1,500 views in a day.  If you’d have told me that two months ago when I was getting a mere 10 views per day, I would have thought your were crazy.  Now to some bloggers 1,500 views is a drop in the bucket (or in the lake), but for me this is a big win.  If you haven’t gotten there yet I hope to share some tips and tricks to get you to your first 1,500 page view day.

(If you’re interested in starting your own blog, but don’t quite know where to start, make sure to check out How to Start a Blog.)

I remember the moment Kevin and I had a discussion about me pursuing blogging for a full-time job.  It was in the summer and I had spent the whole summer applying for teaching jobs.  I had several interviews, but none of them panned out for one reason or another (our area is really competitive for finding teaching jobs).  I was crushed to find out by the beginning of the school year I once again did not land a full-time teaching job (after finding a job right after graduation, moving, and not being able to find a job since then).  Kevin encouraged me to consider other options.  I was hesitant at first.  After all, I had just spent four years of my life training to become a teacher.  I loved (and still do love) to teach.  Finally, we landed on the possibility of blogging.  A year previous, I had put a little work into Destination Decoration….put up a few posts and did a little bit of Pinterest pinning.  However, it had fallen by the wayside and was only getting about 10 views a day.  I decided to give it a try and see if I could post some helpful content (and maybe make a little money along the way).  Luckily, we are blessed enough to be able to live on Kevin’s income, so I am able to pursue full-time blogging without worrying about finances.  While we don’t save a lot, it is a sacrifice we are willing to make so I can try this out.

A year.  That’s how long I planned (and still plan on) blogging before reassessing and seeing if this is something I can do long-term.  Moments like getting to 1,500 views per day in two months encourage me that I’ll be able to do this long-term.  I hope I can give you some helpful tips and tricks that will enable you to build a successful blog (because Lord knows I got so much help from other bloggers already).  Here’s how I did it:

How I Went from 10 to 1,500 Daily Views

Content, Content, Content

This piece of advice is probably the first thing you’ll come across on any similar post.  I found myself rolling my eyes a little when I saw it.  There must be more to traffic than content.  There is, believe me, but great content (and a good amount of it) is key.  My views didn’t really start picking up until I posted my DIY Sharpie Mugs post.  It was something I was seeing all over Pinterest, so I decided to give it a try.  And people liked it.  But I ran into a problem when making them.  There wasn’t a consensus about how to make them and what temperature to bake them at.  Because I was curious, I figured others would be curious, too.  Thus, came The Ultimate Guide to Sharpie Mugs, the most successful post on my blog.  Apparently a lot of people wanted to know about the best way to make Sharpie mugs.  I filled a need in the crafting niche.  How to Do Fake Calligraphy got picked up by a few websites just because it’s something people in my niche are interested in and my sharing it on Pinterest.  My point is this: know your audience, produce good content, and fill some kind of need for your readers.  

Pinterest

Making Your Images Pinnable

Make sure you have a great photo for your pinned blog posts.  Sharp, correctly exposed, colorful, and with a caption (sometimes).  This was tricky for me.  I don’t have a nice camera, a light tent, or even Photoshop.  I used my Samsung phone (not even one of the newer models) and edit with a free photo editing tool.  It took some work, but I’ve gradually been improving my photography with time.  Here’s a couple hints I’ve picked up along the way.

1.  Use natural light.  As much as you can.  If you’re limited by your working hours, invest in a light tent or make your own light box.
2. Know when the best time of day to take pictures is.  Our window faces east, so it’s usually mid-morning that gives the best lighting in our apartment.  I worry most about this in the “money-shots”, or the shots I’d like to use for Pinterest or Craftgawker.  For the other in-process shots I usually just use whatever natural light I have.
3. Use a backdrop or strategically stage your pictures.  We don’t have any fantastic backgrounds in our little apartment, so I generally drape a large sheet of posterboard over a chair onto the table.  This creates a nice infinity effect and a great solid background.  Sometimes I’ll set up white tri-fold posterboard behind my setup to bounce light onto my project.
4. Add props to your pictures if appropriate.  For my apple pie, I used apples.  For my nail polish mugs, I poured and dripped some nail polish on the paper.  Anything that fits with your project is a great addition to your photos.
5. Use a photo editor.  If you have Photoshop, great!  I wasn’t willing to invest in it, but I found a great free online photo editor that is comparable: Polarr.  From what I understand, it does a lot of the same things Photoshop does.  You’ll have to tinker around with it a little, but once you get the hang of it, it works great.  (PicMonkey also works for editing photos, but I find Polarr has more features that I can adjust to get the best picture.)
6. Add text to your photos.  People much more tech savvy than I have done the research-photos with text get pinned more.  I use either PicMonkey or Canva depending on my needs.  Canva tends to be a little more complex, but it has a lot of pre-made text formats.  I used PicMonkey a lot to create collages and then will often go into Canva to add text.

Pinning to Group Boards

I’m still working on building up my following and reach for my other social media accounts, but Pinterest has been by far the best source of traffic for my blog.  The key for me hasn’t been amassing thousands of followers (though eventually I’d like for that to happen).  In fact, as of today I have less than 100 followers.  The linch pin for me has been group boards.  Group boards are Pinterest boards where multiple people can add their pins.  All the people pinning can see your pins that you posted to the group boards and if they repin your post, their followers will see it.  See how you could exponentially increase your reach?  I was stumped on how to find group boards until I stumbled upon Pingroupie, a directory of group boards.  You can sort by category and order by different variables.  I generally sort by number of contributors because I’m more likely to be accepted to those.  Here are the boards that I pin to:

DIY Community Board
DIY: Fun, Crafty Ideas
Your Best DIYs
Dollar Tree, Goodwill, ThriftCrafts & Ideas
Share Your Craft
Craft Community Board
::: Pretty Crafty :::
Today’s Craft and DIY Ideas
Do It Yourself Today
Get “Pin”spired with Crafty Bloggers
All Kinds of Wonderful Things to Make
Can Do Pinners

They will often list how to join a particular group board under the board description.  If not, send a message to the group administrator or comment on one of their most recent pins (*hint: the admin is the first person listed on the list of pinners for the board).  Make sure you follow all rules of the board.  I generally pin between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. at night because I’ve read that it’s the best time to pin.  One pin per board per night works best for me and I keep track of what I’ve already pinned with a spreadsheet.

Craft Sharing Websites

Pinterest has been my biggest source of traffic overall and in terms of craft sharing websites, but I’ve had some good luck with a few of these as well.

Hometalk: Hometalk is a place where you can post abbreviated versions of your DIY and craft projects and include a link back to your site.  It functions largely like Pinterest with followers and boards.  I had a post shared on the Hometalk Facebook page that brought a lot of traffic.  A word of caution: Hometalk members can be bluntly truthful about what they think about your project, but if you can let that slide, you could get some great traffic.

Knock Off Decor: I had some great success with this for my Wood Quilt Square.  Submit a summary of your post and it will direct the reader to your blog.  The caveat: your piece must be a knock-off of a commercially made project.

Tip Junkie: Tip Junkie has lots of ways to submit or share your content: you can submit a project to their website, add a project to the Tip Junkie Facebook page, or submit to their link party (Tip Me Tuesday).

Craftgawker: Craftgawker (and Foodgawker, Weddinggawker, Dwellinggawker, and Stylegawker) are all photo-submission websites that link to your blog (similar to Pinterest).  I use Craftgawker the most and occasionally submit my recipes to Foodgawker.  I have a love-hate relationship with Craftgawker.  It can drive immense amounts of traffic to your blog, but they’re very picky about the photos they accept.  They must be properly exposed, sharp, and appealing to the eye.  I will admit I’ve only had 6 accepted and a whopping 37 declined, but my photography has improved leaps and bounds because if Craftgawker and I’ve been able to get more pictures accepted as of late.  This has been the second biggest source of traffic aside from Pinterest.

Stumbleupon, Reddit, Digg: You can submit your own content to each of these websites and earn some extra traffic.  I submitted one post to Stumbleupon and occasionally get traffic from it and I have also submitted one post to Reddit and had an influx of viewers from there.  A word of caution: I grouped these together because they have one thing in common-they don’t look kindly on self-promotion.  Either submit sparingly, have someone else submit an article or two for you, or balance submitting your content with other content from around the web.

Facebook and Twitter

Admittedly, I haven’t been utilizing these as much because my focus has been on Pinterest, but I’m gaining more followers and learning more every day.

For both websites, follow people that are in your niche.  Comment, re-tweet, and interact with others and try as hard as you can to make all of your interactions value-added interactions.  Join Twitter parties, tweet at others in your niche, and be visible.

I recently discovered some fantastic Facebook groups that have been useful for information and for sharing my posts.  Here’s some blogging groups that I’ve joined that have helped me grow my reach and learn more about blogging:

Blog Engagement/Promotion Group
The SITS Girls Facebook Group
Blogging Boost
The Blogging Bunch

Please, please, please follow all the rules.  The heads of the groups work very hard to put these groups together and maintain them.  If you do follow the rules, you’re sure to learn a lot and pick up some opportunities to grow your blog.

Interlink Your Posts

Make sure that those coming to your site stick around for a while.  Hyperlink posts that are similar to each other either in text or at the end of your post.  For example, I linked all of my mug posts together because someone who is interested in Nail Polish Mugs may also be interested in Transferring a Design to Mugs (see what I did there?).  You’ve just doubled (or tripled or quadrupled…) your views in very little effort.

Whew!  Well, if you’ve made it this far…congratulations!  Hopefully that means you found some useful and informative resources to help grow your blog.  I wish you all the best of luck in your blogging venture!

That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe. 1 Timothy 4:10

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