So you built a website. Great.

But it’s doing rather average. Not so great.

You’ve tried everything to increase your traffic. You’ve read hundreds of posts on organic growth. But whatever you implement, it doesn’t translate into an increase in visitors. It doesn’t affect the page views you have. Maybe, you think, you need to overhaul the design again. Or maybe, you feel, you don’t have enough content on your site. Whatever it is, you are annoyed, a bit angry and a lot confused. What are you missing? How do other people do it?

I hear you. I’ve been there. In fact I spent a number of years trying to find the secret to a thriving site. Until, that is, the secret found me.

The good news is, it is entirely possible to start a successful site on very little content. In my example it was a single blog post that finally put me on the map. Once the post took off, so did my page. Despite disappearing for most of 2020 due to personal circumstances, my site traffic kept on growing and growing.

In fact, visits to my site increased by over 600 percent in just the first quarter! My unique visitors increased by over 800 percent.

This was a year that I did NOT have a book release. It was the same year COVID-19 caused the entire world to go into a spin. Yet my website kept thriving.

So how did I do it?

Step 1: Write an amazing blog post

This sounds easier than it is, if you’re at the beginning of your journey. It sounds a lot harder, when you’ve been in the game for a while. What is a great blog post? And how does one structure it?

For your niche - ask Google. Search keywords that your ideal reader would likely be looking for and consider the top ranking results. Find out the things that you know your reader base would be interested in and take the information already provided on the internet to the next level. Most importantly, think outside the box. Don’t write a post about your book. Don’t overload your followers with advertising. It’s annoying and it won’t work. Instead try answering a question that your readers have been chasing on different forums. Provide a key piece of information that you have found is missing or that you can elaborate on due to your background or experience.

Whatever you write about, ask yourself this: Does it add value to my reader base? If the answer is yes, you’re on the right path.

In my case, I chose a subject every romance reader has an ingrained understanding of, something readers use often unconsciously to select their next favourite romance novel.

Romace tropes.

Bang, there was my topic. Now all I needed to do was research my competition. Then provide something bigger, something better, or something that was simply more entertaining.

I spent hours on the internet doing this. Yes, putting in the effort is key! I consolidated the results and added my own spin by providing recommendations from my personal bookshelf for most of the tropes. I also remembered to engage visitors by asking them for their recommendations, especially on the few tropes where I didn’t have a favourite book.

Once I had the post written and was ready to publish, I observed the impact it had on my website traffic. It wasn’t enough.

2) Tweak your post

Similar to my other posts, my trope post generated some traffic but it wasn’t going crazy. Yet.

However, something compelled me to stick with the topic. I knew the information I provided was solid, but my referrals came predominantly from my social media accounts. There weren’t many users that referred from search engines directly.

And then it hit me. While I had poured hours into crafting the actual post to make sure readers wouldn’t bounce once they clicked the link I had shared, I had overlooked some of the most important elements that would provide a compelling reason for new readers to select my post out of a myriad of search results. Readers who are overloaded daily with information. Who spare no more than a quick glance before deciding whether to read a post or scroll on. What I needed was presentation. Or, as I like to call it, the triad for success.

Title hook
Captivating description
Striking visual

I needed to catch my reader’s eye right off the bat. Among thousands of other search results. So, for a number of weeks I played around with the title and description until I landed on something that I was confident would compel a reader to click through to my post rather than the post sitting prettily right next to it in the search result.

Once I had this hurdle managed, I sifted through hundreds of pages of stock images to add a striking social sharing image. I created custom designs for every single one of my social media accounts and made sure sharing options were available at the end of my post.

The difference this made in my visitor numbers was enormous. But could I do even better?

3) Keep the momentum going

Once I was happy with the attention my post received I went over the steps I had implemented. Then I started looking for other topics I could write about using the same concept. I supercharged my growth inviting guest bloggers to share their content and promote their post on their social media accounts to their own reader base. I overhauled my website to place my blog in a more prominent position. At the forefront of my mind, however, I continued to ask myself: How can I add value to my visitors. Because when a visitor to your site feels that you have tapped into their needs and fulfilled them, they are no longer just a visitor. They become a fan. And fans come back to generate more traffic.

How can you add value to your website visitors? Share your ideas in the comments.