Blogging can be lonely especially when your blog is not growing, your traffic is sinking and somewhere deep down you just want a way to grow your blog badly but can’t place your hand on a better strategy to grow your blog.

Blog growth does not only mean traffic it involves so many other factors, your traffic, blog income, ability to find your unique blogging voice and connect with your readers, choosing the right nice that suits your personality and having a productive blog. I define a successful blog as a blog that meets the desired purpose of its creator yet has a reflection of its owner.
In 2020, you shouldn’t get stuck when there are lots of information flying around the intent for almost free. Here are a few tips that will set you on the right path and help you grow your blog.

NO.1 Way to Grow Your Blog: Go for Upgrade Classes:

Upgrade classes or courses could be defined as courses you take to upgrade your skill in a particular area of interest or profession. Just like every other profession, upgrade classes are important.
In 2020, take a blogging class which means ” purchase a course” in the area where you are lacking or need more improvement.
These classes will help you build and grow your brand, sharpen your skill and build credibility. The first step is to discover the area where you are having difficulty, go for upgrade classes in that area.
Example: If you need help growing your blog traffic, I recommend Ana’s book “The She Approach to Boosting Your Blog Traffic“.   It is just for 25 dollars.
Ps; All products listed here are just because I find them useful and none are for affiliate sale.
If you are struggling with SEO, you should check out Leanne Wong’s courses on SEO. She has a free SEO Boot Camp that will set you on the right path and help you rank your blog post on google.

NO.2 Way to Grow Your Blog: Become an executor:

There is a 90% probability that you have a long list of to do’s and projects that will help you to grow your blog. But, somehow, you have never been able to bring them to life. You are either on another bloggers page wishing to be like them or focusing on the negative reasons why you haven’t executed the project.

Reasons Why You Are Not Executing Any Project.

It’s Cus You are ;

1. not confident about you have done
2. talking down on your process
spending time on other people’s blog and social pages comparing rather than working on your project.
3. wasting too much time doing irrelevant things
easily distracted. In this post, I explained how you can block out distractions when blogging.
4. You are a perfectionist and never feel that project is ready enough to be executed: Lola Akw of the Blogger etiquette once wrote on why every perfectionist needs to stop procrastinating and start doing.
There will always be room for update and that’s why you need to stop procrastinating and start doing.

No.3 Way to Grow Your Blog: Launch your product To earn passive income.

90% of bloggers who started blogging wanted financial freedom or freedom in one way or the and if I ask you why you started blogging you may also tell something similar.
The road to that financial freedom as a blogger is creating your products. There are forms which you may be having income, either through affiliates, private advertising. But what’s your goal for blogging. Did you start blogging to gain financial freedom?
Then, one the ways to earn financial freedom is to have a source of passive income where you are in charge. As bloggers, it is important to create your digital product.

Reasons why you should have a digital product.

Digital products;

1. are evergreen
2. are direct sources of revenue
3. guarantee that financial freedom that made you quit your 9-5 job

List of Digital Products you can create:

  1. E-courses
  2. Online Coaching classes
  3. Printables: Learn how to create simple printables and PDF’s in Canva in this post
  4. E-books
  5. Become a virtual assistant
  6. Co-hosting Masterclasses

No.4 Way to Grow your Blog- Grow Your Email List:

If you are yet to take the business of growing your email list serious. Hello, it’s time you surge that list. The advantages of having an email list cannot be overemphasized. I feel it is becoming an over flogged issue already.
As a blogger, you are a King in your Email list and you control what happens from there.
According to statistics, emails have an opening rate of 40%. While, on the other hand, Instagram has an audience reach of about  2%.

Do you want to know why Your Email List is Better off than Instagram?

1. Due to the algorithm on social media, especially Instagram. only about 2% of your audience gets to see your content whenever you post on the platform.
2. You have no control over what happens on social media: as I stated above, in your Email list there is no algorithm. You control what happens in your list. While social platforms limit the reach of your post reach using their algorithm.
Facebook and Instagram make money from you through advertising, and this strategy guarantees that. want more post reach, you just have to pay for it.
4. It helps you to create and build a community of raving fans: When you grow your email list, you tend to build and connect with your audience on a deeper level. You will have those who are so ready to buy your products whenever you launch them. It is another level or form of connection and this part is one of my favourites.
Because you can share certain information that you may not want to put on the blog with them for free. Email list growth is one of the most important aspects of list growth.
Your email list is not just for ” salesy peaching” alone. But you can generate tons of organic traffic from your by sending newsletters to your list with links to your blog post.
Just imagine you have a list of at least 1000 persons and 40% which is 400 opens your newsletter. This figure is not a cap because sometimes the opening rate may be higher depending on the interest of your subscribers. I don’t think you want to be told what the wonders of having an email list feel like.

How to Grow an Email List

The best way to grow your blog using an email list is offering something in exchange for your subscriber’s email. When I first had an email list,  I put up the normal archaic “Be the first to get our juicy post, Subscribe to our newsletter”.
Honestly, I can’t remember having anyone on that list until I intentionally wanted a list of my own.
Melyssa Griffin, in one of her webinars, advised that to grow your email list, you need to have at least 7-sign up forms strategically placed in different parts of your blog which includes the header, Landing pages, at the bottom of your post, in the body of your blog post and at the sidebars of your blog.
When placing a form in between the body of a blog post. You should create content upgrades related to your blog post.
Freebie on how to place optin forms that converts
Example:
In this blog post, “3 questions for picking a profitable blog niche” contains an opt-in which is my free e-book on how to pick a profitable blog niche. I get at least 2-signups in a day. This figure is low compared to what others may be having, but I am appreciating my growth process.
Save this as a pin to your blogging tips board
Do you have a palnned strategy to grow your blog in 2020? You need better ways to grow your blog and income. Read best hacks to grow your blog this year

No. 5 Way to Grow Your Blog- Shamelessly Promote Your Blog:

If you are like me who was shy about promoting my blog post because I never wanted to look so too “Salesy” or bug others then my friend, I think it is time to wake up and promote your blog.  
When I started blogging, I would write a new blog post each day because I was in the entertainment niche and I barely had up to  300 views in a day. I wrote more blog post than I promoted them.
Currently, I write a maximum of two blog posts a week because, after I changed my blogging niche and re-branded the blog, most of the blog posts from the other niche couldn’t fit in.
I am creating a content bank as I want my blog to become  ” a go-to blog”. When I have reached my blog content goal, I may reduce the number of the post I will be putting out here a week and channel that time to doing something great too.

Places you could promote your blog content.

1. Email list
2. your Instagram Stories
3. Quora
4. Facebook group pods
5. Pinterest

How to Grow your Blog Using Pinterest:

95% of bloggers leverage the power of Pinterest to drive a huge amount of traffic to their blog and at the same time make money off this traffic. Pinterest is that tool you need to set your blog on the global map and also overcome the terror associated with Google Algorithm.
  1. You need to set up your Pinterest Business account
  2. Claim your account and set up rich pins
  3. Add Keywords to your profile
  4. Create relevant boards
  5. Pin: For a newbie, I recommend 30 Pins daily. 10-15 pins of yours and 20 from others.
  6. Join Pinterest group boards
  7. Use Tailwind to schedule your pins
Use this link and get a one month free trial from Tailwind and note, your credit card is not needed.
Tailwind is currently the most wildly used tool for scheduling and growing your Pinterest account faster. If you can grow your Pinterest account, you can drive a ton of traffic from Pinterest to your blog.
This blogpost  Pinterest SEO: How to Write Keyword Rich Pin Descriptions by Leanne Wong will guide on how to write Pin descriptions and keyword-rich pins.

No. 6 Ways to Grow Your Blog- Collaborate with other bloggers in your Niche:

The importance of collaborating with other bloggers in your niche cannot be overemphasized. In the new blogging year, collaboration should be on your list.

Fun things to do with other bloggers include:

1. Joining them on their podcast and youtube channel
2. Engage in guest posting
3. Launch a product together
4. Co-host a Facebook live session
5. Co-host webinars
Get on the blog of those bloggers you admire, leave useful comments.
This will help you get in front of their audience. Imagine, you get on a blog that receives an average of 100k visitors monthly. Maybe you guest posted on a blog and that blog post receives lots of re-shares, you will have tons of evergreen traffic returning to your site

How to Find Bloggers for Collaborations :

The easiest way to find bloggers to collaborate with is on Facebook group board as you will be able to find different kinds of bloggers both at intermediate, amateur and professional level. lol. You can find them in these group board.
It is easier to get collaborations or contact theses bloggers from a Facebook group than to get into their mail and expect feed-backs.
Facebook Pods and Community:
If you are newbie trying to gain traffic or build connections with others, you should be on a Facebook Pod because in these group you have Bloggers networking with others while trying to grow their income, improve their blog’s SEO and traffic in general. So are you engaging in a Facebook pod? 

No.7 Way to Grow Your Blog  – Write down your Blogging Goals Bodlly: 

In 2020, you should never be scared of writing down your blogging goals boldly as a reminder and get yourself right to work.
Examples of Blogging Goals with Action Plans:
The blog monthly page views will increase to a minimum 100,000
I want to make at least 5000 dollars from blog
My email list subscribers will be at least 5000
I want at least 3 of my post to rank on Google and Pinterest
My Instagram followers will be at 14k before the year runs out
My Pinterest will be at least 7-million views in 2020
These are well spelt blogging goals but how can you achieve them?
You should break your blogging goals down properly and in other to grow, these goals need to have a guideline on how you intend achieving them. Don’t just go about writing goals without a proper plan and strategy to achieve them.
Illustration 1: I want to grow my email list to at least 5000 subscribers.
Action plans:
I will create five main opt-in Freebies which includes;
An E-book or guide
Two checklists that will be associated with a blog post and this blog post will be related to my digital product
A free masterclass
These Freebies will be placed strategically on the blog. I will promote them on Pinterest and other platforms I use to drive traffic to my blog. The essence of this is because I  want to put my valuable content in front of as many persons as possible.
This is an example of a broken down goal. it doesn’t just have the “I will do’s” attached to it only but, processes showing how to achieve these goals. You have to keep in mind that your goals should have laid down strategy and if by the time you implement these strategies within the first few months of 2020 and you are not getting a significant difference, please tweak it.
Example:
When I created a free resource library on my blog, I wasn’t getting any subscriber from that position until I created a post talking about about “How to create a free resource library in Wordpress” and I shared it on Pinterest, within a month I started getting subscribers coming from that post and also, people trying to gain access to my resource library.
The game of blogging is about strategy and information. what works for the next person may not work for you. You need to learn how to tweak your strategy after watching them over time.

No. 8 Way to Grow Your Blog- Start Planning Now:

Get a Planner and try to plan your blogging year before the end of 2019. Planning your contents ahead of time is very essential if you want to be a very productive blogger.
The truth is that there is more to planning than just waking up in a morning a put out a blog post. In this post about becoming a productive blogger. I have put down while planning your contents is very important.
There so many reasons why you need to start planning your blogging year 2020 if you want to grow your blog. You do not have to get into 2020 to put things down together.
Companies, plan their year from October to November, why don’t you use that strategy. Planning ahead of time allows you to test your new strategies before time and, it also allows you to get things down rightly.
Example, you want to launch a digital course in January, maybe January 15 precisely. Do you have to wait for January to come before putting things in place? If you start writing a blog post similar to the topic of your digital course, warming them up, drafting out newsletters and promotional emails, peaching your ideas to the right audience about a month before your course launch.

How to Plan on Time:

1. Get a planner: I recommend this free blog planner from Staycurls Blog. Put down your ideas and break them using dates, and a follow-up strategy.
2. Run an analysis on how your business has gone in 2019: Your most successful strategy should be repeated and add more to it if possible.
3. Think about brands you can work with and how to get them on your side.
4. Be productive rather than very busy
5. Stay committed.

No.9 Way to Grow Your Blog – Consistency:

Consistency in blogging is like 5&6, Romeo and Juliet, teacup and coffee. These things go hand-in-hand if you want to grow your blog.
Example: Carry out a survey and run through the advice of successful bloggers who have grown their blog over the years. Search for “ways to grow your blog” and you will find 90% of them telling you consistency pays. Consistency is a virtue in blogging, and if you must grow your blog, consistency should be a part of your strategy.
A Quick Story: When I was sourcing for ways to grow my traffic, I decided to hop on the Pinterest train as almost every blogger was singing the praises of Pinterest and Tailwind (If you are not on Tailwind, use this link to get 1-month free and another one month when you upgrade).
I tried applying a few strategies, and I noticed for about a week, Pinterest was consistently sending about 100 persons to my blog on a daily. It was nice, and I increased my strategies but, along the line, I fell sick and I couldn’t blog for about 2-weeks. I noticed everything dropped and If you must grow your blog, you need to be consistent.

How to be Consistent:

1. Batch up your work: If you must survive the hectic blogging routine bloggers go through, batching your work should be at the top of your list. I discussed in this post 14- ways to become more productive as a blogger.
2. Use automation tools: For now, the automation tool I use to schedule and promote my pins is Tailwind
3. I also use Zappier to do a lot of integrations in order to save time, you can use it for free too.
4. Create a posting schedule: You need to have a posting schedule, you need to create contents consistently and build trust among your readers and visitors.

No. 10 Way to Grow Your Blog-Put out time for breaks:

In 2020, never get into a rut or get burnt out from the challenges or demands that come with a blog. Taking short breaks to bond with family, yourself is very important and this should be effectively planned.

Ps: Which Growth hack or hacks are you currently using to grow your blog? Don’t forget to share with us. I would love to hear from you.

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Do you have a palnned strategy to grow your blog in 2020? You need better ways to grow your blog and income. Read best hacks to grow your blog this year