Increasing Hits on a Single Blog Post

Welcome to my little blog, Giftie Etcetera. 

Back when I started (as a lifestyle/parenting blog) in 2007, I had posts that got as few as 3 views and averaged about 20 views for a couple of years.

As you stumble around my blog today, you'll notice that I focus more on planners, organizing, and being productive. I also have a few more readers these days.

But I still have an obstacle that I have not conquered.

I haven't had a post go viral yet.

Oh, I hear stories of individual posts getting 40,000, 75,000, or even 100,000+ views, but that's not me.

I suppose it is partially because I am a niche blogger. But surely over 100,000 people use a day planner?

Maybe it's just a question of luck. 

For a post to go viral, people have to share and share and share again. 

I don't spend a lot of time sharing my posts or begging my friends and Loyal Readers to share on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter, so the chances of a post going viral are lower for me.

I also rarely post anything very controversial or use undeserved sensationalist headlines.

But I do have a few posts that are really close to 10,000 views. My post about Five Essential Sections Every Planner Needs is really close. Honestly, this post linking to that one might put me over the top!

I examined that post closely (and invite you to do so here) to see what contributes to the higher number of views on that single post.

I discovered things that help to increase the view count:

*Easy-to-read, visually simple, titled Pinterest pin, with great keywords and a number in the title.

Check it out here (and repin if you would like). A great pin makes a post more likely to go viral.

*Links back from newer blog posts to the more popular one.

I compiled a list of ways to revive an old post. 

I often refer back to my most popular posts for two reasons: 

1. I've monetized them, so I can earn a bit of money without working for it and without overwhelming my readers with sponsored content every day, instead earning money off of tried-and-true posts.

2. If posts were popular, they tend to be posts that have a ton of helpful information. People still want to read it. 

I've updated the SEO on the older posts, too, if they were really popular.

*Clear, easy-to-read look of the blog itself.

My most popular posts tend to be my more recent posts, mostly because I've changed my blog to make it more reader-friendly, with larger fonts and a cleaner look.

Understand, my blog is still busier than most bloggers recommend. For me, that's a style choice. I like to give my readers as much access to my blog as possible. That is more important to me than a clean look.

But changing from this post's default font to the newer font found in this post certainly makes my blog more readable.

Though I blog on Blogger instead of Wordpress, I've removed all Blogger messaging to make my blog feel more professional. (I am a hobby blogger at heart, though, so I am okay with imperfection!) My blog doesn't have the navbar, icons, or "powered by Blogger" attribute that so many Blogger blogs have.

(Thank you, Dr. Harkrider, for teaching me Pascal in high school so that I could understand coding and fix little issues with my blog. And thank you, Google, for being my new best friend when I don't understand the coding.)

*Strong Facebook presence.

I have a presence in several Facebook groups that are niche-specific and often share my stuff, without me ever spamming the groups.

The funny thing is that my favorite posts tell stories (like this one), but my most popular posts are simple, how-to guides.

But don't discount those stories.

Stories filled with honesty and feeling drive readers back to Giftie Etcetera, as they build a relationship with me. 

It's those Loyal Readers who share and repin in the how-to-guides in the first place, giving a post a chance to go viral.

I'll let you know when a post exceeds 100,000!

(Shout out to my fellow LSMSA Class of 1992 gifties who might be reading this today. I know you ALL loved Pascal, too, right?!?)

Etcetera.

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