Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts

Wednesday, 17 April 2019

Grow Your Traffic with Simple Analytics!

April 17, 2019

   From Newbie to older bloggers, to hobby or pro bloggers, everyone agree that that growing your traffic is essential, but there are so many ways to do so!

 Free, Paid, but always guaranteed growth tools and tips flood the Internet. But where to start planning and creating growth strategies? How do you give your audience what they want?

  Today's post is an in-depth look into how you can analyse old Blog Post Analytics in order to target the right audience for your content!


 I'll be exploring how to better target your social media channels' audience in order to drive free traffic to your blog!


  Put simply, I'll be showing you what information to take away from your analytics in order to pin point your audience's interests and how to incorporate that into your Blog Strategy.

  Like in last week's post about Planning Content, we will be going through old published content, and looking at our analytics (views per post, social media interactions) to decide what works and what doesn't in your Blog - however, instead of focusing on creating or brainstorming new content, we are going to draft out our audiences main interests.

 You can read all my posts on Blogging and check out all related freebies here.


 

 BLOG POST ANALYTICS


  It's no secret I am blogging on a free platform and as such, my statistical options are narrow. Different platforms and providers can offer you a different range of statistical data that might suit your needs better.

 For me, the data Blogger provides wasn't enough to help me understand my audience. Here's an overview of what they provide: 

♥ Number of page views (per post, page or date range),
♥ Number of referrals per website
♥ Where and how my audience is reading my website (country, browser and OS). 

  It's not bad, but it is not enough if you want to turn your blog into a business or closely monitor certain aspects of your blog. I've ran hobby blogs with a good engagement level based solely off blogger analytics and I was super happy with my results - but the dimension of a blog and it's purpose will change it's statistical needs. 

  Good thing you can sign up entirely for free for Google Analytics. 


  This free Google Tool is your best option right now for free analytics that truly help you comprehend your audience.

  Here's some of the data you can track through Google Analytics:

♥ User demographics
♥User activity on your website (what pages they visit, campaigns they click or interact with, etc.)
♥Social Media Referrals
♥User trends (when they are most active on your page)
♥Bounce Rate 
♥Session Time
♥Session Number per website referral
♥Page Value
♥Etc.

  This is only a small fraction of all the reports and tools Google Analytics provides. The big variety of options and factors make it seem a bit of a seven-headed-monster sometimes but my honest advice is:

  Explore the several types of reports and truly understand wether or not they will serve you at this time. If not, prioritize more valuable reports for your present situation over worrying about how reports might serve you in the future. The only way to learn is by practising and studying, but it can be overwhelming to learn everything at once!
 

  For The Pyjama Editorial, I am at the moment tracking Social Media Performance more heavily, as I am trying to build up my following in both Pinterest and Instagram and am monitoring my content's performance in those platforms. 

   
MONITOR YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA PERFORMANCE WITH GOOGLE ANALYTICS

  The Blog is at a point where my strategy for traffic growth is to gather a loyal following on Pinterest and Instagram while growing my content slowly and working on my foundations. As such, I'm interested in learning about my content's performance on Social Media.

  Through the Aquisition Reports you can have a quick look into which pages were referred and how often during a specific time window, see their session times, number of different sessions, and so many other interesting statistical factors.

 To access a rank of which posts receive more referrals simply click 
Aquisition➨Social➨Landing Pages



By Clicking on each individual page you can see where the traffic originated from!

Or, if you want to group your pageviews per Social Network Referral, 
Aquisition➨Social➨Network Referrals


  
  You can also check different "dimensions" - which are basically different types of data you have available. These dimensions unfold into sub-dimensions and you can choose from the different types of reports Google Analytics provides (e.g. Aquisition, Behaviour, Asvertising, etc.) which truly makes this tool essential for anyone trying to grow their traffic and conversition rate!

 TIP:

Make a list of your best performing content ! What does it have in common? What niche was it wrote for? What main topic does it relate to?


  By identifying your best performing content you are onto your audiences interests! Analyse where that post performed better and why! Take note of that information - something about your post adds value to your audience, take that to your advantage and explore it. You can:

➨ write a more detailed post on the same or a similar/related topic
➨create a content upgrade to direct your traffic to your newsletter
➨create an ebook
➨do an email course
➨The possibilities are endless!

  I recommend that you do several keyword researches to find specific keywords and phrases that people in your niche are looking for - so, for example, if you had concluded that your best performing content was “5 Time Saving Products for Bloggers with Full Time Jobs”, and other posts directed at making blogging easier for busy people, you might’ve then gone and search for keywords related to “bloggers with full time jobs” - and thus building up your blog by developing content that your audience enjoys.
 

PIN THIS IMAGE SO YOU CAN REFER BACK LATER ON! 



  Of course, not all content should be based off Popular Published Content. If you are starting out, you might want to develop your foundational content first, the content that really interests your niche and that will be bringing people to your blog for years to come - and for that, you need to know your audience - and now you have the tools to do so!

  Now that you know HOW to get the Analytics you need, you can start growing your traffic by writing targeted blog posts that add value to your audience !

 


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By at April 17, 2019
Categories: , ,

Wednesday, 10 April 2019

PLAN YOUR CONTENT LIKE A PRO

April 10, 2019

  Last week I talked about how to set up an Editorial Calendar using Trello, a free to-do-list/visual board app, this week I'm going to tell you how I actually plan the content that I schedule on my Editorial Calendar.

  In today's post, I'll explore Content Planning - A bit more work goes into structuring my posts than just having an Organized Editorial Calendar, and you can read all about it down below!

You can read all my posts on Blogging and check out all related freebies here.


  Blogging is at it's peak popularity these days, and almost everyone wants to be a blogger or influencer of some sort. 

  This is great, but it might be a bit daunting to start with all the information available nowadays. 

Where should I start, what should I post first, how should I promote my content

  Even with more seasoned hobby bloggers, like myself, it can be a struggle. Specially if you also work full time, or have a family to care for, or you're juggling other responsabilities.

  It is important to keep in mind, however, that if it works for me it might not work for you and vice versa. Today I am sharing how I plan content and what I analyse in order to make decisions towards growing my traffic and conversation rate.

Let me give you some background about myself: 
  I have been a hobby blogger for about a decade now, and decided to get back into blogging and plan towards going professional. I have had failed blogs over the years and I've had small success stories - all which inspired me to go forward and keep working on what I like. I am also a virtual assistant to my boyfriend's online business, in charge of coming up with Instagram Designs and Strategies to execute his growth plan. I love sharing my knowledge and seeing other blogs grow along side mine!


PLAN YOUR CONTENT

When it comes to brainstorming and planing content, I try to analyse my blog first. I look for:
  • Which blog posts have more views and engagement
  • Which posts on my Instagram and Pinterest have more engagement
  • What topics have I posted about last

  My traffic mainly comes from Instagram and Pinterest, , hence why I take these into consideration when planning new content.

  I then try to taylor my content to fit in with what my main audience liked best - and for me, my best performing content in social media is always related to blogging or lifestyle (plants, beauty posts or flatlays are quite popular with my Instagram audience).

  Next, I'll analyse my lastest posts for performance; I decided to focus on growing my social medial expertise and presence before fully focusing on how to convert that traffic into subscribers, which led me to overlook the blog for the last few weeks and haven't posted consistently as a result- and even though I didn't achieve the numbers I hoped for, I can still takeaway precious information about my audience:
  • My best performing post was my first one, where after a brief introduction to the blog, I wrote about coming up with my Blog Name and provided a Worksheet. That tells me that people interested in Blogging have found my blog and actually read that post - it added some value to them!
  • My second best performing post was a Baking post about tips on how to bake the perfect Heart-shapped Caramel Shortbread - Baking is a very competitive niche and I wasn't posting at the perfect time neither was I posting anything NEW.

 I can keep going, but you get the gist of it. Truly analyse what you have posted in the last month as even the tiniest bit of information can help you improve your content strategy and help you funnel in deeper into your niche and help you come up with a more cohesive blog feed. 

 You can then round up the Categories you achieved most engagement in and plan more content around them. For me, Blogging was the best performing Category, which tells me that my readers are likely to be searching for keywords such as Blogging, Building a Blog, Growing a Blog and Getting Traffic. So I can plan to write around those topics and provide solutions for their problems.

TO RECAP, SO FAR WE HAVE:
  1. Established Traffic Sources and Audience,
  2. Established and Analysed Content for Performance,
  3. Establish Most Engaged With Categories,

  Now you know what to write about, come up with 5 possible Blog Post Titles that you'd like to write for! 

TIP: When researching for your Blog posts, set a timer for yourself and work on each post within the time you've allowed - even if you do it in two or three sittings - otherwise you might end up in a research spiral and not actually writing the post.

Time For a Break! Remember to give yourself a break every other hour. This will allow your brain to rest for a while and come back refreshed onto it!

Now let's start structuring your post:

  • What is the central problem you're solving
  • What is your proposed solution 
  • Do you have facts and examples - photos, infographics, testimonials
  • Are you backlinking something? - affiliate links, or old blog posts, other helpful blogs
  • What is your Call to Action? - What do you want your audience to do upon reading the post?

  For example, 
For last week's post about Creating an Editorial Calendar:

Problem
Organizing your Blog And Keeping On Top of Content Creation
Solution
 How to Build an Easy and Free Editorial Calendar
Facts
Trello - what is it and how can it help, How I use my Calendar
Examples
review of trello
Backlinks
trello referral link, link to my "Blogging" category
Call to Action
Free Blog Post Checklist

  You do not need to write this down everytime, but I do recommend you do - this way you know you can keep sight of the direction you want to take! 
 If you feel like your post isn't going where you wanted it to you can refer back to your notes and re-align your post to be valuable and enjoyable!

TO RECAP, SO FAR YOU HAVE:
  1. Established your Audience and Traffic Sources
  2. Established and Analysed Content for performance
  3. Established Most Engaged with Categories
  4. Thought of and Researched 5 possible Blog Posts
  5. Sat down to work on your first Post and started to structure it.
 Planning content can be hard work, but by brainstorming associated topics you are slowly coming up with a full Editorial Calendar filled with amazing content you want to write about!

  Merge your content planning and creation strategy with your Editorial Calendar for a super organized and full Blog Schedule!

  I'm a firm believer that not only does practice make perfect, but that the more you write, the more you find to write about - and so my content strategy relies on periodical brainstorming as a reflection, as I believe that by researching more and writing different articles I will find and learn about new topics to talk about!

 How do you plan your content to ensure Blog Growth?


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By at April 10, 2019
Categories: , ,

Wednesday, 3 April 2019

CREATE A KILLER EDITORIAL CALENDAR

April 03, 2019

  I love sharing knowledge and growing aside you, the readers, the newbie bloggers, the shall-I-shan't-I-start-a-blog-ers, hence, I decided to post more on How to Blog, Blogging Tips and related topics. We all start somewhere and we all learn, and personally, I am always reading Blog Posts and Articles on how to expand, grow and enhance my blogging.

 You can read all my posts on Blogging and check out all related freebies here.

  I will be coming out with weekly posts on different topics related to free-platform blogging and free blogging tools and strategies, and hopefully my insights and information can help you grow you blog or even get started all together!

To receive these to your inbox every week, simply subscribe to the newsletter, which you'll be able to do at the bottom of this post - I'll never spam you, share your information or otherwise go against GDPR, read my full disclaimer here.


This post may contain affiliate links - if you decide to buy a product through these links I might earn a comission, at no extra cost to you. For more information view my terms & conditions.

  Posting consistently and on a set day is hard work. Many of us keep searching for the perfect Editorial Calendar option, the perfect Scheduling App, anything to help lessen the workload - and there are so many options available, how do you begin to try and decide? And what is best for you?

  But I'm getting ahead of myself. 

  Let's  start with the basics

WHAT EXACTLY IS AN EDITORIAL CALENDAR?

  An Editorial Calendar is precisely a calendar (d-uh) to help you organize your blog or business and keep track of posts and tasks. From any old notebook to the most advanced options (e.g. CoSchedule, WP Editorial Calendar Plug-Ing, etc.) there are countless ways to build up your editorial calendar, each different option comes with a different price tag and different functions that might or might not suit you.


  Today I'll be sharing how I organize my Calendar so that I'm always up to date with my content creation.


But 
WHY SHOULD I HAVE AN EDITORIAL CALENDAR, 
I hear you ask, well:
  1. Keep on Top of What You Need to Be Writing - Organize your ideas, plan in advance and set deadlines.
      I upload new Blog Posts every Wednesday and Friday, which means that when Brainstorming post ideas I schedule them around that and plan for any life events that might take time away from working on the blog - like my full-time job - and also consider how much time the post is going to consume. For example, if I plan to write about a DYI project, I will need to plan to 1) Do the Project, 2) Shoot the Project, 3) Write the Article - it will consume more time than if I write about Instagram Hashtags To Grow Engagement, where I would share a list of Hashtags that I'm bound to already use and will only need to create a PDF List with the information. Given this, I would schedule the DYI Project for the last week of the month and the Instagram Post for the First Week - this way I could split my bigger blog post into tasks and distribute them throughout the weeks around my work schedule.
  2. Plan Your Social Media around your post dates - An organised calendar helps you get a clearer view of what you should be sharing in your social media that relates to your blog topics.
      Having a set date for posts can also help you keep on top of your social media, by allowing you to know when to create content that will relate to your new Blog Post.
  3. Never run out of content - Be in control of your content by analysing your Monthly Views, brainstorming new content when it is actually necessary and adhering to a content creation plan that suits you!
  4. Have a visual map of all your tasks and keep all the information acessible and known

  These are the main reasons I use an Editorial Calendar. Also, of course, another big positive is allowing you to create more content in one go, and consolidating the time you would spend daily working on content into one single time block (more depending on your posting frequency) and lays out all you need to work on to finalize your posts - which ultimately saves you time!


USING TRELLO AS YOUR EDITORIAL CALENDAR

  Now, I have used and tried countless different mediums and platforms throughout the years, and just recently settled on Trello. From notebooks to journals and agendas to Google Calendar, ThunderBird Mail and others, I have truly tried out several calendar apps and options, but ultimately there was always something missing that made me stop using them.

 Trello, however, is super-easy to use, full of interesting functions and perfect for small bloggers.

So exactly is Trello and how do you use it as an Editorial Calendar?

Trello is a website that allows you to keep your life, blog or business organized through boards. You can create several To Do Lists with different names, categorize your tasks, add deadlines, share with team members, etc. You can also add "power-ups" to your board that allow for more functionalities. 

  Why you should use Trello:
  • Visual Interface - Super intuitive and allows you to organize your tasks however you like 
  • Add Labels, Checklists, Comments and Deadlines to each entry - You can truly build up your post ideas by giving yourself progress checklists, categorizing your entries, adding comments with new info or input - the possibilities are tremendous
  • Share with a Team - Customize who can edit boards, send team-wide messages, build projects
  • Add cool features - automation, calendars, there is a big list of "power-ups" to choose from! - one downside to the Free Plan is only being able to add one power-up.

 They offer a Free Plan and a few Paid Plan options that start at 9.99$. If you want to try Trello out, click here to get started completely free!


  With the Free Plan you can:
  • Add unlimited lists of your making to your board, 
  • Add one "power-up", 
  • Add up to 10MB of file attachments per card
  • Customize your Board's background. 
  It seems pretty basic, but it's Trello's board functions that blow me away. To each "task" or blog post ("card" is what trello calls each entry) you add to your boards you can also add tons of information too - like labels, attachments, comments, checklists, the list goes on.

Here's how I organize each post:
  • Add a deadline: What day is that post going to be Uploaded
  • Label: What Category is that post inserted in?
  • Checklist: I add a personalized Blog Post Creation Checklist to each blog post to let me know what still needs to be done
  • Description: I use the description box to write in any links I want to add to my blog post.

  Okay, so I wrote my ideas down, categorized them, gave them a deadline and added a completion checklist. 
  But that doesn't seem very visual as far as being an editorial calendar goes. 

 That's where their "Calendar" Power-Up comes in. Calendar pulls up a monthly view of your deadlines, allowing you to focus and prioritize your tasks by date.

  I do recommend choosing the Calendar as your single power-up if you are going for their Free Plan, so that you can truly embody Trello as your Editorial Calendar.  

  It is working wonders for me, as I am a very visual thinker - having every month available as one block helps me plan better and create content ahead of time!

 To help you keep organized, I created this Post Checklist based on the one I embed in my Trello Cards. Grab it now below!



Grab your Free Blog Post Checklist and Gain Control of your Editorial Calendar!

* indicates required


 Completely work out every step of your post and stay ahead of your Calendar by keeping track of what needs to be done until your deadline and where to promote your posts once you have published!

How do you plan your blog and what is your preferred software for keeping organized?


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By at April 03, 2019
Categories: , , ,