Oneyear ago, we headed out on our honeymoon to the Canadian Rockies. It was a relaxing week full of good food, sleep, and company. And more importantly, it was refreshing–we got outdoors, my morning sickness came to a pleasantly abrupt end, and I made the decision to take blogging seriously.
You might think it’s a bit odd that I spent a few afternoons on vacation blogging, but that’s the way I work. When I have space to breathe away from the stress of everyday life, I’m the most creative and ambitious. So I try to channel my inspiration into something productive. Something I can stand back from and say, “Wow, I made that.”
In 2019, I decided to make a few goals for myself when it came to blogging:
- Practice food photography. Get my recipes onto food sharing sites, namely foodgawker.
- Get serious about Pinterest and figure out how to share my content with a wider audience.
- By extending the reach of my content, hit 1,000 unique monthly site visitors by the end of the year–a small goal for most people, but keep in mind that I was maybe clearing 300 at the beginning of the year. Basically just my family and friends read my blog! I wanted to increase blog traffic so that people I didn’t already know were seeing my stuff, too.
Here’s a look at the progress I made towards those goals–even with taking a months-long break for the end of my pregnancy and newborn days mid-year!
My Food Photography
When I got back from Canada, I pulled my DSLR out of the closet. I popped on the barely-touched 55-200mm lens. The previously unused tripod was set up. A cheap white table became my photography backdrop. Then, I got to shooting.
I published my first photos and recipe a couple weeks later and surprisingly, it made it onto foodgawker! I was so pleased to see my little thumbnail pop up on the first page that morning. Over the years, I’d submitted seven photos to foodgawker and received seven rejections. Not this time!
I built a neat little gallery over the year and also one on FoodYub (slightly less choosy) and Healthy Aperture (I applied for this account later in the year, so I already had some content to show for myself).
Check that one off! I’ve developed a little process of brainstorming and sketching my food styling. I learned how to shoot in manual mode and how to edit my photos to look even better after shooting. I bought a cheap artificial light setup in the fall so that I wouldn’t have to be a slave to fussy winter light. This year I’m hoping to experiment more with different surfaces, angles (I want to master the flatlay) and more creative styling as well.
My Pinterest Account
Ah, social media. You are really not my friend sometimes.
Despite this, I did have one recipe that’s gotten almost 400 repins this year and two others that did moderately well. My average monthly impressions increased 400%. I joined a few food blogger group boards and became active in a Facebook group that isn’t food blogger specific, but has other food blogging members who I’m hoping to connect with in the future.
So I’m not sure I can really check this one off. I realize that I need to get better at creating pinnable recipe graphics and generally shooting photos that are more “Pinterest-friendly.” (By this, I mean more zoomed in and more eye-catching colors and styling. My photos are too bland and minimalist at the moment).
My Blog Traffic
As per a digital marketing friend, monthly blog pageviews aren’t the best metric to measure reach. Unique site visitors is what really tells you how many people are looking at your site and content. Also, they are key to turning your blog into a side hustle. That is to say, they’re a better indicator of potential clickthroughs and purchases.
I honestly did not think I would make my goal for this year. But in November, I hit 1100 site visitors! Thanks mostly to the combined effects of food sharing sites, a few successful pins, and this blog post about eating tuna (random, LOL), I hit my goal to increase blog traffic by over 200%.
Takeaways
My takeaways for bloggers on how to increase blog traffic naturally, without paying anything:
- Content is king. My most popular blog post of all time is one that answered a burning question I had and couldn’t find the answer to. The world has enough generic lists of self-care tips and “X Recipes to Make This Fall”… be original and create content YOU want to read.
- People are visual creatures. Focusing on my photography and starting to work on graphic design has yielded promising results for me. Learn how to shoot manual and edit your photos! (Would anyone like a tutorial on my food photography process at the moment?)
- Pinterest is a powerful tool, even if your post doesn’t take off immediately. If you created a beautiful graphic or image and it sits there long enough–and repin, repin, repin your stuff!–someone is bound to find and share it. Join group boards in your niche to up your reach, too.
- Your goals need to be measurable–think in numbers! One reason why I half-assed my Pinterest goal is I didn’t make it concrete. If you want to “grow your Instagram,” write down how. Followers? Post engagement? Sponsorships? It’s hard to achieve a goal if you don’t know what you’re trying to achieve.
- If what you’re doing isn’t working, try something else! Isn’t there some generic quote that says, “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is insanity”? It’s true. Don’t waste time on techniques that aren’t working. Don’t get so overly attached to your work that you’re afraid to scrap it if it isn’t. Scrap it! Start over! Experiment until you hit success.
Next week I’ll share my blogging goals for 2020. What are your goals for your personal or work life this year?