Strategies to Boost Your Website Traffic: A Year in Review
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Chapter 1: My Journey to Doubling Website Traffic
In just a year, I've successfully increased my website traffic significantly while only dedicating a mere five hours each week to its management. If you've been following my solopreneur journey, you’ll recognize my blog at selfmademillennials.com, which I launched in July 2021. It feels as though it was only yesterday that I took that leap.
While managing my website is a part of my responsibilities, I also engage in various projects. I assist clients with technical SEO, craft optimized content, write for Medium (which I truly enjoy), sell eBooks on Gumroad, and dabble in crypto trading—though that's a topic for another time.
Despite my limited weekly hours, my website’s growth has been encouraging. Over the past year, organic traffic has doubled, and impressions have more than doubled as well. Here’s the evidence of that progress.
P.S. My site comprises only 70 pages yet attracts around 6,000 organic views each month. Here’s a snapshot of my website performance from October 2022 to October 2023.
Thanks to insights from Jenn Leach, I’ve even considered flipping websites. Here’s an estimate of what my site might sell for on Flippa, reflecting its established history and traffic. Interestingly, it's also viable to generate income from new websites with no traffic at all. If you’re interested in scaling a niche website or profiting from buying and selling sites, I believe my experiences can offer valuable guidance.
Here's a breakdown of the strategies I employed over the last year to enhance my website.
Section 1.1: Identifying and Focusing on My Niche
Many creators assert that having a niche isn’t critical, but I find this notion misleading. A well-defined niche is essential for launching and growing a website with effective SEO. When you search for topics online, you'll observe that the results are often dominated by established sites that are unlikely to relinquish their top positions easily.
To successfully rank on Google, it's crucial to adopt a unique approach to SEO. In my five years in the field, I've identified "gaps" within various niches that can be effectively filled by strategic content creators. For instance, my niche revolves around SEO writing, and I tend to steer clear of general SEO topics where I can’t compete against giants like Ahrefs, Semrush, or Backlinko. Instead, I concentrate on helping others learn to create content that ranks well on Google while reviewing SEO tools. This approach has proven successful for me.
Next Steps: Conducting Keyword Research
Choosing a specific niche allows you to explore less competitive topics. Once you've identified your niche, conducting keyword research is essential to find popular terms with low to moderate competition. This knowledge directs your content creation, ensuring that your efforts yield tangible results.
Utilizing Semrush for keyword research, I uncovered valuable opportunities for my site, including topics like SEO books, niche keyword research, SEO content writing services, and SEO for lead generation. I delve into my keyword research methodology in detail in my yearly-updated SEO writing eBook, which features the latest effective strategies.
Section 1.2: Crafting a 12-Month Content Plan
After identifying 20 to 50 promising keywords, the next challenge is determining which ones to prioritize. I faced this dilemma while refining my workflow and wanted a clear action plan to follow for several months. Consequently, I developed a comprehensive 12-month content writing plan, which has since become a sought-after service of mine.
Here's why I advocate for content writing plans:
- It eliminates guesswork and missed deadlines, giving you clarity on the content you need to produce and allowing for resource preparation in advance.
- No time or financial waste on content that may not yield results.
- It focuses on topics that align with your business goals, whether that's generating leads, increasing sales, or boosting traffic.
Feel free to adopt this strategy for your website, or reach out if you’d like assistance in crafting a personalized 12-month content plan. Share your website and challenges through this contact form for a complimentary consultation.
Regularly Updating Content
If certain pages on your website rank well and generate income, I highly recommend keeping them fresh and updated. Google prioritizes relevant and current content to enhance user experience, and thus, updated pages tend to receive a boost in impressions.
I routinely assess my website’s performance to identify underperforming pages that still hold potential. Poor performance can be indicated by a decline in impressions, clicks, or rankings across Google Search Console and Ahrefs, or a drop in organic traffic reported by Google Analytics.
These strategies have contributed to my website's steady growth, unaffected by multiple algorithm updates, as my content is optimized to meet Google's quality standards. Remarkably, my organic traffic remains stable even during months without new publications.
This journey reveals that there’s no secret formula—search engine optimization becomes straightforward when guided by experienced insights.
Video Description: This case study illustrates how to double your website traffic within six months through effective eCommerce SEO strategies.
Video Description: Learn how to enhance your website's SEO traffic following Google's latest updates, ensuring you stay ahead in the digital landscape.