I have never had a post go viral. So the first thing you can do as a lazy blogger is stop reading right now. Still, I have been blogging seriously for a year and have tripled my readership. I have regular gigs writing outside of my blog and make enough cash to offset all of the services that you see below. Particularly the free services.
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I still haven’t nailed the headline Co Schedule Headline Analyzer. I love puns. I love obscure shadowy references. But I also love traffic and shares. The tool I use to make sure my posts (for the most part) are optimized for clicks is Co-Schedule Headline analyzer. I enter my rough headline and scroll down for analysis. In a glance I know the type of headline I have chosen, the mix of words- power/emotion/ etc. It takes trial and error to improve my grade but in three or four minutes (faster than a Yugo) I can go from the red to the green. I have never scored 100. A girl can dream. Co-Schedule Headline Analyzer.
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Unsplash writer search Unsplash. I share this with a heavy heart. It is sort of like when you have an incredible baby sitter that makes your kids as happy as you about date night and you give his name to a friend. It is hard to share. I use Unsplash to illustrate almost every post I write. I’m sure they say it more poetically but I’ll sum it up as a simple site full of free high def images. You can use them anywhere for any reason without attribution. A few weeks ago I was generous enough to share this site with a small group of writers and one of those
bitchestalented ladies used some of my favorite images. I’m sure I will be just as understanding with all of you. Unsplash -
Look at all of those profiles in one place! Buffer. I broke up with Hootsuite about a year ago. My relationship with Buffer has much less angst. It allows me to post to one or all of my profiles. It has an advance scheduler that I can view by the day or week or month. If I want to change the time it is drag and drop (so good, so easy.) Or I can allow Buffer to send out those things when they can get the most love. I can analyze the stats of my posts and simply click “re-buffer” to send things out again. If I want I can a/b test by changing up the call to action in the headline. It is a breeze. The only downside is that I have to have twitter going to read incoming tweets (unlike Hootsuite which has incoming streams as well as outgoing). I can’t imagine participating in social media without it. Wasn’t there some sort of headache remedy called “bufferine”? That can’t be a coincidence. Buffer.
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Good tagline, right? Blogging Facebook Groups. There are 100s of groups. Maybe even thousands. At their worst they are time sucks. Frankly even at their best they take time. Some allow you to pimp your channels without real engagement, some have strict guidelines, some have bloggers with such specific niches it feels like an onion article, and some are a series of sales pitches. Yet there are a few special group that boost your traffic and build your relationships. My top three blogging facebook groups are. Blog Share Learn– BSL is robust and interactive with daily threads to share your own posts and additional opportunities to support your social media following. Bloppy Bloggers– BB is slightly quirky and always interactive with a small but super engaged group (and often humorous) writers. Blogging Anarchy– the name says it all. Do whatever you want. Post, don’t post. Share, don’t share. Comment, don’t comment. Despite (because of?) this attitude I have made some friends and followers from this new group of writers.
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Look at those low low prices Pinterest Pin service. I found Katie in two (maybe even three?) of the above FB groups. She always had the best looking pins for pinterest and the traffic to match. Luckily for me (and you) she realized the rest of us needed her. For a super low price she will make you pins. I have opted for even more of her help and she re-organized my boards and even does some of my pinning for me using analytics to post to great group boards. My inbound clicks from Pinterest have gone from 2 a day to 65 a day. The best part is these readers have a 20% bounce rate. That is incredibly low. The pins have enough content to have interested them…so when they click to read more they actually want to read more. Additionally Pinterest, unlike other social media platforms is not time sensitive. Pins pay off long after they have been posted. Check out her services here.
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You can’t quite see how much vital information is represented by this logo. Beyond Your Blog. This is the website that inspired me get my writing published outside of my blog. BYB has podcasts with editors from pretty much every publication you can think of explaining what they are looking for in a submission. BYB posts links to paid and free opportunities and has huge free lists of sites that accept syndicated content. All of these are arranged by topic area. Add to this anthologies and regular success stories and you have a place of inspiration and information. I can’t think of another site that combines all of the tools to make your words leap from your blog to the world wide web. Start Here.
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9,000 clicks I didn’t have to make. Adblock. This chrome extension doesn’t actually help me get clicks on my blog. But it does keep me from throwing my laptop across the room from dealing with incessant pop ups so that allows me to continue writing. Which then allows me to continue posting. Which drives traffic to my site. Look at the 9,000+ clicks I didn’t have to make in the 3 weeks I have had Adblock installed. That probably equates to 100 eye rolls, 90 deep sighs, 10 screams of outrage, and at least 20 minutes of my life that I didn’t waste.
- Click to Tweet. Honestly this has probably brought me 28 clicks in the three months I have been using it. However it is a way to break of a block of text (which is always a good thing with you lazy readers) that might serve a function. [Tweet theme=”basic-white”]Click to Tweet: It takes about two seconds to add a tweet box and makes me feel like a pro. [/Tweet]
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I could watch Fletch. With commercials. Askimet. There was a time when I didn’t reply to comments on my blog. I know. I know. Blogging etiquette 101. The reason? The viagra ads. Its not that I don’t espouse a healthy sex life because I DO. It’s just that the comments got lost in a sea of little blue pills. Or some less appropriate analogy. Askiment is a Word Press Plug in that seems to love viagra. It gobbles up all of those spam comments itself. Askimet.
Sumome. Even though it looks like Sue me Sumome is a free and super simple email subscriber plug in. You can customize the pop up to be more pretty and less annoying than most. I don’t sell anything so my subscriber list is worth $0 and 0 cents. Those of you who do though are supposed to value each email address at $1. I think I read once. Just ignore that last bit. Even though giving me your email doesn’t give me any actual cash it does send my posts to your inbox. Almost all of my subscribers read my posts. If I ever did sell anything stats say about 1% of them would buy it. So lets build our lists. Sumome.
Mail Chimp. Sumome needs a friend. Its best friend happens to be a chimp. A mail chimp. This email tool is free (for most of us) and super easy to use. Plus you can look at a cute chimp logo. Mail Chimp. He is so little but so happy and see his hat? He will deliver your electronic letters for you.
Trello. Trello is a super flexible easy to use system for lists, assignments and more. I found Trello back when I was developing apps with a team (a cheap team) and we could watch each other accomplish what we needed to move a project forward. We could also watch each other forget steps and ignore the worst bits of the project. Used alone it is a way to track post ideas, add details and access all of the above from anywhere. Trello.
To reward those of you who made it all the way down here I will share my happy ending.
I now have a post that has gone viral. And no, it is not this one…yet. This pin has sent me over 250,000 readers in a month.In fact I am such a basic user that I was never able to track down who to thank for all of that traffic. Scroll back on up to #5 above and for $5 you can be a lazy pinner with pins poised to go viral.
The headline analyzer told me it was a good headline. And I listened. I would not say that it is the best image I have on my author board. That thing is filled with bras and kittens. Yet somehow this is the one that took off. Those are the sort of results that this lazy blogger loves.
Want to read more about boosting blog traffic? Here is a cheap book.
If your vag post didn’t go viral I can not even imagine what would. I mean, seriously!
I know! Seriously. You should check out buffer. It’s easy.
Thank you Anna for sharing your information and experience. I never heard of Beyond Your Blog. I will have to check it out.
The beyond you bloggers facebook group is really good.
Thanks for the mention and what a great list! And not just for the lazy.
But it DOES work for the lazy so that is a bonus.
I do all of those things. I LOVE Buffer and broke up with Hootsuite a long time ago. Thanks Anna!
ALL. Great minds!
Great list and thanks for sharing. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone else about Unsplash. Haha.
Each and every one of these suggestions is worth its weight in gold. Thank you, Anna, for sharing them I am starting by getting Adblock. Now.
Adblock is the best. I hope you love it too.
Love the advice, great for beginners like myself 😀 Found you on Bloppy and joined the other two Facebook groups!
I hope you enjoy them as well! See you in group.
I’ve been using Unsplash for a while now, I love it, but yes, there is always the risk of duplication. Although it is possible to mess around with cropping and overlays to make your own version unique. Pixabay’s another fab stock photo site, I’ve only recently started using it, and already hooked. 🙂
I’ve never used hootsuite or buffer, Something for me to look into. I’m a ‘very happy’ member of Blog-Share-Learn and have been for a while. It’s a lovely/supportive group. I’ll have to check out the other groups yo mention. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
You are welcome. I will check out pixabay! Buffer is a life saver for me. Particularly the re-buffering.
This isn’t a site for cheap viagra? Damn Google search engine shenanigans! Sorry for dropping in I’m off to find that little blue pill at a discount for my E.D. uncle.
Seriously though all those sites are good for any blogger to check out.
Sorry to disappoint.
Thanks for sharing this great list. I use some of the tools you mentioned but you have also given me some new ideas to check out.
Do you have a favorite to share?
You are so generous! Now, what’s your secret for a nice flaky pie crust?
My husband.
This is a post chock full of info! When I ever self-host, I will look into some of these. I do have a website for which I use some. I’ll be checking these out!
I’m bookmarking this! Good tips – I don’t do basically all of these! I need to step up my game!
This is brilliant. I’m patting myself on the back because I already have/do about half of what you have here. The rest are definitely on my list of things to do. I’ve been blogging for over three and a half years and I feel like absolutely nobody gives a rip. Frustrating. That said, it didn’t even cross my mind to truly DO anything seriously until about six months ago and not even wholeheartedly. I think back at New Year’s I decided it was time to start doing something with my blog. So I guess I can’t cry in my beer too much about how people with shorter life spans are far more noticed. And I have a very hard time pimping my stuff because at least once a month I hit a funk about how my writing is sucky. 😀
Pinning this and adding stuff to my planner to check out.
Great tools, I’ve been playing with that Headline Analyzer all night.
I’ve had a blog go viral – and it was about a fart. I’m so proud! Now the problem is I can’t fulfill the expectation to do it again (write a viral blog, not fart.) I’ve followed the rules, mimicked the format of my successful blog, and used most of the tools you recommend. No luck. I’ll keep blogging, but I’ve relaxed my goal of going viral again.
Ha!
I wanna hang out w/ you and crack sarcastic about random things.
Alright.
One of the best posts I have read on this subject! Thank you for the info.
I’m using a lot of these but my most favourite are the blogging groups on Facebook. Such a pleasure to connect with so many people in a real and meaningful way. Thanks for sharing.
Anna, the unsplash link is missing an L.
Fantastic list! The Co-Schedule Headline Analyzer is my new best friend (and I’m cringing as I put some past titles into it to test).
I hear you!
Thanks for sharing the advice! I’m bookmarking this one to come back to!
Great!
Great suggestions — especially the one about analyzing the title! Thanks for the tips!
Thanks
Thanks for the great reminders. When life gets busy, we get lazy and therefore the blog posts get minimal exposure.
I haven’t used Buffer in ages, and have yet to try some of the other tools.
Will definitely be checking them out.
Love this list! Especially since it has some *different* things than I normally see on these kind of lists. I’m definitely exploring a bunch of these in depth.
Great post, thanks so much for sharing! I am two months into blogging and no one is really visiting my site so I am on the hunt to see what I could be doing differently. I do a few and use a few of the things you mentioned above but you have given me a few more tips to go on. So thank you!
Excellent post. It is useful for new blogger and experienced too. Thanks to share such topic. Keep it up !!!
I don’t know why I stopped using headliner analyzer, Buffer, or any of the tools I knew were helpful. I guess I just got lazy and fell into bad habits. Thanks for the reminder to get back to these oh-so important basics! They ARE essential!
Buffer is the one I can not blog without. Or promote…
What? An article that promised useful tips to increase your traffic and then actually delivers?? Awesome! Thanks!
Wow Thanks!
thanks for the tips! Looking forward to trying some (all!) out
Let me know if any of them help!
Excellent list Anna. I hate facebook, but I just set up a profile and love the idea of blogger groups. I went to check out the ones you recommended and the Bloppy Bloggers link doesn’t seem to work. Is it just me?
Love your blog!
Ugh. Let me check when I am at the computer. In the meantime start with the others. Lots of groups can mean a lot of time at the beginning.
Ha! Good point. I have group membership “pending” in the other two already.
Thanks for the list. Just an FYI your unsplash link seems to be broken though.
The link for Bloppy Blogger is dead. 🙁 Otherwise, great post! I am starting to think that my hard take off is due to my niche… I can’t seem to find groups that are comfortable with my topics, but it’s one of my goals this month to find and join 5 groups… if it kills me!
Anyway, great blog. I love your writing style and tips.
What is your niche?
These are very helpful tools — some I knew about, but others I did not. I have had almost no luck on Pinterest so will be checking out your suggestion there. Thanks!
Pinterest felt like misery for so long but now it is my biggest referrer by FAR. I think images matter a lot on pinterest.
Thanks Anna! I appreciate all the tips although not sure if I will ever go viral but I do try most of the points you have shared. Well done on the viral post! Sue from Sizzling Towards 60 & Beyond.
Keep it up. You never know when it will hit!
This has been one of the most helpful posts I have read about growing your blog! I’ve started a blog, but struggle getting traffic and didn’t know where to start with which tools to use to help in that area. I use some of these, but not to their full potential. This has been very helpful!!!
Glad to hear Amy. The problem is it takes so much grunt work. After months of nothing Pinterest has become my leading referrer. Maybe focus on that for a while?
I can’t wait to self-host so I can use cool plug ins like click to tweet!! 🙂
Yeah…that one is super simple!
The headline website is a great find! Thanks for sharing.
I don’t feel super strongly about it, but I’ve been trying to avoid using ad blocks if I can since I know that’s how a lot of the people I get good information from are making their money and I want to try to support them since it doesn’t really cost me anything. Thoughts?
You know that is a good point about ad blocks. I hadn’t thought of it from the small biz/individual blogger perspective.
There is just so much here thank you. Saved to refer to again.
Sarah MamiSkilts.co.uk