Blogging is where it’s at, right?
Whether you’re a professional blogger, or your blog is there to promote your regular business, you know that at the end of the day, your blog has one major purpose:
To engage a GINORMOUS audience.
That’s right. Not just big, but ginormous – an audience so large that you are guaranteed more customers than you know what to do with.
And yet, most blogs trudge along with an Alexa ranking north of a million, and you hear crickets more than you hear the pings of incoming traffic.
What’s going on?
You eventually reach the conclusion that you must be missing something. You go looking for help, and you’re bombarded with course offers and bombastic claims:
“Make $500 in one hour with our no-fail system!”
“Beat any competitor to Google’s first page in less than a week!”
“How I make $4,729.19 every week in my pyjamas!”
Sure, these claims raise an eyebrow, and at least a few questions. If it’s so easy to make $500 in an hour, then why are they selling it for $27, instead of just hiring people to do the work and make them the money? What if your competitor buys that same course – how fast will she knock you off of that top spot? And why do they always tell you the amount down to the last penny?
But as skeptical as you might be, you’re also hopeful. It seems like everyone but you is out there growing a giant site in no time. What’s their secret?
You shell out the cost of the programs, carefully ignoring the “results not typical” disclaimers. You sift through the nonsense, and find some good advice, which you diligently put to work. And then…
More crickets. What the hell?!
To Everything There Is a Season: Skyhooks and Cranes
Remember the phrase that goes “to everything there is a season”? The one that the Beatles copied from the book of Ecclesiastes? (Note: I’ve been advised that it was the Byrds, not the Beatles. Thanks Matthew Stillman!)
Well, the same applies to growing a blog (or anything, for that matter). You have to start at the beginning, and work your way up, one step at a time. Knockout strategies can work, but they require a foundation that a blog with minimal traffic just doesn’t have. When you try to skip steps, you fall down, and make no progress.
One of the best explanations for this phenomenon comes from Dan Dennett – he introduced the concept of “skyhooks and cranes” in his book Darwin’s Dangerous Idea (he uses it to explain evolution by natural selection, but it applies very well here, too). Here’s how it works:
Let’s say that you want to build a building. In a perfect, imaginary world, you’d use a skyhook – a big hook in the sky to which you can attach a pulley system, to pull things off the ground. The only problem is that skyhooks don’t exist – there’s no way of making a hook just float in the air. From Wikipedia: “…the term “skyhook” describe[s] a source of design complexity that does not build on lower, simpler layers—in simple terms, a miracle.”
That’s exactly what bombastic internet marketing products are offering – to create massive growth that does not build on solid foundations. In simple terms, a miracle.
So skyhooks are out – does that mean we can’t build anything?
Obviously, the answer is no.
To build our wondrous concrete jungles, we use cranes.
Cranes do exactly the same thing as skyhooks, only we build them from the ground up. Here’s the really interesting part: the way to build a giant crane that gives you lots of leverage is with smaller cranes!
So if you want to build something huge, you need to start with something small that you can use to get there.
The Tortoise and the Hare? Really?!
No, this isn’t a post about how you should be patient and take things slow and steady, because eventually you’ll win the race.
(As Sonia Simone said in a recent radio interview, “slow but steady works, but we’ve all had the experience of being beaten to the finish line by a jack rabbit with ADD!”)
The point of this post is that the fastest way to grow is by using the strategy that fits with your current stage of growth. The more appropriate your strategy is to your stage of growth, the faster you’ll outgrow it, and be ready for the next one!
Now, if you’re a regular here at Firepole Marketing, then you know that we’re all about action (and if you’re new, welcome – and please take a moment to subscribe by RSS, or by email at the top of the right sidebar). That’s why we’ve mapped out all six stages of growing your blog, so that you can figure out where you are, and what you need to do next. Here are the six steps:
Step 1 – Start with Great Content
Step 2 – Tell Everyone you Know
Step 3 – Start Building a Community
Step 4 – Promote Your Blog
Step 5 – Get Viral
Step 6 – Monetize!
Okay, let’s go one by one, and learn exactly what each step looks like, and what you need to do to “graduate” to the next one (oh, and if you want a free PDF cheat sheet to all of these steps, make sure to read through to the end of the post!):
Crane Number One – All About Content
You’ve just finished building your blog – your theme is designed, widgets are installed, and a “welcome to my new blog” post graces the homepage.
It’s normal for you to be super-excited, and want to be out there, spreading the word.
Resist that urge!
Before telling anyone about your blog, you’ve got to make sure that there’s good content for them to read when they get there. That’s why your #1 priority with a new blog is to write some really great posts.
This is easier said than done – not only do you need to think of good stuff to write, but you’ve also got to stay motivated, even when your analytics are flat and you know that nobody is reading it. It’s hard, but it’s really worth it.
Crane Number Two – Telling Everyone
Once you’ve created great anchor content that will impress people who arrive at your blog, it’s time to spread the word – this starts with your nearest and dearest.
Reach out to everyone you know via email, Facebook, Twitter, the good old fashioned telephone, and any other way that you can think of. Tell them how excited you are about the new blog, and what your goals are for it. Ask them for feedback, and tell them how much it would mean to you if they subscribed, and would leave a comment on posts to let you know what they think. You can even ask them to help you spread the word, but don’t expect miracles.
This won’t give you tons of traffic, but it’s a start. Expect to get to about 10-20 unique visitors per day once you’re past the initial spike of people who come to look but don’t stay.
Crane Number Three – Community
Once you’ve got that baseline of traffic, and your nearest and dearest (particularly those in your blog’s target market) have given you some feedback, it’s time to broaden your circle.
Reach out to other bloggers in your community – but not the big ones, who have no reason to listen to you. I’m talking about the little ones – other blogs that are fairly new, and are getting less than 10-15 comments on their posts.
Find the good ones (it’s important that they actually be good), leave comments on their posts, and engage with them. Invite them to write a guest post on your blog – in most cases, they’ll be flattered, provide you with a great post, and tell all of their followers to go read it.
Of course, you should do the same for them. Share their good work with your network – the bloggers will thank you for the exposure, and your network will thank you for the good but obscure content that you’re sending their way.
You should also write guest posts for them, and respond to all of the comments that you get. Doing all of this will bring you up to the range of 50-100 unique visitors per day.
Oh, and pay careful attention to what resonates, because you’ll need it for the next step in the process.
Crane Number Four – Borrow Some Authority
Okay, let’s look at where we are; you’ve got great content on your site that your friends and family likes, and that has gotten good traffic and reviews from other members of your blogging community.
It’s time to take off the training wheels.
I’m talking about guest posting on the bigger blogs in your space. This is where you start tapping into bigger traffic numbers.
Here’s the short version of how to do it (if you want the long version, go get it from Jon Morrow):
First, find the blogs that you want to guest post on. They have to be blogs whose audience would like your stuff, too. They should also be big enough to get you good traction; as a rule of thumb, say, an Alexa ranking of 100,000 or lower.
Second, read the blog, and figure out what you could write about that they will like, and to which they will respond well (respond well means that you’ll get lots of comments, tweets, and Facebook shares).
Third, if you haven’t already been active on the blog, read through it, and leave good comments on at least 2-3 posts. This is important – you have to get to know the style of the blog and blogger, and show them that you care.
Fourth, send the blogger an email. Keep it short and sweet, something like this:
I’m new on your blog, and I really like your stuff. [MAKE SURE YOU MEAN IT!]
I’ve been thinking about writing a post about [SUBJECT], and it occurred to me that it could be a great fit for your audience. What do you think of me writing it as a guest post? A headline for this post might be [HEADLINE IDEA] (of course, that’s just a suggestion).
If you want to see samples of my writing, you can check out [YOUR WEBSITE], or look at my last guest post on [SITE YOU GUEST POSTED ON] – it got [SOME MEASURE OF TRACTION].
What do you think? Shall I write up a draft?
If you do your homework and only pitch ideas that fit well with the blog, then most people will be happy to receive a draft. Once they say yes, send them the draft within a few days, and when it runs on the blog, be active and gracious in the comments.
Note: I’ve since written about this in a lot more detail here.
Do this for a handful of blogs – until you get up to about 200-400 unique visitors per day.
In parallel with doing this, use your growing traffic numbers to optimize conversions – get your site to the point that your opt-in rates are good, and if you’ve got something to sell, people are buying with some regularity. Make sure everything is optimized before progressing to the next step in the process.
Crane Number Five – Let’s Get Viral
Once you’ve got over 200 unique visitors per day, you can kick it up a notch – it’s time for your traffic to get viral. In other words, you need to find ways of multiplying that traffic.
There are lots of ways to do this, and I’ll share two – but first, a warning. If your blog doesn’t have a good amount of traffic, and the process isn’t optimized, don’t skip ahead to this step!
This is important, because virality requires a critical mass. If you create an awesome piece of viral content and release it to your audience of seven readers, then sure, you might get lucky and someone might share it with someone who eventually shares it a lot… but that probably won’t happen. You have to make sure your content is getting enough exposure that when you produce something worthy of getting past the tipping point, it will be able to tip!
Okay, so let’s get practical – here are two ways that you can get viral (for more ideas, and more details about these ideas, you can read a whole post about viral marketing campaign ideas):
Idea #1: Viral Content Contest – Run a series of posts about your subject, and make sure these posts are all share-worthy (read: really good). Then, add an incentive for sharing – run a contest, and enter people into a draw if they share. Does this sound familiar? It should, because this is exactly what we did with our FIRE-PROOF Selling series. Our blog was pretty new, and our hottest post before the series was getting less than 10 comments. The hottest post in the series got 35. ‘Nuff said.
Idea #2: Bonus for Sharing – Create an awesome piece of content, and give it away for free in exchange for sharing on Twitter or Facebook (you can do this with a free service like Cloud:flood or Pay With A Tweet). Innovative Thunder did this to launch their book called Oh My God What Happened And What Should I Do?, and got over 150,000 people to tweet about their book. Want to see how this works up close and personal? We’ve created a PDF cheat sheet for the exact strategy that I’m telling you about, and you can get it for free by tweeting about it. Scroll down for the details! 
This is where your traffic grows a lot – just a couple of these campaigns, properly executed, should bring you up to 500-1,000+ unique daily visitors… that’s as much as 30,000 a month – now we’re talking!
Crane Number Six – Cha-ching!
Most blogs falter because they’re busy trying to sell something when they should still be building an audience. Once you’ve got an audience that loves your stuff, selling is easy. This is the part where you can parlay your audience into big sales numbers.
I’m not going to go into all of the different ways that you can make money with a blog (selling a product, selling a service, selling advertising, affiliate products, speaking fees, etc.) – that’s beyond the scope of this post.
What I do want to stress, though, is that you should focus on building the audience first, and selling second. Too often, when people ask why their site isn’t making money, the answer is because nobody is visiting it. Growing your audience first, and selling after that, is how you solve that problem.
Going Off-Road? Take a Map!
Having shared these stages with you, am I saying that this is the one and only way to grow a blog, period? No, not really…
There’s lots that I haven’t covered, and there are many paths up the proverbial mountain. This isn’t the only path, or even the only good path. It is, however, a good path, a safe path, and a path that will get you there quicker than most of the others that I’ve seen – especially the ones that promise to teleport you to the top, but really just lead you off a cliff.
Here’s the beauty of this path – it works even if you veer off of it from time to time. And you will veer off from time to time; you’ll have ideas that you’ll want to try, or opportunities will present themselves that you won’t want to lose while waiting for the next step in the process.
No problem – veer off path, do what you’ve got to do, and if it works, so much the better.
But when you’re done exploring, work your way back to the path and pick up where you left off. To help you remember how it all works, we’ve put together a one-page PDF cheat sheet that we’re going to give you for free… well, almost free.
Remember the viral idea we talked about earlier? Paying with a share or tweet? Well, that’s what we’d like you to do. You see, we’re on this path, just like you are. So if you like what you’ve read, help us spread the word.
(Keep reading, there’s more…)
While you’re at it, subscribe to get our blog RSS updates or by email – we promise to keep great content coming your way.
And of course, there’s our $197 FREE video training on how to Get More Cash Out of Any Business, Website or Blog… In Under 30 Days, Without Spending Money, Working More Hours, or Hiring Staff – sign up to get it right now!
Oh, one more thing – please leave a comment! What do you think of this model? Do you see yourself on it? What stage are you at? What are you doing to get to the next one?
Danny Iny is an author, strategist, serial entrepreneur, and proud co-founder of Firepole Marketing, the program that teaches expert marketing for non-marketers. Get his free cheat sheet about Why Guru Strategies for Blog Growth DON’T WORK… and What Does!, or follow him on Twitter @DannyIny.
{ 157 comments… read them below or add one }
How important would you say a blog is to a business? What if you are not good at writing and have no one to do it for you?
That’s a great question! Let me answer by rephrasing the question – instead of asking how important a blog *is* to a business, let’s ask how important a blog *could be* to a business.
The answer to that is that a blog *could be* very important, in that it can be a great way of building an audience, building relationships, etc. Of course, this depends on your building a good blog that people want to follow – this takes a real investment in terms of time, and energy, plus a good fit of skills, which you alluded to (writing ability).
If you build a lousy blog, it won’t be valuable to your business at all; on the contrary, all it will do is drain your time and energy, and do a bad job of representing you.
Ultimately, blogging can be a great strategy, but it isn’t the only strategy out there – when choosing the strategies that you are applying for your business, you have to balance their effectiveness with your ability to execute them well.
That’s interesting. I read the question a little bit differently. I read it as “Do you think the type of business/customer matter when you are considering blogging as part of your marketing strategy? Or do you think blogging has the potential to add value to any type of business?” What do you think?
Oh, sorry about that – maybe I misunderstood the question.
My answer to the clarified question is an emphatic “YES” – marketing ALWAYS depends on the business and the customer. Blogging isn’t something that you should do just because it’s “the thing to do” (no strategy is) – you should only do it if you think it will help you achieve a specific objective.
The first question to ask is whether your customers read blogs – if they don’t, then you’re wasting your time, right?
A second question is what you can blog about that your customers will be interested in reading about. For example, if you’re selling toothpaste, I don’t think you’re likely to get a lot of traction with a blog about toothpaste – but if your blog is about something related that has broader appeal, it might do better (people that brush their teeth have other interests).
Another important question to answer is what the blog is going to accomplish for you, even if it does reach customers. Will it expose your product/service to new customers that won’t have already heard about you? Will it help you to sell to them, by highlighting needs, benefits, or by adding credibility to your offer?
The answer to these questions isn’t always going to be yes – for example, if you’re selling commodities, especially in a business to business (B2B) setting, it is very arguable whether a blog will expose new customers to your product, or get them to buy more of it.
So yes – think carefully about why you’re blogging, and only do it if you have a good reason, and you can execute it well.
Does that answer the question?
Dang Danny another drawn out list for me – I’d hug you if I could! -Meo
Danny, quoting Dan Dennett in a post about blog traffic…count me as impressed.
This is really great comprehensive advice. The balance between the first three steps is so important. I still notice that the content I am really confident in I have no shame in promoting liberally. The stuff that I am less sure of I am also more reluctant to promote, while there are older posts that I still link to frequently.
I would also say your traffic estimates match my experience pretty closely.
Thanks, Greg! I’m pleasantly surprised – I wasn’t expecting anyone to recognize the name.
Wow Danny! This is a very comprehensive post and you do a great job of explaining this with such clarity. A lot of what you share here lends itself to what I’m calling “Radical Marketing,” and if you’re going to successfully build a community and make a profit you need all of the elements you’ve shared here.
One note: building and audience & “selling” something are of equal importance in my opinion and they should be tended to with equal effort. Just my 2 pennies.
Hey Marlee, thanks for stopping by.
I agree with you – selling is super important, and bloggers should definitely be thinking about how they’re going to monetize the blog further down the line. I just think they shouldn’t be pushing those sales until they’ve built an audience.
Let me know when you’ve got more on “Radical Marketing” – I’d love to take a look, and give our audience a heads-up!
Awesome! Thanks (Marlee Ward) for sharing on twitter! (I’ll be passing it along!)
Hi Dave, welcome to Firepole Marketing! Thanks for stopping by, and thanks for sharing!
Hey Danny,
Reading this post brought my focus back on developing great content. My blog (and website) is brand new, and I only have a few posts on it. I will also focus on quality, not quantity. And by making it a habit to write, quantity will come.
I’ll share your post, thank you!
Matt
Hi Matt, I’m glad the post put some things in perspective for you. Definitely, the first priority with a new blog is to write great content – without that, nothing else will do anything.
Danny – great article, man. It’s full of content.
I know this is stressed a lot by other bloggers (and i just cannot stres this enough). I have to say that one of the things that has propelled my blog forward is developing new and unique content that introduces new perspectives and ideas. Believe it or not, as big as the Internet is, the blogosphere is quite small and people get tired of reading the same concepts over and over.
That’s why, as young as my blog is (going on 8 months next month) I’ve been featured in a handful of blogs, have had a couple of requests for interviews and have received request for guest postings on other blogs, including this one
It doesn’t stop there however, as you mentioned Danny, it’s also about looking for blogs that are in your niche, getting your face out there and truly adding value to the conversation. I cannot tell you how frustrating it is when I people simply write “nice article”. Not only are they not adding any value to the conversation, in fact, they are doing a huge dis-service to their brand and the perception other people have about who they are.
When I see comments like that, it tells me that 1) they really didn’t read the article and are just posting a comment to post, 2) they read the article but did not really understand it well enough to leave a comment or 3) they truly have no value to add to the conversation.
Entrepreneurship is all about being a student of your industry and f your niche – it’s all about education. If you cannot add value to a conversation that generally indicates you do no invest in yourself (education) and therefore lose all credibility and authority in your niche.
I say that if you cannot leave a comment that truly adds value (or even leave a question for the author of the blog about something you do not understand or would like to comprehend better), do not leave a comment at all. It hurts you mire than it will help!
Thanks for the perspective Danny! What do you think about all of this?
Hi Hector, thank you for stopping by, and for your detailed, thoughtful comment!
If anyone is qualified to speak about fast blog growth through great content, it’s you – your stuff is great, which is why we’re looking forward to your guest post here at Firepole Marketing! (for the benefit of our audience, it’ll be in the next couple of weeks)
And I agree with you about commenting; I think it’s usually either 1) they didn’t actually read it – in which case it’s just dumb spam, or 3) they had nothing interesting to add… Marcus Sheridan actually wrote a great post about this a few days ago:
http://www.thesaleslion.com/how-to-network-online-superstar-grow-big/
So yes – I agree with you, and I’m grateful that you’re here on our blog.
Thanks for the comment Danny, I really appreciate it! I am definitely going to enjoy sharing this article on mindset with your audience. I hope I’m not bringing the cat out the bag!
But I definitely saw Marcus article and he definitely made some great points about commenting etiquette that everyone needs to follow, otherwise you’re just hurting yourself. Thanks again! Talk to you soon!
Danny
Cool article – and kudos for walking the walk too. Your post on Copyblogger was a good one – though didn’t connect it with you until I read your post on Problogger – also a good one! You’re hanging out with the big dogs!
And what resonated for me was that this is the strategy that I’m using – though I haven’t got it mapped out so explicitly in the way you lay it out here. I’ve posted a few guest posts to blogs with good Alexa rankings, and I’ve got two or three waiting to go with blogs with really good Alexa rankings. From there I planned to try Copyblogger and Problogger – but hey there crazy horse, you’ve just stampeded straight to the big guns!
One thing that I’d like to add that echoes something that Marlee says. I think that although the ‘major’ monetization comes when you’ve buiilt an audience and a community, I do think that the seeds of that should be laid early on in the game – mainly so that it doesn’t come as a shock to your audience and piss them off that you’ve ‘gone all commercial.’
Good work.
Paul
PS – I haven’t forgotten the guest post btw….working on the angle. And did you know we were both on Jon’s Guest Blogging course at the same time, but I didnt have the time to do more than glance at the lessons. Let alone leave any comments….but, small world.
Thanks, Paul – and thank you for mentioning this to your readers! Yup – very small world about Jon’s course!
Wow, Danny, talk about an article….this could have been about 4 posts!
But love how you’ve broken it all down, in 6 steps, for beginners to see how it all works. As you well know, I’ve been the guy hearing the crickets, and it can be really, really tough to get through those times. But by following the steps you’ve mentioned, it will happen, sure enough.
Incredibly well done Danny. Very impressed.
Marcus
Marcus, we’re honored to have you here. Everybody, Marcus and Marlee are two of the people I most look up to in the blogging world (and, embarrassingly, I transposed their names in an email to Marcus this morning :S).
We’ve all been the guys hearing the crickets – but your success is exactly what inspires us to keep on pushing.
Hi, I liked this. It was simple, clearly laid out and concise. Very helpful. Thanks. Paul says ‘Hi’.
Howdy, Danny — Paul Wolfe says “Hi”.
Anytime Paul points his finger in a direction (or sends me an email with a ‘firm’ recommendation), I sit up and pay attention. He sent me over here and I’m certainly glad he did. In addition to doing an exemplary job on this post and loading it buckets full of value, I had never heard of “Pay With A Tweet” before so I’m anxious to give it a whirl.
Thanks again — very nicely done!
Hey Melanie, I checked out your site – very cool! I’m fortunate to be on Paul’s list, and I was floored to see his email – floored, and completely flattered.
I really appreciate your support, and please let me know how Pay With A Tweet works for you!
Thanks a heap for taking a peek at my blog, Danny — very sweet of you! I’ve subscribed to future posts via email (my favorite way to hear from fellow bloggers) and I look forward to reading more from you.
Hi Danny,
Thanks for the step-by-step advice. I am just starting my own business blog and I’m happy to use your roadmap instead of having to simply rely on my intuition. Thanks!
A question that I have is – how do I find good blogs in my niche? If I don’t find the right match, should I expand my search to related niches?
Hey Marina, thanks for stopping by! I clicked through to your new blog, and really like your new post on specialization.
I think the real question is how to *define* your niche, and that could be tricky. Fundamentally, you want to be working with bloggers who are targeting the same people that you are. In my case, that’s entrepreneurs in the 0-10 employee range.
What’s your target market?
Hi Danny – thanks for the visit to my blog!:)
My target is real estate agents and my focus is on helping them with new ways of marketing to consumers on the web. You would think that there are plenty of blogs about that… but I haven’t found many that share my philosophy.
To give you an idea: compare your approach to blogging with others which are less into giving and more into “old-school” selling.
Oh, and Paul Wolfe said to say “hi”.
Friends with Paul, eh? You keep good company…
No, you’re right, that sounds pretty specific, and even if you found someone doing the same thing, the niche is so tight that it would probably be competitive.
So here’s the question – what sites are real estate agents on? What blogs do they read? If you scroll down (or up, depending on how the comments are rendering), you’ll see a lengthy answer that I wrote to comments posted by Ruthy107 and BP – the gist of it is that the starting point for any marketing effort has to be to go where your prospects are hanging out.
So… where are they hanging out?
Danny,
Great work here and from a top level it’s clear you really put strategy to work with emailing some folks, writing this piece AND guest posting at Problogger today. Great job tying everything together (and thank you for sharing the spotlight with some of us).
This article is fantastic. What I need to focus on more is borrowing some authority. Now, admittedly I had been placing promotion ahead of my content and I’m trying to adjust on the fly now. Between site tweaks, new features I’m rolling out, and regular content I’m a bit bogged down
I’m sure everyone can relate.
But your idea on using Cloud Floud or Pay With A Tweet is also sound. Why NOT make it easy to share the networks of people downloading your hard work? This is free promotion and “free” is one beautiful four-letter word.
Keep up the great work, Danny, and thanks for sharing your wisdom. We’ll be cheering you on along the way.
Jon
Well, Jon, whatever you’re doing seems to be working well, because every time I check back on your site there seems to be more and better content and more and better people!
(side note – am I getting your feeds? every time I remember to check your site, it seems there are four articles that I’ve missed! :S)
Yup, we can all relate – too much to do, too little time in which to do it, and sometimes you’re just playing hunches to see what will work and what won’t. I can’t take credit for Pay With a Tweet, by the way – got that from Heather over at Clever Marketer (who you pointed me to, if I remember correctly). Here’s the link to her article:
http://clevermarketer.com/social-media-equity-pay-with-a-tweet.html
We’ll be cheering each other along the way – we grow together, or not at all, right?
Danny, aloha. WOW! What a terrific job you have done in this post. Though it is so packed with solid info that it could have been multiple posts, the way you have broken it down makes it easy to follow.
Innovative Thunder worked perfectly and I was able to download my cheat sheet. Danny, this is such a useful tool I will be sending others back to read your post and download the sheet.
Best wishes for a terrific day and Congratulations on a post well done. Aloha. Janet
Thank you so much, Janet!
This is a great post. I keep switching between worrying about content and monetization. Thanks for reminding me that without the content, there’s no point in worrying about the money.
I’m still in the working on great content phase. I’ve told a couple of people who’ve told a couple of people about my blog, but I’m not ready to go “public” yet.
I wouldn’t call mine a “mom blog,” but it’s definitely not as focused or business-based as yours or Problogger or Copyblogger. Do you think these strategies work as well for more personal blogs?
That’s a great question, Amy. I’ll answer with a “yes, but”:
“Yes” – The strategies should still work, because the basic principle of growing an audience, and credibility with that audience, before trying to sell to them – it makes sense; you’ll do a better job of selling because there’s more people, they’ll trust you more, and you’ll know better what they actually want to buy.
“But” – That only assumes you are targeting a coherent market that has specific needs; in other words, it’s fine (great even) if they’re coming for your content and not because of whatever it is they might ultimately want to buy, but that becomes a problem if there’s nothing to sell them related to the content.
I’m not sure if that’s completely clear… definitely a bit hypothetical. I’d be happy to take a look at your site, and give you some feedback. If you like, shoot me an email to danny (at) firepolemarketing (dot) com with more information or a URL.
This will keep me busy for while, wow – this post is a thorough map for building a blog. Thanks so much for sharing this with your community @Paul Wolfe. It has already helped me get a sense of what to do next : )
Danny, thank you for putting this resource together… I’ll be sharing it in the community : )
Thank you, Mark, and thank you for stopping by. I’ve clicked through to your blog – very good stuff!
Danny, this is amazing! Sometimes, what makes complete sense needs to be outlined, so we don’t go following our intuition in the wrong direction. =P I love how you emphasize developing a community through baby steps and the bigger concepts fall into place as we go along.
Thanks for such a thorough road map! =)
Thank you, Samantha! I love your latest post – as a sometimes amateur capoeirista, it really made me smile.
Hi Danny,
Fantastic post and I loved seeing the pay with a tweet in action. You have created a very solid plan that will suit any blogger at any stage of growth. I think the big lesson is to have a plan for blog growth. Know what your goals are and when you’re ready for the next stage. The visitor numbers are a great indicator. Nice touch!
May I suggest that you change the html code on the button so that it opens in a new tab/window. That way your readers don’t lose your blog. I see you have it linked in the blueprint which is how I made it back here to comment.
Great job!
Heather
That’s great advice, thank you Heather. I’ve made the change, and the button will now open in a new tab/window. Thanks!
Wow! Many thanks for this blue print. Very helpful for someone like myself who is just getting ready to launch a blog. Thanks!
Thanks, Vic! I’m looking forward to seeing your blog when it comes out.
Wow Danny what a post. If people can’t get it together after reading this then there is something definitely wrong with all of us. You really pointed out some major things we can be implementing now.
I recently used the CloudFlood service on my main blog and it’s worked really great. With this new blog I created several months ago, it’s really moving up (or shall I say down) in Alexa’s ratings. I’m actually commenting on blogs that I really enjoy their content and can learn from but I know it’s helped spread the word and get my blog viewed by many. I do need to take into consideration the rankings of some blogs though. It’s just hard because I enjoy learning from others no matter what their rankings are. I think we are all at the same place so why not help each other out! They’ve got awesome content which we all know is key!
Just wrote my first guest post so am waiting for that to go live so I’m slowly but surely getting there. Also with this blog I’m going back to the basics. I was making money online but not building a business which is why I decided to take a look at what I was doing and start from scratch. The same goes for your blog so I love hearing this from you so I know I’m on the right path.
Really appreciate this post and can’t say enough great things about it. Will definitely be sharing this one and spreading the word.
Adrienne
Thank you, Adrienne, you’re too kind!
And you bring up an important point – if a blog is good, I think that by all means, you should follow it and learn from it, because the information is good, and the relationship with the blogger will be valuable.
Thanks for sharing, Adrienne, and I’m looking forward to seeing you back here.
Very extensive, detailed post Danny – loved it! I can’t wait to start using the Pay with a Tweet service…it’s soooo cool!
Thanks, Kesha – I was turned on to it by Heather over at CleverMarketer.com.
Hi Danny,
I simply could only say “WOW”. That was really one kind of a post. Worth a bookmark. I’ll have to read it multiple times to really make many useful stuff out of this.
You ROCK.
Cheers,
Jane.
Perfect blog post for me! I am at the stage where I want to increase my visitors, RSS feed subscriptions and even facebook followers. Thank you for this, I will be following it!
Wow, this was comprehensive Danny! First time here. I actually came through after getting an email from Paul yesterday referencing this article. I’m glad he did because not only did I learn a bunch, but you’re a guy that I need to know…BECAUSE YOU KNOW YOUR ‘STUFF’!
I’m in the growth phase of my blog. I’ve been on the scene for about 8 months and starting to feel a little growth happening (good feeling btw). I would say that I’m in stage 3, hoping to transition upward to stage 4 pretty quickly.
I wasn’t able to RT through the big yellow button for some reason, I kept getting this message “Something is technically wrong.” I think it’s a Twitter issue, because I keep getting the same error when trying to access the main Twitter URL. I’m hoping that if you get a chance you can forward me the PDF via email – because I really want that sucker! hustlersnotebook@gmail.com.
I promise to come back and RT!
Thanks…and nice to meet you!
I subscribed via RSS!
Thanks for the kind words, JK – I’ve only recently discovered your blog (sometime last week – I don’t even remember who sent me over, but I’m glad they did), and I’m looking forward to connecting! The cheat sheet is on its way.
Hi Danny,
What a long depth & useful post. All these strategies are awesome and have to say it really works. Another best way to grow your blog is guest posting. Guest Posting is one of the biggest way to grow your blog and that’s what my friend onlinbalusi did.
Thanks for sharing this great article. Have a great time.
~Dev
Yup – definitely. That’s what Crane #4 is all about!
Danny, boy – that’s a huge crane of a post! Thanks indeed for your thoughts and insights – I’ll shortly go to bed no doubt to dream about this post, LOL!
One thing I would like to add – but it may just be me, so don’t take this upon yourself necessarily.
Occasionally I have my moments where I get to the point of saying “what the hell!”. I like slow and I like steady (kinda), but there are times when I boil, and that boil has to come out somehow and at some time.
Thus its a catalyst reaction here. Slow, steady then grows to a bit faster cos I get frustrated that slow and steady is not fast enough. Then I get faster still cos fast is not fast enough. Then I blow and do something that I would NEVER do if I was totally sane (I’m not at all a daring sort of guy by nature, really – I’m pretty darn boring, actually!).
So I’ll go and do something that normally would be WAY out of my comfort zone, and could in fact affect my life in a number of ways – either good or bad. And yes – this is all to do with my own online business, with particular emphasis on the part that I too am a blogger.
I still get hardly any tweets or facebook likes. Obviously got lots of lessons to learn, right? But what to expect from an SEO type of bloke who not long ago would not have known his Facebook fan page from his Twittering tweet tweets.
Thanks again Danny for sharing your knowledge!
Regards
Joseph
Great post. I’ll have to read it again, and again and follow it step by step. Nice one Danny!
This is one of the most comprehensive, well explained RADICALLY USEFUL posts about growing your blog I’ve ever seen.. to include the hundreds of thousands I’ve seen on authority blogs. You guys seriously did some damage on this one. Definitely linkable content that I’m already sharing across some of my networks. You covered every possible approach here.. and you even talked about making it viral! This gives me a ton of ideas. You’ve successfully induced thought in me. Great post.
Thanks, Ryan, I’m flattered!
The really exciting part will be if/when people start following these steps and seeing results – I’m really hoping they’ll tell us what works for them, and where they’re at.
Hi Danny,
First of all, I want to express that I am proud to know you and Jon through Heather’s community. Now, reading this post has honestly overwhelmed and made me hopeful at the same time. Overwhelmed to the point that I was ‘trying’ to justify that I didn’t really ‘exactly’ have to go through this blueprint you presented as I belong to a different niche (well, I am not exactly an internet marketer; I am a network marketing utilizing the internet). (I may unnecessarily turn this into a long comment if I even try to share how ‘hyped’ online network marketing is
)…. Anyway, this very post, makes me hopeful too. Knowing that marketers are getting truly mindful about sustainability, now more than ever, makes me glad that there’s going to be less and less ‘hype’.
I may not be from your same niche, but I am with you when it comes to truly putting up a plan and strategy and definitely starting small and growing BIG! I will definitely ‘follow’ and learn from you, as ALL online marketers, no matter which niche, have to have their fundamentals strong.
Thanks Danny, and I am looking forward to engaging more with you on other social networks too!
- Rowena
Hey Rowena, thank you for your comment!
I think a lot is shared across niches (though of course not everything) – certainly, growing an audience would fall into that category.
That being said, I’d love to hear about your experiences in terms of what works for you, and what doesn’t. I’d love to check out your website, as well. What’s the URL?
Danny,
Thanks for this! The title in itslef did it for me. As a new blogger I’m naturlly drawn to the guru sites to find out what works and what doesn’t only to learn very quickly that a handful of the tips that I have taken away from “guru/experts” aren’t very helpful.
Its nice to hear from someone who’s knows what they’re talking about through experience. The success that I am experiencing so far as a new blogger has come from great tips and advice from people who don’t consider themselves a guru.
By reading this post only confirmed my thoughts. Not that guru’s are bad but sometimes I tend to read more fluff than legit content. I like to hear form real people with real solutions to real problems. I’ve found that the fastest way for me to progress.
Hey Chelsea, I’m glad you liked it, and thanks for stopping by! It’s not that the gurus don’t know their stuff or don’t have good intentions (for the most part), but they’re playing with a very different deck than the rest of us real folks.
What sort of things have you been trying and seeing good results with?
Hello Chelsea you sound like a real person that has done a
lot of research and has had your share of trials and errors if you can offer
any critical 1st timer screw up I would appreciated it greatly thank you!
I’m impressed. That is a very innovative way to get more traffic to this post – and number four is a very good how-to for that strategy.
I noticed you’ve been asking other commentators what has been working for them. Collaborating is my favorite thing to do and I blog about that often. One thing we do in the CommentLuv community is to go out commenting and then share the posts where our comments appear. Doing that well will double traffic and result in many new readers, subscribers and commentators.
I wrote that strategy up and updated it with my results and results shared by others in this Comment Share post: http://www.growmap.com/comment-share/
I clicked through to read the post, and it’s very interesting – it dovetails very nicely with the third step that I described above!
I’ve subscribed to your blog, Gail, and I’m looking forward to reading more.
Danny,
Superb!
I’m clearly on a step #4 and I’m focusing on that part now, since the blog launch stuff is behind me.
I love the analogy of cranes and that PDF is awesome too! How did you create that?
I’m glad you liked it, Timo!
I actually put the PDF together in PowerPoint – the background is from a stock photo site (either iStock or PhotoXpress, I forget which), and the rest is PowerPoint elements.
Lots of great stuff here. Very valuable post. Thanks. I spent around $2500 on ‘programs’ and had to realize the hard way, these guys have great success but they don’t tell you that you need a foundation of links and a network etc. They should put ‘This won’t work if your a new blogger -sorry’. But the new bloggers are the idiots who buy the programs because they want to get ahead quuickly.
I read a post the other day that made a LOT of sense. He said as a child the child just wants to grow, grow, grow but he doesn’t see it physically. Fact is he IS growing in invisible ways. He’s growing stronger, his muscles is developing etc.And so it is with a blog. Many people (including myself have) get despondent about not seeing ‘quick results and then quit. Zac Johnson challenged me once and said ‘Let’s see if you can make it past six months’.
I am nowhere near a superstar. But my tenacity and hustle everyday will make my blog a huge success. Thanks for bringing the truth out./
That’s a really valuable insight, Ivin – growth is often happening, whether you realize it or not, but you need to take it bit by bit.
You’re right – it’s tenacity and constant hustle that leads to eventual success – and if you follow the right steps, you can get there that much faster.
That sounds like you were reading Jim Connolly at jim’smarketingblog. I find a lot of what he says gels with the messages from Danny.
This is a wonderful post. You start with a solid foundation, show readers how to build, and provide the nuts and bolts to do so. Thanks!
This makes sense, Danny. I’ve been tempted to purchase some of those guru offerings, but deep down I knew I wasn’t ready.
I think the “create good content” statement is also very amorphous and subjective. There must be more details about how to do that. It’s almost like saying, “get more visitors” but you’ve shown us that there’s more to it than that.
Hey Rex, you’re right, it is very amorphous and subjective, but that’s because it is different from audience to audience. Good content is whatever the audience says it is – as a blogger, you’ve got to learn to understand your audience enough to know what that is.
It helps if you know who your ONE person is: http://www.firepolemarketing.com/blog/2011/04/30/customer-profiles/
This is exactly what I was looking for! I’ve forwarded it over to all my blogging friends……….
Thanks, Evelyn, we appreciate it!
Danny,
I finally got around to reading this. It is no mystery why it is so popular! This is possibly the most sound, detailed advice I’ve seen for growing a blog.
I have to say – I have read a lot of posts like this, and this is one of the first I have seen with real quantification. Most posts seem to skirt around the idea of providing exact numbers, but I really enjoyed how you specified target points (number of unique visitors per day) for each of your steps. I’m about 2 months into launching my blog and have been pleased with the success so far, and this helped me to put together a plan for moving forward.
Hey Zane, thanks for stopping by!
In a lot of cases, the specific numbers aren’t included because they’re just approximations, and will vary from industry to industry and blog to blog – but yeah, I like to have some kind of benchmark, so I included the numbers.
I’m glad you found it helpful, and look forward to seeing you again!
Danny, thank you so much for this excellent post. I enjoyed the specifics, and think you’re right on. We just launched an original entertainment network with videos and blogs going up every day, totally focusing on the content even though monetizing it is obviously important. Your post confirmed what we’re doing. Our original 100-episode soap is what we hope will help tell people that we mean to be around for awhile, and help build that relationship with readers and viewers. An exciting new time for all of us bloggers and content creators out there! I’ll continue reading your posts… thanks again!
Stewart, thank you for your kind words! I’m thrilled to see you here, and I’m off to check out your site.
Is blogging as a team fun as it seems? It’s rare to see more than one person in the about page. I would think that you guys can bounce ideas off each other and that’s make for better content.
I like the pay with a tweet button, very cool.
Thanks, Stephen! Yeah, it’s great to be able to work with Peter – we’re there to support each other when we need, and it helps a lot. Makes the whole process more fun when your partner is around.
The Pay With a Tweet button isn’t ours, we just used the service – you can use it for free here: http://paywithatweet.com/
Great to see you here at Firepole Marketing, Stephen!
Hi Danny — just got to reading this post. Thanks for the “template” for building traffic. You have obviously followed your own advice because I seem to see your guest byline everywhere!
Yup, it’s been working so far.
Hi Danny, Thanks for these great strategies. Although the internet is constantly changing, one fact remains the same- “Content is King”.
TThanks, I will try this tomorrow! even though i‘m a dane (and the figures being unrealistic ), this sounds like a serious way of getting a successful blog. mange tak!
Hi Danny, This is a great post.
I really like how you break it down and keep it very realistic
Thanks, Mark
Thanks, Mark, I appreciate the kind words, and I look forward to seeing you around Firepole Marketing!
Hey Danny,
This is my first time on your site and it’s awesome… really like what you guys are doing here. Love this post — I’ve never seen blog progression laid out like this but it’s correct and the PDF is really useful.
I think my blog is somewhere between Steps 4 and 5. I’ve started writing guest posts for high authority blogs and the traffic is moving upwards. Not quite where I need to be to move into Step 5, but like you said, it’s a process and I’ll keep plugging along.
Thanks for the great information!
Bob
Hi Bob, welcome to Firepole Marketing!
I’m really glad you found the post helpful. Keep on plugging, and believe me, you’ll get there.
See you around,
Hi Bob, welcome to Firepole Marketing!
I’m really glad you found the post helpful. Keep on plugging, and believe me, you’ll get there.
See you around,
Great Post…
Logical steps.
I’m part of the guy who did want to go to steps 5 and 6 directly ^^
Haha, it’s a very common urge. If only it would work…
This is all so true. I found that when I started logging, I expected to see the profits rolling in right away. Obviously, this did not happen. I was discouraged, but I stuck with it. I think that this is a fantastic post, and I really wish I would have read it earlier in my blogging career.
Kudos to you Danny, and I am happy to say that I thoroughly enjoy your site. I will be back more often, and I hope to talk to you some more.
P.S: I am a graphic designer on the side, I am mainly a freelance writer, and I must say that your logo is kick ass.
Thank you very much, Tyler!
It’s great that you stuck with it – that’s what it takes to ultimately succeed (that plus some training, so you eventually find yourself doing the right things).
It’s great to have you here, and we’d love to see you more often.
And sure, let’s chat – drop me a line to danny (at) firepolemarketing (dot) com!
Thank you very much, Tyler!
It’s great that you stuck with it – that’s what it takes to ultimately succeed (that plus some training, so you eventually find yourself doing the right things).
It’s great to have you here, and we’d love to see you more often.
And sure, let’s chat – drop me a line to danny (at) firepolemarketing (dot) com!
Thank you very much, Tyler!
It’s great that you stuck with it – that’s what it takes to ultimately succeed (that plus some training, so you eventually find yourself doing the right things).
It’s great to have you here, and we’d love to see you more often.
And sure, let’s chat – drop me a line to danny (at) firepolemarketing (dot) com!
You’re a great communicator. First time I’ve read such specific steps to take and understand completey without looking at the screen in dismay!! My blog is in its infancy so this post was perfect for me and step 3 is my 1st priority! Will sign up for your feed (you can thank “Copyblogger”).
Thank you very much, that’s very kind of you to say!
Please report back, and let us know how things go for you – I’d love to hear about your progress!
Really loved this article, never seen the progression of a blog laid out like this. It really makes the whole process seem a lot less confusing and gives new bloggers and veterans alike a great starting point and checklist to follow as they build their blogs. Thanks Danny, I’ll be checking back again.
Thank you, Brandon, I’m thrilled that you found the post valuable. We’ll look forward to seeing you around the Firepole.
I’m definitely one of the idiots who try to reach out to blogs that are big enough to not care about mine, so I’d say I’m in the stage of finding those smaller blogs and exchanging guest posts. Great post in all honesty, this is something that really spoke to me because of the struggles my blog has been having, so thanks!
Don’t worry, almost all of us go through that phase, and hopefully we don’t annoy too many big players before realizing that it doesn’t work.
I’m really glad you enjoyed it, and I look forward to seeing you around the Firepole!
There are many blogs I find worthy of subscribing to these days but I found you through a link on a copyblogger post today and you got me! Great job
Thank you, Tracy, that’s very kind of you to say! I’m looking forward to seeing you around the Firepole, and by all means feel free to drop me a line anytime.
Nice post. I wanted to check out how are cranes really built and I found this one:
Crane Building Itself
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx5Qt7_ECEE
but I guess this is not that relevant
Nice! Very cool to see it in action!
Hey Craig, sorry, I just got back from my honeymoon, so I’m a little behind responding to things. I’m glad you liked the post, and I’d be happy to take a look at your site – can you send me the details to danny (at) firepolemarketing (dot) com?
Ok, I just found this, and you, and as you’re still leaving comments post honeymoon, you get my footprints also. I bet you left a lot on that beach.
Thanks for the blueprint. Paths up the mountain. That’s the way I look at things also. I think the image says a good deal.
Haha, yes, we did leave a lot on that beach.
I’m really glad you liked the post, Anthony – it actually ended up becoming the framework for a book that I’m writing with Sean Platt, coming out very soon.
Thanks for stopping by – we look forward to seeing you again soon!
Hi Danny,
Found your blog from an article from DIYthemes. your style of writing resonates with me and I find your blog posts just as engaging.
Gonna start my blog soon (really late…i know), guess your blog serve as good learning reference
thanks & keep up the good work!
Hey Mikel, thanks for stopping by, and I’m glad you like my writing!
What’s your blog going to be about?
You know what i love about this article Danny? It’s (a) practical, (b) sensible-sounding, and (c) asks you to do a hell of a lot of work. Those two things often combine to make a great strategy. I’m already doing quite a lot of what you have recommended, but a few things you mention have made me rethink my overall approach. Great stuff!
Thanks, Tom, I’m really glad that you liked the post.
Actually, I’m turning it into a book with Sean Platt – watch for it, it’s coming out in just a month or so…
Awesome! I’ll keep my eyes peeled!
Hi Danny! Came by to peep those links you sent me {good stuff} – signed up! Of course, I couldn’t leave without grabbing a few pointers. You’re work is great over all but this one is a real plus for me – one, it showed me I know more than I thought & should listen to MYSELF sometimes – not that the advice I got was bad, it jus’ wasn’t the path I was supposed to take! The other thing, I’m such a VISUAL person – your path is going onto my Vision Board… sure, I’ll have to find my way by preparing, communicating, engaging THEN promoting, moving forward and on to monetization!!! Now I have some ORDER! Thanks, you’re a peach! -Meo
Hey Mercy, it’s great to see you interacting on the blog!
I’m really glad you found the post valuable. Actually, as I mentioned to Tom, this post is forming the backbone of another book that I’m publishing, with Sean Platt. Coming out soon…
But yeah, the key thing is that strategies aren’t universal, they don’t work across the board, and you need to find the right solution that works for your circumstances.
Thanks again for all your help!
Hey Danny, it’s great to be surrounded by a wonderful community!
The post is great, I was glad to read it! You are welcome, ANYTIME, working with you is awesome.
, Mercy
Hi Danny, very incitefull post,.
I’d say im still in the step one process,building content.
When i started my blog the information i read to educate myself as to, where to start.
led me to beleive, i should link to a product,sales page, affiliate link, etc from every post.
I was wondering if you could give your opinion on this, would be much appreciated
Hi Joshua, thank you for your comment. Actually, I think that’s a terrible idea – why would anyone trust your recommendation about buying a product before having gotten to know you through a sampling of your work? I say build the audience first, and then worry about monetization (as long as you have a plan for it from the beginning).
Danny:
I thought others liked you because they were affiliate marketers, but this post showed me that you speak and write the blogs-honest truth about this popular internet sport. Cheers and continued success. I became another follower!
That’s really kind of you to say, Myrna – I’m honored.
Any suggestions for writing for a company blog that you really don’t have any interest in writing the content for?
Ummm… why do you have to write that blog? Is it for a client?
It’s for the company I work for and the industry isn’t very interesting to me. (wow, fast respone!)
@Meo Cuenca {meocuenca} I think I’ll try to suggest this to my boss.
Hmmmm, yeah, it’s hard to write good stuff about a subject that doesn’t interest you. If you can get somebody else to do the writing, then that’s a great solution. Is that feasible?
Hi Michael, my suggestion, outsource it to someone who you TRUST, some who WANTS to do it, & is KNOWLEDGEABLE
GoodLuck! XoXo, Meo
Danny – love the insight and clarity here mate.
I’ve found – and I know I’m not the only one – that getting so caught up at any one stage of this process makes it very difficult to see how all the steps fit together, and therefore take action in an appropriate way for the current stage.
Kinda like not really being able to see your hand when it’s pushed right up against your face, but seeing it clear as a bell when you move it a foot and a half away from you.
Anyway – point is, you just moved my hand a foot and a half away from my face – thanks!
That’s a really good analogy, Jym, and it’s why it’s so much easier to give others good advice than to figure out what to do ourselves – we just have so much more perspective and clarity when looking at other peoples’ problems!
I’m glad I was able to give you some of that perspective. Here’s to your success, Jym!
Just a clarification: The Byrds (among others) covered the original song “Turn, Turn, Turn” by Pete Seeger. Unforgettable lyric made memorable by Jim “Roger” McGuinn’s 12-string electric Rickenbacker 360. The Beatles’ George Harrison sometimes played the same guitar, notably in the film “A Hard Day’s Night.”
Thanks, Astro Gremlin!
Thank you for this great article. I needed to read this right now because I’ve been second guessing everything I have been doing up until this point. I’ve also got trapped by the white shiny object syndrome in the past and have brought products that didn’t suit the stage I was at. But it wasn’t until I read this article did that make sense. Before I felt I had to cram everything in as I have so many ideas for my blog that I want to implement. Now I feel a little more empowered now after reading this as it reinforces that what I’m currently doing is fine and I want to enjoy the journey as much as the destination.
Ok. So this one came into my inbox today, and I clicked through. Are you familiar with the term chizuk? This was exactly what I needed! I have a list of so many things I know i need to do, I can’t possibly get to all of them. But the reason why the list seems so overwhelming is because my brain is jumping from one crane to the other, instead of staying put for a while before I move on. Great stuff. And amazing how you are able to get back to everybody.
Hi Danny,
This post is exactly what I needed! I can see where I’ve been stuck and you have given me the tools that I need to move in the right direction. I know exactly what I need to do and I’m reminded of a project that I nearly forgot about. Thank you very much!
You’re very welcome, Stacy, that’s music to my ears!
Hi Danny,
I loved both this post and the “Engagement from Scratch” book – it was exactly the book I was looking for; I’d read so much about “increasing” traffic but virtually none about creating it from scratch. Thank you for putting it together!
Can I ask you a question?
I’m currently on step 3 (although still cranking out plenty of great content!) and getting 100-300 unique daily visitors. However, my niche (online English learning) has a lot of websites but very few blogs. Of the few blogs I’ve seen, none seem to have huge audiences, and “guest posting” isn’t really done. What would you recommend as an alternative strategy?
Hey Shayna, I’m glad you liked the post and the book – thank you so much for the compliment!
To answer your question, you could probably skip ahead to the sort of viral campaigns that are at the next step – just focus on stuff that doesn’t happen exclusively on your own site. In other words, you can work on the virality part, but you just need to make sure to be able to leverage traffic from other sources.
Does that help?
Yes, makes sense. I’m currently experimenting with Cloud:flood and giving away a free grammar e-book, and I’m thinking of actually contacting some of the other websites and sending it to them as a free resource. Who knows, if they like it enough to post it on their own sites, it functions as a “guest post” of sorts
I think that’s a great idea, Shayna, and I’d love to know how it goes. Will you keep me in the loop?
Hi Danny,
This is one of the greatest posts I’ve read and exactly what I wanted to learn! I’m currently working on steps 1 thur 4 and you have provided some extra tips in each step. I really look forward to proceeding to steps 5 and 6 soon when my blog is getting enough traffic.
Thanks for providing such useful information that makes things more clear and actionable for me!
I’m so glad to hear that, Janus, thank you very much for your kind words!
I look forward to seeing you in the comments here soon!
What is the big take away? Don’t put the cart in front of the horse. Seriously though, people are in such a hurry to make money they skip over obvious steps. We have all seen the headlines of “make ungodly amounts of money in less than 24 hours”. Those people who fall for this don’t realize that it is quite possible to make a large amount of money, IF everything else is set up to do just that.
That’s really what it comes down to – trying to jump from zero to forty million in just a minute. That stuff never works outside of random flukes that can’t be predicted, controlled, or engineered. The fact is that if you go through all the steps, you actually end up seeing the greatest results in the least amount of time!
How refreshing to read something real about building traffic and filling in the early steps. I found your site via Problogger – and thought I’d leave a comment after reading your very informative guest post on commenting – see, it worked!
And I’m so glad that you did, Cat! Welcome to Firepole Marketing!
Hey Danny,
Great advice, thanks. I do have a question though. Do you think that the strategy needs to be altered when the target market is smaller? And if so, how? My target market is mainly personal injury lawyers in the UK, of which I believe there are between 5,000 and 10,000.
All the best
Matt
That’s a great question, Matt, and the answer is that yes, I think it does require a different strategy when the audience is so narrow. In that case, the traditional audience-building model just isn’t going to work, and something that’s much more traditional-direct-response is probably in order.
Wow ok, I’d better have a rethink then as I was going to focus on developing my website & blog as my main tool for business development! Good job I asked!
Definitely good that you asked.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that a blog can’t be part of your strategy – odds are, it can be a very *good* part of your strategy. It just has to be done differently. Do you want to talk strategy?
What would you suggest Danny?
I’d suggest a consultation. Email me at danny (at) firepolemarketing (dot) com if you have questions.
Hi Danny,
Might there be a post to follow on from your ‘consultation’ with Matt?
That sounds as though it might be very helpful for a number of disciplines where there is interest in using a blog to promote what they do to a small niche as part of their arsenal of marketing strategies (though between you and me, most of them haven’t the foggiest what that means!!).
I think the other thing to stress is that your guidance notes cut through the cultural difference between the UK and the USA, which much of the info in the blogosphere fails to do. I think Matt will be well advised to consider a consultation.
BTW – I am from the UK too.
Hmmm… that would make for an interesting post. The wheels are turning…
Thank you so much. A really helpful article. Fort the first stages of the process but we have already been doing as advised here. The information about how to go further and the next steps is really valuable for us. Thank you so much.
Kind regards,
Sofía
http://www.thecoolture.com
There are no shortcuts when it comes to success. Be it online or offline. In order to reach that level, there are lots of work needed to reach that stage. Purchasing products that claimed to make money within a short while from the gurus usually meant to lure the newcomers into it, thinking that they can earn money on auto pilot without any work involved in the beginning.
I used to have this thinking and I believe most of the people wants the easy way out to generate their income online. When I realized that I am not moving, this is when I knew that something was wrong. The main crucial thing that I have learnt is to provide value and establishing relationships with people that are in the same niche.
I believe that these are the two most critical factors when it comes to building your group of community. There is no point if you have the content and no one is reading it. Therefore, these two factors correlate with each other.
Once again, thanks for sharing this!
This is a great post, Danny, and a great program to move forward. I’ve been blogging in my own little world and have organic traffic. You’ve outlined everything I need to it up and out to bring in more readers.
That’s awesome, Miriam, I’m so glad to hear it! Will you report back on how things progress as you start following these steps?
Definitely!
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