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13 Comments

Help! What are some ways to bring more traffic to my productivity blog?

A couple of months ago, I launched my productivity blog. I used Pat Flynn's advice to obtain 100 subscribers, which worked well, but I've hit the dreaded plateau. I would appreciate any advice that would encourage more people to sign up to my newsletter and drive more traffic to my website. I've done research on SEO, but if you have any additional resources, I'm happy to read those! Also, I currently have Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts connected to the blog. Here's the website link: https://www.productivebreak.com

Thanks for your help! :)

Edit: Thank you so much for the feedback! I appreciate all of your helpful comments!

  1. 2
    1. Defintely niche down.

    2. Figure out what the most questions on quora are related to your 'productivity' (i would be more niche though) and address them on your blog:

    Step 1. Use SEMrush, Hrefs, Ubersuggest
    Step 2. Go to “Organic Search” — “Positions”.
    Step 3. Input quora.com into the search field. Step 4. Scroll down to “Organic search positions” and add 3 filters:
    a.) Include + Keyword + Containing + YOUR_KEYWORD
    b.) Include + Pos. + Less than + 10
    c.) Include + Volume + Greater than + 100
    Step 5. Hit “Apply”
    Step 6. Scroll down to the keywords.
    Step 7. There you’ll find a list of keywords where Quora is ranked on page #1 of Google.
    Step 8. Open each URL and a valuable answer with a link to your website.
    Step 9. Your answer is instantly on page #1

    Learn FAQ schema: https://moz.com/blog/new-schema-types-to-create-interactive-rich-results

    1. Take advantage of the thank you (confirmation page) after someone signs up.
    • upsell
    • invite to webinar
    • link to most popular blog posts
    • ask for a social follow
    • ask for a social share
    1. Create an ebook/lead magnets by repuprosing your best productivity tips - if you have enough content do it by each custom niche. ie. "25 Productivyt Hacks for College Students." Better if the content is evergreen.

    2. Partner up. Find complimentary blogs/newsletters where you can cross-promote

    3. Subscribe to HARO and respond to reporter's requests. https://www.helpareporter.com/

    4. Add 'click-to-tweet' to each article so readers can easily share your content with their readers.

    5. Create a free email course on productivity and use the relevant tactics above to promote it.

    6. Guest post on other blogs, find relevant podcast to get interviewed by.

    7. Add a sign-up URL to your email signature, LI profile, Facebook - anywhere you have a social profile

    8. This should have been number one: get as many email addresses as you can and create community. Try different email capture methods. Set goals of subscribers per week. Try lead magments, ebooks, email courses, newsletters

    Hope that helps.

  2. 1

    I like your site and will surely subscribe!
    BTW: what's the theme you're using for your blog? I like the way it looks.

  3. 1

    https://missinglettr.com/ is nice to automated your social media accounts based on the blog content.
    Is there a reason why you aren't using Linkedin? The Productivity hastag is quite active there: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/hashtag/productivity/
    Quora can be a good source of traffic to check out (declaimer I'm providing a tool to help with Quora marketing).

    1. 1

      Hi! I'll definitely look into Missing Lettr and Quora!

      Actually, I do use LinkedIn, but forgot to mention it. I post from my personal profile, so do you think I should make a separate LinkedIn page for the blog?

      Thank you!

      1. 1

        For LinkedIn I would advise to keep posting on your personal profile, just don't forget to include hashtags in your posts it will give you some extra reach.

        For Quora you can check out https://www.questionsminer.com/

  4. 1

    Have you looked for some relevant Facebook groups for productivity or even related to some of your articles. Be active and share your content in a non promotional way.

    1. 1

      Hi! I have joined some FB groups for productivity, but I haven't found the right way to share my content without being promotional. Any tips?

      Thank you!

      1. 1

        There surely are many communities related to your topic of interest. Get active and bring value to those communities.

        If you just want to dump your URL into a traffic source you're not going to get very far.

        Be smart, play the long game.

  5. 1

    I think you need to focus more on your desired customer and the benefit you want to give them. Your product can stay the same, but your blog header should make it clear e.g. "College Study Tips: Double Your Grades in Half The Time". Okay, that's pretty cheesy but hopefully it makes my point.

    As it is, I'm not sure who the tips are for - professionals, students, parents etc.

    1. 1

      Hi! I definitely see what you mean! I originally started the blog so that it could cater to anyone, whether they are in school or already working. Do you think I should just choose one? Or should I just specify who the article is for?

      Thank you!

      1. 1

        I think most advice you will get is to pick a narrow niche. Another way to say it is to choose a specific customer. I think this will help you get momentum quicker because it will mean that, rather than being kind of useful to a lot of people, it will be very useful to a few people. Unless it's very useful, people won't share/link/subscribe etc.

  6. 1
    • While the images are beautiful they aren't expressive enough of the articles content/titles...
    • The newsletters page colour schema doesn't match the site..
    • Why capitalise home and about?

    For marketing

    • You can make more specific marketing content, click bait articles that are known to attract more clicks/eyes/.. like lists, infographics etc
    • Look up questions to things your article is answering and post of forums/Q&A sites etc where the questions are.
    • Find where target user groups are and post there
    • "Strategies" and "Principles" aren't really a topic/category, X of what?...
      For both user and SEO value, there has to be a theme, subcategories and focus...
    • Might want to think of niching down rather than staying this generic self improvement blog, like you could take the collage angle from one of your articles and make that your thing.. or choose something else.. (probably want to do like keyword research and competition analysis...)
    1. 1

      Hi! I really liked your suggestions -- I will definitely be changing a few things! I just had a few questions...

      What kind of images do you think I should use for the articles if any?

      How should I post my content on different sites that have rules against self-promotion?

      I originally started the blog so that it could cater to anyone, whether they are in school or already working. Do you think I should just choose one population?

      Thank you!

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