My Proven Method to Reach 100,000 Views in 30 days

I set out on the ultimate 30-day writing challenge to reach a new milestone, and here’s what I learned.

I've tried almost every trick in the book to improve my writing and gain traffic. Meanwhile, I’ve realized writing is a process and that the only way to succeed is to trust the process and believe in yourself.

We all start from the same standpoint. You’re probably also experimenting on how to bring more visitors to your blog, but as you look around, all you see are tumbleweeds. No views, no reads, no visits, but from that moment on, when you’ll end up can only be measured by your will to commit to your work.

You know that you need a following if you want your blog to do well, but how can you get one? How can you make sure that the people who visit your blog want to come back and read more?

“Build something 100 people love, not something 1 million people kind of like.” — Brian Chesky

We’ve all asked these very questions, and as you’ll hopefully find out at the end of these posts is that in the future, it all comes down to the amount of your time you’re willing to give to the community. Time is of the essence is more than legal jargon. Time is the ultimate gift anyone can ask for or give back.

Thus, make every minute of your readers’ time count!

Don’t be frustrated if your blog doesn’t immediately have an audience! It takes time for readers to find your unique voice among millions of other voices that echo in the blogosphere’s Babel tower. You’ll need patience, persistence — and this guide.

“Marketing without data is like driving with your eyes closed.” — Dan Zarrella

I’ve been trying every trick in the content writer hand guide for the last two years, except pulling rabbits out of my hat. I’m too fond of bunnies to be grabbing them by the ears.

Sorry, I digress. Let’s jump right in by looking into some of the most common tips and tricks before diving into the oldest trick in the book

1. Great headlines attract reads, not clicks

Your headline is your key to success. We’ve all heard this one before. “Content is king,” but the headline chooses who sits on the throne!m,

Writing a great headline every time is easier said than done. If you’re anything like me, you might start by creating a list of emotional and powerful words. Make sure you use a title that is easy to understand and that contains a long-tail keyword.

Headlines are paramount for getting attention on the internet. And when it comes to the internet, you need to be interesting, unique, and specific — and those three things can be a tricky balance to strike.

That’s why you’ll always need to address your headline first. Namely, regarding the following key concepts:

• Interesting, unique, and specific (no generic titles)

• Not too long or too short (avoid “clickbait” titles)

• Include keywords that are optimized for search engine optimization (SEO)

• Optimized for social media sharing (mind the character limit)

When you’re done, use a headline analyzer to optimize the eye-grabbing potential of your headline. These tools will help you ensure that your headlines drive traffic and clicks while assessing whether they have the right tone and the correct amount of emotional and power words.

2. Use relevant tags in your stories

Tags are how other people can find you when searching for related topics on online platforms.

I wonder if many of you still do the same thing I did a year ago. You write a post and then add your tags at the end before clicking the publish button. I’ve even read stories that suggest this is the most effective approach.

Sorry to burst your bubble. If you’re doing it this way, you’re doing it wrong. I always pinpoint my tags before I even start writing. I’ve already typed down my main tags before looking for the right long-tail keywords.

People like looking at things online based on a specific topic, so it’s essential to use relevant and interesting tags in your post so that other people can find you when they’re performing a search at any given time.

This is the best way to make sure you’re using tags related to your article's topic. Also, remember that using tags associated with a popular topic currently trending is a two-edged sword. You have a chance to reach a wider audience, but you’re also facing more competition.

3. Include eye-catching visual elements

When you include images in your writing, they can help readers understand what you’re saying. The aesthetic components must be relevant to the content. It is also desirable to produce your artwork to make it distinctive, as I did for the cover image.

Nothing makes me want to visit a blog more than an eye-catching image. This is true for most readers who are merely browsing the internet and may come upon your material.

If there isn’t at least one image in the post, I’m far less inclined to read it. If you don’t use visuals in your postings, you’re passing on a significant opportunity to increase views!

Now that I have hundreds of stories published across the blogosphere, I seldom use the same images in several postings. I’ve graduated from Unsplash, Pixabay, and even Pexels, and currently, I’m using more unique elements.

You can type your keywords into Google Image search and then go through the options by clicking “search tools” and clicking “usage rights” until you find an image you like that falls under the public domain. I’ve seen firsthand how this method improves SEO by giving you complete control over the picture you use.

4. Make your story easy to scan by minding the format

Writing a blog post is different than writing an essay. You want to ensure you capture your reader’s attention, and one of the best ways to do that is by using subheadings and bullet points. Here are some tips on how to do just that:

Use subheadings to introduce new ideas or thoughts into your blog post. Doing this will make it easier for your reader to understand what each section of your article is about. For example, if you’re writing a recipe, you should have one heading for the ingredients and another for directions. This helps keep things organized!

Use bullet points to list items or steps involved in completing a task (like making cookies). Again, this makes it easier for readers who prefer all the information at their fingertips without reading through paragraphs upon paragraphs.

Use bolding and italics sparingly — only when necessary — to highlight important words

5. Intersperse the length of your stories

Write long-form content:

Writing blog posts at least 1,500 words long might seem more challenging than writing one that’s 500 or 1,000 words long, but the benefits far outweigh any potential difficulties.

Longer posts tend to get more shares and links, which helps your blog traffic. People are also more likely to skip over shorter posts in favor of longer ones. If you want to rank highly in Google search results for a specific keyword phrase (more on this later), a longer post will work better than a shorter post.

Additionally, longer posts provide more value to readers. They can include more information and go into greater depth about a topic. The result is that audiences spend more time on the page reading through everything you wrote instead of just scanning it before clicking away and leaving your site.

Finally, long-form content allows you to build relationships with readers because they feel they know you better after reading through something lengthy that you published.

Write short-form content:

I love writing short-form, but don’t let yourself be fooled. 150-word stories aren’t a great source of direct income when you are being paid based on reading time. The magic happens when you cross-pollinate your blog entries by interspersing long and short stories.

Short-form content meets a higher purpose. These stories help you drive traffic to long-form content. Thus, make sure you provide a call-to-action pointing to other related posts.

6. Use a complimentary close at the end of your story

Make sure you use a complimentary close at the end of your blog post. No, I’m not referring to the “thankful yours” or “best wishes” you would include in an email to your employer. I refer to having a call to action at the end of your tale that produces leads.

Try something along the lines of:

• Like what you read? Subscribe to my newsletter for more.

• Follow me on Twitter for updates and announcements.

• Check out my new YouTube video demonstrating how to get more views on your blog.

Afterward, you should go through all the takeaways you’ve covered and recap them at the end of your post.

The Oldest Trick in the Book

Time to unveil the ultimate traction-building machine that got thousands of readers to swarm to my blog in April 2022. A time when confinement was something on the back of our collective memory and the world was ready to unmask and go back to its usual fast pace with less reading time to spare.

The oldest trick in the book is just that, dear reader, my unique blend of things that have been along for so long that some “so-called experts” have been discrediting.

It’s a cocktail mixing three things meant to be “shaken, not stirred.” A special compound that I like to call:

The 3-Big S’s of Blogging

SWAG, SEO, and Social Media is a 3-step process occurring in that exact order. Let me clarify it for you.

SWAG

SWAG is a slang term coined by the US Military, meaning a “scientific wild-ass guess.” It’s a rough estimate made by an expert in the field based on experience and intuition.

In April, my guesstimate buzz keyword was “slap” following the events on March 27 at the Oscars. I wrote several pieces around that keyword. in less than a month, one of those articles became my most-read story, amassing around 35% of the monthly traffic.

SEO

Search engine optimization comes next in line, and I have already discussed some of the most crucial points in this article. However, if you want to learn more about getting the best results from search engines, I invite you to read this story and discover some of the most relevant innuendos on SEO.

You also need to keep in mind that great saying by Duane Forrester: “SEO is a marketing function for sure, but it needs to be baked into a product, not slapped on like icing after the cake is baked.”

Social Media

Finally, you don’t have to be a marketing expert to understand the basics of social media. It’s pretty simple; in fact, it’s so simple that many seasoned writers will tell you that social media is broken and doesn’t work anymore.

That’s only partially true. Social media has changed, and the AIs behind it are no longer the prehistoric algorithms they once were. Nowadays, it’s all about creating what I call the avalanche effect.

I will get back at this in one of my future stories. Thus, please make sure you stay tuned by subscribing here to get all my stories by email.

Furthermore, it’s crucial to share your own stories and promote other people’s content that you enjoy when it comes to social media. Just make sure that the posts are engaging and interesting — nobody wants a boring Twitter feed.

You can check my Twitter to learn more about how I’ve been promoting my favorite stories there. Meanwhile, I’ve also created friends lists on this platform. Have I missed one of your stories? Join our Facebook group and drop a link so that the community can check it out.

“Content is fire, social media is gasoline.” — Jay Baer

To wrap it up, I will still drop an extra ball. You should get involved in blogging communities on Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media network and start connecting with other writers. You can support each other’s work and drive views to your stories.

Join communities that you feel will help you grow as a blogger and where you can support other bloggers.

Engage with other bloggers in the community by supporting their blog posts and sharing them on social media.

Thus, always make sure you have every trick in the book covered, including the good old-school approach.

“Social media is about the people. Not about your business. Provide for the people and the people will provide for you.” — Matt Goulart

Concluding remarks

To conclude, let me sum up for you all the information above on a comprehensive list of takeaways:

1. Great headlines

2. Relevant tags and buzz words

3. Eye-catching visual elements

4. Scannable structure

5. Intersperse short and long-form stories

6. Don’t forget about CTAs

7. Pay tribute to the sacred trinity of blogging: SWAG, SEO, Social Media.

At the end of the day, you want to think that you have covered all the inner linings of your content marketing strategy:

“Master the topic, the message, and the delivery.” — Steve Jobs

Nevertheless, in the end, consistency is what transforms average into great, but believing in yourself is what turns great into outstanding.

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P.S.

Thanks for reading this article and supporting our community of creators here on Substack. Please consider joining my journey across the blogosphere by picking up a thread from my insightful content on Medium or Vocal. Your support is highly appreciated. Till next time, cheers. - Rui