So you finally got past all the contemplation, planning and procrastination and actually started your very own blog.
Good for you dear blogger friend! I bet you are reading this because your blog has now been live for the past 6 months at least. I'm sure your last few months were hectic!
- Deciding on your branding;
- Choosing a great WordPress blog theme;
- Setting up categories for your posts;
- Establishing social media accounts;
- Finding a great email service provider (we use Aweber);
- Writing an autoresponder series;
- And most importantly – creating great content.
All this does take about 3-6 months to settle down and now your blog has managed to claim a space (albeit small) on the blogosphere and you also have a pretty decent amount of subscribers, followers and commentors on your blog.
That is when the initial excitement begins to slightly wear off and you are no longer thrilled to get up first thing in the morning and visit your blog's dashboard.
What Changed About Your Blog?
That’s the question you have been asking yourself since the past few days and your subconscious did have many answers, but you just couldn't put a finger on one and say, “Yeah, this is my problem”. That was when you began to look around for answers and that is exactly how you reached here.
So let me begin by answering your question. Nothing changed buddy, and that is what your problem is. Your blog has grown a little from where you started off in the beginning but has now reached a plateau or a standstill.
So What Should You Do Next?
Great question pal! You actually need to push your blog a bit and get it out of its inertia. What your blog needs is expansion, development and growth. All blogs reach a standstill at some point or another. Don’t be under the false impression that such standstills come in only once in a lifetime for blogs. No, no; on the contrary, every blog (small / big, new / old, beginner / authority) periodically experiences such a state of inertia.
If you look carefully, it is not a bad thing at all. Smart bloggers (with great business sense) know how to handle such standstills quite adeptly. They keep using the blog growth tactics one after another and successfully get over the inertia.
What Blog Growth Tactics Do Smart Bloggers Use?
There are a number of ways to grow and develop your blog like the other smart bloggers. Here are a few of the most successfully tested ones:
Tactics Using Content
1) Create more content (more number of posts and more frequent posts)
2) Create better content (make them more interesting with great titles, better writing voice etc)
3) Enhance the content (use images, link to related posts on your blog and other blogs as well)
4) Experiment with the content (try writing shorter / longer posts, try video blogging or Infographics)
Tactics Using Other Content Creators
1) Invite guest bloggers to post their content on your blog
2) Smartly use others’ contents by content curation
3) Invite other bloggers to share their experiences in an interview
4) Creating a list post about top 10 / 20 / 50 blogs
Bonus Video: Put Scoop.it on Your Website or WordPress Blog
Tactics Using Other Blogs / Sites
1) Offer to guest post on others blogs
2) Offer to be interviewed by other bloggers
3) Request other blogs to link to your content
5) Get involved in discussions and hangout on social media sites where other bloggers meet up
6) Provide help, advice or tips to bloggers who ask doubts, questions and solutions to problems on forums or groups
7) Share your content on sites like Scoop.it, Blokube, Bizsugar, Blog Engage, etc.
8) Providing a free tutorial or solving a problem for some other blogger and getting highlighted on that blog
Tactics Using Organic Blog Traffic
1) Optimize your posts according to the latest seo tactics that work
2) Get a pulse on what people are searching for using tools like Bottlenose and Topsy
3) First visit Forums that deal with your blog niche and see the latest hot discussions and then create related posts
4) Use Google insights to see what people are searching for and create related content
Tactics Using Freebies
1) Organize a giveaway which attracts plenty of other bloggers
2) Providing free ebooks / guides in return for a tweet
3) Arranging a free webinar on a popular topic
4) Free ecourse on a popular topic
I am sure that there are so many other tactics that each of you wonderful bloggers are using to develop your blog. Please share some tips for blog growth with us here in the comment section.