Get more Website Traffic and Develop an Online Business Strategy - Weekly Journal #2

T-minus 49 days from being a housewife and a stay-at-home mom. And more determined than ever to making $5000 per month from home so I can be home with my baby indefinitely!

I’m now 31 weeks pregnant, and my belly is squishing up into my lungs and ribs, making it slightly uncomfortable to breathe while lying on the couch. But this bump is an answer to prayers and an answer to birthday-candle-wishes for years – so no complaining here – this baby can go ahead and take my breath away as much as he or she wants!

I’ve been slightly discouraged the past couple of weeks – I’ve got blogs set up, trying to make a go of this online business thing – and I’m trying to figure out…how to get traffic?!

1. First off – A quick look at some blog analytics:

So what this is telling me is that I’ve got SOME sort of traffic that’s started – about 4 to 10 people are visiting each active site in the past week. I haven’t got a clue how they’re finding the websites yet…and I don’t know how to figure that out.

Action: Figure out how to use Google Analytics to track users better – where they’re coming from! And then use that knowledge to get more website traffic!

My bounce rate seems to be 100% on all websites except 1.

Action: Determine strategies to decrease bounce rate and increase time spent on page.

2. Current progress on my online business strategy

So, this week I actually wrote some strategy down! I don’t want the strategy to be long, unwieldy, and stagnant. So I just used lots of bullet points and quick brainstorming – points I can quickly skim on a daily and weekly basis. I’m also focusing on creating a strategy document for each individual website (not an overall one yet…still to come). I focused on a few key things that I’ve learned are a bit important when starting out:

What’s my Vision?
What’s my Unique Value Proposition
Who’s my Target Audience?
What’s my Elevator Pitch?
What’s my Mailing List Strategy?
What’s my Free Giveaway/Magnet/Hook?
Social Media Strategy
Monetization Strategy
Content Style Strategy
Content Ideas Strategy

I actually used BuzzSumo to do most of my research this week, combined with good ol’ fashioned googling of competitor websites to try and figure out what’s working best in terms of content styles, social media sites, and monetization.

3. What new things I’m trying out this week

Using BuzzSumo for researching competitors, content, and social media strategies
Using Buffer to schedule posts on Facebook
Set up Pinterest and Facebook social media accounts for a couple of websites
Installed new plugins (Layered Popups and Paralax Gravity) for setting up content upgrades on a couple websites

4. What lessons I learned this week (including where I totally failed)

Lesson 1: Use content upgrades to totally enhance user experience! I think it’s totally worth it to add content upgrades (basically downloadable documents) to blog posts, in order to provide more value to visitors. But I also learned that a simple content upgrade can take me over 2 hours to set up once my blog content is ready to go and once the upgrade is created as well. 2 hours of just fiddling with setup! Action: I’ve GOT to make that an efficient process! (20 minutes tops)

Lesson 2: Social media posting and shares is crucial to blog traffic and ranking in Google. Ugh, I’m not a Facebook person!! I’m the friend who goes on Facebook once every two months. But from everything I’ve read – I’ve got to engage! I’ve got to be present online in social media forums. And not just on an adhoc basis – consistently! So…Buffer free version it is for now, and probably pretty soon I’ll be upgrading…

Lesson 3: Trying to write blog articles while on holiday has proven difficult; nay, impossible. I’ve got to learn how to get into a rhythm so that I can write articles even when life is not routine! I’ve been on holiday the last two weeks, and I’ve done a bit of reading and journaling, but not much quality time with my laptop. If I’m going to be a stay-at-home-mom, I’ve got to figure out how to knock out regular content in the midst of not working. Work brings order and routine to my life – so I can fit in blogging around it. But un-scheduled life?? I’m overwhelmed with the free time and how to structure my day so I can still accomplish a bit of writing!

Lesson 4: I’m freaked out by talking to people online! Books I’m reading about website-building – they’re telling me to email website authors and ask to guest-post. I’m supposed to engage with people on forums and Facebook groups. I’m told to email other niche website authors to offer them some helpful content. Oh man, it means I’ve got to be a salesperson!! Put me on stage, I can do public speaking. Put me in a meeting, I can talk it up. But email to sell myself?? It scares me to pieces!! I’ve got to take the plunge – I’m scared of being laughed at, of rejection, of not being good enough. Whooo. Not sure how I’m going to overcome this one. Right now, I’m procrastinating because I don’t have enough content on my websites, haven’t yet found my “voice”, and am truly not ready for anyone to discover me online yet – but sooner or later, the time will come that I’ve got to get out there! So between now and then is confidence-building time!!

Lesson 5: Use 5 blog images or more. This one’s gonna eat my time up – I’m not a graphic designer (even though I love trying to learn new things with Photoshop and Illustrator). But lo and behold – folks love pictures and infographics! So…one more action to add to the list…Action: Create efficient process for creating relevant, snazzy blog images fast.