INSPIRING LIFE SCHOOL PODCAST
EPISODE 38 – HOW I GOT ONE MILLION PAGEVIEWS IN MY FIRST YEAR AS A BLOGGER
INSPIRING LIFE SCHOOL PODCAST
EPISODE 38 TRANSCRIPT:
HOW I GOT ONE MILLION PAGEVIEWS IN MY FIRST YEAR AS A BLOGGER
I thought it would be fun to speak about this topic as it’s something I am often asked about.
If you have a business or blog of your own it will potentially provide some valuable information on how you can get more eyeballs on your website.
So, let me start by sharing that when I set this goal, I knew it was a crazy big goal to have.
I set up my blog in December 2017 just before the summer school holidays began and I honestly had no idea how exactly I would get people to visit my website but I was determined to find a way to make it happen in 2018.
So my website is inspiringlifedreams.com, a parenting website and when I set this goal as a total newbie I didn’t really understand that traffic generation was something that other newbie bloggers struggled with.
I had this mindset and expectation that it would be easy, that I was going to find a way to make it happen even though on day one I seriously couldn’t have told you even one strategy that I would potentially be using.
Funnily enough this goal of one million pageviews came about after my kids challenged me on this idea that people would be interested in what I had to say.
They couldn’t imagine that anyone would be interested in what their mom was doing, that people would actually want to read what I wrote and they said words that reflected their opinions about mommy bloggers.
Now I don’t know if that is a teen thing but notice I didn’t have my own set of cheerleaders living with me at home.
Far from it…
But even still rather than agree with them or let their negativity impact me it led to me being determined than ever to prove them wrong.
And so that is when I set this crazy goal of mine of achieving one million pageviews during my first year of blogging.
I said the words out loud – that I was going to do it, I said them to my husband and kids and once my intention was set I knew that I would be doing whatever I could to make it happen.
Failing was not an option for me.
I was also still working at the time as a marketing manager and I knew that by setting this goal and building my brand-new website to this level, where it was getting consistent traffic each month, it would give me the opportunity to begin generating a new stream of income and that hopefully that income would replace the money I was earning from my current job.
I can’t even stress to you how badly I wanted to achieve this goal. It lit a fire in my belly, it consumed my focus and the intention was so strong that I could already feel it would come true even though right at the beginning I had no idea about the HOW.
So just to summarize how that first year panned out for me.
I started off the year with an impressive 14973 pageviews for January which I now realise is a pretty good start for a newbie blogger.
In February it rose to just over 17K PV.
By March it was 37, 751 PV and I was able to join the ad network Mediavine and begin earning income via ad income.
In April it jumped to over 63K PV, May it was 75K and by August I had over 155K PV.
Even though I was over the moon about the traffic growth I was seeing I still didn’t know if I would actually achieve my million pageview goal before the end of the year.
And I remember going away camping with friends at the end of December, I was close to 1,000,000 PV but I conceded the fact that I might not make it over that finish line.
But on New Years Eve I remember I was sitting with friends on the beach with the kids playing around us and finally getting a bit of reception – because we didn’t have any Internet access while we were away camping and seeing that magic number which was something like 1,001,000 views – only just over but my gosh it was like I had just won a million dollars in the Lotto.
I can say that ever since that year my kids have never again questioned any of the goals I set.
I think they learned from firsthand experience the power of intention, the power of determination and setting goals and I absolutely loved having the opportunity to show them that sometimes the seemingly impossible can be done.
I also forget to add that nine months after starting my blog my income from my blog exceeded my usual income and I was finally able to quit my job where I had worked for 6 years to stay at home and become a full-time blogger, which is honestly my dream job.
And then the icing on the cake came the following year when my website won a best parenting blog award for 2019.
Then in 2020 I started three more blogs and this podcast and to date I have had over 4 million visitors to this website though we are now moving towards the 5 million mark.
So now that I have given you this quick rundown I am sure you are wondering, especially if you have a website or blog yourself how in the world did I achieve that initial goal of mine?
I look back at it and I know myself that it seems like a crazy accomplishment but I am so glad that I held steadfast to that vision, I never told myself it wasn’t possible, instead I refused to let go of it.
So let me retrace those steps for me.
We will talk more about mindset a little later as I really think having a strong mindset is what made this goal possible for me.
But for now if I had to summarize into a few sentences exactly why I managed to get the traffic that I did it’s because:
I was consistent about creating content.
In fact I published 20 blog posts per month for the first 18 months of blogging.
If this number sounds astronomical to you I promise you its a very doable goal. I actually have a book called CONTENT IS KING which spells out my exact process for making this happen month after month simply and without little stress.
I think I just decided early on that this was possible and I could see that if most bloggers publish only one blog post per week or 4 blog posts per month then obviously if I 5x it then I would be 5xing my results.
Now obviously I made sure these posts were quality content that solved a pain point for my readers but month after month I published 20 blog posts and I definitely think this was responsible for fast tracking my progress.
This brings me to my second point which is I made sure to learn about and do my best to master SEO which stands for Search Engine Optimisation.
My main traffic during that first year came from both Google and Pinterest which is what I will talk about next. I made sure to write blog posts that I thought had a good chance of ranking in Google and I was really strategic about the topics I decided to write about.
Everything had a purpose to it and was fulfilling a need that my readers had.
Which means you need to be really clear about your audience.
What do you know to be true about your audience?
What are they thinking?
What problems do they have that they want you to help them solve?
In addition to organic traffic I focused on getting traffic from Pinterest.
Now I am slightly obsessed with Pinterest and I could talk about Pinterest Marketing all day.
But if you want to know my exact Pinterest strategy, I have written another long and very in-depth book called PINTEREST IS QUEEN where I pretty much share every Pinterest tip and trick I have discovered after spending hundreds of hours studying, experimenting with and playing with the platform.
One of the things I made sure to do consistently every month during my first 18 months of blogging was to create and pin 100 Pinterest pins to my account.
Now that doesn’t mean I slacked off after my first 18 months of blogging.
It’s just my traffic was more stable by then, I finally got out of that hustle mentality and my parenting website was set up with different systems like lead magnets, tripwires, funnels and automated pinning that enabled me to finally step back a bit and work on other stuff.
For the record I am three years into blogging and I still do everything myself.
I’m still not sure if this is entirely a smart move as I think I could do so much more if I outsourced or delegated some tasks but up until now it has worked for me…
Just really getting familiar with and mastering all the different parts of my business, though I am sure that in the future I will finally get some extra hands on board in areas where I most need it.
So in a nutshell it was this strategy of writing 20 SEO-friendly blog posts that solved a pain point for my readers in addition to publishing 100 Pinterest pins every month without fail, that was the winning combination that enabled my traffic to grow so quickly.
But as I mentioned earlier having a strong mindset was also an important factor that led to this success.
Right from the moment I started – I had the mindset that I would be a successful blogger.
This is a mindset I have observed in lots of prosperous dreamchasers in other areas of business and it’s all about having a strong, unshakeable faith in your ability, purpose and future success.
Because the truth is this: you can purchase and take all the expensive courses and dedicate hours to this craft but if you don’t have the right mindset in advance, it will often feel like you are taking one step forward and two steps back.
If you don’t believe that you have what it takes to succeed, you will sabotage your efforts before you even step outside the gate.
If you aren’t 150% committed to a task, you will find more excuses why it’s so hard rather than reasons why you should never give up
Have you ever witnessed someone who is so determined to achieve something that you know they would walk through heaven and hell, fire and ice just to make sure it happens?
You need to have that sort of “fire” in your eyes to achieve anything difficult in life. Not just in blogging but with any goal you set and want to achieve.
You will need to have that fire in your eyes and heart to push yourself to succeed.
You will need to want it “really, really bad” (I’m sure you get what I mean by this.)
You will need to give up on the excuses on why things are tough and look instead to HOW YOU CAN MAKE THIS GOAL HAPPEN.
I cannot tell you how important this one mindset shift is.
NEVER EVER GIVE UP.
Honestly, nothing else matters if you don’t have this first bit of advice and attitude drummed into your head.
Never give up on yourself.
Never give up on something you love.
Never give up on a dream.
Never give up on something you believe in.
Yes, there will be tough days, so expect it.
Please don’t act all surprised when things go wrong, or you face another challenge.
These hurdles and obstacles exist so that you can prove to yourself how strong and resilient you are.
To succeed as a blogger, you need to be both consistent and persistent.
We all have our own timeline for success, so please don’t waste your energy comparing your progress with others. You my friend have your own path to follow.
Assume this journey may be tough in advance so you don’t freak out when you face a few hurdles.
Assume you will need to work hard and stay committed to doing whatever it takes to make blogging your full-time career.
At all times, you will need to focus on your dreams and ask yourself: what is the next right step?
Don’t worry about trying to have all the answers at once.
If you focus on your next right step, the next right step will reveal itself to you with time.
Repeat this process again and again and just keep moving forward without giving up.
YOU NEED TO TREAT YOUR BLOG LIKE YOU WOULD ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Some bloggers make the mistake of treating their blog like a hobby.
They don’t invest the time or money to take this hobby to the next level.
They don’t make a commitment to their blog and think that “things will just happen” instead of realizing IT IS UP TO THEM TO MAKE THINGS HAPPEN.
Start keeping an eye on the time you spent blogging.
Do you work on your blog every day?
Do you sometimes sacrifice sleep or TV time to get things done?
More importantly, are you really TAKING BLOGGING SERIOUSLY?
The moment you begin to make blogging a priority, you start to get really precious about your time.
You aim to learn from the best so you begin to study blogging tips consistently and try to implement what you can to see if it will work.
Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t but you keep moving forward anyway.
When you are a serious blogger (even if you are a newbie) you put your own heart and soul on the line and into your work because you know that that is what it will take you to the next level.
Anything less may not be enough.
When you treat your blog like a business you also shift your mindset to not just working harder but WORKING SMARTER.
You consider the ROI (return on investment) when it comes to how you spend your time.
What tasks will help you move the needle the most in your business?
What tasks will help generate more income?
In the end, unless you are blogging for fun and as a hobby, the goal is to be rewarded well for all the time and effort you invest into this business.
So you need to ask yourself: how can I monetize my blog?
Are you planning to earn your income via:
+ Ad income?
+ Affiliate marketing?
+ Sponsored posts?
+ Sales of digital products such as courses and books?
+ Sales of printables?
+ Sales of physical products?
+ Coaching?
+ Offering VA or freelance services?
+ Membership groups?
+ A combination of the above?
You need to give some thought to monetization if your goal is to earn income from your blog.
Where do your skills lie?
What resources and answers are your audience after?
What problems do they wish to solve and how can you offer your tribe a solution to their problems?
How are your successful competitors currently earning the bulk of their income?
What can you offer your audience that is valuable, much needed, addresses their pain points and helps make their life so much easier?
When you begin to treat your blog as a business and shift your mindset to that of a BUSINESS OWNER, these are the questions you must give thought to.
The cool thing is YOU CAN DO IT.
You have the potential to make your mark on this world with your blogging business.
You have something special and valuable to offer this world.
Have faith and take the time to find what will set you apart from the rest.
You need to have A WILLINGNESS TO INVEST IN YOURSELF.
When I first started blogging, I knew I could write well but I had no idea how to market the blog posts I was publishing.
I had no idea what Pinterest was about.
I had no idea about SEO (didn’t even know what it stood for).
I had no idea about anything in the beginning.
Rather than feel overwhelmed I took advantage of some of the amazing courses that were available and invested in my education.
I have paid for more courses than was probably necessary and some were definitely better than others.
Why did I do this?
It’s because I knew how important it was to invest in my education as a blogger.
I finally put my money where my mouth is and I cannot tell you how instantaneous and amazing the change in my attitude was.
Just like a doctor needs to go to medical school to learn his highly-developed level of skills and a plumber undertakes an apprenticeship to learn his trade, I knew I needed to learn from the best of the best and the most successful bloggers currently out there.
When I finally began to invest in my blogging education, I felt like I was a budding millionaire in the making. It made me feel like I was actually taking blogging seriously and it prevented me from staying stuck because I wasn’t allowing my “I don’t know how to do this thing” attitude stop me anymore.
Now I am not usually one to throw big money at courses (little money yes, big money no) but I intuitively understood that some courses were a necessary investment in my career and future as a blogger.
These courses were the little stepping stones I needed to take when it became obvious that my skills were seriously lacking in particular areas and I needed to learn more.
With this new knowledge I felt invincible – like I could and would do everything necessary to make this dream of mine a reality.
My suggestion to you is this:
If you are stuck with a particular task seek help.
You absolutely need to keep LEARNING to move ahead in this field.
Don’t ever give up on your goals just because you don’t understand something (especially when there is a course out there to help you learn how to master that skill). Go out there and find the answers.
Saying you don’t know something is just an excuse.
Your job is to work it out.
You need to be patient and you need to know your why.
You need to be willing to go out there and market yourself.
Finally you need to take action and actually do the things you know you need to do to move forward.
If you need more information please feel free to visit FrancesVidakovic.com I have all my courses listed there from different niches. Boost Your Traffic will go deeper into traffic generation and at this point we have had over 2000 students take this course in order to obviously help boost their website traffic.
So I hope you found this episode to be helpful.
If you would love to see more episodes on business and marketing topics, just let me know.
This is definitely another topic I could talk on and on about for hours.
As always thanks so much for being here with me.
Before You Go…
- Grab your free gift: How To Stop Self-Sabotaging Yourself Guide (4 steps to finally get out of your own way) CLICK HERE
- Decide which course will suit you best CLICK HERE
- Listen to my Inspiring Mom Life podcast on Spotify or via Apple Podcasts.
With a degree in psychology, Frances Vidakovic is a certified life coach, course creator and host of the Inspiring Life Podcast. Her superpower is transforming dreamers into doers with simple, kick-up-the-butt strategies.
