12 hours a day" freedom! Schedule your 30 minute strategy session with me today.