When I first started blogging, the dream was to turn it into a thriving business.
In the beginning, I focused on just writing as much content as possible and trying to get pageviews through Pinterest. This worked for the most part, and in a couple of years I was able to grow my blog to earning about $500-$1,000/ month.
This was great! And I was so proud, but then things got stagnant. My blog wasn’t growing as much income wise and I needed to make some changes.
After some trial and error, countless hours of research, and a few strategic changes, I managed to not only explode my blog traffic but also quadruple my income.
I now average over $3,000/mo on this blog working on it part time.
In this post, I’m going to share the eight key strategies that helped me achieve these results. From tweaking my Pinterest strategy to embracing the power of AI, these actionable tips are designed to help you elevate your blog to the next level.
Let’s dive in!
1. I stopped focusing so much on Pinterest impressions
… and started focusing more on the metric that actually matter.
Because creating content on Pinterest is the primary way I get traffic to my blog, I care a lot about my Pinterest metrics. But for a long time, I was focusing on the wrong ones.
Pinterest impressions are what people in the content creation & blogging space call a vanity metric. Which means, it sounds flashy to say that my content gets over 70 million views per month on Pinterest, but it doesn’t actually mean anything on it’s own.
It only matters if those people are clicking into my blog and reading my content.
It’s sooo tempting to focus on these huge numbers and try to just get as many views as possible, but earlier this year I realized I was focusing on the wrong thing.
The metric on Pinterest that I actually needed to focus on was called outbound clicks. This is the amount of people that actually click on my pins and go to my website. This is how I earn money, so this is way more important.
This changed my strategy in a couple ways.
One, I realized that articles about certain topics were leading to high impressions but an extremely low outbound click rate. For example, nail art ideas. People don’t need to visit the blog post to save a picture of nails they can bring to the salon.
I needed to focus less on topics like this, and find topics that actually were leading people to visit my website, like home decor tips & recipes.
Secondly, I realized that certain Pin designs were leading to clicks to my website. Pinterest pins that contain a blog post title along with the image were converting significantly better, so I focused on creating more of those.
Example A here had a much higher outbound click rate than example B. Despite having lower impressions, focusing on creating more pins like this can earn you much more.
2. I focused more on RPM than just page views
The other vanity metric I used to focus way too much on was page views. Because I make most of my money through ads, I thought that the best way to increase my earnings was to just get more pageviews.
But the truth is blog earnings are depending on both pageviews and RPM. In simple terms, this is how much advertisers are willing to pay for space on your blog post.
RPM can be higher or lower depending on various factors such as the topic, the user experience of your blog, the source of your traffic, and more.
My advertising agency Mediavine allows me to see the RPM of my different blog posts, and I noticed that certain blog topics had way higher RPMs than others. Even with less pageviews, traffic to these pages was much more valuable to me.
So I analyzed what topics performed best and started writing more content about just those topics.
If you don’t have access to analytics on your highest RPM posts, you can actually rely on some general information about RPMs based on various topics in articles like this. In my experience, this is pretty accurate.
3. I starting writing way more content
To be honest, this is probably my TOP tip for people who are really looking to increase their blog’s traffic and earnings.
From online forums and other blogs, I’ve noticed that the #1 thing people do to increase their traffic is to simply produce more content. And this worked for me too.
I was getting fed up with my blog income hovering around the $1,000/mo mark, and I really wanted to ramp things up. I did two things when it came to the amount of content I was producing:
- I started writing 3 posts per week instead of 2
- I started making each post a 10-20% longer, including more visual content.
Of course, it’s always a balance between quality and quantity. But as a blogger, and especially as a beginner, quantity is SO important. It’s going to help you not only earn more, but also provide you with more data and information on what’s working and what’s not.
4. I used AI to make me more efficient
In order to be more efficient with my blog so that I could create more content, I started using ChatGPT for some help. But only on certain things.
(NO, I did not use chatGPT to write this post.) I never use AI when I’m writing content about my blogging journey or about my personal experiences. There are several other instances where i NEVER use AI including recipes, DIY crafts, and more.
But in some instances, I do think it’s okay to leverage AI in blogging. TBH, this really depends on your personal comfort level with AI.
For me, I felt I could use AI to help me write some descriptions for blog posts that are mostly visual. For example, hairstyle ideas. The fact is, it’s helpful to have some commentary on these posts, but most people are visiting for the photos. So I felt comfortable having chatGPT draft up some content that I of course review and edit before publishing.
This significantly improved my efficiency with these list-sicle style posts which allowed me to consistently achieve my goal of 3 blog posts per week.
5. I created new Pinterest Pins for old posts
When you’re a beginner blogger, your focus has to be on creating content. Content, content, content.
But at some point, a shift happens. When you have let’s say 50+ posts, and some that are performing well, marketing old posts becomes just as important as creating new ones.
I realized this WAY too late in the game**. There was so much money left on the table simply because I was not marketing my old posts.** Marketing, for me, means creating Pinterest content.
It’s been my experience that Pinterest prioritizes newer Pins, so many pins I created years ago no longer get any views or clicks. To fix this, I now create fresh pins for even my old articles.
It’s a win-win, because I can make more money without even creating new posts!
6. I made my most successful posts longer
If a post was performing well for me, I used to just keep an eye on the earnings and call it a day.
But now, I realize that there’s a huge opportunity to increase earnings from existing content simply by making it longer.
Why? Because you earn more the longer people stay on your site and scroll through the article.
So I started making some posts longer. For example, adding new ideas to my “50+ Halloween Costume Ideas” post to make it “75+ Halloween Costume Ideas”.
This increases engagement time, views, and even RPM.
7. I started making seasonal content way further in advance
One of the BIGGEST mistakes I made for years of blogging was waiting too long to create seasonal content.
Seasonal content has a huge earning potential on blogs. For me, it earns some of the highest pageviews and RPMs.
I used to create seasonal content just a few weeks in advance, which didn’t give my blog posts enough time to gain traction on Pinterest and Google, so by the time they were relevant, I wasn’t getting enough views to make money.
I now create seasonal content MONTHS in advance. I mean, 2 or ideally 3 months in advance. Sometimes I feel like I’m on a totally different calendar than non-bloggers. In July, I’m already writing about Halloween costume ideas & creating pins.
This approach has helped significantly when it comes to getting valuable seasonal content traffic.
8. I started sending emails with my latest blog posts
For a long time, I really underestimated the power of email traffic! This is such a common mistake for beginner bloggers. I don’t have a very big email list compared to what I’ve read other bloggers have, so I just didn’t think I really needed to use email for traffic.
But I was wrong! The reason is that email traffic is some of the most quality traffic. My readers that open my weekly emails and click through to content have the highest engagement time and engagement rates, which are metrics that affect RPM.
Focusing on building my email list and encouraging people to come back to my site has been a huge contributing factor to my income growth.
Closing thoughts
Increasing your blog traffic and income isn’t about a single magic bullet; it’s about making strategic adjustments and continuously improving your approach.
By focusing on the metrics that truly matter, producing high-quality content consistently, and leveraging tools and strategies that enhance your efficiency, you can see substantial growth in your blog’s performance.
Remember, it’s a journey of learning and adapting. Implementing these eight strategies has transformed my blog, and I’m confident that they can help you achieve remarkable success too!