As the world slowly becomes a ghost town, I am not really surprised by the improving traffic numbers of WriterSanctuary.com. After all, I try to help people earn money from home as a writer. I just wish I had more to give.

And although I am going through a rough time right now (about to be homeless in a week), I still feel responsible for helping everyone I can. When I don’t blog or create a video, I feel like I am letting my audience down.

It’s my nature.

How am I Improving Traffic to the Blog?

There’s really no magic key for improving traffic to any website. And “experts” who guarantee certain methods absolutely work are not really being honest.

That’s because every industry, blog, creator and circumstance is different. There are simply too many variables in play to say with 100% certainty that any strategy is “foolproof.”

With that being said, here is what I do for WriterSanctuary.com that has improved traffic by nearly three times over the past year…despite living in a pandemic.

1. Regularly Pushing Out High-Quality Content

Consistency is greatly beneficial no matter what you’re trying to accomplish. Whether it’s blogging, making YouTube videos, exercising or even keeping a beautiful lawn, constantly working on your project keeps the wheels turning.

Since the beginning of 2020, I’ve put in more effort to maintain the blogs. Unfortunately, recent events have made this a bit more difficult. However, I’m still managing to get in more this year than I did in 2019.

2. Continuing Activity on Social Sites

Being active on social media has made a huge difference this year in terms of engagement. And I mean doing more than just sharing links to your blog posts.

The more active you are, the better. Join in conversations and be a part of a community. The key to social media is actually being “social.” This leads to more people following your accounts and interacting when you do share a blog post.

3. Revamping and Fixing Older Pieces

Google loves it when you keep your content up-to-date. This means going back and making adjustments and bringing the text current.

I’ve seen revamps contribute greatly to improving traffic by more than three times. Of course, this also depends on the topic of the post. But for the most part, traffic and search visibility has increased across the board.

4. Being Patient

One of the biggest things you need to understand is that it could take months before your articles start generating a decent amount of traffic.

Case in point, my review of Buy Me a Coffee is now the most visited post on WriterSanctuary.com. It took around three months before visitors really started pouring into the site.

The bottom line is that you’ll need to be patient when creating your content. Don’t expect every blog post to go viral as soon as you hit the publish button.

How Long Does Improving Traffic Take?

Now, no one can really tell you how long it will take before visitors come flocking to your website. As I said earlier, there are too many variables. A blog post can start gaining traction within a week, or it could take several months.

However, there are a few things you can do that will help increase the likelihood of improving traffic to your site.

Ask yourself:

What Are Your Goals?

What do you want to get out of making content? Are you looking to replace a full-time income? Do you just want to be social? Perhaps you simply want to share certain aspects of your life.

Having an idea of your ultimate goals can help guide your path. You’ll have a better idea about how often you need to create and what kinds of topics you want to cover.

Who Are You Targetting?

How much do you know about your target audience? What do they like to read about most and what methods are you using to determine that information?

Knowing your target audience is important if you want to continue delivering quality content to them.

For example, visitors to WriterSanctuary.com are looking for ways to be a freelance writer or how to use Textbroker. So, writing something about home repair would be quite useless on that blog.

Keep an eye on your analytics data and follow along with what visitors read on your website. It can open all kinds of doors for future content for improving traffic.

Where Are You Marketing?

Having good search engine optimization is valuable. It’s really your first step to marketing the blog. However, you need to go beyond just making sure your site is fast and you’re using quality keyphrases.

Sharing on social media, email campaigns, sharing links in forums and word-of-mouth are but a few different methods for marketing. If people don’t know it exists, they’re not going to visit.

And sometimes this includes guest posts on other blogs.

How Often Do You Create Content?

Remember, consistency is imperative when accumulating an audience. Many people like the idea of relying on posts from creators at specific times. And if you can’t deliver, you can easily be forgotten.

And if you don’t create it, no one is going to consume it.

Speaking from experience, the blog does far better in terms of visitors if I stick to a regular publishing schedule. Unfortunately, that’ll probably have to wait until May when I move into my new house.

Why are You Creating Content?

And lastly, have a set idea of why you’re creating content in the first place. Is it to make money? Are you looking to help people learn something in particular? Do you want to show off your entertainment value?

This aspect is more about understanding yourself and figuring out what drives and motivates you.

Effort is Key to Improving Traffic

If you want to keep growing a blog’s audience, it all comes down to effort. From improving traffic to boosting an audience retention rate, you need to put in the work.

Like I tell my clients and staff, “If you put in a half-assed effort, expect a half-assed result.”

And don’t focus too much on trying to go viral. Instead, focus on delivering the best you can and let the audience decide.