Traffic Map 2016 - My journey to 1,000

Before You Start - 6-Steps to Prepare for the Traffic Journey

My Traffic Map 2016: Post 1- Preparation | Post 2 - Before You Hit Publish | Post 3 - Share on Twitter | Post 4 - Share on Pinterest | Post 5 - Share on Facebook | Post 6 - One Day After | Post 7 - 1-Week After | Post 8 - 2-Weeks After | Post 9 - 1-Month After.

Last year I started on a journey to self-employment. I created a gig on Fiverr in August which reaffirmed to me that my skills are still needed despite what the job market tells me. No, I can’t live on Fiverr alone so my mission this year is to get to 1,000 subscribers (or page views) via this blog. Why? Read this post from Mayra Jan for ProBlogger.

The theory goes like this: get 1,000 true fans and you’ll have a sustainable business income. If you sell something at $100 x 1,000 your possible income is $100,000. Even if only one-half of your true fans buys your product, you’re still at $50,000 which is pretty good in my book.

If you’re new to this, I would strive for one dollar per subscriber per month in sales. In other words, an email list of 1,000 subscribers should result in at least $1,000 per month in sales, 10,000 subscribers would result in $10,000 per month in sales, and so on.

Read BoostBlogTraffic - where I first learned the first 1,000 subscribers theory

This post is part of the 30-day Blog Challenge with Lesa Townsend

Before you start

The following are the steps I will take when promoting an epic blog post. (Epic blog post defined by Fizzle.co)

1. Set up social media accounts with your lead magnet link, short bio, and your photo

Twitter – click on your photo, view profile, update, add your lead magnet link

Facebook – change this on your private profile under jobs and on your Fan page

Pinterest – open a business account, verify your account (can’t add the lead magnet link here, but you can add a photo with the link on your business board)

DONE - I created a custom URL to track my stats. (saraduggan.news)

2. Create a lead magnet which solves an immediate problem for your audience.

Example: You are a plumbing business – checklist for septic tank maintenance, free phone consultation, 20% off the first job, or access to a video on clearing a clogged sink.

DONE - I created a checklist, pdf, and short webinar for businesses that are thinking about outsourcing. Problem: Should I outsource to a virtual assistant and What should I outsource first?

3. Start an autoresponder

Signup for MailChimp, Aweber, Trafficwave, Getresponse, ConstantContact, MadMimi,

Setup your account, add your welcome message, and the first 10 messages into your cue.

DONE - I’m using Trafficwave.net for this experiment. My messages are written and lead to a consultation call for my blogging services.

DOWNLOAD BLOG TRAFFIC CHECKLIST (subscribers only)

4. Create a landing page

This is the ‘lead magnet link’ where your social traffic will land. It is where they sign up for your freebie by entering their information. (phone number or email address)

DONE - I created a new site with a custom link that captures the leads for this blog.

5. Set a Goal

For this particular post, what is your goal? How many new signups do you want? Traffic? Shares?

DONE - My goal is to reach 1,000 subscribers by December 31, 2016. My secondary goal is to drive 1,000 pageviews per month.

6. Begin writing your epic post

This is a ‘king-sized’ post, not a 500-word post. You want it to teach something. You want it to be evergreen (not time sensitive). It should be at least 2000 words if not 3000+ words.

WIP - I’m currently participating in a blog challenge to get me into the habit of blogging again so will publish epic content starting in February 2016.

7. Start compiling a list of places where you want to promote your post

JustRetweet, Twitter, Facebook, Groups, Email, Pinterest, Google+, Forums, etc.

DONE (always updating) - I have a list I use and add to it as needed.

8. Create images for your post to share on multiple platforms. The main image for your post should be Pinterest ready.

I use this cheat sheet by Buffer when creating my images.

WIP - I will do this right before I publish the post.