In this post I share how, by following a specific strategy, I grew my organic search traffic by 1465% within just 12 months.
That's nearly 16 times the amount of traffic I had before.
In terms of the actual data, 12 months ago I had just 52 visitors arriving at my site after clicking through from a search engine. Last month, this had grown to 814 visitors. And it's likely to just keep on growing...
So what's the strategy?
In brief, it involves creating and publishing content to my blog every week, coupled with sharing it on social.
So nothing too out the ordinary. Yes, basically, blogging. But with a bit of magic sauce thrown in.
What's the 'Magic Sauce'?
Thought you'd never ask...
Firstly, I followed a specific content creation strategy that I'll share with you shortly.
Secondly, I've also been repurposing the content by turning the posts into articles (like this one) for publication on different sites, creating presentations for SlideShare, videos for YouTube, and more.
These links support the ranking of my posts in the SERPs (search engine results pages), plus attracts additional traffic in its own right.
YouTube for example is the world's second largest search engine. SlideShare is in the top 200 sites worldwide and another source of high quality traffic.
Repurposing also provides more content I can share on social, and increase authority and credibility.
My Content Creation Strategy
For the posts on my blog, I have developed a 5-point content creation strategy to maximize my search visibility.
1. Keyword Research
Keyword research can help determine what to write about in order to reach the maximum number of people.
For example, I may have a rough idea of the intended topic. Keyword research can highlight a particular keyword to focus on, with higher potential for me to rank and attract traffic.
I'll use the Yoast Wordpress plugin to optimize the post for the keyword.
But my #1 priority is value for the visitor. I write for the reader, not the search engines. And paradoxically, that helps you rank well.
2. Create Longer Content
Research shows longer content ranks better in the search engines. This could be for a number of reasons:
- Longer content keeps people on the page for longer, boosting rankings.
- It provides more value, and more reasons to share, again helping rankings.
I therefore focus on creating posts that are at least 2000 words, and can be considerably more.
The key is to:
- Write on a topic meaty enough to reach a high word count naturally.
- Provide as much value to the visitor as possible by going into the topic in depth.
3. Use Images
I always include images in the post, and particularly a Featured Image.
The Featured Image:
- Helps with social engagement, and so helps the content spread.
- Is re-used when repurposing the content. For example, as the thumbnail for a YouTube video; the cover page for a SlideShare presentation; a cover image when posting the content on LinkedIn Pulse and Medium; and so on.
Other images within the post help break up the text and provide more value to the reader. It could for example be an image of using a site I mention, or a data chart.
4. Optimize for Opt-Ins
Of course, attracting traffic to your site needs to have longer term benefit.
The key is to maximize the number of visitors you can add to an email list.
One way to do this is to create content upgrades. These offer content of additional relevant value in exchange for an email address.
It can be say a PDF version of the post. Or perhaps additional information only available to those who opt-in.
5. Adjust the Meta Description
In Wordpress, you can use Yoast to adjust the post's meta description, which can show for the web page when listed in the SERPs.
Careful editing can boost the number of click-throughs, helping your ranking improve over time and increasing traffic.
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The most important factor though is to publishing consistency. This builds authority and content volume. More content gives more rankings across a wide range of related keywords, and therefore more search visibility.
By following this strategy, combined with content repurposing and social media engagement, you create the type of web site that is almost pre-programmed to attract increasing amounts of traffic over time.
If you've found this information helpful, please share it on Twitter or Facebook.
This article is based on the original blog post at http://blog.vwriter.com/how-i-grew-my-organic-traffic-655-in-12-months/