It’s that time again. It’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. A day where I and other IWSGers post every first Wednesday of the month. To share and encourage, and talk about our doubts and fears. And our successes. As we continue paving out author’s road on this neverending writing journey. And who do we have to thank for creating this writer’s haven? Founder and creator, Alex J. Cavanaugh.
You can find out more about the group by clicking the badge. And don’t forget to check out this month’s co-hosts: Charity Bradford, S.A. Larsen, AJ, Tamara Narayan, Allison Gammons, and Tanya Miranda!
PS Our hashtag on Twitter is #IWSG
You might’ve noticed something different with my blog today. No, wait, it’s rather glaringly obvious. I’m experimenting with my posting time. I’d always scheduled my blog content to publish Mondays and Fridays at 8 am. Although, I’m currently posting once a week on Mondays now.
Yet according to my WordPress.com stats, my most popular viewing time is Wednesdays at 1pm. Even though I post on Mondays, why is it that I get more views on Wednesdays? Should I trust the statistics and change my posting schedule? So to help come to a decision, I gave it a try last week. But alas, the test she had failed. Then I realized I scheduled my post at 14:00 (2 pm) and not 13:00(1 pm). So, I’m back to give it another try. Of course, the results might be a bit inflated since it is also IWSG day today.
But why would I even consider changing my posting schedule? Simple. I want to drive traffic to my blog, increase SEO, grow readership and engagement. That is no easy feat. After all, I can’t just jump up and down and yell “look at me! look at me!”
So there are other ways I’ve tried to drive traffic to my blog the past couple of months. For example, as an avid reader, I share my current #booknerdproblems. Bookworms have to stick together you know. And writers too. Which is why I check the Twitter feed for #amwriting and #workinprogress hashtags. And hashtag certain keywords and search terms to make my blog more visible. As well as forming connections with individuals with similar interests.
I promote my blog on hashtag days such as #ArchiveDay, #MondayBlogs and #wwwblogs. And the occasional #SundayBlogShare. It’s also my second week using the hashtag #TuesdayShares.
I even signed up on SITSgirls and participated in one of their Twitter parties. I’ve also added a Wattpad link and StoryFind author badge to the site. Sharing my blog URL to where readers can find me. All so my blog can get noticed and read.
What are you doing to drive more traffic to your blog? Have you seen an increase in visitors and views? Have any suggestions or best practices to share?
Paving My Author's Road 
It’s always good to learn about new hashtags. I hadn’t seen a few of these before.
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It is and I wish I learned about these hashtags sooner. Especially, #ArchiveDay where you can share links to your old posts.
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Yeah, that’s a new one for me. Looks like it could be a really good one.
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The biggest thing I ever did was join the IWSG. My traffic is amazing, but I don’t reach out once a month I drop by many of them all month long. 🙂
Anna from Elements of Writing
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That’s great. I try to do the same. But mostly IWSG members I’m following on WordPress.
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I get my most traffic on Mondays (not this past Monday though. Ouch. I don’t know what happened.) And my best way to get traffic is to create traffic to other blogs. I visit and comment, and comment, and comment.
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That is so true. Visiting and commenting on other blogs, and engaging with other bloggers is another great way to create traffic.
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Something I recently discovered are Google+ communities. The biggest advantage of Google + is that it lets you share with a targeted audience, so if you’re a member in a community, you can share your post there and basically, only people who’re interested in the topic will see it (if you choose the community accordingly, that is). There are hundreds of great blogger communities there, you might wanna give it a try!
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Funny enough, I get most of my referrals from Google+ but I’m only active in two of the communities. Increase engagement in the Google+ communities will be my next step.
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Wow, you’re way ahead of me. I haven’t gotten into Twitter much yet. Just haven’t found the time. I have to agree with Chrys. Visiting and commenting on other blogs seems to draw the most people back to see mine.
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Thanks, Lori. I’m still a newbie on Twitter actually. There’s really not enough time like you said. Which is why I’m in love with Hootsuite.
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I’ve heard of Hootsuite. Maybe I should look into that.
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There’s also Tweetdeck too. But I also use Hootsuite to schedule posts on Facebook.
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Sadly I don’t do much to push my blog. It’s connected to my facebook and twitter feeds, so it automatically posts. Other than that, I’ve scaled back on my marketing. It takes so much time away from the writing. *sigh* Why does being an author have to be so time consuming??
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Oh, I know. If I could just clone myself and have my clone push my blog, promoting and marketing for me. And I’ll (original me) just take care of the writing.
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Your post made me realize I haven’t been using some of those hashtags as often as I was for a while. Thanks for the reminder.
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You’re welcome, Susan. I’m still getting the hang of using hashtags. Just a couple of months ago I wasn’t using them at all.
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You’re smart to monitor what day you get the most visits. Traffic to my blog varies depending on my posts. IWSG is one of my more popular posts.
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Thanks, Cherie. I’ve noticed that IWSG is one of my more popular posts as well. I’m also looking at which blog posts had the most views to repurpose when I’m strapped for blog post ideas.
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Ooh there are some good hashtags on that list! This month my effort to bring some new traffic is to be an IWSG host 😉
But i will have to check out some of those hashtags too.
Happy IWSG Day!
AJ Lauer
an IWSG co-host
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Ooh, becoming an IWSG co-host is definitely a good way to bring new traffic. You can also try #writechat to discuss and/or find answers to writing questions with other writers.
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Driving traffic to your blog can be hard work at times, but it is very important if you want to be succesful! I do a lot of social media sharing and am on a lot of sites. Sometimes it can be difficult to always keep up with, but in most cases it pays off in the end and I am glad to see traffic come in! Also, experimenting with timing is a good thing to do to optimise your reach.
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Hard work and time consuming. But if I can optimise my reach, then its worth it. And I like I said before, I love Hootsuite since it allows me to schedule posts ahead of time.
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I find, invariably, that I get the most traffic to my site on days when I’ve posted absolutely nothing of merit, but on days when I post something that I think is brilliant the site is dead. It can be frustrating at times, but I try to take the stats where they come.
One of the best stat drivers to my blog is my Facebook Author Page. I share my blog posts there so all my friends and family who don’t normally read blogs still see them. 🙂
Good luck driving your own stats!
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I go through the same thing. I’d get a brilliant post idea and blog about it. But then there’s not much or little traffic to the site. Good example is the Veronica Mars blog post last week. I loved the show and its writing.
And it has a huge cult following, so what happened?
My best stat drivers comes from Google+. Which is funny to me, because I have more followers and friends, and am part of more groups on FB. Hhmm, I wonder what I’m doing right on Google+. And how I can do the same with FB?
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It’s really hard to figure that stuff out sometimes. I’ve gotten a good number of hits on Google+ too, and I don’t even really use it, other than to share my YouTube videos. o.O I think we all need a statistic analysis specialist watching out for us. lol
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Oh, I’d pay top dollar for a statistic analysis specialist.
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I have seen a hike on certain days. Could be because I’m mingling more on Google+ but I can’t be sure. #MondayBlogs worked for me for a little while but after that my posts were buried. Not the right crowd for kid literature so I just stick to #kidlit and #childrensbooks when it comes to Twitter. Glad to know traffic to your blog is increasing, Lidy!
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Thanks, Claudine. Sorry #MondayBlogs hasn’t continued to work out for you. And speaking of crowds, you’ve just inspired an idea to mingle more with the young adult literature crowd. Off to research some #ya hashtags.
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Great post and thanks for the tips–there’s a lot here that I haven’t been doing. I am posting more on Twitter and that gets people to my blog which is great. I need to do a better job on commenting on others’ posts. I also used to post my blogs on Linked In which yielded followers and traffic, but haven’t done that recently. I try to take it all in stride. As others have said, some weeks, you write something brilliant which you think will bring the masses and it doesn’t. Other weeks, you write something very basic and it seems to click. We’re in for the long haul of developing community and fellowship.
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You’re welcome, Michele. Good thing that now I’m on WordPress.com, it automatically shares my posts to my FB, Google+, LinkedIn and Twitter accounts. And then I also share it on SheWrites.com and Bookblogs.ning.com. Developing community is a long haul, but eventually you’ll bear fruit.
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I got the most comments on my blog ever yesterday by being a cohost for the IWSG. So that’s an option. Blogfests have been my go-to tool since I’m not into Twitter or Facebook.
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Yes, being an IWSG co-host definitely brings a lot of traffic. Considering being a co-host in the future now. What Blogfests have you been a part of.
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Great question. The simple answer — working myself to death. 🙂 I hadn’t even thought about the time factor. Currently, I go to and support other blogs of interest to me; in return, some tend to come back and support me. But, it’s difficult to keep up with.
@dino0726 from
FictionZeal – Impartial, Straighforward Fiction Book Reviews
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That too I understand. Sometimes, the only way I can keep up is thanks to my blogroll. And the blogs I’m following feed on Bloglovin and WordPress.com.
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Reblogged this on Kim's Author Support Page.
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Thanks for the reblog 😀
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Hi Lidy,
I can relate to what you’ve written. WordPress said Saturday is my best day (I agree thanks to page views). WordPress said 6 am is my best time. However, I believe that’s due to my Monday linky party publishing at 6:00 am. They don’t have to jive to be logical.
I am self-hosting in a few days. I am moving to mostlyblogging.com. I am pretty nervous about it. I hope you will follow me over there. Thanks,
Your nervous friend.
Janice
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Congrats on self-hosting! Thinking of doing the same in the future but nervous about doing it. And of course, I’ll follow y anywhere 😉
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Awww😘
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